Sophie MaupointDistribution projects manager| PIAGETAnnecy, France, France
Many times, we could ask ourselves how to make sure I have the best commitment of my team?
With the increase of remote meetings, I think we should not forget to meet physically at some important milestones of a project (of course when it's possible), to organize an event to build some relationships within the team, why not a football match, a running, an espcape game...
anything could be serving the project team spirit.
I am not again virtual meeting, it's really helpfull, time saving, cost reduction, but I think that in project we could be more productive and work better together if the project manager could build some synergies within a team. So let's Go. Saving Changes...
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Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Agree Sophie.
Team building should include f2f meetings.
Commitment should be built to each other (including yourself) and also to the project vision.
I remember a nice story when a PM invited her new team for dinner. When they arrived, nothing was prepared. So they had to tackle their first challenge: what to shop, cook, drink, and clean up. Saving Changes...
There are two separate factors which a PM needs to tackle - ensuring their team members remain engaged in the work being done and that a true team (and not just a collection of individuals) persists.
The 2nd can certainly be helped by F2F events but the first requires a PM to unleash the intrinsic motivation within each team member. Whether they follow any of the older motivational models (e.g. Maslow, Herzberg) or a newer one such as Daniel Pink's, that can't be neglected.
Team building is important, but some non-work activities like sports can even alienate some members of the team. Often they're better shared with a subset of people with common interests.
People with bad hips might not like to run, and people who don't enjoy football might feel pressured to attend a boring function because it is work related. That may even build cliques counterproductive to the larger team.
I find that if you want commitment from the team, they best way is if they feel ownership of the plan themselves. I am not a dictator; I am enabling their plan to be achieved.
That means I do need to give up some control and will not get my own vision of the product, but there will be a lot more personal investment in the vision of the individual team members if it was their plan they want to prove they can execute, not mine that they argued against. Saving Changes...
