The American scholars Robert Galford and Anne Seibold Drapeau, experts in leadership development, believe that resistance can come from four main sources: skepticism, fear of negative consequences, frustration and individualism. In this post, you will learn how you can apply more modern project planning tools with your team, by taking just three attitudes:
1. Suggest
The first sensation of the team when hearing about project planning tools may be that they will be monitored to be punished. However, it’s all about encouraging them to watch themselves and extinguishing supervisors “spies” of their work. Moreover, each one of your employees will be able to really know how much time he/she spent on each task and also to have a clear view of the list of priorities and delivery dates. That’s what project planning tools are made for. And if it’s a software that manages the tasks, it will still be possible to avoid informal demands, because the system registers all the shared data, all that was agreed. Remember, though, that winning this skepticism requires you to conquer your employees over time, by treating them with kindness and honesty to correct them.
2. Listen
Resistance is inevitable and performance can indeed worsen if the project control is imposed. After speaking in favor of project planning tools, ask to hear what your employees think about it. Excessive control of the manager and lack of guidance to the team, or even the feeling of being underused in the company, destroys people’s motivation for taking part in any initiative. Encourage them to think like of business’ owners and reward them for it, by contributing to their professional and personal development. For example, afford lectures, lunch or even a sport.
3. Act
Once you’re sure of the support of your team and you have understood and overcome their resistance, time to put the project planning tools into action! But first, some friendly advice: never withdraw the good old one on one communication. Set a routine of weekly meetings. Each team member would have one or two minutes to say what he/she did last week, which are his/her plans for the next week and which obstacles the team can help overcome. You’d create this way a sense of discipline and care that makes each one seeks for progress every week. Good luck!
Try the project planning tool of Runrun.it. It’s online and recommended by 83% of our customers, and half of them reported an increase in productivity between 20 and 50%. Try it on for free: http://runrun.it
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