WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:02.160 -: One of the more challenging things you might be asked 00:02.160 --> 00:05.130 to do as a manager is to cancel a project 00:05.130 --> 00:06.330 that your team's been working on. 00:06.330 --> 00:07.740 So that's a really tough thing, right? 00:07.740 --> 00:10.050 You've done all this work to get your team excited 00:10.050 --> 00:12.090 and motivated to complete this project, 00:12.090 --> 00:14.610 or whatever initiative it is, and now you have to come back 00:14.610 --> 00:16.987 and say, "Hey, the company's priorities have changed. 00:16.987 --> 00:18.037 "We're not doing this anymore, 00:18.037 --> 00:19.800 "this project's been shut down." 00:19.800 --> 00:21.000 That's a very tough thing to do 00:21.000 --> 00:23.550 while maintaining the morale in your team. 00:23.550 --> 00:25.080 However, there are ways to handle this 00:25.080 --> 00:26.970 that can minimize the impact on morale. 00:26.970 --> 00:28.710 So first of all, before you tell your team 00:28.710 --> 00:31.650 make sure you understand why the project was canceled 00:31.650 --> 00:34.260 and you can convey that to your team effectively. 00:34.260 --> 00:37.170 If you understand why this project's been shut down 00:37.170 --> 00:39.000 and there's a good reason for it hopefully 00:39.000 --> 00:40.410 you can communicate that to your team 00:40.410 --> 00:42.630 and they'll at least understand it better, right? 00:42.630 --> 00:44.587 It's far more frustrating to just say, 00:44.587 --> 00:46.477 "Hey, all this work's going out the window. 00:46.477 --> 00:48.780 "I don't know why, it sucks." 00:48.780 --> 00:51.337 As opposed to, "Hey, we need to shut this project down 00:51.337 --> 00:52.807 "because there's this much more exciting thing 00:52.807 --> 00:54.577 "we need to work on instead that will have 00:54.577 --> 00:57.750 "a much bigger impact," so that's a better way to spin it. 00:57.750 --> 01:00.180 Understand why the project's being canceled 01:00.180 --> 01:02.460 and be prepared to explain that to your team. 01:02.460 --> 01:04.260 That will help it go down a lot better. 01:04.260 --> 01:05.550 Deliver the news in person. 01:05.550 --> 01:06.750 You know, something like this, 01:06.750 --> 01:08.610 a big bombshell should not just be an email, 01:08.610 --> 01:11.160 or a message in the ether somewhere. 01:11.160 --> 01:13.800 If at all possible, call a meeting of your team together, 01:13.800 --> 01:15.390 deliver this news in person, 01:15.390 --> 01:17.250 be there to answer questions about it, 01:17.250 --> 01:19.440 be there to communicate why it's being done 01:19.440 --> 01:21.840 and where the team is going next. 01:21.840 --> 01:23.700 So remember, your team's gonna be facing a lot 01:23.700 --> 01:25.560 of uncertainty in this sort of a situation. 01:25.560 --> 01:27.277 They might be thinking, "Oh my gosh 01:27.277 --> 01:28.867 "is my team being disbanded? 01:28.867 --> 01:29.977 "What am I gonna be working on? 01:29.977 --> 01:30.907 "Am I gonna have a new boss? 01:30.907 --> 01:32.610 "Do I need to find a new job?" 01:32.610 --> 01:34.320 Have those answers in hand, you know. 01:34.320 --> 01:36.600 If you do know what the next thing is gonna be 01:36.600 --> 01:38.010 tell 'em what that next thing is gonna be. 01:38.010 --> 01:39.900 Don't leave them wondering what their fate 01:39.900 --> 01:41.163 is going to be tomorrow. 01:42.000 --> 01:43.980 And even though you may be demoralized 01:43.980 --> 01:46.110 by this decision, don't let that show. 01:46.110 --> 01:49.050 Again, negative energy can be infectious. 