It’s been several weeks.  You have discussed and researched and made decisions for a certain area of your project.  Your counterparts seem to have the information they need and everything is going smoothly.

You dial in for a typical weekly meeting and instead of the familiar host, you find out they have gone and have been replaced by another team member.  One you have never met or spoken with and they have not been part of the 2 month of meetings you have had so far.

What can you do?

• Listen to the new person and discretely assess if you are starting from scratch
• Review your project schedule and determine if there is an impact
• Note this resource change in your status reports
• Explore how you assist the new person get up to speed
• Have a separate call to pass on your support and encouragement
• Personally inform your stakeholders of this development and your assessment of impact to your project

The resource change has been made and it is up to you to manage the impact like any other event in your project.  Approach with a positive attitude and mitigate what you can.