Good Project Leaders Know When To Ease Tensions

Projects are important to a business. The finances allocated, the manpower and hours dedicated to the task, the resources, the planing, the time and effort invested - it can either be a pleasant, constructive endeavor, or a high stress, unhappy period that drags on and on with no end in sight. It doesn’t have to be this way. Leadership has a part in making the project environment an atmosphere of constructive and positive headway. If not, expect levels of employee and team member turnover, productivity to take a nose dive, and team esprit de corps to take a flight out the windows.

A team leader or project management has to recognize the signs of stress and tension before the breaking point arrives. No one desires to spend most of their waking lives in a climate of unpleasantness.

One of the telltale signs of stress is an unusual amount of project members using their sick days in abundance, especially when the weather has been sunny and warm. Personal time suddenly being used during a project, or workers who show up late, no enthusiasm, and leave early. When employees whisper in hushed tones of ‘mental health days’, you are already behind the curve.

There are times when sick days are legitimately utilized. But what brought on the multiple health maladies? Stress and low immunity systems. One team member infects others who are already worn out and seeking mental and emotional relief. You can argue they are paid to suffer, but it isn’t changing the facts. Your project will suffer because of it. If you have experienced problems with your team, it could be time for you to obtain PMP certification training and enhance your project management capabilities, including new ways to keep your team in good spirits.

An attitude of ‘who cares’ is infectious. The excitement and thrill is gone, no one is raising the rally flag, and milestones are a thing of the past. Deadlines come and go, piling up in the corner, while you are scrambling for answers, working the tough love and creating a secondary stressful situation. When employees explode back, and they gang up on you in unison, the sinking ship is going down. Frustrations, whining, tears, shouting, finger pointing, blame - if the team members had a union, there would be a strike. As the project manager, don’t let this happen to you.

You have to respect your team for the hard work and effort they put into the project each and every day. Respect and recognition works magic and goes a long way. A Friday off from work, team building meetings off site do work. Have an off site lunch, where the team can constructively voice their opinions. As the leader, you have to be strong enough to receive their criticisms, no matter how much it hurts. You may have placed yourself in your ivory tower, unable to see what they see. View their needs and requirements, and work towards making their environment a better place to work and attend. It may be something as simple as having time to actually complete their respective tasks without interruptions. They may need time to focus on their task without worthless meetings that drone on for hours and accomplish nothing. Heavy workloads with no end in sight may be another issue. Divide and conquer. Instead of asking individuals to handle tasks, create small teams and groups to handle the major lifting.

Constantly demanding overtime is another cause of revolt. People have lives. Thinking everyone has to sacrifice their lives, move their personal living quarters to work, and never see the light of day only adds to the problem. Give team members their space and free time. Add to it by taking the team to the movies, a bowling alley or pool hall. It is amazing how these simple leisure activities change the mood of the team. Everyone returns to work discussing the fun and enjoyment they had.

Leaders need to keep their eye on the overall mental and emotional levels of the team if they want the project to move forward instead of stall and become stagnant. By doing so, everyone wins. Training involving stress recognition and project management can be found at K Alliance, along with many other training courses designed to improve your personal and professional skills.

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