I was leading the migration of SAP for a Fortune 100 from one data center to another. We had a plan to build 10-systems a week. Instead, we were building a little less than one a week. There was a hefty $1,000,000 fee if we didn’t make the deadline.
It was my job to report the progress to the senior executive team every week. To say that our workstream received a lot of attention is an understatement.
However, there wasn’t anything I could do to make the news better when delivering the updates. What I could do is have a solid plan for how we’d turn things around. If I didn’t feel like we could have a solid plan, it was my job to deliver that news and let the executive team work to negotiate an extension to the deadline.
I never sugarcoated the situation. Instead, my team dealt with the core challenges and created a return to green plan that I felt comfortable presenting and defending. The strength of our ability to articulate the strategy saved avoidable stress.