If a Project Manager has a project team member that attends meetings but is unprepared to give meaningful updates, how would you suggest this is addressed? The lack of meaningful updates affects the quality and the deliverables of the project. Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
You will need to sit with your team, and set expectations of what is needed and why it is needed. It is the PMs responsibility to communicate with the team and guide them through this. Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
The expectations of what meaningful updates are have to be clearly communicated, which means documented and explained. It has to be clear what updates to what (the plan, schedule, deliverables?) are and what meaningful means (meaningful to whom). It might need some judgement to understand what meaningful is, built over time.
Furthermore, leading by example, the PM should himself deliver meaningful updates. And encourage feedback on them by the team.
And if a team member still seems not to deliver in a meaningful way, a 1:1 coaching session by the PM might help as well as assigning a peer to support with preparing them.
And - be patient. Your team members are your key assets. Nurture them. Saving Changes...
Based on the recent Prosci benchmarking studies, project teams rated more than 50% of their sponsors as having inadequate knowledge about their responsibilities in handling the human aspect of change management. These sponsors were evaluated as "average to poor" regarding their sponsorship activities. In this context, let's consider sponsor = senior leader.
The article "5 Actionable Tactics for Fearless Engagements With Sponsors" by Prosci discusses the importance of engaging sponsors effectively. As a change practitioner, you must equip your sponsor to perform their employee-facing roles successfully. What is recommended:
a) First, sponsors need to know what's being asked of them immediately.
b) Second, sponsors need visibility into your entire plan to understand how their participation adds value across the timeline.
The author draws the conclusion that coaching your sponsor with immediate, actionable requests demonstrates respect for their time.
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