Creating a Productive Project Environment

 

Productive project environments don't just happen. In fact, doing nothing more than implementing a collaboration solution or other project management tool is not the answer either.

Last week I spoke with a project manager who wanted to better engage his project team in the project management process. He asked if I had any suggestions to help create an environment that would encourage his team to feel more ownership and willingly contribute at a higher level. Because I don't think this is a concern unique to his organization, I thought I might share some of my thoughts here.

He has taken the first step by implementing a project management solution, but that is only the first step. Here are some of my suggestions to him:

1. Empower the project team with input into time-lines and deliverables: Empowering behavior is healthy and creates a synergistic environment. Creating an environment where team members treat what they do as more than "just a job" involves more than just words—it requires giving them the opportunity to contribute at a higher level by making decisions and giving them ownership of their deliverables.
2. Foster a real grass roots problem solving environment: I've come to appreciate that I am not the only member of the team with the ability to identify and solve problems. Because projects are typically unpredictable and often present numerous challenges, I think it's important to foster an atmosphere where individual team members can freely offer solutions to identified problems. Of course, the buck has to stop somewhere, and usually stops with the project manager, but "two heads are better than one" is still true.
3. If leadership doesn't care about this, nothing will work: An empowered project team has buy-in from the top. I once worked with a guy who told me I was empowered to solve problems, until I did. When push came to shove, or I made a difficult decision for the benefit of the project (even if it was a decision he agreed with), he would always knuckle-under to stakeholders and overrule my decision. This was frustrating to me in the short term and very debilitating to the team in the long term. It forced me to shut down and basically stop making the tough decisions he didn't have the stomach for. Unless management is committed to this, it doesn't matter what you do—it's destined to fail.

Long-term productivity isn't the result of the stick (or the carrot for that matter). Long-term productivity is the result of engaged and motivated project teams who are committed to giving 110 percent every day. You can't beat that level of dedication into people, nor can you buy it.

What do you do to foster a productive project environment?