9
COMMUNICATE OR DIE
The first NHL All-Star Faceoff, a celebrity ice hockey match held before the 1996 NHL All-Star Game in Boston, was taped for an MTV special. Television personalities of the time like Matthew Perry, Michael J. Fox, Jason Priestley, Dave Coulier, Richard Dean Anderson, Jerry Houser, and Alan Thicke jumped at the chance to rub shoulders with NHL stars beneath the stands and take to the same ice. We believed that anything that exposed the sport to young American entertainment seekers could help to generate a new crop of fans for the “Great Frozen Game.” Whether we actually achieved that, I can’t say, but we felt that positioning popular stars as fans of the game was a strategy worth pursuing to promote the sport.
Both MTV and the NHL gave it another try the following year, 1997, in San Jose, California. The celebrity team would play two abbreviated periods with MTV’s cameras rolling. The game proceeded as planned, with camera crews capturing as much spontaneous verbal sparring from the team benches as play on the ice. As the exhibition neared its end, two Zamboni ice resurfacing machines waited in the tunnel for the players to finish so we could quickly prepare a fresh sheet for the NHL stars to take their warmup skate. Everything was designed to precisely fit the available time before the puck dropped on Fox’s coverage of the NHL All-Star Game. All we needed to make it work was perfection.
Perfection eluded us very early. The celebrities didn’t skate to their locker room when the game ended. MTV’s host kept some of the most popular stars on the ice to capture interviews and inaneness. While time slipped away, I realized I had no way to communicate in real time with the MTV camera crew and no way to communicate with anyone who could communicate with them.
The Zambonis moved onto the ice and idled in the far corners for seven interminable minutes until the crew and players finally moved off, finally enabling the machines to begin smoothing the ice. We struggled to make up the time, canceling video features and other pregame entertainment. I turned to Todd, the TV commercial coordinator standing beside me at the timekeeper’s bench sandwiched between the penalty boxes and warned him:
“We are going to be late.”
“How late?”
“I don’t know yet. Right now, it’s seven minutes, but I’m working on getting it down to about three or four by the time we start the game.”
About 45 minutes later, when the cameras started broadcasting live, we were less than two minutes behind schedule, which admittedly isn’t a long time unless, of course, all 120 seconds go horribly wrong. Which they did. Instead of the host’s “Welcome to the 47th NHL All-Star Game coming live from San Jose Arena,” the TV audience joined the show during a patriotic non sequitur starting with the last half of The Star-Spangled Banner. Because the TV commercial coordinator beside me failed to let the producer in the TV truck know about the delay, the Fox production team was as surprised as the viewers. Rather than disrespectfully talking over the national anthem, they were forced to just let it play, starting the show without a welcome or an explanation from the middle of the song.
The root cause when something goes wrong can be a flawed plan or an entirely unforeseen phenomenon, but very often incrementally more damage can result from a lack of communication or miscommunication. In our case, poor communication was the root cause of both the problem and our inability to manage it to a better result.
First, we had no way to communicate with the MTV camera crew. Second, we had no staff member responsible for supervising their time on the ice, and no one who could skate out to interrupt them. We chose not to force them off the ice, which we could have done by signaling the Zamboni drivers to start their resurfacing laps. Flattened celebrity hockey players might have been an even worse outcome.
A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE
We learned the hard way that things are most likely to go wrong when we do not or cannot communicate effectively. When events are in progress, our team typically communicates with walkie-talkie radios, various types of intercom systems, and, when all else fails, with phones and texts. We neglected to consider how we would communicate with a third party, MTV, upon whom we were dependent to stay on time. Had we been able to reach the camera crew directly or through an intermediary, the original seven-minute delay would have been far shorter, we would likely have been able to get back on schedule, and the broadcaster would have avoided airing half of the national anthem.
A focus on establishing a comprehensive, unhindered, and free-flowing system of communication before, during, and after a project is key to managing problems, regardless of the industry, company, or organization. Having quick access to the important internal and external stakeholders, problem solvers, and decision makers is essential. When time is of the essence, you can’t waste any of it not instantly knowing how to get to the people most qualified to help fix a problem, provide guidance, authorize direction, or respond to the aftermath.
KNOWING WITH WHOM TO COMMUNICATE
The most basic tool to encourage and accelerate the movement of information is a contact list that provides the phone numbers and e-mail addresses of everyone working on the project. Do you think that’s obvious? You would be surprised how many projects I encounter that don’t publish one. You may be less surprised to find out that we had a contact list for the NHL All-Star Game, but that no one from MTV was on it. MTV people should have been on the contact list, but they were overlooked because they were a third party. That turned out to be a disastrous omission. It doesn’t matter whose business card one carries. If they have a role on the project, include them, even if they are an outside resource.
