Solving People Management Problems

Bob Weinstein is a journalist who covers technology, project management, the workplace and career development.

 

Project managers relish the idea of controlling every facet of a project. It can actually be accomplished if all the variables are in place. But the people issues--hiring, firing, motivating your direct reports and coping with mounting problems--is not simple.

It's because they're inscribed in the mission statement where bureaucratic goals of the project are articulated. You never give it serious thought because you assume everyone shares your commitment. That's naïve thinking. And if you don't deal with it pronto, your project--in a word--will be a mess, and could crumble if the people dam isn't plugged.

One of the greatest barriers facing project managers is overcoming people issues. In this two-part series, I'm going to focus on two of them: the first centers on coping with new management, and the second spotlights managing what I call brainiacs, the superstars of your staff who are the most difficult to deal with.

New Management

Now what? It's a common scenario. It seems like on one day, everything couldn't be better. You have management's support and the team that reports to it couldn't be tighter. Projects are okay-ed without standing on your head to have budgets approved.

But no matter how much advance warning you have, you're never quite prepared for new management. One day it's business as usual, the next, you're faced with figuring out the best way to…

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