Assignment 2: MS Project and Team Leadership
Introduction
In any project, having unfocused, disengaged and team members who underperform can be very challenging and can sap the energy out of any vibrant team therefore slowing down business operation. Given proper management and motivation, most of these team members can form the greatest asset for any project manager while the opposite can happen when they work under poor management and where there is no motivation as well as where everyone in the team is demoralized. The choice to have a vibrant team always lies squarely on the hands of the project team leader and as such, the burden to offer quality leadership and motivation to the whole team is upon the leader. An astute manager has the capacity to recognize that the team member’s behavior does not only fall on the individual team member as a responsibility but rather it is upon the whole team to synchronize together their individualities into one for the team to move together when under a project (Fisher, 2000). If at all there can be a concern in any one of the team members as regards to the behavior of such an individual, it is always imperative for the project manager to recall that at one point when hiring for the member, the hiring was based on the skills, qualifications, attitude and the determination that the individual displayed. Without being quick to dismiss the team members, the project manager ought to consider the different approaches that can be used to manage people and at the same time identify how to aid the floundering team member to get back to the team and be part of the team.
There are various and numerous ways in which the project manager can turn around any errant member of the team back to being actively engaged in the project. In the case that one of the members was found to be always late in his work and furthermore the whole team was discouraged following the revamping of the Compensation and Benefits package by the human resource department, the result was some delay being caused to the whole project and the project started lagging behind thereby missing crucial deadlines. As a project manager, as a start, one on the methods that is appropriate to improve the underperforming members of the team is to speak and listen to the team member’s concerns (Fisher, 2000). Communicating to the concerned party before reprimanding them and knowing where the problem falls on will offer the best opportunity to know what the underperforming team member goes through and identifying where there is required a need for intervention. During the same time when the communication is undertaken between the project manager and the underperforming team member, the need for feedback on any development will be of much help to gauge on whether after listening and knowing what the issues affecting that member are addressed have improved his view towards working on the project. If there are still no clear signs of any improvement in the performance of the member, then it would be suffice enough for the project manager to communicate about any other changes and any other approach that is required for the team member’s turn around. At times the only thing that a person needs to get the right direction towards getting back in to the team is a little bit of nudging.
Secondly, to get back the underperforming team member in the team and improve on the performance and be in unison with the rest of the team, the project manager needs to address the issue that already had been highlighted by the team member and may be from the other members of the team. Perhaps the underperforming member feels that he or she is overburdened with work and that’s why he or she comes late and doesn’t get along with the rest of the team in the project. The likely hood that the other team member also feel the same resent towards the project might be true and therefore by addressing the issues and concerns that were raised by the team member might also help the whole team and the end result would be a team that is enthuastic and ready to meet new challenges that comes with the project. Calling a meeting with the whole team would be a good start at making the team feels that they are values when they raise their concerns and getting a listening ear from their project manager and team leaders. The act of addressing the members concerns and engaging them as a team would send a clear message to those who are not getting up to the expectations of the project in terms of performance that the team is serious towards achieving the objectives that it had set and therefore, requiring them too to put the same efforts as everyone else (Lencioni, 2002).
Finally, the project manager will need to be honest to the team member and tell him or her where the problem is in his or her overall performance. One of the main things to avoid as a project manager and a team leader is to lie to the employees about their performance in order to protect them. The best way to turn around a non performing member of the team is through being honest and telling the employee where they are going wrong and failing in their duties (Lencioni, 2002). In this way, the employee will be obliged to change his or her behavior and turn around their work ethics since it will be on their mind that the behavior has been noticed by their superior. by being honest to the team member that what he or she is doing is negatively impacting on the whole project’s performance will help the member in relooking into the reason why they are there in the first place and hence repurpose their objectives and resolution towards the project.
Plan of Action to Get the Project Back On Track
In any project, there is bound to be some challenges that will eventually drag down the speed and performance according to the initial plans. Some unexpected things sometimes do happen that were not part of the initial plans but the way they are handle by the team is what makes the big difference. For the project manager, rearranging the whole schedule to fit within the scheduled time within the appropriate time always averts other calamities that might affect the project and the overall cost as well. The first step the project manager should consider taking is getting the reallocation of resources back on tract. This should be done with the awareness that there are other tasks that are still crucial to the task ahead and therefore develop the critical path that would lead the project’s implementation and completion. The critical path would help the project manager assign and reassign resources where need be for the project’s completion.
The project manager should be able to countercheck and double check thoroughly how dependent their schedule is on other resources which if anything happens, would be detrimental to the overall flow of the project. If the schedules trend over the deadline of the project, it would be critical for the project manager to revalidate the whole issues of dependency as there can be other issues that shadow the schedule in terms of tasks that might even be irrelevant to the whole project thereby wearing down the team spirit of the project team members. Such invalid tasks that wear down the project’s timeline at times may seem like they are very essential to the whole project and require a sequential performance yet at times they can be done at one time as a whole or reassigned to other sections of the project. It would therefore be prudent for all the members within the team to check for these kinds of dependencies rather than leaving the whole task for the project manager. Getting back the project on track requires the input of everyone in the team and as such great motivation from the team leaders and encouragement would act as boosters to the team spirit and hence the biggest prerequisite for such a turn around.
References
Fisher, K. (2000). Leading self-directed work teams: A guide to developing new team leadership skills. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Lencioni, P. (2002). The five dysfunctions of a team: A leadership fable. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
.
