79: Win or Loose

May 4, 2008 @ The Tao of Project Management from P M Blogger

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The Project
Well things are starting to get interesting. Having selected a supplier we now find we have a challenge from the one who came second. They just can’t believe we would have chosen another supplier in preference to them. So we must have made a mistake and they want to help us fix the problem. Some people are just very bad losers.

Strange the people who I thought might be bad losers said thanks and they hope the project goes well. But the bad losers want to fight us. They are not going to win any friends that way. We now have to spend valuable time while they try and put pressure on us to change our minds. Even more interesting is they say they have spies inside the organisation. Now I may be old fashioned but that means I don’t trust anything they do or say. Winning and losing is a strange game.

The Way
A poor project manager tries to win the arguments. If you get into an argument with a member of the team, and it doesn’t come out the way you wish, don’t pretend to compromise while withholding your true feelings. The good project manager yields his position gracefully and returns to facilitating what is happening, win or loose.

We are all one, there are no sides to take. The wise project manger goes along with what is happening anyway. I know this, for this is the way of the project manager.

The Tao
Lao Tsu tells us:

After a bitter quarrel, some resentment must remain.
What can one do about it?
Therefore the sage keeps half of the bargain
But does not exact his due.
A man of virtue performs his part,
But a man without virtue requires others to fulfil their obligations.
The Tao of heaven is impartial.
It stays with good men all the time.


This article is syndicated from The Tao of Project Management . The original article is available here. Read more in Project Management News, The Tao of Project Management .

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