Communication Excellence in Project Management

Recently finished Caroline Webb's How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life. In this book, Ms. Webb shares the latest neuroscience findings to help you become more personally productive and work better with co-workers.

One piece of advice that I found especially useful for project teams was the "discover-defend axis." The idea is to shift people's behavior from being defensive to being open to discovery. The key is to build a safe place where people can freely explore without feeling the threat of loss or failure.

I've seen this with project teams where project managers have created a culture of defensiveness (often unintentionality).  By intentionality creating a culture of discovery, project managers can realize greater innovation and productivity from their project teams. There are some great strategies that can project managers build a great culture for themselves and their teams.

A common problem I have seen as a project manager, trainer, and university professor is the inability for people to make time for reflection. In today’s world of hyper-competition, people are running at full-speed from one task to another. Even people who profess to have a healthy work-life balance are still busy with either work tasks or personal tasks. Like the famous fictional character, we have jumped on our horses and have dashed off rapidly in all directions.

Pausing and being still can be powerful. Bruce Lee, the famous martial artist, would often use quick pauses to observe his opponent and plan his next flurry of attacks. Having the project team pause occasionally can help them better understand their work and allow for better, more thoughtful conversations between team members. Stillness also allows the project manager hold those difficult conversations with project team members and stakeholders in a more productive way.

Have you, as a project manager, ever communicated to your project team that, sometimes, it is a good idea to stop and pause? To reflect on what we have done, where we are heading, and if it is still a good idea to keep moving in the same direction? That, on the days when there is no work, it is a better practice to take stock of what we have done and consider more effective ways to do our work?

Good article in the latest issue of the Harvard Business Review about the importance of managing the emotional culture of organizations. Essentially, leaders should recognize the emotions that help the organization succeed, model the positive emotions, and help employees develop those positive emotions. Much of this has already been studied and verified by the positive psychology. However, it seems that it would take some time to develop a good emotional culture.

Thus, my question: given the temporary and short-term nature of project teams, how does a project manager build a positive emotional culture? Or should a positive emotional culture be a concern for the project manager? Should a project manager select project team members not only on skills and abilities but, also, their ability to contribute to a positive emotional culture?