When is Helpful Not Helpful?

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   Talent Management  

I recently had an interesting discussion with a project manager who was facing a unique challenge. She was leading a project where the team was working really well together. Everyone was engaged and motivated, going above and beyond expectations to ensure the project stayed on plan.

This all sounds very positive, and the PM was certainly happy with the environment she had created, but she was becoming concerned that things were going too far. Team members were volunteering to help out any of their colleagues who were struggling or at risk of falling behind, and sometimes those people weren’t experienced or skilled enough to do the job.

It hadn’t caused any problems yet, but the PM was concerned it was only a matter of time so she was looking for advice on what to do. Should she say something and risk damaging the atmosphere in the team, as well as potentially alienating herself from them? Or should she say nothing and risk mistakes being made and risks increased?

On the face of it, this sounds like a great group to manage. The team is empowered and motivated, which improves productivity, reduces error rates and makes the team more resilient to the challenges that will inevitably occur. However, we have to consider that there might be “too much of a good thing” in this particular scenario. The team dynamic is taking on a life of its own, and each…

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