The Gift of Visibility

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.

  Stakeholder Management   Talent Management   Teams   ProjectsAtWork  

When team members feel that the organization as a whole isn’t interested in the project that they are delivering, they start to check out, increasing the possibility of careless mistakes and failure. But with a few simple steps, project leaders can often prevent this common morale problem.

Not every project can be business critical, not every initiative can change the fortunes of the organization and grab all of the headlines. Yet every project is undertaken to drive value into the business, so every project is important. The problem is that not all project teams feel that way, and that can drive down morale, reduce engagement levels and increase the likelihood of failure. It’s also a problem that can be prevented with very little effort.

The heart of the issue is that people want to work on something that they feel is worthwhile. Team members don’t want to put a lot of time and effort into something they perceive to be a waste, and unless they get to see how their project contributes to the organization’s success they won’t see any value. Part of this can be addressed at the project outset by ensuring that the team is briefed on the project purpose, how it aligns with the organization’s priorities, and what the project deliverables will allow to happen. However, providing that information during kickoff isn’t enough.

I suspect …

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