The project was running late and the section manager thought that it was time fo
ID: 417788 • Letter: T
Question
The project was running late and the section manager thought that it was time for a pep talk with his staff. He realized that he was considered to be somewhat autocratic by his staff, but this time he thought that he would impress on them that he was really one of the members of the team and that they would work together as one in order to succeed. The section manager thought he made quite a good speech. He pointed out that the project was running late and that, if they failed, the customer could cancel the contract. He explained further that, as manager, he was responsible for the success of the project, and so everyone would be equally to blame for the failure of the project. Unexpectedly, a group of staff came in to see him a few days later to clarify whether they were all under threat of unemployment, should it turn out in the future that they were indeed late and the contract was canceled by the customer. What went wrong? What would you have done differently?
Explanation / Answer
These are typical situations which happen in organizations, especially in service industries such as the IT industry. The reason behind this is simple:
The overall tone of the section manager here was negative. While the section manager definitely gave his speech in good intent, the crux of the message was that the customer could cancel the contract if the project ran late. What does this mean? This means that the entire team tagged to this project might not have work anymore, and hence, the team might have naturally thought they would lose their jobs. This is what has transpired in this discussion.
The main mistake of the section manager was that he tried to use the element of fear.
If I were the section manager, I would firstly discuss with the team openly and transparently on what are the bottlenecks. Is the team facing any issue? Is anyone facing any hurdle? If yes, I would first understand that hurdle and give support/resources from a management perspective. I would also list down the areas where I could have done better/contributed as a team member better to the entire project.
I would have then motivated the team to take it up as a challenge to get the entire project back on track, instead of using a negative connotation and telling them that the client could cancel the contract.
I would first appreciate and thank them for the good work done so far, understand their hurdles, and then take it up as a challenge/make the team take it up as a challenge. This ensures that the team is motivated in the right way to bring the project on track.
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