I'm looking for some ideas on ways to facilitate open and safe discussion within a project team. I've had a business sponsor ask me for suggestions on how she could facilitate a large group discussion on what is working well and not so well on an active project. She wants to ensure that everyone feels safe and will fully participate in the discussion - Any thoughts? Saving Changes...
Evan SandersProject Manager| Health CatalystUt, United States
Tony - I'll give a couple of suggestions for this.
First, it's important to adopt a 100% blame-free environment within the team. Make sure that every member is comfortable that the discussions will focus on problems and solutions, and not on what people are doing wrong. It's much better to say things like "this is one of our challenges, let's figure out how to resolve it", rather than "Joe's code has too many bugs, how do we improve the quality of his work". This is sometimes more subtle than it looks. I have found the key is to be consistent in your approach, and team members will gain one another's trust.
Another idea which is sometimes necessary is to deliberately exclude certain people from project discussions. Even with best efforts, I have found that some team members will tend to intimidate others and just aren't able to contribute positively to a discussion. Sometimes this is inadvertent, such as the case of a manager or director who doesn't realize that the team is hesitant to discuss problems in their presence. Sometimes it's more deliberate, in the case of the "finger-pointer' who relishes in blaming others while never finding a problem with their own work. You may want to approach these people individually to let them know of your intent, or at least make sure your business sponsor knows about your strategy.
