Accept it – Swirl, like gossip, has no place on a highly effective team. But knowing that it will happen is no different than identifying it as a risk and then developing a mitigation plan for it. At Lake Shore Associates (LSA), we use two primary tools with this technique. 1) Develop a risk and issue log during the initiation phase of a project to identify any possible challenges or blockers (i.e., risks) that might pop up during the project. 2) Create a Stakeholder Matrix to identify everyone impacted by the project, what their engagement or resistance to the change might be and what we as Project Managers need to do to work with each individual stakeholder. Moving stakeholders from a place of resistance to adoption is critical for project success as well as benefits realization.

Call it out – Once a risk has materialized into an actual issue, it needs to be noted as such on the project issue log for everyone to see. Talking about it during executive updates and regular project meetings does two things: 1) Notifies everyone that the issue will be dealt with and not brushed under the rug and 2) Creates a path towards resolution so the project can remain on track. It’s important to discern if the issue is fact based or perception. Either way, it needs to be dealt with since perception is someone’s reality.

Make a decision – Swirl is oftentimes the result of a team’s inability to make a decision. We often tell our clients that any decision, even if it ends up being the wrong one, is better than no decision at all. Operating on a team where decisions are deferred and not made, promotes swirl. If people lack direction they will continue to speculate or even worse, try to campaign towards the old way of doing things. With a decision, people have something to react to and more importantly, it creates purpose and a path forward for individuals and teams. At LSA, we use RACIs or RAPID models to clearly define roles and responsibilities; especially identifying the individual with decision rights if the team is unable to arrive at a decision collectively.

Stick with the decision– We have a rule with our clients that we can’t revisit a decision unless new information has presented itself. Once we document a decision for the whole team to see, we channel that decision for all future work. When questions arise, we anchor to the decisions made by the project team. Of course, if an assumption has changed or a market condition has shifted, then the project team has earned the right to modify the decision if necessary. Otherwise, the surefire way to create swirl – is to continually revisit decisions. This creates project delays, increases cost, and causes project benefits to lag. Sometimes quite significantly to the point a project is cancelled.