Motivation: How to increase project team performance

There are a lot of different aspects in project management we have already discussed in our course. The team motivation is, however, another important issue which I would like to consider in some more details. Unlike many other issues of project management such as project life cycle, planning, scheduling and etc., the motivation is completely intangible. There is no easy way to formalize or even describe it. Nevertheless, the motivation is so important that I decided to discuss briefly some contemporary approaches which might help you in your career of project manager. I start with short introduction to motivation theories, describe some common motivation mistakes and wrap up with some important team building issues.

There are the following motivational theories for project team management: McGregor’s Theory X and Y, Herzberg’s KITA, McClelland’s Achievement, Affiliation and Power motivation as well as MBTI personal style.

McGregor’s Theory X and Y basically assumes that two types of project team members exist, X and Y. X team members are those who are low motivated and require constant attention form project manager. On the opposite, Y team members are highly motivated individuals who do not need a lot of supervision to get their work done well and on time. The project manager motivation approach depends on which team members’ type, X or Y, he works with. The disadvantage of this theory is that typical project team environment is a mix of type X and type Y individuals which require a project manager to accommodate balanced leadership style to effectively motivate both types in the same environment.

Herzberg’s KITA (Kick In The Pants) motivation theory is based on the idea that both positive and negative motivators exists. The project manager has to use “carrots” (positive KITA) and “sticks” (negative KITA) to motivate the project task completion. Advantage of this approach is that the project manager is able to create the atmosphere of goal achievement which drives the project success. Disadvantage of such motivation is that it creates “I am ok, you are not ok” relationships between PM and team members. The competition and lack of trust, resulted in that, may destroy the cooperative atmosphere in the project team.

McClelland’s Achievement, Affiliation and Power motivation framework is focused on individuals who are oriented on personal achievement, driven by comfortable work with others (affiliation) or motivated by power. Each type of these individuals has specific potential advantages and disadvantages for team dynamics. The theory explains how the project managers may effectively deal with all of these types.

MBTI personal style or the Meyrs-Briggs Type Indicator provides the ability to identify the personal motivation styles of project team members. Knowing these styles, the project manager could apply personalized approach and task direction for each member of his team. The sophisticated personalized motivation is the main advantage of this approach. The disadvantage is that it takes additional efforts to make necessary individual assessments.

You may find the more detailed description of all motivational theories described above in the Internet.

Typical motivational mistakes which I would like to mention are the following:
o Whatever motivates me – will motivate others. The result of this mistake is disappointment in team members who behave differently;
o People are motivated primary by money. PM are typically constrained in giving monetary rewards so they have to look for non-monetary motivation tactics;
o Team members love to receive formal awards. Other project team members might react negatively on such type of individualized recognition. Be very careful with that;
o The best project leader is the strong cheer leader. Though generally effective, this approach could not be applicable in problematic situations and might cause the opposite results;
o I will treat everyone the same. All individuals are different in terms of culture, experience, education etc. Individualized motivation is more effective in such environment.

Important team building issues in project management to mention here are the high-performing teamwork and the building team culture. High-performing teamwork is based on the high involvement of the team members on the all stages of project life cycle such as planning of tasks, time estimation, risk reviews etc. The involvement of the team provides the project manager valuable insights about the complexity and arrangements of the project efforts. Team members would feel much more ownership and acceptance of the team efforts as well.

Building high performing team culture is another important issue to focus on. The following steps should be accomplished to create good project team culture:
o Team processes – defining common team processes with well known performance expectations and standards;
o Celebrate team successes;
o Foster trust, teamwork and open communication;
o Recognize team members’ strengths – the project tasks needs to be assigned according to individual strengths, knowledge and motivation;
o Promote Project Success – continually identify the successes the team has accomplished (no matter what the size of these successes is).

To sum up, the PM must recognize the importance of individuality for effective project team motivation. Based on my experience this is the key to effective and successful project management.

Reference:
Peterson, Tonya M. Project Management Journal, Dec2007, Vol. 38 Issue 4, p60-69
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