When I wrote my last blog, I had just found out that my colleague, Melissa Chambers, and I were accepted to present at the eLearning Guild’s Online Forum in April (we are presenting on April 11 at 10:30 CST). Since then, we’ve been having great conversations, gathering great case studies and collecting relevant, practical, content for our presentation. We’re getting very excited to share our thoughts with others, so much so, that we’d like to give you a little preview!

Here are five of the 10 tips that we contributed to the ebook that accompanies this forum, 76 Tips on Turning Instructional Design Challenges into Successes:

Top Tips For Bringing Your Project Back From The Brink

by Sarah Kesher and Melissa Chambers

1. Chicken Little is not invited. The situation may be bad, but lets face it, ours is not a life or death field. The sky is, in fact, not falling so don’t behave as if it is. And, don’t buy in to others panic either. Avoid the instinct to sound the alarm immediately; take a break, put your knee-jerk reactions in check and make sure your concerns are warranted before you make your next move.
2. The real issue may not be what it seems. Make sure you get to the true root(s) of the issues before you decide any course of action. Push yourself past the obvious to look at the situation from all angles. For example, what may, on the surface, seem like an issue of quality may really be about expectations of the client’s time. If you don’t identify the real issue, you may be wasting everyone’s time working on something that’s ultimately not important.
3. Consider their reality. We all hear “look at the other person’s perspective” and that’s a good tip, but we encourage you to go deeper. Ask yourself “what’s their reality?”—What things in their world could be influencing how they view you, the project, and their vision of the final outcome? You may find clues that will inform your choices, improve your communication, and help rebuild trust.
4. Take a responsible risk. When a project is at the point of crisis, sitting quietly and wishing the problems would go way doesn’t work. At all. Take the risk to initiate the tough conversations. The biggest factor in taking the risk is believing that it will pay off in the end—even if it doesn’t totally resolve the problems, it will establish you as a high-integrity partner that’s working toward their success.
5. Check ego at the door. There’s no room for it. Its not about who’s right, its about what’s right for the project.

We hope you’ll join us online for the forum where we’ll explore all 10 concepts with a good deal more depth, discuss several examples, and hopefully share a laugh or two. Let us know if you’ll be attending—with a virtual forum, it’s always nice to know who’s out there listening! Click here for more information and to register.