Turning Crisis into Confidence
Dear Toastmasters and guests,
As part of Innovative Planning Level 5, I am completing a High-Performance
Leadership project. This project requires two speeches. In this first speech, I
will share my project plan and vision. In the second speech, I will share the
experience, results, and lessons I learned.
Leadership expert Warren Bennis said, “Leadership is the
capacity to translate vision into reality.”
My project began in April 2024, when I was called into an
escalation meeting with a customer. Their message was direct: the project was
not progressing as planned, confidence was falling, and a significant amount of
money had already been spent without the expected results.
The project involved migrating an on-premises web
application to the Microsoft Azure cloud environment. Because the existing
application was built on an outdated technology stack, the team had to rewrite
it using modern technology and deploy it securely in the cloud. The project started
in October 2023 with an onsite-offshore team of around 10 to 12 members, and it
had to go live by December 2024 to address security vulnerabilities and support
better online accessibility for end users.
After six months of execution, the project was still not
moving in the right direction. That made this more than a delayed delivery
issue. We were a major strategic partner to the customer, so if this escalation
grew further, the impact could reach global leadership on both the customer
side and the vendor side. The business risk, relationship risk, and delivery
risk were all very real.
Because I had worked closely with the customer manager
before, I was asked to step in and help recover the project. My responsibility
was not just to solve a technical problem, but to lead a turnaround. I needed
to study the operating model, identify requirement gaps, understand skill gaps,
improve communication, and create a realistic go-to-green plan that could
restore control and rebuild trust.
My vision was clear: bring the project back to a stable and
predictable path, restore customer confidence, and still achieve the planned
go-live by December 2024. But my vision was bigger than meeting a deadline. I
wanted to build one team instead of separate onsite and offshore groups,
improve the quality of requirement communication, reduce avoidable rework, and
create an environment where people could perform well without constant crisis.
To make that vision real, I wanted the team to work with
clarity, discipline, and mutual respect. I wanted developers offshore to
receive detailed and accurate requirements, without losing meaning in
translation from Japanese to English. I wanted the team to follow Agile
ceremonies with purpose, not as routine events, so that issues could be
surfaced early and decisions could be made quickly. I also wanted team members
to have a healthier work rhythm, with less weekend work and better work-life
balance, because sustainable productivity is always stronger than burnout.
Another part of my vision was to make this project a
learning opportunity for the team. If we improved our delivery model, people
would not only complete this project successfully but also carry stronger
skills into future assignments. At the same time, I had to stay practical. The
customer had already invested heavily, so my revised plan had to be effective,
efficient, and sensitive to both cost and confidence.
That reminds me of a timeless truth often attributed to
the former president of America Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Plans are worthless, but
planning is everything.”
So, my first step was to understand the root causes behind
the delay and then translate that understanding into a practical recovery plan.
If an existing process was helping, I would strengthen it. If it was slowing us
down, I would change it. If it was not adding value, I would stop it.
The former CEO of Wells Fargo & Company Richard M.
Kovacevich said, “A vision and strategy aren’t enough. The long-term key to
success is execution. Each day. Every day.”
To turn this vision into action, my project plan had seven
steps:
1. Conduct
a root cause analysis to understand the reasons for delay, confusion, and low
confidence.
2. Create
a realistic go-to-green plan based on facts, priorities, and recovery
milestones.
3. Align
internal leadership and secure support from my management and project leads.
4. Present
the recovery approach to the customer with transparency and accountability.
5. Rebuild
trust by gaining customer approval and commitment to the revised direction.
6. Execute
the plan with strong governance, clear communication, and disciplined Agile
delivery.
7. Lead
the team to deliver the project successfully by the December 2024 deadline.
This was my project plan and my vision: not only to recover a troubled project, but to lead people, restore trust, and create better results for both the customer and the team. In my next speech, I will share what happened when this plan was put into action. Thank you.
