Maintaining Momentum

Project work often requires effort over a prolonged period with little to show for it, so maintaining motivation can be a challenge. Procrastination is an ever-present danger, particularly on tasks that require high levels of concentration or challenging conversations with colleagues or clients.

Motivating yourself

Before you can start to motivate your team, you first have to motivate yourself; if you are not enthusiastic there is little chance that others will be. Do this by a combination of revisiting the end result—reminding yourself of its value and what it will be like to achieve it—and monitoring progress. Be alive to the first signs of procrastination and act quickly to ensure internal resistance is never given the chance to build up.

Beating mental blocks

Sometimes you can reach a point of near paralysis on a task. If this happens, try using this technique for reenergizing yourself: take a blank piece of paper and write the task on it. Then write for three minutes continuously about the task. Keep the pen moving, and jot down anything that comes to mind: why the task needs to be done; why you haven’t done it; who else is involved; other ways of doing it; and steps to dealing with it. Now go through what you have written and highlight any insights or action points. Decide what one thing you will do immediately to move the task forward—and then do it. Most people report an immediate rise in energy that, coupled with an increased understanding of the task, enables them to get over what had built into an insurmountable hurdle in their mind.

Motivating others

Motivating members of your project team can be difficult for a number of reasons:

Plan ways to keep motivation levels high, but also use your risk assessment to identify points where momentum may be lost, detailing escalation measures where necessary in the risk log.

• Long-term deadlines are always in danger of being pushed into the background by the distractions and crises of the day-to-day workload.

• Nonroutine tasks are prone to procrastination.

• Team members may not see a connection between their effort on tasks, the project achieving its objective, and any benefit to them.

• People with a hierarchical mindset may resent doing work for a project manager who is less senior than them. Approach such people positively, but be prepared to escalate a problem as soon as you recognize that it will be beyond your capability to deal with it.

Motivate your team