Why Can’t We Be Friends?

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Leadership   ProjectsAtWork  

Project success will depend on how well you have developed relationships with your team. The stronger the bonds, the more likely you are to overcome challenges when the going gets tough. Here are some tips for building those personal connections that can make a difference in the professional world.

One of the questions that I get asked a lot is how to motivate a team when a project has taken a negative turn. If there are problems — delays, budget overruns — it’s natural for the team to feel demoralized and lacking motivation, but that’s when we really need the team to pull together and try to turn things around.

Here’s the problem. If your project’s at that point and you are only now starting to think about motivating your team, you’ve left it too late. The relationships with your team members are no different to the relationships that you have in your personal lives — they need to be developed over time and constantly nurtured so that they grow into a strong bond that can be relied upon when things get tough. In this article I want to talk about how we as leaders can develop those relationships with our teams, and also how we can help facilitate the development of relationships between our team members.

I have read a lot, and heard from various experts about the importance of keeping a distinct separation in your relationships with your teams. You need to preserve …

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