Can project managers learn from tragedy?

Tragedy as a genre of theatre, culture and, ultimately, entertainment continues to be hugely popular. Some of the biggest names in acting have brought tragedy to new audiences and in substantial numbers. Tom Holland caused chaos last year as over 60,000 people tried to get tickets for a limited run of Romeo and Juliet. As I write, Brie Larson (of Captain Marvel fame) is appearing in a run of Elektra, while Rami Malek is appearing in Oedipus. David Tennant and Cush Jumbo’s performance of Macbeth broke theatre box office records and is now filling cinemas.

The connection between this theatrical form and the contemporary challenges facing project managers might seem remote. So why consider it?

Just like projects, tragedies are complex stories with a defined life cycle. Both can evoke challenging emotions.

But it is two of the key tragic techniques that demonstrate the potential learning for project managers most powerfully.

The turning point (or peripeteia)

The turning point is the moment when events start to develop to a point of inevitable tragedy. In Romeo and Juliet, the start of the fight that sees Mercutio die is the turning point for the rest of the tragedy that follows.

Many of us who have worked on complex projects can think of a painful turning point experience, perhaps captured in lessons learned exercises sometime afterwards.

For projects, the defence lies in the good practices that we aspire to adopt: diffused leadership, transparent decision-making, and well-designed governance and assurance structures.

Tragedy provides lessons to project professionals about how our behavioural style can reduce the risk of an unexpected turning point.

The moment of realisation (or agnorosis)

Agnorosis is the moment when the horror of events and the reality of their consequences become clear. It can make for uncomfortable viewing. Quite often, the audience has seen it approaching for some time. Just think of when Oedipus realises he has unwittingly killed his father and married his mother.

It is unlikely (hopefully) that any of our projects will ever encounter anything so terrible as the sufferings endured by tragic characters. We have all, however, witnessed a moment when issues in a project emerge or start to be understood fully. It could be the moment when it becomes clear that our delivery schedule is little more than a statement of hopes past – or when the true impact of an interdependency takes hold.

In hindsight, it is often clear why and when this moment was reached. It is paramount that we take time to reflect throughout our projects and seek the advice of others, to avoid reaching these moments.

Inspiration and turnaround

These dramatic techniques can be challenging to the audience, but they can also help us as project managers.

They can offer us inspiration for something more positive and hopeful. This could be focusing our skills and our leadership on creating positive moments of realisation. Or moments when the value of our project becomes obvious. The moment when momentum can build and colleagues start to actively advocate for our project.

What we do as project managers and leaders is serious and complex and, in some sectors, could have serious (and maybe even tragic) consequences if poorly managed. Perhaps the ancient concepts of tragedy can help us, in a small way, to be better project leaders. To reflect on our behavioural styles. To make sure that we are on a path to create positive turning points.