-
When IT Is Your Company’s “Piggy Bank”
February 10, 2012
-
4 Key Things a Project Manager Must Do
February 10, 2012
-
Essential Project Management
February 10, 2012
-
8 Traits of Top Project Managers - Part 1
February 9, 2012
-
Agile Project Management - Engaging Your Customer!
February 9, 2012
-
9 Tips to Avoid Traps in Project Planning
February 9, 2012
-
Why Projects Succeed - Executive Sponsorship
February 8, 2012
-
On Customer Participation in Agile Projects
February 8, 2012
-
A Project Charter for Lazy Teams
February 8, 2012
-
The Power of Process: How Bad Project Management Kills Great Ideas
February 7, 2012
Would You like Some Cheese to Go with that Whine?
January 25, 2010 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: People Issues, Project Management Best Practices
Would You like Some Cheese to Go with that Whine?
By Malinda Bernath-Simon
That could be one way to respond when faced with complaining team members. However, a comment like that could possibly jeopardize your relationship and trust with the team - not a good move.
Every project manager knows that maintaining healthy rapport with team members is critical to project success. Yet, “self-service”, and “do more with less” work environments are more common and project team members are becoming increasingly over-worked and stressed out. When combined with the economic down-turn, corporate downsizings and job-insecurity; some folks are literally working on the edge - and many are using their project managers as sounding boards.
The team looks up to you, the project manager, to act as a leader, as well as a friend and confidant. You’re in the best position to help your fellow comrades cope, meet their challenges and drive project success. Left unchecked, continual annoying complaints (a.k.a “whining”) can literally zap everyone’s energy and negatively impact the overall performance and productivity of the team.
What Should You Do?
- First, understand that everyone whines. No one is immune. We all have good and bad days. Watch out for someone who never whines – they may actually be an alien from another planet.
-
Then, accept the fact that the squeaky wheel always gets the oil. Whining has been in existence since the beginning of time. The key is to learn how to whine without being annoying - this is an art form to be admired and respected.
-
Next, coach the team to balance the amount of whining. For example, proactive whining that is done before issues occur is actually helpful. Help them realize that timing is everything.
-
And finally, explain that we’re all in the same boat. Remind them that the project is a team effort, that we’re all in this together and we’re here to support each other.
Project managers walk a delicate line, they cannot become engrossed in project drama, however, they can’t ignore it either. Disregarding the emotional health of project team members can directly impact the overall success of the project. The best approach is for you to listen and be helpful and supportive in all circumstances, especially during these trying times.
Malinda Bernath-Simon is a Senior Project manager at Hewlett-Packard. In her current role, she is responsible for a large security portfolio refresh program. Throughout her 19-year career, Malinda has also held engineering and PM positions at DTE Energy (formerly Detroit Edison), General Motors, Johnson Controls and PG&E Energy Services. Malinda holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Wayne State University and she is also a board member for the Women in Project Management (WiPM) Specific Interest Group (SIG). Malinda can be contacted via linkedin at http://www.linkedin.com/in/malindabernathsimon.
No comments yet.
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.
- Agile Project Management
- Ask the Hut
- Certification
- Change Management
- Communications Management
- Computer Based Information Systems
- Concepts
- Corporate Transformation
- Cost Management
- Critical Chain Project Management
- Delegation
- History
- HR Management
- Implementing Project Management
- Integration Management
- Lessons Learned
- Management
- Miscellaneous
- People Issues
- PMBOK
- PRINCE2
- Procurement Management
- Program Management
- Project Lifecycle Phases
- Project Management Advantages
- Project Management Advantages
- Project Management as a Career
- Project Management Best Practices
- Project Management Charts
- Project Management Definitions
- Project Management Ethics
- Project Management for Beginners
- Project Management Guides
- Project Management Musings
- Project Management Office
- Project Management Proposals
- Project Management Templates
- Project Portfolio Management
- Project Workforce Management
- Quality Management
- Requirements Management
- Risk Management
- Scheduling
- Scope Management
- SCRUM
- Soft Management
- Time Management
- Training
- Uncategorized