01:49.050 --> 01:52.200 So if you seem like you're upset about it 01:52.200 --> 01:54.510 your team will be upset about it as well. 01:54.510 --> 01:56.790 But if you have a a positive spin on it 01:56.790 --> 01:58.560 and you understand why it's being done, 01:58.560 --> 02:00.780 and you can communicate the new direction 02:00.780 --> 02:03.120 your team's gonna be going in as a result of it 02:03.120 --> 02:06.060 that will be a much more positive aura, if you will, 02:06.060 --> 02:08.153 that will spread to the rest of your team. 02:09.060 --> 02:10.440 Be sure you recognize all the great work 02:10.440 --> 02:11.760 that's been done on it thus far. 02:11.760 --> 02:14.430 So if you did have people who really did a great job 02:14.430 --> 02:17.640 in working on this project to date, call them out. 02:17.640 --> 02:19.260 You know, recognize that great work. 02:19.260 --> 02:20.820 Recognize the work of the whole team 02:20.820 --> 02:22.470 and the progress that they made, all right? 02:22.470 --> 02:24.360 Make sure you acknowledge all the effort 02:24.360 --> 02:26.280 that they've put in at least. 02:26.280 --> 02:29.340 Then it won't seem like as much of a waste, right? 02:29.340 --> 02:30.810 Recognize what was learned from it. 02:30.810 --> 02:33.210 So what did we actually get out of this project, 02:33.210 --> 02:34.923 even though it was canceled, maybe we learned 02:34.923 --> 02:37.080 some new technical skills that we didn't have before. 02:37.080 --> 02:39.060 Maybe we developed some new systems 02:39.060 --> 02:40.710 that can be used for other projects. 02:40.710 --> 02:43.650 Usually, even in a canceled project, there are things 02:43.650 --> 02:46.290 that can still be used from it, and that just 02:46.290 --> 02:48.930 might be things that we learned in the process of doing it. 02:48.930 --> 02:51.780 So reflect with your team what those positive outcomes were 02:51.780 --> 02:53.310 what they learned from this project, even though 02:53.310 --> 02:55.710 that ultimately it did not see the light of day. 02:56.550 --> 02:59.850 And even better, sometimes a canceled project 02:59.850 --> 03:01.830 can be twisted into a new project. 03:01.830 --> 03:04.590 So you can do a little bit of a jujitsu move sometime 03:04.590 --> 03:06.870 to take the work from this canceled project 03:06.870 --> 03:09.600 and use it as the basis of a new project going forward. 03:09.600 --> 03:11.490 That is an ideal situation, right? 03:11.490 --> 03:13.800 So even if a project is canceled, 03:13.800 --> 03:15.270 maybe all you're doing is redirecting 03:15.270 --> 03:17.160 that work in a slightly different direction. 03:17.160 --> 03:18.660 Or maybe the components that you built 03:18.660 --> 03:20.760 for this project can be used to accelerate 03:20.760 --> 03:22.650 the development of the next project. 03:22.650 --> 03:24.000 That really helps to make it feel 03:24.000 --> 03:26.400 like this work was not wasted. 03:26.400 --> 03:28.500 And this is the right thing for the company too, right? 03:28.500 --> 03:30.450 The more you can leverage that work and use it 03:30.450 --> 03:34.410 to accelerate future work, everybody wins, right? 03:34.410 --> 03:37.170 And always keep the focus on these larger strategic goals. 03:37.170 --> 03:38.970 So make sure your team understands 03:38.970 --> 03:40.650 why this project was canceled 03:40.650 --> 03:43.530 and why what they're gonna be asked to do next is better 03:43.530 --> 03:45.990 in support of the strategic goals of the company, all right? 03:45.990 --> 03:48.690 So again, it just comes down to helping them understand 03:48.690 --> 03:52.050 why this is being done and why ultimately redirecting 03:52.050 --> 03:53.880 their efforts is gonna be a good thing for you, 03:53.880 --> 03:55.530 for the team and for the company.