An alphabetical directory of names may be convenient for smaller projects or for teams in which everyone knows one another. For larger projects and teams, however, a simple roster may not be enough. Although we as project leaders should know everyone’s roles and responsibilities, many of our teammates may not be as intimately familiar or knowledgeable. If that’s the case, consider adding job functions for each participant on the list, organizing the directory by department or responsibility, or adding a “who to call” for various kinds of help or to share important information.
The Super Bowl contact list, containing hundreds of names, was so complex that we circulated a booklet that included an alphabetical listing and a list by function to make it as user-friendly as possible. In later years, we also added a hotline with a knowledgeable “dispatcher,” someone who could receive information from anyone and then immediately disseminate it to the most appropriate members of the team. We published the pocket-sized booklet in printed form so teammates could keep a copy with them at all times, and also because sending it as an e-mail would be of little use if, say, the reason they had to contact someone was because their computer or smartphone was not working properly or our servers were down.
KNOWING HOW WE WILL COMMUNICATE
As important as it is to make it fast and easy to identify and reach the right person with whom to share information, it is equally essential to have a system in place to reach an entire group of people who may need to receive the information. Our primary pathway to communicate might be our mobile phones, texts, e-mails, or walkie-talkies. However, it is also essential to develop a backup plan in the event real-time communication is interrupted. As illustrated at the beginning of this chapter, a failure to communicate to those who may be affected by something that has gone wrong can cause more, and more serious, failures to follow.
My projects are often staged in stadiums or arenas in which people who are accessing the Wi-Fi system are relatively densely packed together, which can impact connectivity and slows down the transfer of data for customers and people behind the scenes alike. For those who require constant access to the Internet, we install Ethernet cables for uninterrupted connectivity. Sometimes, mobile phone service is challenged for the same reason. We add landlines for teammates who are stationary, or walkie-talkies as backups for those who are on the go.
Your business or project may not operate in a stadium, but connectivity issues that can interfere with communication between teammates and with our customers are still something to think about during contingency planning. Computer servers can fail under normal circumstances and may have even more devastating effects during more stressful project periods. Which teammates do you need to have on speed dial to restore the system? Is your project protected with a backup server? If there is a power failure, which of your communications systems will be functional, and for how long? Be sure your team knows how to communicate or receive information when their primary pathways are interrupted, and if all efforts to remain connected with the team fail, what you expect them to do.
At events, I make sure that my production team has our run of show document, the minute-to-minute description of what is supposed to happen and when. If the only thing that goes wrong is me being cut off from being able to communicate during an event, the team can use that document to make sure that the event unfolds as it was supposed to. Prepare and circulate the documents that tell your project team what needs to happen, and when, if appropriate, even if you are not able to guide them.
THE DANGERS OF HOARDED INFORMATION
Our national-anthem-related foul-up at the 1997 NHL All-Star Game in San Jose started with no pathway for communication at all, and was made immeasurably worse by the human factor: the TV broadcast coordinator’s failure to use the equipment he did have to communicate with the TV truck. Although talking to the coordinator was the customary way to keep the TV broadcaster apprised, it was my error to assume that he was doing that. It was my responsibility to confirm that he was with a simple direct query like “are you keeping the truck informed?” That night, we discovered that a failure, at any critical link, to pass along information can be just as damaging as no communication at all.
The TV producer, who was tucked away in a windowless mobile broadcast studio under the stands, was not aware that we were running behind schedule—or by how much. So our failure became his failure—an even greater, more nationally noticeable moment gone wrong. It also resulted in an ugly, well-deserved visit to the Commissioner’s Office when we got back to New York. He was an exceptional communicator and very clearly shared his extreme displeasure with the both of us.
Not wanting to ever repeat the experience in San Jose, we learned the value of having methods and processes for constant communication and confirmation during events along the entire chain of responsibility. We also learned that the more complex and departmentally siloed an organization, the more vulnerable that chain is to having information fail to flow the way it should.
I have never kept statistics on how often something goes wrong, or something goes from bad to worse, because someone simply didn’t think it was important enough—or not his or her job—to share the information he or she possessed. It’s most often not malicious. It’s just that people do not appreciate that the information they have is important to others on whom they rely to deliver a particular outcome. Changes to our plans, no matter how seemingly inconsequential and innocuous, can lead to unexpectedly poor results.
