LISTEN TO THE PROJECT TEAM


After establishing the formal structures and delegating authority to act to the project teams , you need to move your focus on to listening to the project team. Listening to the team after establishing the formal structures is very important. It is only through listening to the team that you will be able to discover where the established structure is failing.

Project managers generally have pushy personalities and they are forceful when making a point during discussion. These characteristics are helpful when driving a project forward. However, these same characteristics can make it very difficult when trying to get a team to tell you where things are going wrong. Project managers have a tendency to listen to the first few sentences and then jump in with solutions.

If you want to run advanced-level projects well you need to be aware of your personality and its characteristics. You need to learn to control the characteristics and use them selectively. There are two basic techniques, push and pull.

The push technique is the technique that most people, especially project managers, feel comfortable with. This technique involves forming an opinion and then arguing for it. This is an adversarial technique where the emphasis is on pushing a developed opinion until convinced otherwise by argument. Most meetings that project managers and the project team members attend will use this method of communication.

The pull technique is the opposite of the push technique. Rather than giving an opinion and then trying to convince others it is correct, the pull technique relies on seeking the opinion of others. The pull technique is sometimes wrongly thought of as simply asking questions. This is too simplistic an interpretation. Instead the person using the technique should form an opinion and then use skilful questioning to encourage others to form the same opinion. The pull technique however generally takes longer to achieve a decision.

Neither technique is sufficient on its own. A skilful project manager needs to use both techniques, depending on the situation. For most project managers this means redeveloping their listening skills. They need to relearn skills that were at some stage excellent .

Listening skills fall into two general categories, passive and active listening. Passive listening is when the person listening simply sits trying to take in the information being given. Active listening is when the person listening takes notes and often asks questions to ensure that he or she fully understands what is being said. Active listening is what advanced project managers should learn to excel at.

To listen actively to a team member you need to check continually that you have correctly interpreted what you are being told. This is easily achieved by simply summarizing back to the speaker what you have heard . However, you should take care not to break up the speaker's speech continually!

Active listening when undertaken effectively ensures that speakers know they are being understood . It makes team members feel valued and makes them feel it is worth making a contribution.




Advanced Project Management. A Complete Guide to the Key Processes, Models and Techniques
Advanced Project Management: A Complete Guide to the Key Processes, Models and Techniques
ISBN: 0749449837
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2007
Pages: 69
Authors: Alan D. Orr

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