Igor ZdorovyakDirector of Projects| ImmunovantFair Lawn, Nj, United States
Common Mistakes Project Managers Need To Avoid. Even Senior Managers Can Learn From. STOPPING The Slackers!
Most of us are good hard working people. When we come into the new environment we don’t want to rock the boat. In comes the Slacker. Trying to do the minimum work. Sometimes hiding in the corner or in the back when status meetings comes along. Always saying how busy they are when work needs to be distributed amongst the team. The rest of the team now needs to take more of Slacker’s work on to their shoulders. It seems that everyone knows it.
Do you know it?
Yeah You! The Project Manager!
Pareto Principle (also known as 80/20 rule) states that for many events roughly 80% of the effects comes from the 20% of the causes.
If this problem is not tackled soon the potential consequence to the moral of the team could be devastating.
Most project managers who are just starting out are less comfortable confronting team members who might be more senior than they are. Some of the project managers are even afraid that the Slacker will retaliate directly or indirectly cause problems within the team. All these concerns are valid. However, the behavior must be addressed from the get go if you want to have a healthy team environment.
What the Secret in resolving this?
The secret recipe in resolving this is not that secret.
You have to establish the behavior of cultural accountability from the outset. This culture of accountability shifts projects managers role in what psychologist call “parent child” role where team members accept tasks on behave of project managers. And, are therefore accountable to the project manager to one that is now as a facilitator, accountable to the team as a whole. Now the project manager acts more in the servant capacity on behalf of the team. Holding all team members accountable to the team. This is where Agile methodology and practices are useful. When a team member accepts ownership of a task. The team clarifies the ownership, not the project manager or the Scrum Master. As to whom is responsible for providing progress updates to the team. And, if someone is slipping these things would be brought up as potential items that are impeding them in getting the task to completion. This practice of accountability before any slacking behavior begins will ensure that no one feels that they’re being singled out or treated unfairly. Most of all the team is unified by putting the work on everyone’s shoulders equally. Saving Changes...
Sort By:
Joshua RenderProduct Owner| CognizantHarrisville, Ny, United States
Now I kind of wonder if the Pareto principle does apply to employees... the implications of that seem huge. I never really thought of it in that way before.
As far as accountability, I am a fan of personal accountability. The team may be accountable as a whole for the product, they should also be accountable to raise any issues they may see with a team member. That team member should be accountable if they are not contributing.
In Scrum, the Scrum master is responsible for removing impediments. A poorly performing team member would be an impediment. I think the Scrum Master or PM, should definitely work to establish a level of expectation. I also think the team should be encouraged to establish a level of expectation. They ultimately are the ones who suffer the most if a teammate is slacking. Saving Changes...
Yes the Scrum Master is responsible for removing impediments and a bad team member is a good example. They (the SM or PM) can give advice but not actually remove that impediment. The team will weed out bad team members either by getting agreement from that team member to change their attitude, or by removing them. The logistics of that vary, but would involve some or all of the players such as SM, PM, HR or Functional Manager etc. But the team is the ultimate barometer of the fate of the bad team member. Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
