When you take up a project, you do so with the promise and aim to complete it on time. Apart from fulfilling contract obligations, you also need to build a good reputation that is largely determined by your ability to deliver the work on time with no complaints.
However, as motivated & hardworking as you may be, there often come times when your project is close to the deadline day, but nowhere close to being completed.
Here are a few things to do when you are stuck in such situations.
Motivate Your Team
Remember, it is not over until the official deadline. Your team might be lagging behind either due to elongated breaks (after all, they’re humans!) or some unavoidable challenges like materials coming in late; but the lost time can still be recoverable.
If you are able to identify the delay early, you can motivate your team to push a little harder, work a few extra hours but complete it on time. You can later reward them for their extra hard work if it wasn’t their mistakes which led to the delay.
Fall Back To Your Contingency Plan
Years in business might have taught you by now that you should always anticipate scenarios and prepare contingency plans to get you out of problems. If you had developed any in particular to counter the time lag, now is a good time to execute.
A well laid out back-up plan can save the day for you hence it always pays to plan ahead of problems.
Admit To Your Mistakes
If, however, even after your efforts, your project is still lagging behind, own up to your mistakes. Amateur contractors often get scared to face their clients and stop responding to them altogether. They think of all ways to avoid having the tough talk.
As a professional, you must learn how to answer your clients and admit that the delay is indeed your mistake. Avoid pinning the blame on your team to escape; it creates a bad impression nonetheless while affecting your leadership. Apologize to the client explaining the cause of the hold-up, and give them a new date for the conclusion.
Make The Required Changes
The learning never ends if you want to stay at the top. After you successfully complete the project, compile all your reports, study them, and pinpoint all the things that caused the delay or made the situation worse.
Think and implement the required changes in your plan or team management to counter them the next time they pop up, or even better, to eliminate them. With the advancements in technology, real-time job costing software can help you solve many problems lurking in your system.
Dealing with such a problem could induce a lot of tension and panic and, that is why keeping these points in mind will help. But no one can argue that the best way to counter it is to expert time management (click here are a few tips).
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