Page 188 - The Power to Change Anything

Find Strength in Numbers 177

ule when it actually isn’t is deeply rooted in the culture. Lying
about readiness is so common that Jess and his colleagues have
given it a special name. It’s called “project chicken.”
Here’s how the game is played. You say you’re ready with
your part of a project when you aren’t in the hope that some-
one else will admit that he or she will need to extend the dead-
line. The first person to lose nerve and say, “I need more time”
is the chicken. And like the vehicular version of the same game,
once someone swerves, everyone else is safe. All the others are
off the hook because they’ll benefit from the new extended
deadline, only they didn’t have to admit that they messed up.
In this particular meeting, most of the team leaders at the table,
just like Jess, are dangerously behind. And yet none of them
will admit it. Nobody swerves, the deadline isn’t extended, and,
as a result of their combined lying, a major product release will
soon end in disaster.
When we (the authors) first started working with this par-
ticular software company, it was on the brink of bankruptcy. It
had not met a product release date in years. And when the com-
pany finally did release products, they typically cost twice as
much as they should have. Morale was at an all-time low, so
in addition to product problems, the company was losing far
too many of its most talented players.
Mike, the newly appointed VP of development, was tasked
with turning this situation around. He had already identified
the vital behavior he had to influence. He knew that if he could
find a way to both motivate and enable employees up and down
the organization to speak up early and honestly about problems,
the company would improve morale, reduce costs, and gain
control of the schedule. But that was a big order.
When we first met Mike, he had already tried several strate-
gies. He’d implemented communication training. He’d identi-
fied opinion leaders and asked them to help solve the problem.
He had even created an anonymous survey to measure whether
or not behavior was changing. Still, the organization was stuck.