The push to hyper efficiency also has
companies looking to make better use
of all team members, says Richard
Laermer, New York, New York, USA-based author of 2011: Trendspotting for
the Next Decade [McGraw-Hill, 2008].
“Project managers need to involve
the entire team in efficient decision-making because there is less time to get
things done,” he says.
To do that, project leaders need to
bolster morale and encourage the team
to invest themselves in the project.
“In this economy, people feel like
they are fighting for their lives, and you
can’t be efficient if you are afraid of losing your job,” Mr. Laermer explains.
“Making people feel safe by creating a
sense of ownership is an efficiency
measure. They will be more focused and
confident, and they will spend less time
looking for other work.”
TAKEAWAY: Project managers must
try to eliminate all unnecessary waste
from projects.
2TREND >
TOTAL TRANSPARENCY
Conducting business in a bad economy
raises the stakes for project managers.
Fears about funding shortages and
looming job cuts make everyone nervous,
and those fears are increasing the
demand for oversight and governance,
particularly on big-ticket, long-term
projects.
One of the more high-profile examples
of the increasing demand for transparency comes from the oversight
requirements built into the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The
legislation includes training mandates
for every state representative who will
be in charge of overseeing stimulus
spending in their respective states.
“States have a huge responsibility
in partnering with us to ensure that
dollars spent as part of the Recovery
Act are spent wisely, with transparency
and accountability,” U.S. Vice President
Joe Biden said in a statement as the
US$787 billion stimulus began to
roll out.
Project managers should take heed.
Whether managing a federally
funded billion-dollar program or a
small in-house project, stakeholders in
this economy expect accountability
and transparency from beginning to
end. And the best way to create that
accountability is to be honest with
your team, your company and your
partners about project goals, progress
and even obstacles.
During a bad economy, there is no
time for secrecy and micromanagement,
warns Mr. Laermer. “If you have each
team member doing one little thing at a
time, it adds unnecessary confusion to
the process. But if you say ‘Here are the
challenges we face,’ the whole team can
make more informed decisions.”
In the past, people did their job as
a chain of tasks and didn’t see anything else, adds Mr. Gelape. But that
doesn’t work in a weak economy when
every person on the team is expected
to do more with less, and every project
is expected to deliver. Team members
have to see the big picture to get on
board.
“They need to see why they are
important to the process,” he says,
adding that access to strategic project
knowledge creates loyalty and commitment to the project. “They have to feel
like they are part of the solution, part
of the process that will transform the
business.”
Team members also need to understand the metrics being used to judge
the project so they can work more effectively toward those goals. Metrics can
cover a wide variety of information,
ranging from budget goals and deadlines to improved efficiencies, increased
revenue streams or better use of
resources.
All of those data, along with any other
critical project knowledge, should be
shared in progress meetings and through
regular communication updates.
Without pressure,
processes won’t
improve. This is
a good situation
for project
management,
because it
forces project
leaders to
expect more
from their teams
and from
themselves.
—Boguslaw Bujak, independent
consultant, Warsaw, Poland
