Catch and Release Fishing

I recently landed a big fish of a project in a small pond. A small business suddenly lost their sole source of institutional knowledge – passwords, processes, everything. So, being the only one in the boat, I grabbed the line and began dragging it in.

Dragged resources for passwords. Dragged business processes into the cloud. Dragged procedures into daily routines. Dragged the market for opportunities. Dragged and dragged and dragged for improvements.

It was an exhausting fight. Currents constantly changed. Tides ebbed and flowed. Winds picked up and lay down. Other fish circled and bit at the bait.

It quickly became time to hand over the line. As in worst possible project scenario fast: notice of training one day with cut over happening the next.

And as typical in M&A activity, the oncoming resources resisted the current. “That’s not how we did it at XYZ.”

My inner project manager screamed. “IT spent months on these solutions! They save a ton in time and material costs! Would it kill you to just TRY it?!”

Thankfully, my outer change manager spoke. “Here are the materials you need. Make changes as you see fit.” There wasn’t anything in it for me (WIIFM) to take them through ADKAR. It was time to cut bait and run.

Moral of this fish tale? There is going to be drag. Every time. No matter the size of the project. Expect it. Plan for it. Get in front of it. Get sponsorship and people leaders committed to managing it.

And remember, sometimes the best thing to do is just release. G’luck out there.

Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Unless he doesn’t like sushi, then you also have to teach him to cook.

Auren Hoffman

Shannon Vasko is a natural-born planner with a passion for strategy and integrated communications. © MI Compass Services.