Episode #153: The Secrets Of Successful Project Team Management

Projects are simply too common. Because of this we take them for granted, seeing them as part of our everyday work, but we don’t approach them properly.

We certainly don’t apply as much planning expertise to the task as we should, as we wade boldly straight into the mechanics of the execution. Why is that? Poor leadership and a lack of skills make for dangerous dance partners, as the team launches forth rocking and rolling forward with no strategy and little expertise.

Often, there is no existing documented planning process in place. This can be rather ironic because often the projects are repeated or very similar projects are undertaken.

The goals of the project are often too vague. This is a lack of direction from the top leadership to those tasked with doing the work. The project leader has to push back and manage upwards, seeking clear reasons for the WHY of the project. They then need to make sure everyone involved in the team understands the WHY.

Project scope creep is like a cancer that can kill the project. The project begins with vague boundaries around what is to be done. In quick order, either external parties or the team members themselves, become like Australian Emus, a very curious fowl and are attracted by bright, shiny objects. Very rapidly the additional tasks seem to multiply like amoeba, but the time frame and the resources committed to the project are in the deep freeze. This never ends well.

The implementation strategy regarding roles, budgets, timelines and follow-up is weak or non-existent. Things go wrong because timelines were not clear nor properly planned. The resources do not turn up at the required timing or the sequencing of the work is found to be skewwhiff, so there are delays you cannot easily cover or resolve.

There may also be incompatible working styles in the team or difficult personalities involved. You have to become the chief psychologist, in addition to team project leader. You find yourself now spending a lot of time and energy dealing with personal feuds or internecine division conflicts.

The start of the project may be exciting, but over time other tasks start to impede on this project and compete for your people’s time. Their motivation starts to slide. You have to rally them constantly to be enthusiastic and committed to the successful completion of the project.

Sadly, this is when you discover your personal communication and persuasion skills are totally rubbish. You are the leader but you are getting nowhere with the team. This becomes magnified when there are critical issues of internal and external cooperation required.

People not completing their tasks on time unleashes issues around trust, commitment and reliability. Their excuses are never in short supply. This type of creativity is not especially helpful, because your boss won’t be accepting any excuses from you, as project leader. Herding cats seems easier.

Because you have never been trained on how to delegate properly, you either don’t do it at all or you give it your best shot, but it fails and you wind up doing most of the work. This would be fine if you had nothing else to do and could devote your time to just this one project. Distressingly, the organisation has bigger plans for you. These involve you working a whole slather of other tasks to be done as well.

The answer to these various nightmares is fairly simple. Train people properly on how to lead projects or get the training for yourself. Projects are always going to appear on the horizon so invest once to cover this issue off completely. We should aim to develop our own organisation’s best practice methodology for doing them. This would be developed through long periods of hands on experience and constantly updated, to reflect the innovation discoveries made along the journey. Transferring the learning from one project to the next won’t happen by itself. It needs a specified system to ensure it happens. Do you have one of these?

Here is the right checklist for handling projects:

1. define scope
2. devise plan
3. implement
4. monitor/modify/keep checking
5. get closure/evaluate and finally
6. celebrate

This seems simple enough. However, for each of these steps we need a trained project head. Someone very highly skilled in leading people. Someone technical, who is ace on creating macros in spreadsheets isn’t going to cut it as the leader, because the skill sets are different. Everyone is looking for the tools for project management, but the people management bit is the real nub.

Action Steps

1. Don’t treat projects lightly
2. Capture the best practices and create a project management template
3. Clearly explain the WHY of the project
4. Be highly vigilant about scope creep
5. Carefully design the implementation strategy for the project
6Ensure the project leader has been given leadership training