Create a Positive Project Experience
There is one thing you can do to ensure successful results for your project. It’s practically guaranteed. Focus on creating a positive project experience for your team, your clients, your stakeholders and your project will succeed.
This is not to say the project won’t have it’s challenges along the way, it likely will, most do. However, if you genuinely lead the team with respect and integrity, while considering the things you can do, little and big, to make this a better project experience for everyone, that will not go unnoticed. It has been proven, when people feel supported and appreciated they perform at a higher level.
5 Simple Ways to Create a Positive Project Experience
Host a productive, yet enjoyable project kickoff, I share my standard agenda and tips for a successful kickoff in this article.
Share some inspiration aligned to your deliverables. For example, if you are building a new product, host a lunch meeting and have everyone bring an example of a recent product experience that inspired them. Identify patterns with these experiences and take those as actionable items to include in your product if applicable. This gets the team the engaged in what they are delivering, making them feel a more a part of the project and allows everyone to get to know each other a little bit better.
Engage the team in the estimating process, getting their feedback on level of effort is not only critical to creating a successful estimate and scope of work but also gets them thinking about how they will execute and more committed to the estimated hours.
Ask about workload and upcoming time-off plans. This not only helps to build a realistic project timeline but it also will demonstrates empathy towards your team members. Whenever possible ask if your proposed timeline is reasonable based on their other commitments. You will be happily surprised by how impactful this simple gesture can be. Often project demands do not allow much flexibility, however, if you ask when you can, this will make your team much more willing to work towards aggressive timelines when required.
Deliver balanced respectful feedback, genuinely thank team members, notice the effort, appreciate the level of quality when warranted and always share any positive feedback you receive with all contributors. It’s common sense and yet in our race to the finish, we often miss opportunities to simply thank team member for their time and talent. If the quality of the deliverable isn’t there, share your feedback in a factual and respectful manner.
These are just a few examples of easy things you can do to be a positive leader for your team. Overall, be observant of what drives your team members and act accordingly. Know which team member appreciates public recognition, and which DO NOT. Know who thrives under pressure and who wilts, then plan accordingly. Be the leader that supports, appreciates and adapts along the way and you will create a positive project experience for everyone resulting in successful project outcomes.