During the week leading up to Super Bowl XLIII at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, in 2009, we received a call from the loading dock. Approximately 70,000 “fun-size” Snickers bars were being off-loaded for free distribution to fans as they entered on game day. We knew about the promotion and had expected the shipment to arrive late on the day before the game, the ideal time to accept a delivery of delicious chocolate confections in the most likely climactic conditions of Tampa—sunny, hot, and humid. Instead, the truck arrived unexpectedly several days early, dropped the pallets of candy bars, and departed.
According to one chocolatier, it is ideal to store chocolates in a cool, dry place at a consistent temperature between 65 and 68 degrees, at a humidity of less than 55 percent. Tampa that week, however, was a sticky 80 degrees with 80 percent humidity. We had requested a last-minute delivery because every available cool space was stocked to capacity with consumables for game-day concessions and catering, so it was very likely that tens of thousands of units of the fan-favorite candy bar were going to be in suboptimal, perhaps soupy conditions after a few days on the loading dock. We called the NFL’s sponsorship group to find out what had gone wrong. Apparently, our colleagues knew that the truck was going to arrive days earlier than scheduled and had not thought it was important to let us know. After all, they thought, an early delivery is better than a late one, right? It was now our problem and we had no good place to store tens of thousands of candy bars. So, as the temperature and humidity continued to provide conditions inhospitable to Snickers bars, I sadly imagined them slowly softening to an unintended redefinition of smooth, creamy chocolate, nougat, and caramel snuggling roasted peanuts.
Just a few days before the premature delivery of the Snickers bars, the New York Times reported on “one of the largest food contamination scares in the nation’s history,” a story that was growing in prominence and ubiquity. Recalls had already been announced for more than 400 products containing peanuts “after eight people died and more than 500 people in 43 states, half of them children, were sickened by salmonella poisoning.” In fact, the recall was expanding daily, and although there were no indications that Snickers bars were ever going to be affected, M&M Mars decided to quietly abandon the Super Bowl fan giveaway and sent a truck back to pick up the shipment. As a result, no one opened a single gooey package of chocolaty, peanutty goodness on game day. Sometimes things go wrong and few people notice. Usually, I’m not that lucky.
SHARE CHANGE
Plans change all the time. It’s a natural outcome of the emergence of new information, continuing refinement, and the actions of outside forces during the planning process. As details change, there is almost always a need to share those shifts with project teammates and stakeholders. Without that flow of information, unnecessary work, anxiety, and confusion can reign, and desired outcomes can be subverted. Dispatching an early delivery of Snickers bars is a seemingly innocent occurrence, but it precipitated wasted effort during the very busiest of times. Had our coordinator let the TV producer know that we were running late back in San Jose, we would have avoided breaking into the broadcast halfway through The Star-Spangled Banner. Failure to communicate provides proof positive of the truth of Murphy’s First Corollary: “Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.”
When overseeing a project team, it is essential to establish an environment in which sharing information is a mandatory expectation. That is why the “mantra” for my second year at the NFL shifted from “Assume Nothing, Double Check Everything” to “Communicate or Die.” A project as complex and visible as the Super Bowl had to be managed in a culture of personal responsibility for sharing information and an intolerance for carelessly failing to pass along important details as plans and schedules changed. When we need to make even a minor alteration in the scope of our projects, we must consider who needs to know so that they can fulfill their jobs effectively.
Minor changes may affect only a small number of teammates, but more impactful changes to the plan may require wholesale communication to the entire team. Ready-made distribution lists for the dissemination of certain types of information can often be helpful, reducing the potential error of omitting someone who should have been informed.
SURPRISES SUCK!
Taking responsibility as a project leader to share pertinent changes with teammates does more than buy back valuable time and productivity. It models the behaviors you wish to promote: an environment of swift and open notification in both directions that will avoid unnecessary, unproductive, and unwelcome surprises. Effective leadership is all about modeling desired behaviors. If we keep our teams informed and express the expectation that they will do the same for us, the likelihood of a surprise development that someone else in the organization anticipated, but didn’t share, can be greatly reduced. For our Super Bowl team, this mandate was expressed with another wry “mantra” one year—“Surprises Suck!” No one wanted to have to say it, but just as important, no one wanted to have to hear me say it because they withheld information.
At what point does information flow become a case of over-communication? In my opinion, there is no such thing. It is up to us as project leaders to evaluate the importance of all information we receive and act on information that we believe is of the highest priority. That said, I would rather be over-informed than over-surprised.
Cultivating a culture and expectation to communicate changes and threats on a timely basis can help lessen the likelihood of something going wrong or can reduce the severity of the impact if it does go wrong anyway. There are other important components to communications planning that will prove essential when the very worst impacts are unavoidable:
• Define how we will make critical decisions.
• Define how we will manage critical communications with the outside world after something goes horribly wrong.