A Practical Guide to Dealing with Difficult Stakeholders by Jake Holloway David Bryde and Roger Joby

Author:Jake Holloway, David Bryde and Roger Joby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Routledge

Getting the Team to Work in a Different Way

Often we need team members not just to deliver the Project’s outputs but to engage in the project management process. You might be trying to deliver the Project faster or more cost effectively than previous or comparable projects. You might be trying to deliver more for less. Achieving such goals often requires the Team to work in different ways – smarter rather than harder – which means getting people to engage in not only what the Project is delivering but also in how it is delivered. For a thought-provoking discussion of the topic of working smarter in a project management environment see The Lazy Project Manager by Peter Taylor (2009).

Here team members fall squarely into the stakeholder category of being key contributors in terms of their power/authority to assist or harm the Project. You are going to need to draw on both their competence and their support in order to achieve your goals. But human nature being what it is we are often loath to try new working practices, especially if we have been working on projects for a long time. Even where our natural inclination to use tried and trusted methods is put to one side and we embrace a change in working practices with something approaching enthusiasm, it only takes a slight setback or negative experience for us to turn around and say “Well I told you it wouldn’t work doing it this way.”

So how do we maximise the chances of the Team both accepting new ways of working and remaining supportive, even when the going gets tough? Firstly, it is important to analyse your team members at the start of the Project, then plan your approach accordingly. Better still, if you have any influence in team member selection, select people who best fit your ideal profile.

You want a Team that is made of people who will get substantial benefit from the outcome of the Project. To achieve this it is important to explain how the change in approach will lead to a better project outcome. For example, if the Project can be done more quickly, set out how the perceived success of the Client or Customer will be greatly enhanced and how this will reflect well on the team member, either personally or professionally. Think about linking the change to any psychosocial benefits the team member is seeking from the Project. These benefits could take the form of enhancing skills and bolstering the CV. Getting experience of new project management methods could be sold to a team member from this psychosocial perspective. In this way they are more likely to perceive substantial benefit from being involved.

Linking what you are doing to perceived levels of accountability involves getting a message across that what you are doing is important and that team members’ performance is being measured. This can sometimes be done explicitly, for example any formally documented Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can include measures relating to how the Project is being delivered.

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