Ensuring the emotional engagement of the project team

The engagement levels of the project can be assessed by watching their behaviour and emotional tone.  Symptomatically, a highly engaged project team:

• Will use a lot of their discretional time on the project;
• they will explore many facets of the project, rather than just the most obvious elements, and
• they will show strong interest in the developments in areas outside of their own immediate remit, to ensure that their work fits together with their peers. 

In a supportive culture, they will do these things automatically, rather than by direct instruction.  If the background culture of the organisation suppresses these behaviours, it may be necessary to "give permission" - though this should be done in subtle way, in order to avoid reactance.  Reactance occurs when an individual rebels against an attempt to influence them that has become to strong and overt; they react against being manipulated, for its own sake.

When we say "give permission", we don't mean saying "I give you permission to do such-and-such", we mean giving a subtle indication that these things are expected, normal and supported.

In our experience, engagement comes from three sources of motivation:

• Profit
• Experience
• Meaning

"Profit" is the most obvious of the motivators, but is also the most likely to create reactance.  "Profit" can be for the organisation or the individual, or both, and it is most powerful when it is for the individual, and most useful when aligned.  The absence of Profit (or Loss) from a project outcome can seriously jeopardise the project, as team members can extend the duration of the project through non-performance.

"Experience" is the amount or pleasure or pain derived from doing the project.  It can be both positive and negative too - if the team members have to travel for extended periods (when they don't like travel), or if they have to work in a dingy room in the basement, or their involvement draws recriminations from colleagues, their motivation levels will be lowered.  If the team has a comfortable environment and good facilities, respect for their involvement in the project, and the odd phase accomplishment party, then the positive experience will create motivation and team engagement.

"Meaning" is the hardest motivator to define and manage, because it can be very personal.  What one person finds meaningful, others may find abstract or pointless.  A great many people find the benefit of others to be meaningful, especially when it is their family.  This is a topic that worthy of debate and discussion by the team; it tends to layer on top of "Profit" and "Experience", and the discussion can create tremendous team alignment and engagement.

— Philip Greenwood

Tags: Project, Leadership, Black, Book