Friday, March 29, 2024

Collaborative Strategies Make for Better Project Management Oversight

Holding HandsGetting people to work together is difficult when first forming a team. Even when individuals are open to the idea and willing to get to know one another, there’s an onboarding period where everyone is learning how new people work and communicate. If this process doesn’t go smoothly, it can present strife and disengagement for certain members that may even put the entire project management lifecycle at risk.
Instead, starting out on the right foot with a focus on collaboration and communication is key. Generating positive sentiment from the start and encouraging open, honest interaction can help smooth any ruffled feathers and provide a level playing field where all staff members can interact. What’s more, such an approach allows the leader to get a good feel of how each individual acts, thinks and speaks. After all, the project manager is likely new to some of these personnel, and even in cases where each person is known to him, he may not know what to anticipate in a group setting.
Employing positive coaching tactics and collaborative ideas is central to gathering people around a central idea. There are many ways that balanced, group-centric project management teams can be achieved, but here are a few to get leaders thinking.
Build in the structure
In order to get everyone onboard with the collaboration idea, the need for others should be clearly defined. Creating stratification of tasks and clear separation of powers means that individuals must interact with other people on the team in order to complete certain tasks, but it’s important to generate lines of communication and depict how and why these striations exist.
Business 2 Community’s Arwen Petty stressed that disparate teams are integral to project management success, but in order to drive home the collaborative nature of these groups, it’s important to make the reasons for separation clear. A built-in team structure will establish that people must work together and will show individuals why the rest of the team matters.
Integrate communication options
One of the best ways to ensure that collaboration is running smoothly is by adding more outlets for communication. By increasing presence and availability, it’s easier for employees to feel connected to their coworkers. This in turn facilitates better collaboration, as individuals are already conversing openly and are more likely to share information about work and general topics alike.
Petty stated that mobile solutions are a mounting favorite for aiding these kinds of interactions. The presence of bring-your-own-device solutions and portable tools in the workplace is helping establish more lines of interaction, no matter where or when personnel want to engage one another.
Support team efforts
When it comes to cheering on collaborative efforts, nothing shows more team emphasis than highlighting the ways in which each person was integral to the completion of a task. It’s important for project managers to draw attention to these qualities, showcasing various aspects of different challenges that were completed by different team members. This helps people associate the victory as a group success rather than just a personal triumph, thereby reinforcing the overall importance of the team.
This supports socialization and greater amounts of team presence, as Will Kelly of TechRepublic stated. The idea that organizations are already operating in cloud and mobile environments makes it easy for people to take their work experience with them everywhere, but the capability of seeing success as a group effort is a result of having all positive outcomes and social interactions in the project management lifecycle pointed at the importance of the team.
Integrate business options
In instances where it’s applicable, creating a totally integrated business presence can help promote collaboration in the project management environment. Kelly wrote for TechRepublic that adding communication and team strategy tools into the overall software suites that support regular work activities helps employees see the progress of their teammates and provide greater visibility of enterprise success. By generating a cohesive business landscape, it also allows project managers to execute more control and oversight regarding how each step is completed, thereby making the team a cohesive group that’s aimed at a single goal.

PMP Certified
PMP Certified
This article has been written by a certified PMP.

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