Core Team Motivation

The most commonly cited reason for project failure is lack of team motivation.  Without a committed and motivated team, even great ideas never make it to fruition.  What does it take to develop and maintain team motivation?  We’ve not got time to delve into the depths of motivation, but below are some crisp tips.

Developing Motivation

1.       Ownership – The fountain of commitment.  If they (the team) build it (participates in defining “how” the project will be completed), it (ownership / commitment) will come.  It is this commitment that drives results!

2.       Focus – Having a clear vision (mission statement) with a detailed knowledge of what each team member will contribute (work breakdown structure) and the result are primary factors in motivation.  Lack of focus is the most commonly voiced frustration of core team members and results in diffuse outcomes.

3.       Power Through Alignment – Teams desire power to accomplish tasks and meet deadlines.  When the Project Leader ensures that projects are visibly aligned with key business strategies, teams acquire that power by driving business results. Alignment of key stakeholder expectations also produces power for the team.

4.       Belonging – Individual team members will either spend their energy working with one another, or protecting themselves from one another.  Encouraging team members to invite co-worker involvement is difficult but produces great results.  The ability of each team member to express ideas / concerns is key to motivation.

        Maintaining Motivation

5.       Recognition of Needs – Project Leaders who quickly identify individual needs / strengths / weakness and assign work in a way to leverage each not only sustain motivation but also enhance results.  Doing tasks that challenge, offer growth possibilities and produce visible results motivate.

6.       Sense of Achievement / Momentum – Nothing is more frustrating than an absence of forward momentum.  Being blocked from accomplishment is frustrating and discouraging.  Project Leaders that monitor, actively communicate and encourage celebration of movement toward goals / milestones drive motivation.

7.       Meaningful Rewards / Recognition – Money is not the only reward, nor is it the best.  Recognition, challenge, change, involvement, empowerment, and growth are all more powerful motivators.  Working in an exciting / fun environment is more motivational than the money derived from working in a hostile one.

Managing Sponsor and Customer Alignment

As a project leader, there were many times that I became frustrated because the project sponsor and customer seemed to both have different views of the project than I did.  The sponsor's goal is to resource the project and keep costs and time to schedule.  The customer's goal is to derive as much value as possible from the project.  And the project leader's goal is to ensure that these often opposing parties are all happy when the project is complete.  Opposing perspectives can lead to all sorts of problems, and I eventually learned that before a project gets too far out of the starting blocks, a wise project leader ensures alignment between these three key stakeholders.

Reconciling your vision of the project (project requirements documentation or project charter) with the Customer and Sponsor will establish an initial “mind-meld” and ensure the project gets underway with aligned or homogenized expectations.  Once this is managed, then a project leader just needs to maintain that alignment - much easier than creating it mid-project!

The process of achieving this alignment is critical to the success of your project.  Following is the outline of a process you may find useful to ensure that you, your project sponsor and customer (or customer advocate) share common expectations: 

1. Get Customer and Sponsor Together: Never assume that the Sponsor and Customer have a common view / understanding of the project or have even spoken with one another directly about it.  Try to get both parties together in the same room with you when ever possible.  The more important the project, the more important this step is. 
2. Review the Project Charter:  Overview the draft charter you have created with both the sponsor and the customer.  Respond to their questions and take note of their suggestions, input and reactions. 
3. Begin by Listing Specific Expectations: Ask both parties to identify and list, in priority order, their expectations of desired project results (deliverables, time frames, acceptable risks, etc.).  Ask them to be specific.  Have them share their expectations and facilitate a discussion to initiate alignment.  Refer to Managing Expectations posts (Part One - Apr 13th 2011, and Part Two - April 25th, 2011) for information on how to gain alignment of expectations.
4. Identify Assumptions:  Work with both parties to identify assumptions that may underlie their expectations.  Work to identify those that may pose risk and incorporate them into your risk log.
5. Discuss Trade-Offs: Where differences exist, use Resolving Conflict to work through issues that may arise / exist and consider trade-offs.  Then document agreement by updating your draft Charter.  I usually come prepared to do this on the spot.  Getting all of these parties together again may be difficult.
6. Agree to The Revised Project Charter:  The final step is to get both to agree to the revised charter.  Your revised charter now needs to be managed throughout the project to ensure that expectations don't diverge as the project progresses and changes are implemented.

