Adjusting the Course – When EU Projects Don’t Go to Plan
Implementation Series #17 with Antonietta Pizza from ENCO ConsultingSee how you can collaborate with The Grant
Check out the episode website
Nothing goes exactly according to plan in a multi-year EU project. Activities are delayed, technical results differ from expectations, one work package becomes dependent on another, partners go quiet, or assumptions made during proposal writing simply turn out not to hold.
In episode #17 of the Implementation Series, I’m joined by Antonietta Pizza, Head of EU Projects Unit at ENCO Consulting, to look at how coordinators should respond when this happens. We discuss the difference between ordinary turbulence and a structural problem, why bilateral conversations with partners matter, how to keep the consortium aligned and why the project officer should hear about emerging problems early rather than receive surprises later.
We then move into adjusting the project itself: tasks, resources, budgets, formal amendments, documentation and the knock-on effects across the rest of the project. Antonietta also explains why a technically disappointing result does not necessarily mean that the work has no value—and why negotiations around money and budget reallocation can be the toughest challenge of all.
Time codes:
02:11 Guest introduction and fly in
05:56 Recognising That the Plan Is No Longer Working
19:02 Leading the Consortium Through Uncertainty
28:47 Adjusting the Project Without Losing the Project
45:04 When Failure Creates Better Results
53:57 Reflections and Advice
56:53 The toughest challenge
