Recently, a colleague was abruptly pulled from his project and reassigned to another project. He was called into the division director’s office and told that he was being reassigned to a different project. He was given a week to complete any outstanding tasks, make sure all the project documentation and status reports were current, and conduct a turn-over to the newly assigned project manager. He would start his new project on the following Monday. The announcement was such a surprise that he didn’t hear much of the rest of the conversation and he certainly failed to comprehend the impacts of the reassignment until much later.
There was no advanced warning or indication that there were any problems with the project or with his performance. He had been working as the junior member of a two project manager team. They were in the first year of a two year deployment of a large state-wide security application. The lead project manager worked in the client facing role at the client location while he worked in a supporting role at the home office.
The project was on schedule and running within budget. So what was the problem and why was he being reassigned? The news shook him up pretty badly and he left the office to take a long walk to reflect on the news. Oh, the project was not without the typical issues, they were having difficulty scheduling resources, a software build had gone awry, and the customer was sometimes slow with milestone acceptances, but overall the project was in pretty good shape.
He actually went through the five stages of grieving, shock, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. But as he reflected on the conversation with his manager, he finally realized that this reassignment was not a punishment, but a reward. He was being promoted. He would be the lead project manager on a similar project for another state that was estimated to be 12 to 15 months in duration. He would be in the client–facing role and have responsibility for planning the entire project, scheduling, assembling the project team and conducting the kickoff with the client.
It took a full day for the announcement to sink in and for him to appreciate the impacts of the reassignment. A sense of relief flooded through him as he realized that his hard work, dedication, and attention to detail had been recognized and was being rewarded.
I know that we as project managers become emotionally invested in our projects. They become our babies as we smother them with all the love and attention they require to see them develop through the predictable five stages of the project lifecycle: Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitor and Controlling and finally through completion to Closing. We devote long hours managing the risks, overcoming challenges, and negotiating solutions to difficult problems. But alas, all projects come to a close and eventually we move onto other projects.
Here is the bottom line. Not all reassignments are bad for your career; some may actually provide new opportunities with new risks and rewards. Embrace the change and move forward with confidence.