Just How Committed Is Your Team to Project Goals?

 

In 1519, driven by his personal ambitions and desire for fame, Hernando Cortes left Cuba for the Yucatan Peninsula with 11 ships and a small army to explore and conquer the Aztecs—defying the orders of Diego Valazquez, the Spanish Governor of Cuba (who wanted the glory and praise from Spain for himself). After landing on the new world, and before advancing into the interior for conquest and treasure, Cortes infamously destroyed his ships, eliminating for his troops the possibility of retreat or mutiny.

Of course, I am not suggesting that personal ambitions should be our motivation or that project objectives should be pursued at any cost, however I am suggesting that a  motivated and committed project team will be more likely to achieve a successful outcome. The question then becomes, short of "burning the boats," what can project leaders do to "appropriately" motivate their project teams.

I think most project managers would agree that arbitrary deadlines and heavy-handed command-and-control management tactics simply don't provide a long-term solution to motivating and engaging project teams. In the 30 or so years of my career, I've seen these tactics unsuccessfully employed by many managers, however today's workforce seems to be even less inclined to respond to such methods. In the long term, fostering an atmosphere where team members feel a sense of ownership for project deliverables is a much more productive approach. What's more, there is a relatively simple strategy for creating this type of project environment:

1. Empower Individual Project Team Members with the Ability to Make Decisions About Due Dates and Timelines: This might seem counterintuitive at first, but team members are more likely to take ownership of project deliverables if they make personal commitements to completion dates. At the very least, empowering team members to push back on unrealistic time-lines and provide alternatives will give project managers a more accurate picture of project status.
2. Foster an Atmosphere Where Team Members are Recognized for Their Accomplishments: If the only time team members hear from their manager is when there's a problem, it might feel to team members like you are "burning the boats." People typically take pride in what they do, and sincere and positive recognition for their accomplishments is a powerful tool for engaging the workforce.
3. Management and Peer Visibility is a Powerful Motivator: Providing peers as well as managers visibility into team member accomplishments allows team members to receive additional (and potentially very powerful) positive recognition from their co-workers.

Of course, having the right team in place is critical to making all this happen. There will always be people who won't step up regardless of how they are managed, the project management tools, or the methodology in place. The short answer may be that those people aren't right for your team. Those are questions that you will need to answer for yourself. However, as a general rule, I have found that most people want to do a good job, respond well to a little autonomy, and appreciate honest feedback (provided it's not only negative feedback).

What do you do to keep your project teams engaged and motivated.