Recenty I've come across a situation where a company is proposing to effectively stop funding launch parties once a project has been delivered successfully. I would have thought this would cause a less motivated group of people - reduces the chances for recognising effort, etc. etc.
Can anyone provide advice on the pros/cons of holding launch parties once a project has launched? This company delivers around 1 project per month (different groups of people on each obviously), but a lot of projects go through the doors - each project is small to medium, but sometimes requires a substantial amount of work.
Any advice you can offer will be appreciated. Saving Changes...
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Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Dear Anonymous, regarding advice, every organization has its own style and culture. What works great for one group might not be that effective for another. Are the launch parties effective? Do you have any insight into why the company is proposing to stop funding the launch parties? Generally speaking, the pros of launch parties is that they can be very effective tool for motivating, recognizing, and morale building, whether over the lunch hour or after work. They don't have to be complex, time consuming, or expensive to be effective. The cons, however, are that well intended launch parties often turn out to be a inconsequential "Happy Hour" event with little content or a complex "Production" event with too much focus on the "form" of the meeting rather than the "substance". In either case, if not managed effectively a launch party can end up being a waste of everyone's time. Usually, the money isn't the issue. For all anyone knows, the proposal to stop funding the launch parties could have been based upon participant feedback. I look forward to hearing from others. Nice post and good luck! -- Mark Perry, VP of Customer Care, BOT International Saving Changes...
Anonymous
I think the problem stems from a call about people like the admin staff who contribute to the projects, but are rarely involved in the launch parties.
I would've countered this by including anyone who had anything to do with the project, but I suppose you could potentially have the whole company along (nothing wrong with that though?) Saving Changes...
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Dear Anonymous, I agree with you. Most organizations would be delighted to have the opportunity to have monthly morale building, recognition oriented, post project events..! Including the admin staff recognizes their contribution and helps to create and maintain a culture of project teamwork. I'm in your camp..! -- Mark Perry, VP of Customer Care, BOT International Saving Changes...
Mary Elizabeth DiabDirector| Leadership FormationTallassee, Al, United States
Mark, Excellent feedback for Anonymous. One suggestion given that the issue may be that some of the support staff feels excluded... If the company is small and you are launching something every month, hold a monthly corporate celebration of all of the important successes for that month. For the projects that launched, have someone speak about them and thank the primary contributors (while confirming that everyone in the company made it a success). This may also give the non-project personnel the opportunity to highlight and celebrate any "wins" they've had (like streamlining a process to expedite expense approvals, etc.). This might sell management on the celebration aspect in a team-building, inclusive way. Personally, if nothing else, I provide some refreshment for my team at our lessons learned meeting. Generally I just stop for donuts and consider it money well spent as it helps the team understand that their work was important to ME, not just the company... Saving Changes...
