Internal Politics in Projects

            I have 24-plus years of experience dealing with internal politics, and I can say that internal politics play a role in every project, and is a key factor to project success or failure.  The dynamics of the internal politics can very, and sometimes you do not need the majority for a project to succeed, if the minorities are in the right positions within the organizational structure.  Having the right key players onboard can make a project, but if one link of the chain is faulty, the entire project is at risk.

            A perfect example of how internal politics factors into a project was a project I was involved with in 2003 on the island of Guam.  Poaching was a big problem on Federal property, but due to safety concerns patrol officers were not allowed to pursue poachers into the jungle.  To overcome this problem, I was allowed to put together a team and give them specialized training for dealing with extraordinary situations.  After an eight-week academy, Guam Naval Security had a Special Response Team (SRT), trained in close quarter combat, special weapons and tactics, combat tracking, and land navigation.  When patrol officers called in poachers running into the jungle, SRT responded, went in after them, and apprehended them.  Within six months, word got around the island about not poaching on Federal property due to the team.  SRT became the core group of another project a few months later known as COBRATAC (Chemical, Ordnance, Biological and Radiological Tactical team).  COBRATAC was designed to respond to incidents involving hazardous materials, weapons of mass destruction, explosive devices and other criminal or terrorist acts.  In less than two years from its inception, COBRATAC was the only HAZMAT response team in the Marianas Islands region because the local agencies didn’t have that capability.

            As you can imagine, to accomplish two major team projects within just two years was an enormous undertaking, and required tremendous coordination.  Team members received extensive training to become experts in many specialty fields, and specialized gear was required to fulfill missions effectively.  But all was not rainbows and butterflies where internal politics was concerned.  The key players in their success were myself, the Regional Security Officer, The Federal Fire Chief, and a civilian contractor.  Four people made this all happen.  I can honestly say that if any one of them were not onboard, the projects would have failed.

            I was the only Chief in a group of seven CPOs that supported the project and many “closed door” discussions were held about SRT.  I was pretty much ostracized from the CPO community during my time on Guam, because I put the team before the politics of the CPO community.  To put everything in perspective, I left in the summer of 2005, and before the end of the year SRT had been disbanded as a team, and team members were split between patrol sections.  COBRATAC fell soon after, when the Regional Security Officer transferred, and the Fire Chief retired.

            Not only does internal politics play a part during the project, but continues after completion.  If the champions of a project do not have replacements with similar interest and passion in the project, it will fail.