🙅🏽‍♀️ ❌ How program managers should navigate rejection

👋🏾 Welcome to The Program Playground newsletter, your guide to building better programs.

Here’s this week’s TL;DR

• What to do when your program ideas get #blocked

• Check out what I’ve been up with the City of Atlanta workforce development program!

✨ 𖥔‧₊˚ ⊹ Turning rejection into redirection 𖥔‧₊˚ ⊹ ✨

As a program manager, 75% of your job is pitching ambitious ideas to stakeholders.

But sometimes, despite your best efforts, you hit a roadblock, or flat out rejection (usually in the form of a stakeholder who's quick to shoot down your idea due to budget constraints, resource limitations, competing priorities, etc. etc. etc.).

Here are five ways to get the ball back in your court:

1. Identify your backup plan. You know what they say, “if you want a dog, ask for a horse.” Typically, I outline three: 1) The Reach, 2) The Ideal, and 3) The Absolutely Not. Begin with The Reach, followed by The Ideal, and end with The Absolutely Not. Together, these options help illustrate the range of possibilities, and consequences.

2. Communicate value. As a program manager you have to demonstrate business value. You can pitch a million things, but if you aren’t explaining why they’re imperative to the business, you’re not convincing anyone but yourself.

3. Understand the why. If you get rejected, that’s fine, but make sure you know why. Whatever the reason is, you’ll be prepped for future pitches as you now have insights on what your team, department and company are prioritizing.

4. …and don’t give up. Keep refining your approach, seeking feedback, and looking for opportunities to move your program forward.

5. Find wins elsewhere. What did work in your pitch? Was a stakeholder excited about another aspect of your program? Were you able to secure a full-time designer for this project? There's usually a silver lining; it's just a matter of being in the right mindset to find it!

🍑 What I’ve been up to

Last week, Techsgiving hosted the first in-person session for our workforce development cohorts in Atlanta! We organized a panel discussion and networking session for program participants.

We’re 2/3 of the way through with the first cohort. Here’s a few things we’ve learned along the way:

• Set expectations early: These Google certificates are no joke and require a ton of time and commitment. That’s bandwidth that many participants don’t have due to work and family. While we understood this internally, we could have done a better job of communicating average weekly hours to everyone.

• Tell everyone everything: With a program of this scale, all stakeholders should be kept informed of at least 70% of the happenings. Currently, I'm collaborating with the City of Atlanta, my smaller education team, and the broader Techsgiving team. Given the city's significant stake in the project, maintaining consistent and clear communication is key. Remember, program managers that communicate always win the game!

• Ride the wave of choas: Decisions don’t only happen pre-program launch. Things shift often before, during, and after, so it’s important to ride the wave of change, rather than resist. Resistance leads to frustration, narrow perspectives, and lack of solutions. Flexibility helps us make decisions swiftly.

The first cohort ends in early June. Excited to share more data then!

Thank you for reading!