How To Motivate A  Project Team During The Crisis?

 

Creating an environment in which people find it fantastic to work in is the secret to almost any project success. Having a great cause to work on. Using cool technology. Having an office with actual real daylight instead of the bunker in the basement. And don't even get me started on the power of engagement and positive feedback. But sometimes the environment turns against us, and it gets harder and harder to stay the chipper, up-beat, always positive and genuine smiling Project Leader.

I recently got this question:

"How do you motivate a  project team during the crisis (no bonuses, reduced salary but a lot of work because of firing others)?"

How do you cheer the crew on when you just found out you're captain of The Titanic? It's ineffective if the captain is yelling "keep up the good work, men!" when he is getting too much Margarita's at the Acapulco Deck to forget his sorrows.

Start With Yourself

This is essential in motivating during a crisis. Your own attitude.  For motivation always start with yourself; to motivate others you have to be motivated yourself and should look for positives in all situations. As a role model, if you are energetic and inviting your team will have confidence in you and will follow.

This doesn't mean you should get into denial and put up a show for good appearances. This only makes things worse. It will backfire when the whole world thinks it's an economic disaster and you picture a sunny and bright situation. They won't think you are onto something. They will think you are getting delusional.

Be Creative

Address the situation as it is. And discuss with the team members their individual ambitions. Find elements that you have influence on and that inspire your team members.

Somewhere between the Millennium-bug and Euro-conversion projects, I worked with a small team creating interfaces between information systems. A lot of interfaces. Basically, the same work over and over again. It’s hard to stay motivated.

At this time XML was just discovered by tech marketers. So, there was this way cool new tech, that everyone was talking about, and there we were, building interface after interface with our old school stuff. What if we could use the new shiny stuff to build our programs? Functionality would be the same, costs identical, but the development team could learn and use new technology. They would be excited to be involved in something “state-of-the-art”.

Instant motivation.

This story is not telling you to keep on switching technology. This story is telling you to be creative within your own circle of influence. You will be amazed about what you can accomplish. For example by giving team members a role they desire, instead of what it says on their functional title.