The manager

What happens when your project leader departs two days before launch?

Your project manager is the glue that binds everything. The key tactician, the one who brings the team together.  But what if they were secretly negotiating a new contract with another company while pretending to be focussed on the job in hand? And should this matter?

A CIPD study on Trust and Organisational Safety highlights that in certain teams and situations it is trust that is paramount:

Trust becomes especially important when interpersonal connections are weaker, such as in virtual teams or teams formed for a relatively short duration.

So, that got me thinking about teams that perhaps don’t know each other very well, are only together for a short period of time, where there is strong competition amongst team members.  So many jokes, so many sneers, and all those oh so nears….

Let me take you back to 2018, it is 2 days before the World Cup tournament is due to begin. Spain are one of the tournament favourites. Not least because the announced squad contained six star players from Real Madrid. Speaking of Real Madrid, it turned out that Lopetegui, Spain’s manager was secretly in negotiations with them to take over as Manager following the departure of Zinedine Zidane. Whilst this was effectively a secret, Lopetegui decided it would be best to tell the six Real Madrid players what was happening. You know what happens when you ask people to keep a secret? They don’t. Rubiales, the Spanish football president decided to sack him, because it appears that personal pride is more important than World cup success, so out the door he went. Swiftly replaced by Fernando Hierro, another former Real Madrid and incredibly, Bolton Wanderers player.

While all of this holds the background of the high drama of football, there are certainly some team lessons to learn from all of this. Particularly if you consider that the once tournament favourites failed to live up to expectations. In my experience, trust is rarely damaged by bad news. Let’s be honest, things have a habit of going wrong all the time during projects. The brief was not clear enough, someone gets sick, the client forgot to mention they would be on holiday for two weeks. The key part is about how you respond to the challenges that whilst not predictable are always possible. So what could have happened differently?

1. Being honest with your employer. It can be difficult to have the conversation about your plans to leave, and you are not under any obligation to inform them. However there is probably something about discretion, i.e. not telling people in the team that you plan to leave before telling your boss.
2. Timing of communication is key. There was no suggestion that he considered waiting till after the world cup to make his announcement. Surely he could have negotiated this with Real Madrid?
3. An inclusive team should get to hear what’s going on all at the same time. Otherwise people feel like they are not part of the team, or perhaps not as important to the team as others
4. Trust. Failing to hold the trust of your team will result in fractures and potentially failures. Not always, but it can take a long time to rebuild that trust once it has been broken
5. Rubiales made the decision to remove him immediately. Aside from the contractual elements which absolutely work differently in the football world (managers tend to leave with immediate effect and a payoff) by removing him immediately he put the team into limbo, upset the group no doubt at a crucial stage of the project (the world cup) and gave the new manager less than 48 hours to instill his vision. Not ideal. All credit to Hierro for taking it on.

The counter argument is, Rubiales had to make a decision, difficult in the circumstances. Do you stick with the project leader you have, knowing he has one foot out the door already, or do you put your trust in a new project manager, knowing that the pressure is on to get everything in place in a short window of time. There is no right or wrong answer to this, but ultimately I expect he had to decide who he trusted the most for the best outcome in the circumstances. It appears this was not Lopetgui.

And how did Spain do? Eliminated in Round 16 in a penalty shoot out with Russia. Now, in reality football is a high stakes game, that could have been the result anyway. But it is inevitable that all the upset played some part in the performance of the team. How could it not? As for Lopetegui, he lasted just 4 months at Real Madrid, dismissed while still claiming he had the confidence of the dressing room, but not seemingly, his bosses.

Lessons for the future

Trust is damaged more by surprises than bad news

Most people are pragmatic and understand that change is the one certainty. Not knowing the change is coming loses the trust.

Leaders often have to choose between principles and outcomes

Basing decisions on emotion is difficult to defend. Pragmatic and logical steps to deal with a challenge is ultimately easier to justify.

Teams can tolerate change better than uncertainty

Where you can provide a plan, a step or an outcome this provides better psychological safety for the team, and improves trust

And what about the team?

In my experience, teams where trust has broken down can recover, but it inevitably takes a lot of hard work and time. Where formal processes are used, particularly grievances, it is hard for managers and staff to put aside personal feelings to resolve the issue at hand. Because outcomes are so polarised it tends to feel like someone has won and someone has lost, either emphasising or diminishing the power balance. The team is not the same afterwards and to sum up in a word, feels less ‘safe’, Psychological safety allows teams to function as equals, regardless of the role or job title. But the real damage is not by the event, but what happens afterwards. Uncertainty is devastating to teams, not knowing what will come next and speculating (or spiralling) around the myriad of different possibilities can be really destructive. Getting in front of the team and listening to their concerns, addressing where you can and admitting that all the answers are not in place yet is a really good start. Having a plan you are prepared to adjust based on the feedback you get will position you as sensible, pragmatic and steady. Regaining trust means resetting the rules and boundaries of how the team functions, particularly to prevent the same situation arising again. Mediation, team dynamics facilitation and regular communication will always help, but like in any relationship, rebuilding trust requires time, consistency and effort.