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Fariness and Honesty in the Team

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Enrique Cappella Partner| Grupo Sinergia & Personal Strenths Latinamerica Sabana, San Jose, Costa Rica
As a project manager, have you even had a situation where one team member is not doing their share of the work, but the work of the team is still getting completed? Other members are more than happy to jump in and fill the gaps, but is appears that the one member is taking credit for the team success. Since the work is getting done, should you just forget it and focus on problem areas?
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Adrian Carlogea Australia
Sep 12, 2019 4:46 AM
Replying to Enrique Cappella
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Josh I agree on the long term effect. The high performers will doubt in further asignments when the PM allow the low performers survive and even be recognized at the same level as them.
There is nothing most PMs can do about this. In most cases the team members don't directly report to them.

If for example a PM thinks a team member is a low performer but his line manager thinks he is brilliant then the PM has to accept the reality as there is not much he can do about it.
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1 reply by Enrique Cappella
Sep 16, 2019 4:09 AM
Enrique Cappella
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Hello Adrian. I appreciate your perception regarding low performers in a team and I agree that there is little you can do about it once the issue is visible and evident. However there is a lot the PM can do in a preventive fashion by recruiting the right team members, setting up the the team agreement and team goals, clarifying the roles and responsabilitites and cheching up for the gaps in skils and knowledge neede for each asignment. Also real time convesations with the functinoal manager are important for aligning the resource responsabilities and the manager support. From my perception all this repesents the importance for the PM to recall the PMI Triangle (techincal knowledge, leadership skills and business management). Thank you for your comment.
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Enrique Cappella Partner| Grupo Sinergia & Personal Strenths Latinamerica Sabana, San Jose, Costa Rica
Sep 12, 2019 12:58 PM
Replying to Adrian Carlogea
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There is nothing most PMs can do about this. In most cases the team members don't directly report to them.

If for example a PM thinks a team member is a low performer but his line manager thinks he is brilliant then the PM has to accept the reality as there is not much he can do about it.
Hello Adrian. I appreciate your perception regarding low performers in a team and I agree that there is little you can do about it once the issue is visible and evident. However there is a lot the PM can do in a preventive fashion by recruiting the right team members, setting up the the team agreement and team goals, clarifying the roles and responsabilitites and cheching up for the gaps in skils and knowledge neede for each asignment. Also real time convesations with the functinoal manager are important for aligning the resource responsabilities and the manager support. From my perception all this repesents the importance for the PM to recall the PMI Triangle (techincal knowledge, leadership skills and business management). Thank you for your comment.
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1 reply by Adrian Carlogea
Sep 16, 2019 4:45 PM
Adrian Carlogea
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Hi Enrique from what you have said the issue does not look evident at all to me. The fact that the other team members don't complain and are happy with the situation makes me believe that the so called low performer plays an important role for the project success. Perhaps you haven't noticed that, I don't know.
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Adrian Carlogea Australia
Sep 16, 2019 4:09 AM
Replying to Enrique Cappella
...
Hello Adrian. I appreciate your perception regarding low performers in a team and I agree that there is little you can do about it once the issue is visible and evident. However there is a lot the PM can do in a preventive fashion by recruiting the right team members, setting up the the team agreement and team goals, clarifying the roles and responsabilitites and cheching up for the gaps in skils and knowledge neede for each asignment. Also real time convesations with the functinoal manager are important for aligning the resource responsabilities and the manager support. From my perception all this repesents the importance for the PM to recall the PMI Triangle (techincal knowledge, leadership skills and business management). Thank you for your comment.
Hi Enrique from what you have said the issue does not look evident at all to me. The fact that the other team members don't complain and are happy with the situation makes me believe that the so called low performer plays an important role for the project success. Perhaps you haven't noticed that, I don't know.
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Daire Guiney Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Working in a team has its obvious strengths but it also has weaknesses that need to be managed. One such example is were team members 'cover' for other team members who are not pulling their weight in relation to completing tasks. A sense of comradery does exist on a team and this is a healthy sign that the team has become cohesive and are working well together. However if this goes unmonitored, some team members may take advantage of the environment and 'slack off' allowing other team members, sometimes junior in seniority to take up the slack. In a team environment all tasks should be assigned with a start and completion date. If a task is assigned to multiple team members then a percentage of work completed for each team member should be used. Also it should be noted the difference when comradery is used to rally around a team member who may be facing personal issues and tasks are reassigned accordingly.
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Enrique Cappella Partner| Grupo Sinergia & Personal Strenths Latinamerica Sabana, San Jose, Costa Rica
Hello Daire: your comments are welcome. I agree very much with you. Your scenario is a good description when the team is functional and the PM is doig his work as People Manager. It is a little bit more difficult when disfunctionality arises and conflict is impacting the team performance. In such instances, the basic norms you highlithed above will help the PM and the team come back to track asap. Thank you for your contirbution.
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