 Projects where I started this way usually went more smoothly than those where I skipped this important step.  If you will do these steps prior to or during your reconciliation meeting, you will successfully align expectations and start your project with support from your key stakeholders.  Try it, you'll like it!

Making Your Project Green

It’s increasingly difficult to go a day without hearing news of global warming or its impact on our planet and lifestyles.  Each day a larger percent of newsprint is dedicated to reporting on the ecological impact we are having on our communities, nations and planet.  We have known for years that our decisions impact our environment, but until now, the pain associated with those decisions was a future, not an immediate source of concern.  With the impacts of pollution, global warming, and increasing energy / food costs, perhaps it is time for us to add “ecological impact” to the list of important considerations as we make key project leadership decisions.

Typically the three mantras of all project leaders are “Quality”, “On-Time” and “Within Budget”.  However, a growing number of organizations are leveraging their success by innovating more eco-friendly ways of conducting their business.  As project work is typically at the cutting edge of innovation, it should be the front line for eco-friendly ideas and solutions.

Following is a list of some areas where we should consider the size of our “footprint”:

1. Communication – What is the most environmentally efficient way to communicate?
2. Vendor Selection Criteria – who can provide the best solution with the smallest negative impacts to the environment?
3. Resource Utilization – is there a better / less harmful way to accomplish each task?
4. Project Prioritization – how can we more actively integrate “environmental impact” into our decision criteria?
5. Quadruple Constraint – in addition to “better”, “cheaper” and “faster”, can we add “cleaner”?
6. Travel – Could it be accomplished as effectively in a more environmentally friendly way?

Here is a link to a short Environ Sim that may help you with this new thought process.  See how you do.  Let me know what other issues you'd like to see added.  Enjoy!

 

Negotiating for Resources

Project resources are always critical to your success.  Acquiring and keeping the appropriate resources requires negotiation skills. Negotiation skills and tactics is a large topic, but boiling it down to the basics for project leaders leads to the following few tips to help you better negotiate with stakeholders (particularly upper management):

1.     Remember that negotiation is a PROCESS, not an EVENT.  Don't be afraid to revisit previous "No's".

   2.     Always begin with a detailed Project Charter.  This will become the foundation for all of your negotiations.

3.     Know how your project aligns with key business strategies.  Only by aligning with key strategies will you have the power to win negotiations.

4.     Agree with Sponsor on the overall priority of your project.  You won't want to ask for resources needed on higher priority projects.  Knowing the priority of your project will allow you to avoid potentially unsuccessful negotiations.

5.     Always reconcile the Charter with the Project Sponsor and the Customer (or Customer advocate).  Get both to sign the charter to document agreement.  This initial agreement will form the foundation for all future negotiations.

6.     Begin every negotiation with common ground.  You and the party with which you negotiate both want project success.  Start there.  Then demonstrate how what you are requesting supports and is necessary for project success.

7.     Never make a concession without the other party making one as well.  Remember to demonstrate the consequences of each concession and do so using the "Language of Management" ($$$$).  Ask for the moon, then give minor concessions.

8.     Always be sure you are negotiating with the right person.  Sometimes this requires that you go directly to the top, not work up through the various levels.  This is dangerous if the previous seven tips have not been followed.

Managing Meetings

Sorry for the break - I've been traveling.  And during those travels, I've had several questions regarding meetings.  So, I think I'll address that topic in this update.

Meetings are a common source of irritation.   The reasons vary from "too many", "no clear purpose", to "poorly managed".  They are frequently seen as a waste of time because many produce no tangible outcomes.  So, within these complaints lay the principles that can make meetings powerful.  They need to be short, focused, with clearly stated outcomes (measurable wherever possible) that are then provided to participants.

