Projects getting cancelled

Likely impact…

…on you

Inevitably this means wasted time. Of course this is frustrating and demotivating for you and your team. And it also means you have less to devote to other work. This may mean having to rush other projects (so they may be of lower quality than they otherwise would be). Or you have to work needlessly silly hours just to get everything done.

…on the organisation

Often a certain amount of budget may already have been spent before the project gets cancelled – so that’s gone to waste. And if the quality of other communications is compromised, it can only have a negative effect on the business results those communications would otherwise have produced.

Likely causes

Business circumstances can sometimes change in ways no one could reasonably have foreseen. But unless that’s the case, project cancellations will almost certainly be down one of three causes:

  1. Briefing and Campaign Planning processes that aren’t up to the job
  2. members of the IC team who lack the skills to use those processes effectively
  3. an inadequate mandate which means you don’t always get the opportunity to use effective processes.

Possible solutions

If you have formal briefing and campaign planning processes, it’s perfectly possible to revise them, and make them DFVP. And the IC team can then be taught to use them successfully.

By their very nature, DFVP processes come with their own ‘technical mandate’ built in. But it can always help if those individual mandates for each process are also backed up by an overall financial mandate to do the job as you see fit.

Things to consider for your wish-list

A potential role for training

There are several roles training could play here. It can teach IC Specialists a series of DFVP:

Beyond training you’ll also need
  1. Time to practise this learning, so you and your team can deliver maximum ROI.
  2. A mandate to use these practices in all relevant circumstances.

Where those solutions could take you

These solutions should mean that anyone who wants you to work for them is letting you take them through an effective briefing process. And when you’ve backed it up with DFVP campaign planning, you’ll be able to validate their communication needs before anyone starts working on them. That way, unless business circumstances change, nothing you work on should end up being pulled.

Likely business benefits…

…to you

You save time and frustration, And you have more time to devote the stuff that really does need doing. So your work should be producing more fulfilling results, and the process of producing them should be more enjoyable.

…to your organisation

Needless IC budget waste should be a thing of the past. And if the quality of other communications is no longer being compromised, it can only have a positive effect on the business results those communications produce.