While working as a service manager for an IT hardware supplier, a particularly large order was placed in the middle of our busiest period, when several members of the team were on sick leave.

I immediately notified my senior manager and called a team meeting to discuss how to manage the situation. I set the tone by outlining the challenge honestly and pragmatically, acknowledging the pressure and thanking everyone for their effort, but insisted that if we worked together efficiently it could be delivered.

We then reviewed orders in process to identified how work could be prioritized. I asked my senior manager to reach out to other teams to see if we could get temporary cover from elsewhere. Two colleagues were volunteered, but after reviewing their skills and experience, I decided to only accept one, as the other would have taken too long to onboard, adding to pressure rather than relieving it.

Once we had collectively agreed a plan, I set up daily checkpoint meetings to ensure we remained on schedule, deal with emerging issues quickly, and monitor welfare. I also contacted teams which had a dependency with our work to identify any further risks to delivery. For teams who depended on us, I negotiated flexibility on deadlines for some work that allowed more time to deal with the large order.

As a result, the order was delivered on time and to quality. The team remained motivated throughout and were energized by having faced up successfully to such a challenge.

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