Most meetings suffer because we try to accomplish too much in a single sitting.  I've discovered that in the project world, rather than having a one-size-fits-all "Core Team" meeting, where progress is reported and problems are resolved, it is better to break these into separate meetings.  Progress should be reported regularly, so my Status Update Meetings (SUM) are held regularly, calendared at the beginning of the project for the entire project.  Problems should be resolved as quickly as possible, so my Project Adjustment Meetings (PAM) are scheduled as problems are uncovered.

Status Update Meetings:  The format for my SUMs is constant.  Each of these regularly scheduled meetings is 35 minutes in duration.  I apply the following agenda:

1. Items currently on Critical Path (those tasks on the critical path that are currently in progress - 15 Minutes 
   1. Did each task begin on or before the Earliest Possible Start Date (EPSD)? Associated risks / issues and learning - Reported by the task "Responsible For" 
   2. Is each task expected to end on or before the Earliest Possible Completion Date (EPCD)? (Is projected duration still accurate?) Associated risks / issues and learning - Reported by the task "Responsible For"
2. Items coming up on Critical Path (those not yet in progress but expected to begin before next meeting) - 15 Minutes
   1. Is there communication between predecessor task Responsible For and subsequent task Responsible For? Is subsequent task ready to launch at EPSD? Associated risks / issues and learning.
   2. Is each task expected to end on or before the Earliest Possible Completion Date (EPCD)? (Is projected duration still accurate?) Associated risks / issues and learning.
3. Recent mistakes and associated learning. Award of “Dogs” - 5 Minutes

Project Adjustment Meetings:  Project Adjustment Meetings (PAM) are held in response to problems and result in adjustments to project plans.  They are thus held as necessary, as problems are identified in the SUMs.  These are meetings in which creativity and innovation are expected, so I limit them to 2 hours duration.  They are tightly focused on brainstorming solutions to problems with which all core team members can align.  An Alignment Discussion process is used throughout the meeting to ensure both forward momentum and commitment are maintained among all core team members as solutions are generated.

Meetings are more effective when they are focused and short.  Try it . . . . I think you'll like the results!

Managing Difficult Stakeholders

You’ve all had them . .  stakeholders that for one reason or another are difficult to satisfy / manage.  They can make project work difficult, unsatisfying and even dangerous.  I’ve seen them complicate, slow and even derail perfectly healthy projects.  They are the bane of project leaders and seem to be ever present.  Avoiding them is NOT an option; so let’s consider how to improve our ability to manage the difficult stakeholder.

Why So Difficult?  What makes a stakeholder “difficult”?  We’ll address the three most common reasons; 1) They don’t Understand, 2) They don’t Agree With, or 3) They don’t Value / Support  the project.  All three of these reasons lead to pain, and most avoid the pain associated with change by avoiding or confronting the change.  As a change agent, the project leader usually is at the “point” of or driving change initiatives and thus must effectively deal with the resulting resistance.  So having a handful of tactics may be helpful.  Ready?

Understand:  Paramount among reasons for “difficult” stakeholders is fear resulting from lack of or misunderstanding about projects.  It is not uncommon to have stakeholders become resistant when their “comfort zones” are invaded by the ripple effect resulting from your project.  Frequently this happens late in the project as a result of poor stakeholder identification at the beginning of the project or ineffective communication throughout the project.  This will result in delay and potential scope creep, creating huge problems for the unsuspecting project leader.  Communication is the solution to this problem, and preemptive is always better than reactive.   You need to first understand the stakeholder’s perspective and then provide information to alleviate the underlying fear or pain.  This frequently requires creativity, so allow your core team to assist.

