You have a team member who is not meeting his commitments, what do you do?
Andrey GrubinPMP, PMI-ACPBrooklyn, Ny, United States
What techniques I could use after I discover that one of my team members keep agreeing on time lines, but he does not communicate he will not meet those dates until the 11th hour (I mean just before the day)? Saving Changes...
This team member sounds like he is a procrastinator. He would work only on the tasks that have an immediate deadline and would pull back from other activities until the deadline is imminent.
One short-term resolution approach would be to break down any deliverable into smaller tasks and set up a laddered deadline till the deliverable is due. For a procrastinator, it gives them an objective to achieve every day.
Another, as a lot of people have already mentioned, is constant communication and feedback. Saving Changes...
Mudassar KhanProgram (Project )Manager| Woodward Canada IncPeterborough, ON, Canada
Have a clear and cocise discussion why he is missing his targets, needs help or guidance and than observe change in case that does not help, have a second meeting in presence of HR Manager Saving Changes...
MANDA SATSHISHINGAManager| Ordem Dos Engenheiros de AngolaLuanda, Angola
1. Define your Ground Rules clearly
2. Adapt your management style accordingly from Delegating to Telling. Saving Changes...
It could be sevaral reasons for this, so I agree that it would be good to talk to the person and explain how you feel about the situation (without judging). Some ideas of that could be the reason.
1. He is not motivated to to do the tasks - Find out what he get motivated by and ask him to formulate the targets. There are a few methods to get an overall understanding of different personalities and thiere drives. Example Myer briggs, leadership diamond.
2. He has hard time with prioritizing and focusing his time. There are a few methods for personal productivity. Example: "Getting things done"
Some methods that will strengthen his "self-leadership", these gives result on long term. Saving Changes...
Any follow up to what actions you took? Did you take no action and hope the problem would fix itself? Did you put the person on a performance improvement plan? What worked, what didn’t, what happened?
A lot of people posted the generic textbook answers, what I want to know is what you did. I especially want to know if any of the advice actually worked as described in textbooks, or if reality intervened and forced you to take a different and practical approach to solve the problem.
Regards,
Alex Saving Changes...
Meade RubensteinPM III| IT Project GuideSparta, Nj, United States
I would recommend breaking down the person's deliverables into smaller pieces that they and you can track - (so, instead of a 5 day deliverable - you give them 5 - 1 day deliverables). You may want to do a root-cause to determine why they can't meat their deadlines.......the extreme is replacing them OR giving them less mission critical assignments. Not everyone works out (or works out in their current position). Saving Changes...
Drake SettsuProject Manager / BloggerHi, United States
Good comments from the group.
I suggest creating a weekly deliverables spreadsheet of tasks with their due dates. Create the spreadsheet on Friday after you review what will be due next week or in two weeks. Include other team members on the spreadsheet so you do not look like you're singling out anyone. Email the spreadsheet out on Monday morning and as a courtesy include the managers of the team members. Saving Changes...
Samer El BarakehProject Management Support Office| City of MississaugaMississauga, Ontario, Canada
this is the problem, but what is the cause? find it and then address it.
here are some suggestions that (obviously) address different potential causes:
find "what is in it for him" to generate bigger interest in doing the work (proactive)
Ask him to come up with simple communication protocol and adopt it (proactive)
coach and support while the work is being done, introduce a "help me" buzzer (proactive)
Allocate another team member to support and/or back-fill (reactive)
Create cushions for his upcoming few activities - we don't expect this to last for long! (reactive)
As a PM, you would select what fits for purpose
Hope this helps Saving Changes...
Daily actual follow up and change his attitude, if he doesn't change, then change him. I am not sure how far your tolerance. Saving Changes...
Simin Moslehis.moslehi| namvaranRosewell, Ga, United States
I believe it is important to employ the qualified and interested person for each position.Then the next point is to aware her from her duties through a job description. If a person is technically qualified but her productivity is low,maybe she is not yet familiar with the organization and needs help. The best solution is to have a meeting with her and explain about her weak points meanwhile referring also to her capabilities and then clarify our expectations.
After a period again we shall evaluate her and if no improvement seen then allocate her to a more suitable position. Saving Changes...
