If Anna Mae Managed Your Project: A "No-Excuses" Approach to Project Management

By Debbie Nicklaus

Originally appeared in the International Creativity Network Newsletter, volume 4, number 2, 1994, pages 6, 10.

"I must do it myself, but I can't do it alone."
"I must do it myself, but I can't do it alone" - unknown"

In our culture, excuses have more respect that they deserve. It seems that completing 80% of a task is the same as completing 100% of the task as long as you have a good reason. For the mathematicians: 80% + a good excuse = 100%

If this is a new concept to you, read it again and see if you can find some examples;

• Ever arrive at a meeting 10 minutes late with a very good excuse as to why you were late?
• Ever complete a report 2 days late, with a very good excuse?
• Ever not return the call when you said you would, with a very good excuse?
• Ever (you fill in the blank), with a very good excuse?

Once you can find examples, you can also note the times when the excuses really didn't matter.

• When you missed your 10 year old son's homerun in the first inning because a meeting ran late.
• When the budget number for your boss were late because you forgot.

Somehow, we have let our sense of commitment erode so that we allow ourselves (and others) off the hook easily, sometimes spending time and energy developing terrific excuses and explanations ... energy that perhaps could be more effectively directed towards getting the task or project done. Let's face it, most people don't care about the reasons or justifications. They just want to know if what you said you'd do is complete.

My grandmother, Anna Mae, lived this idea of "no excuses." She would give my sister and me explicit instructions such as "You have 10 minutes to take your grandfather's coffee to him in the barn, wash your hands, and be ready to help me cook supper." As we ran out of the house, screen door banging behind us, she would add ..."10 minutes, no excuses." We knew she was serious. No excuses mattered to her.

She knew we could easily get distracted on the way to and from the barn ... there were kittens to try to catch, Lassie the dog to play with, combines and tractors to climb on, my grandfather to stop and talk with ... lots of things could happen on that short walk to the barn, and she knew it. She also knew she wanted our help to fix supper. From her we learned "no excuses."

You may think this is a hard approach to managing a couple of youngsters. However, it didn't feel that way. Expectations were clear, we knew why, and she related to us always as a grandmother does with love and in a way that we always knew she was on our side. Anna Mae applied the same practices to herself. If she told us she would take us for a walk, or help us do something, we knew her word was good ... she took her commitments seriously.

As you might expect, grandmother passed her methods on to my mother. Mom had high expectations of us in regards to our grades in school. ... expecting A's, no excuses. It didn't matter if we didn't like the class, or the subject, or the teacher. Even if we all agreed the teacher was incompetent, it didn't matter. It didn't matter if we were involved with a number of extracurricular activities, working, and taking other courses requiring a lot of homework. "I don't have time to study" didn't count. All these factors could be true and she still expected A's.

As with my grandmother, she provided clear (high) expectations, she provided the why's constantly, and did this always with love and in a manner that we knew she was on our side. For example, both she and my dad made it perfectly clear that they expected us to ask them for help or companionship, but ask for it early so that they could help out, not at the end of a two-week project, or at the end of an evening for homework due the next day.

Above all, my parents asked for no surprises. If we were having trouble in a class it was much worse to not let them know we were having trouble, than getting a less than satisfactory grade. They asked that we let them know early so we could all work on it together.

OK, so nice story, but what does this have to do with project teams or work groups? What do you think? If my grandmother came to your project meetings what coaching do you think she would have for you?

• How would you demonstrate both high expectations of yourself and others on the team?
• How would you let others on the team know that you are 'on their side'?
• How might you insure that all team members understand the "why" in the project/task?
• Are you providing excuses rather than results?
• Do you see where you might slip into problems.
• Who could you notify now so they can be forewarned that you might not meet your commitment?
• And who could you ask for help?

So you're still saying "OK, so I put myself (my team) on the hook to achieve something, I give it all that I can, I get help from others when needed, and I still don't achieve it. Then what?" Well then you just didn't make it. No excuses. Though, my guess is that you would have achieved far greater results than had you have started with the attitude "no way can I produce this", and spent energy collecting reasons why along the way.

If we want to obtain exciting things in our lives and help support and coach others to do the same, consider new ways to put yourself "on the hook". Set a goal and achieve it. No excuses.