Respect: What Role Does It Play On Your Project?

Karine is the Director and founder for Projecting With People (PWP), a people-focused project delivery training and consulting business. PWP specializes in improving project outcomes by focusing on the people and reducing the impacts to them.

  Communications Management   Leadership   Stakeholder Management   Teams  

One of the biggest differentiators between a successful project and a failing one is the amount of respect present. This is relevant to anyone associated with the project—in any role, and at any time. Respect for the visionary, respect for the team, respect for the customer and respect for ourselves are all crucial:

1. Respect for the visionary. This talks about the person who came up with the project’s vision. Showing respect to the visionary implies firstly that you know who the visionary is (or was).

Understand exactly what the vision is, the catalyst behind it, the expected outcome, the people the vision was intended to impact, and the reason for the vision’s budget/timeline. By knowing this information, you are also taking on a new appreciation behind the project rather than just the parts you were involved in. It allows access to a new understanding based on facts—and an opportunity to ask more focused questions.

2. Respect for the team. This means everyone on the project team—it’s full- and part-time members, and any other stakeholders taking a part in delivering the project.

This is about getting to know the project members and allowing them to know you. It requires creating a safe space to inquire about the team professionally and personally, if everyone is willing (which doesn’t imply you need to volunteer your …

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