Over the past three years, since taking on the Corporate Service responsibilities at the Ottawa Community Foundation, I’ve been at the helm of an ongoing cycle of major projects. These initiatives are part of a broader effort to evaluate and refine our systems and processes, ensuring we are best prepared to support the community in addressing some of the most complex challenges we collectively face. In this journey, I’ve found myself repeatedly returning to the first principles of project management – revisiting, relearning, and reaffirming the fundamentals that drive successful outcomes.
Project management is never simple. In any domain, it requires skill, foresight, and a steady hand to navigate uncertainties. However, in the charitable sector, the complexities take on a unique character. The dearth of sufficient funds and resources often constrains what can be imagined or implemented. Investment in technical assets tends to be more modest, reflecting both the limitations of budgets and the prioritization of frontline needs. Operational work – the heartbeat of any organization – demands full attention, often leaving little bandwidth for transformative initiatives. And then there’s the often-overlooked dynamic of vendors not always bringing their A-game, as if the charitable sector doesn’t deserve the same rigor as the private or public realms.
These challenges, though daunting, have sharpened my perspective. They’ve underscored the critical importance of thoughtful planning and dynamic communication – the twin pillars that support any successful project.
Success in any endeavor, whether it’s managing a project, navigating relationships, or steering through the complexities of life, is rarely about avoiding challenges. It is about understanding them, preparing for them, and responding with agility and clarity when they arise. For me, the art of preparation is not just a professional habit; it is a personal philosophy – a framework through which I approach leadership, decision-making, and even the everyday complexities of life.
At the heart of this philosophy lies the interplay of two critical elements: thoughtful planning and dynamic communication. While these may seem like standard tools in any manager’s toolkit, their power lies not in their mere presence but in their intentional application. Planning isn’t just about crafting a roadmap – it’s about ensuring that everyone understands the terrain, the destination, and, most importantly, the potential detours and roadblocks along the way.
Clear and deliberate communication serves as the connective tissue of this process. It’s the cadence that keeps the team aligned, the rhythm that ensures no one is marching to a different beat. I’ve often found myself repeating key points, revisiting assumptions, or clarifying expectations, even at the risk of redundancy. Why? Because clarity is worth the cost of repetition. Ambiguity, on the other hand, is a luxury no complex project can afford.
When a plan is shared with transparency and reinforced through consistent communication, it becomes more than a set of instructions – it becomes a shared understanding. It invites questions about assumptions, surfaces unspoken concerns, and builds a collective sense of ownership. Everyone knows not just what the plan is, but also why it exists and how it adapts when things don’t go as expected.
And let’s be honest: things never go entirely as planned. That’s not failure; that’s reality. Unanticipated challenges are a natural byproduct of complexity. What separates successful teams and leaders from the rest is not their ability to avoid disruptions but their readiness to respond. Contingency planning is an acknowledgment of this truth – a declaration that we are prepared for what we can predict and adaptable to what we cannot.
But here’s the catch: contingency plans are only as good as the communication that supports them. Too often, I’ve seen projects falter not because of the challenges themselves but because teams failed to grasp the implications of what went wrong – or lacked a clear path forward when it did. This underscores why every plan must be a living document, accompanied by a communication strategy that is equally alive: honest, dynamic, and unafraid of redundancy.
In practice, this means establishing a project cadence that doesn’t just keep the team moving forward but actively fosters alignment. It means building in deliberate moments to reexamine assumptions, invite diverse perspectives, and recalibrate expectations. It’s about asking: What do we know? What do we assume? What might we be missing? and answering these questions collectively.
This approach applies far beyond project management. It’s a life principle. Whether you’re leading a team, raising a family, or navigating personal decisions, the combination of thoughtful preparation and honest communication creates the foundation for resilience. It’s not about control – life is far too unpredictable for that. It’s about cultivating clarity, anticipating the probable, and remaining adaptable to the possible.
Good planning is like composing a symphony. Every note, every pause, every shift in tempo is deliberate. It tells a story, anticipates crescendos, and accounts for dissonance. But the real magic lies in the orchestra – the people who interpret, adapt, and bring the symphony to life. For them to play in harmony, the conductor must communicate not just the notes but the intent, the feeling, the nuances that make the music whole.
In leadership, as in music, what matters is not perfection but coherence – a shared understanding of the plan and the readiness to adapt when the melody shifts unexpectedly. Because it will. And when it does, the measure of success is not how closely we stuck to the script but how well we responded, how seamlessly we adjusted, and how gracefully we navigated the inevitable discord.
So, when faced with a challenge – whether anticipated or unanticipated – don’t ask, Why did this go wrong? Instead, ask, What do we understand about what’s happening, and how can we move forward? That shift in focus transforms obstacles into opportunities for growth and learning.
The cadence of a project, the clarity of a plan, and the depth of communication are not just tools – they are the rhythm and melody of success. Play them well, and the result is more than a completed project; it is a masterpiece of collaboration, understanding, and resilience.
Manu Sharma
https://manusharma.ca
