Silence Fails

The Silent Crisis

This year, leaders across the world will make an awful bet. They will bet a substantial portion of their organizations’ budgets on ventures that have less chance of paying out than a red or black bet on a roulette wheel. And yet, as in every year for many decades, leaders will continue to put the money down.

Their preferred hedge against failure? Formal systems. Over the past twenty years, project professionals and management experts have focused on improving the formal systems related to program governance, project management, and project-related technologies. 

While these new approaches have substantially improved results, today two-thirds or more of initiatives, programs, or projects still miss their mark. Something is clearly missing. Beginning in late 2005, VitalSmarts and The Concours Group partnered to dive below the formal systems to identify what is missing when project execution fails. 

This study, Silence Fails: The Five Crucial Conversations for Flawless Execution, demonstrates that project leaders can substantially improve their organization’s ability to execute on high-stakes projects and initiatives by breaking a code of silence on five astoundingly common yet largely undiscussed and ignored problems that contribute significantly to almost all project failures.