How to Improve Your Project and Jump Start Your Team

How to Improve Your Project
Most leaders want to know how to improve your project.  Wouldn’t you just love to give your project team a new burst of energy?

How to Jump Start Your Project Team
Sometimes we just get tired of doing the same things the same way with the same results. Even if your latest project was a success, your project team may need a lift before tacking the next important project.  Try some of the following project team leadership techniques created from project postmortem results to see if you can jump start your project and take your project team to new and exciting heights.

1. Start Small
   Try solving a small problem first to inspire a new way of looking at a larger or consistent problem and to get quick wins.  Also, make sure your project team is not too big.  While we prefer core teams of five, research shows the best project team size is ten people or less.
2. Get Divergent Points of View
   Invite different points of view by including non-team members and varied cross-functional stakeholders who can bring fresh and innovative perspectives.  Project teams that explore many different options from varied perspectives outperform project teams stuck on internal assumptions, cognitive biases, and perspectives.  Some clients even use a red team to challenge thinking and increase buy-in.
3. Allow Brainstorming
   Welcome all ideas at first so project team members feel free to express their thoughts – wild and crazy as they may at first appear.  Brainstorming done right — where you allow individuals to think on their own before sharing with the group — can help your project team to generate exciting ideas, build team consensus, share common goals, and avoid group think.
4. Remove Barriers
   Once you zero in on a solution, support your team by relieving them of routine duties so they can focus all their energy and attention to the challenge at hand.  Identify the top barriers to success, and create a specific plan to remove or reduce them.

The Bottom Line
At some point, every project or project team member needs to jump start their level of engagement, commitment and shared responsibility.  If you are wondering how to improve your project, start with these four easy tips to give your team a jump start.

If you liked learning about how to improve your project, to learn more about being a successful project leader, download 5 Steps to Align Project Teams to Pull in the Same Direction