Agree With:  We all have beliefs about the way things should be (paradigms) and it is not uncommon to have those beliefs clash.  This accounts for much of the tension with which project leaders must deal.  We are normally threatened when someone disagrees with our view of things, and our first reaction is usually to “dig in” and defend our view or belief.  When we undertake this tactic it only serves to solidify the opposing view and intensify the difference.  Negotiation and Idea Generation are the solutions to this problem.  When project leaders learn to view disagreements as opportunities for creativity and use the energy that normally accompanies such differences to generate alternative ideas / paths / solutions or negotiate trade offs they cease to exacerbate differences and begin to construct bridges to resolution.

Value / Support:  Each of us has values / priorities (personal or work imposed) that address the question “what’s in it for me?”.  Things that we value highly get our attention and effort, and things that don’t, don’t.  Imposing my values or priorities on others does not win their support nor garner much of their energy.  With everything that is going on in busy organizations today, many things don’t earn my interest or attention until they impact me personally (until I am within the ripple or begin to feel the pain).  The solution to this type of difficult stakeholder is education.  They must be convinced of the benefit to themselves to recognize value and behave in supportive ways.  The wise project leader ascertains stakeholder values / priorities as part of their situation analysis at the beginning of the project and uses that information to anticipate potential problems and “educate them away” early in the project.  But even when they spring up during the project, education about benefits is the solution.

Resolving Conflict

Based on your input during the last poll, Resolving Conflict is the topic I'll address in this update. 

Projects are about creating something new.  That requires creativity and innovation.  Most creativity derives from forcing conflicting or opposing ideas together into a new idea, concept, product or service.  It is key to remember that CONFLICT is NOT your ENEMY; unresolved conflict is.  So let’s consider strategies to resolve / manage conflict, and let's begin by recognizing that RESOLVING conflict does NOT mean that one wins at the expense of another.  Most resolution results from the creation of NEW ideas / methods / strategies with which differing parties can align.
 

The Need for Conflict:  In project work we are responding to change.  Solutions that once worked, no longer satisfy needs, so we must depart from what is known.  Rules that previously predicted no longer apply.  Risk is required.  New ideas / perspectives are necessary.  We enter a phase where everything should be challenged and nothing should be assumed.  Some level of conflict with existing processes, policies, standards, etc. is not only desirable but necessary.  However, most of us have worked in the more predictable hierarchal organization and risk and unpredictability in that environment are undesirable and extremely uncomfortable.  Challenging ideas / assumptions that belong to others or are well established is not acceptable behavior in the ongoing operations portion of any organization.  Thus it is important to recognize that your first challenge is to make conflict acceptable and as risk-free as possible for each of your core team members.

 

Managing Conflict:  Frequently perceived to be the enemy, our first instincts are usually to quell conflict and the associated discomfort.  Core team members and stakeholders alike dislike it.  To manage conflict we recommend the following 8-Step process:

1. Recognize it as necessary – ensure all team members recognize its importance to creativity and innovation
2. Point it out when invisible – many times conflict is allowed to boil under the surface.  When you see it, point it out and make it OK
3. Keep it in the open – conflict likes to go underground.  Don’t allow this.  Make it a healthy part of each core team meeting
4. Generate options / alternatives – brainstorm new options that consolidate opposing views / opinions / ideas
5. Hold critique / analysis until generation is complete – Remember, Prescription before Diagnosis is Malpractice!
6. Identify / List assumptions – challenging assumptions rather than positions allows barriers to stay down and consensus to be achieved / maintained
7. Consider consequences – once option generation is complete, then consider consequences of each option.  Challenge assumptions again!
8. Check for consensus – once viable options have been listed, check for consensus.  Consensus exists when everyone on the team agrees that:
• Their ideas / opinions have been HEARD,
• Their ideas / opinions have been CONSIDERED, and
• Everyone agrees to SUPPORT the selected option. 

Leveraging Conflict:  Encouraging / creating conflict early in the creative phases (Initiation and Planning Phases of the project) will do much to establish a healthy project environment.  Conflict is a necessary element of team formation (Storming Phase) and the absence of it will retard team development.  The project leader can do much to encourage healthy conflict by selecting team members with diverse interpersonal styles and perspectives.