Raven’s Brain, quotes an article written in ComputerWorld, “For IT Projects, Silence Can Be Deadly” . The article says
“The research suggests that the culprit in 85% of project failures is silence. The study showed that there is a definable set of project communication problems that are far more common than most senior leaders realize. An estimated 90% of project managers routinely encounter one or more of five critical problems in the course of a project, but the killer is the silence that follows.”
For the past ten years I have asked project teams “from your experience, what is it that makes one project succeed and another fail?” Over 95% of team members said that good communication was the reason for their success. After asking this question of 134 different project teams, and then working with each team to improve their results, I began to realize that often what the team believes to be a “communication” issue is actually a symptom of the real problem – or root cause. When a team identifies their problem as one of poor communication and then works to try and resolve the issue, significant improvement could not be made. Only by understanding and addressing the root cause was any improvement seen.
There are seven different root causes for team failure that the project teams misidentified as poor communication.
1. Fear – Fear makes team members feel the need to protect their own interests. When we feel to the need to protect we are not going to be open, therefore communication is going to be stifled.
To overcome fear you must work to develop trust among the team members. Trust develops when you do what you say you are going to do and by doing your part to help the team succeed. Trust erodes when someone feels they are being treated unfairly. So always talk about what is fair when you see fear erupting on your project. Then, work to find a way to resolve issues that is fair to everyone involved.
2. Misaligned expectations – When the team members each have a different expectation on how things are supposed to work (usually about roles, responsibilities and authority), you have misaligned expectations.
Draw a picture of how your team is organized. Who is doing what, how do people fit into the process? What is their role? Who has the authority to make which decision? What is the decision making process? By drawing a picture and allowing team members to ask questions, you will begin to align expectations by agreeing on how things are supposed to (or need to) work.
3. Confusion – When there is confusion, chaos will break out. Again, this can be over roles and responsibilities, or over processes.
Work to become a Trusted Leader. For a team to succeed, someone must be the leader. When there is no clear leader, people vie for power and position, and that never leads to success. Instead work to become a trusted leader. A trusted leader is someone who people follow because they trust them to lead the team to success. The leader can offer clear direction problem solving and decision making when needed.
4. Loss of Momentum – When everyone on the team is not in the boat, facing the same direction, and rowing toward project success, the project loses momentum. The more frustration there is, the more loss of momentum you will have.
Resolve issues quickly. Teams start out and gain momentum over time. When problems and issues arise it causes a loss of momentum. However, if the problem or issue is resolved quickly the momentum I sonly slightly diminished and the team continues to move forward and grow.
5. Dissatisfaction – Research shows that when project teams dread going to their jobs (the level of the job satisfaction is low) the project is in deep trouble.
Build in fun. Teams that have “fun” perform better and you can build in the fun. It is important to take time to laugh and enjoy each other. I have seen teams that play golf, have barbecues, share a joke at the start of each meeting, and learn to fish together.
6. Lack of Commitment – When people aren’t really committed to the success of your project or if there are inadequate resources, you can have “slack.” This is like slack in a rope. You don’t have a strong team focused on what it will take to succeed.
Manage the level of stress. Some people re just along for the ride and are not really committed to the success of your project. This causes enormous stress on other team members. You can manage the stress by celebrating accomplishment.
7. Unconscious Incompetence – Inexperienced staff can face a very steep learning curve. They focus on what is available to them: The specifications, contact and drawings. Documentation becomes the focus instead of problem solving.
Be open to mentoring. Both the experienced and inexperienced team members must be open to the possibility of sharing knowledge. Having a mentor can shorten the learning curve for new hires by decades.
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Posted by: Term Paper | March 05, 2010 at 04:51 AM