Page 218 - Global Project Management Handbook

MANAGING HUMAN ENERGY IN THE PROJECT-ORIENTED COMPANY 10-7

Too Little Pressure Owing to a Long Project Course and/or a Slow Startup. Project
participants want to see and show results. The energy disappears if the project course is
too long. One team member stated:

A renewal project . . . must not take a long time. If it lasts a whole year, it will be for-
gotten. In any case, [the project team] has to deliver some very quick results, part results.
. . . otherwise the energy disappears.

One problem with a long project course is that in the beginning the project partici-
pants feel that they have plenty of time. Therefore, they are disinclined to start. This
becomes especially problematic when team members work “on and off” on the project,
and the project is put on hold because of other more urgent and/or exciting tasks.
Another issue that may create an energy loss is the time span of the preparation phase
and/or the startup phase. A quick start, in which you almost jump directly to the execu-
tion phase, may take advantage of the energy, enthusiasm, and optimism that often exists
when an idea arises. If enthusiasm and commitment are present, the project may be able
to run very long on the energy created. However, it is important to notice that this energy
disappears immediately if it is shown that the project is on a wrong track.
Lack of Sufficient Follow-up. Many team members and project managers claim
that a big energy drain is caused by insufficient follow-up on plans and promises. No
one seems to care if a milestone is not reached. Often it is very easy to convince top
management that new information indicates that the original plans were not good
enough and/or that other tasks and projects have become more important. A top manager
recognizes this scenario. About the consequences of being very tolerant with overruns
in the plans, he says:

The projects typically flatten out, and at last they flicker, if you don’t take care. In the
beginning, an immense amount of energy is present, but then [the project manager and the
team members] find out that when they overrun a milestone, almost nothing happens. And
this may be a problem that we don’t do anything—respond more vigorously—when the
milestone is not reached. If you just allow the milestones not to be met [according to the
plan], as we tend to, because new projects are born and we focus on them, then it all starts
to flicker.

Another top manager claims that he does not want to follow up:

I don’t . . . follow up. In this house we operate this way: When you get a project task,
and you have presented your time schedule, then you [are expected] to follow the plan. . . .
I don’t have copies of the time schedules of the employees, and I don’t walk around and
check up. It is not my task. It is their own task. If they get behind schedule, they must tell.
If [one of the employees] cannot [cope with this way], then he [or she] is in the wrong
place. Otherwise, I do not have the time to do anything else [than spending time on
checking up].

Energy killers derived from the empirical study have now been presented. In the next
section energy creators are presented.

Energy Creators. Based on the empirical data, a number of issues were identified as
ways to increase attention, motivation, and commitment to the project work. The following