{"id":4623,"date":"2010-07-23T07:00:57","date_gmt":"2010-07-23T14:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=4623"},"modified":"2010-07-17T21:58:32","modified_gmt":"2010-07-18T04:58:32","slug":"dont-just-manage-the-plan-engage-your-team-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=4623","title":{"rendered":"Don’t just manage the plan, engage your team members!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Not<\/a>
Not an engaged team member<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As project managers, it\u2019s tempting to focus entirely on our project plan.\u00a0 But successful execution of your project plan is entirely dependent on your project team.\u00a0 And your project team is dependent on each team member! \u00a0For example, if your team is all working well together except one person, who is lacking motivation and missing deadlines, than the whole team will start having trouble, and your project success may be in jeopardy.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Really get to know each member of your group: figure out their strengths and weaknesses, their needs, and any special skills they can bring to the group.<\/li>\n
  • Work out plans with each team member on how they can accomplish their individual goals while delivering on the project objectives. Find out what\u2019s important to them \u2013 what gets them excited about their work.<\/li>\n
  • For each person, find out how independent and experienced they are. Make sure that they have the right level of competence for how you plan to manage the project. If you will be giving each team member lots of latitude in how they solve problems in their area, do they have the experience and emotional intelligence to handle that responsibility well?<\/li>\n
  • Don\u2019t forget to praise and reward each individual for her contribution to the overall team and the success of the project.<\/li>\n
  • Help define each person’s role within the group, and agree on the tasks they’re responsible for.<\/li>\n
  • If any project team members seem to be lagging behind, coach them until they’re back on track.<\/li>\n
  • Is each project team member committed to the delivery dates?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    It\u2019s easy to forget that project managers are more managers of people than they are managers of technology. If you manage the people correctly, the people will manage the technology.<\/p>\n

    You need to manage your individual team members effectively in order to prevent burnout. In some environments, the customer will always be there with new demands, new \u201cPriority Ones\u201d that require you to drop everything and fix now.<\/p>\n

    It\u2019s your job to manage these demands. Not to just acquiesce and keep pushing your team members, but to present trade-offs to the customer. Showing the value of the current path, demonstrating the impact the change will have, and helping them make a more informed decision. The result is a more engaged customer, who gains more satisfaction from feeling more in control of the output. At the same time, your team members are more engaged.<\/p>\n

    It used to be that project managers believed that you needed to crack the whip over your team members, that if you gave them any leeway they\u2019d slack off and surf their favorite sports websites. \u00a0However, now we know better. Being focused and excited by your work comes naturally to most people.\u00a0 Creativity is widely distributed on your project team.\u00a0 People want to be proud of their work.\u00a0 People will seek responsibility, if you let them. \u00a0If you think your team is mediocre, and needs your leadership to be successful, trust me, they will rise to the occasion and give you mediocre work. \u00a0If you want your folks to surprise you with amazing work, you need to engage them.<\/p>\n

    The best way to motivate team members is to respect them, give them autonomy, and help tie them to a strong purpose. \u00a0When you let your team members figure out how to solve a problem, and how to work together, it can have a powerful effect on individual performance and attitude.\u00a0 Autonomy leads to higher productivity, less burnout, and more enjoyment of work. \u00a0Make an effort to see issues from your team member\u2019s point of view. \u00a0You provide the problem, and listen to find the answer.\u00a0 Let your team figure out the best solution.<\/p>\n

    Involve people in goal setting. Employees have greater commitment to goals they helped create. Individuals are more engaged when they\u2019re pursuing goals they helped create. If you create a goal for someone, it will be less aggressive than the goal he chooses for himself, as people like to stretch themselves and do work they can be proud of. They will do everything they can to meet this goal.<\/p>\n

    Autonomy creates motivated, happy employees.\u00a0 If you need folks to be creative and problem solving, why not get into the habit of engaging them on that level in the workplace?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As project managers, it\u2019s tempting to focus entirely on our project plan.\u00a0 But successful execution of your project plan is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leadership"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}