« Project Management - Gather Requirements For Successful Execution
Scope Management Does Not Mean Scope Stoppage »

Attitude vs Aptitude in Project Teams

August 5, 2010 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Project Management Musings

Attitude vs Aptitude in Project Teams
By Kerry Wills

I have been on several projects now where there are project resources who are very talented in their particular field but who have a pessimistic and almost toxic impact on the team morale. These are the people who know a system or business area very well and therefore everyone comes to them for information. Because of this they get a sense of entitlement which makes them believe that they can act however they want and say whatever they want. Examples I have seen in my own career include…

  • Aggression towards vendor partners
  • Aggression towards other team members
  • Flagrant comments about management and other team members
  • Negative attitude about the project goals

I suspect that because they are viewed as critical resources that management glosses over the attitude and doesn’t make a strong stand. My view is that, on my projects, I take attitude over aptitude any day. I would much rather have an optimistic resource who views themselves as part of the team than an expert who makes the project horrible for everyone who has to work with them. I have been on projects where I have rolled off talented people because their attitude was toxic and causing problems for the entire team. Obviously the issue needs to be identified and brought to that person’s attention, but if the attitude does not change then I believe action is required.

Kerry Wills is a proven Program Manager/Portfolio Manager with an extensive background in Project Management, consulting, and application development. Kerry has consistently demonstrated the ability to plan and implement large and complex projects on time and on/under budget. Kerry runs a blog, Adventures in Project Management.

Share this article:
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Google
  • blogmarks
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • TwitThis
  • Yahoo! Buzz

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 5th, 2010 and is filed under Project Management Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 people have left comments

What do you mean by “I have rolled off talented people because their attitude was toxic”?
Thank you.

Anatoly I. Tatarco wrote on August 6, 2010 - 12:27 am | Visit Link

Just that Anatoly - I have had resource who were good at what they did but their attitude was negative and ‘toxic’ to the team in that it brought down the morale of everyone. Can’t have a team where one person makes everyone feel bad and verbally abused, even if they are good at what they do

Kerry Wills wrote on August 11, 2010 - 6:40 am | Visit Link

feel free to leave a comment

Comment Guidelines: Basic XHTML is allowed (a href, strong, em, code). All line breaks and paragraphs are automatically generated. Off-topic or inappropriate comments will be edited or deleted. Email addresses will never be published. Keep it PG-13 people!

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

All fields marked with " * " are required.

Project Management Categories