Trust is vital to the success of your Project. Importantly, trust is a two way street, you have to trust in your team and they have to trust you to “steer the ship away from the rocks”.
Trust however has to be earned and is built up over time, it is not usually freely given. You will find team members are tentative at first, unless they know you. In the early days their guard will be up. It is your job to make them relaxed and to see the project is in safe hands. Show them the benefits of the project delivery and that you chose them for this important Project because of their skills and experience.
Then you start by giving them small tasks and watch the outcomes, you will then be able to gauge the levels of performance returned and increase the tasks and responsibility as your trust builds up. The secret here is to listen to your intuition and remember, you cannot do all the activities yourself so you need people you can trust.
First earn the trust of the team, then build your trust in them.
In an ideal world, everyone would like to pick up the phone and get time with you immediately.
Unfortunately, as the Project moves forward, you will find that time is one of your most valuable commodities. So how do you give time to your team and more importantly let them know that they have your attention?
The best method is to allocate two or three communications methods.
1) Face to face sessions set up regularly with team that all can plan and prepare for.
2) Keep a window free for any ad-hoc or emergency meetings, (i.e. keep some slack in your calendar to shift things around, remember, surprises do happen )
3) Make full use of email, text and group discussions using technology, it can save you travel, time and keeps you available to the team.
Be smart with your time management and keep yourself available.
You have to rely on your team to deliver for you and the project, so you need to know you have the correct people on the team. You should always have the final say here. Look not only for the obvious skill-sets required but also seek out the personality and look for the “can do” attitude, you need someone pro-active who is capable of delivery for you.
Also, look for the person’s ability to seek out solutions and options, the last thing you need as a Project Manager is someone who comes to you with problems and issues, but offers no solutions or a way forward.
Essentially you are looking for pro-active team members that have the potential to succeed. They are the Project Managers of the future.
Take your time to secure the correct team members.
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