{"id":19037,"date":"2025-11-18T20:04:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T18:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/draganadjermanovic.com\/?p=19037"},"modified":"2025-11-18T20:04:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T18:04:44","slug":"relay-based-project-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/draganadjermanovic.com\/en\/grwth-idea-en\/relay-based-project-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Relay-Based Project Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

Multisector projects rarely fail because people lack knowledge or goodwill. They collapse on what is invisible yet hardest to manage \u2014 the dynamics between people and departments. Over the years, working with different organizations, I kept seeing the same pattern: the project matters, the plans exist, the teams are competent, and yet progress is slow and uneven.<\/strong> Everyone is formally \u201cin\u201d the project. Still, the energy is scattered, the pace is misaligned, and initiative ends up centralized in one person trying to connect elements that, by their nature, are insufficiently connected.<\/p>\n

This is most visible in what I call the \u201cProfit Triangle\u201d \u2014 sales, marketing, and procurement. Three departments that must function as one organism, yet often operate in spaces that barely intersect. It is precisely from such situations that I developed and refined the Relay-Based Project Leadership method. And today, I want to share it with you.<\/p>\n

THE PROBLEM: how the familiar \u201ceveryone minds their own business\u201d emerges<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When we say that in multisector projects, \u201ceveryone minds their own business,\u201d we don\u2019t mean people are working against the project. On the contrary, they protect what they are directly responsible for. Sales has its targets, marketing has its campaigns, and procurement has its deadlines. Each department lives in its own rhythm, measured by its own indicators, and therefore naturally optimizes its part of reality.<\/p>\n

And when the system is built that way, any project that crosses departmental borders ends up exactly there \u2014 between the borders\u2014a lonely goal on no-man\u2019s land. Sad, but above all, expensive for any organization.<\/p>\n

People retreat into what is familiar, where they feel safe, where success is measurable and predictable. And it is not because they are selfish or unwilling to contribute \u2014 the system sets them up that way. Departmental results look fine, but cross-functional projects lack a valid owner, the energy to push past departmental boundaries, and momentum.<\/p>\n

In such an environment, the project leader is nominally responsible but, in reality, stands on the very edge (I would even say the cliff) of a system where every outcome is reached slowly, partially, or reluctantly.<\/p>\n

A multisector project does not stall because people don\u2019t want it to move forward; it stalls because the structure does not support interdependence.<\/p>\n

THE CONSEQUENCES: When a project loses pace, the team loses motivation<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The feeling of \u201cwaiting for another department\u201d becomes chronic (and frustrating). A task that would be quick in a synchronized rhythm stretches out for days. Decisions travel from team to team, losing clarity while priorities shift. The project leader is no longer leading \u2014 they are reminding, negotiating, and pleading.<\/p>\n

The consequences are quiet, but unmistakable:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • The pace becomes inconsistent<\/li>\n
  • motivation declines<\/li>\n
  • accountability becomes diluted and ungraspable<\/li>\n
  • The project lives in a stall that nobody names, but everyone feels<\/li>\n
  • collaboration drops to the bare minimum required for formal correctness<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    The most significant loss is internal motivation. People feel they are working hard, yet the project barely moves. That feeling drains both the individual and the organization. And then they retreat even further. We enter a negative spiral. Almost no way back.<\/p>\n

    THE SOLUTION: How the relay changes the entire logic of the game<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    Relay-Based Project Leadership introduces a simple yet profoundly transformative idea: the project leadership role rotates at intervals that match the project\u2019s duration<\/strong>\u2014every three, six, or twelve months. At one point, marketing holds the relay, then sales, then procurement, operations, and finance \u2014 depending on the type of project.<\/p>\n

    When we know our turn to lead is coming, we relate to what we hand over today differently. Suddenly, we care that information is clear, that the flow is organized, that the dynamics are healthy \u2014 because we will be the ones inheriting them. When others know they<\/em> will soon take the relay, they begin to support us because we will soon be in their shoes.<\/p>\n

    The structure changes, behavior changes, and projects begin to function in a rhythm in which responsibility moves rather than stagnates within one department.<\/p>\n

    When we know our turn to lead is coming, we relate to what we hand over today differently.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    For the leadership rotation to work, the project needs a clean, structured transition. This is where what I call the Relay Handover Status Memorandum<\/strong> comes in \u2014 a bridge between two leaders.<\/p>\n

    The outgoing leader documents the project\u2019s current state, key decisions, open issues, risks, recommendations, and everything the next leader needs to understand where the project stands. The incoming leader signs it, accepts responsibility, and continues exactly where the previous leader left off \u2014 without information loss, without restarting, without improvisation.<\/p>\n

    The memorandum preserves continuity, and continuity preserves momentum. The relay truly moves from hand to hand.<\/p>\n

    THE RESULTS: When leadership circulates, the project accelerates<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    When this model is introduced, the shifts are both visible and encouraging. People begin to understand the perspectives of other departments because, over time, everyone steps into the role previously held by only one person. Communication becomes more natural and direct because there is no longer \u201cthem\u201d and \u201cus\u201d \u2014 there is a shared moment in which everyone knows they will soon be accountable for the whole.<\/p>\n

    The project gains a steadier pace. The energy rises because leaders don\u2019t burn out \u2014 they rotate. Priorities become clearer because they are set by those currently leading, and others know their turn is coming soon. The organization gradually develops a culture in which people stop looking at departmental boundaries and begin to see the logic of the entire task. The relay builds trust, and trust builds results.<\/p>\n

    Multisector teams then operate as one organism. The relay builds trust, and trust builds results.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    And finally \u2014 something I always tell my clients<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    Relay-Based Project Leadership is a way for an organization to grow. It is a model in which we stop searching for \u201cthe best person for the project\u201d and start building the best system for projects<\/strong>. Some of the companies I work with have already reorganized their entire structure and decision-making process based on this model.<\/p>\n

    I hope you will put this idea to good use. Good luck!<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Multisector projects rarely fail because people lack knowledge or goodwill. They collapse on what is invisible yet hardest to manage \u2014 the dynamics between people and departments. Over the years, working with different organizations, I kept seeing the same pattern: the project matters, the plans exist, the teams are competent, and yet progress is slow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[789],"tags":[874,873,877,876,875,872],"class_list":["post-19037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grwth-idea-en","tag-cross-department-collaboration","tag-cross-functional-projects","tag-multisector-project-management","tag-organizational-dynamics","tag-project-leadership","tag-relay-based-project-leadership","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/draganadjermanovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/draganadjermanovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/draganadjermanovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/draganadjermanovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/draganadjermanovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19037"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/draganadjermanovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19040,"href":"https:\/\/draganadjermanovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19037\/revisions\/19040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/draganadjermanovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/draganadjermanovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/draganadjermanovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}