Chapter 3

Human Behavior

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Objectives

What influences the human behaviors and why is an understanding of psychology important for a project manager?

What needs to be considered while engaging a team member and what matters in developing a team?

How productivity is driven in a team and what basic need influences it?

What helps in enhancing emotional engagement with the project for high performance?

The following are discussed:

• Workplace Challenges
• Human-Needs Psychology
• Motivating Factors
• Emotional Engagement of Team Members

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Team members engaged in a project have a variety of needs. Irrespective of one’s status, age, and achievements, one would still have some unfulfilled needs. In order to satisfy their unfulfilled needs more effectively, project managers need to learn to organize them. The process of organizing facilitates specialized efforts. It helps the team members to develop specialized skills and enhances the productivity and efficient functioning of the project. The project system consists of social, technical, and economic elements, which coordinate human and material resources to achieve objectives. Some of these elements are as follows:

• Maximize organization’s profits.
• Enhance the quality of products and services.
• Compete with other players in the industry.
• Achieve growth.

Human behavior in organizations is as complex as the social system itself. People differ from one another in their needs and values, which may be understood better with behavioral sciences. It considers the influence of various elements (social, economic, and technical systems) of the complex external environment on people’s behavior.

In general, the model of human behavior highlights pain and pleasure as the influencing factors for an action. It helps to understand the motivating challenges that every action is taken in pursuit of pleasure or to avoid pain (see Figure 3.1).

3.1 Workplace Challenges

Studies show the following:

• Organizations are finding it more difficult to retain their best people.
• The length of service in organizations is decreasing at an exponential rate. Twenty years ago, people who jumped from company to company were perceived as unstable job hoppers. Today, these people are seen as well-rounded, career-oriented go-getters.
• Over the past few years, companies reported a 32 percent increase in turnover among mid-level managers and a 25 percent increase in turnover among senior-level managers(ClearRock).
• Make no mistake about it. It’s expensive (and getting more expensive) to replace people.
• The cost to hire a new employee has risen 33 percent since 2000(Saratoga Institute).
• A study by the Saratoga Institute on employee turnover rates showed the following reasons:
  • Supervisory factors: 39 percent
  • Limited career growth and opportunity: 16 percent
  • Compensation: 12 percent
  • Boring and unchallenging job: 11 percent
  • Work hours: 6 percent
  • Other factors: 6 percent

People don’t quit organizations; they quit their manager.

There are organizations that still operate as though human resources are expendable; their focus of strengths is managers who as powerful leaders control all the information. There needs to be a bureaucratic “pecking order” as to how things get done.

Realistic organizations focus on closing this gap. Consider an organization, such as the gaming company Valve, which has completely gotten rid of managers altogether in favor of an approach where employees pick what they want to do, who they do it with, and when they do it. Or how about Whirlpool, which recently took a unique approach to leadership by stating that everyone at the company should be a leader and created four categories that every employee in the organization can fit into (leading self, leading others, leading function, and leading enterprise). Then we have organizations like Netflix, which doesn’t have a vacation policy for employees and allows their team members to make their own purchases without having to get approval for everything they need.

Other companies like Unilever are focusing on workplace flexibility; Unilever seeks to have 30 percent of their 175,000 employees be location independent. Another example is a 1,000-strong company in Canada called Tangerine. Their CEO Peter Aceto has taken a completely unconventional approach to leadership to the point where he actually encourages employees to tell him about their frustrations or what they might not like about working at the company. Peter has also done a tremendous job of embracing vulnerability in the workplace and shedding the traditional robotic manager approach.

You need more companies in the world that acknowledge this gap between how we work and how we live. Companies that focus on closing this gap are going to be the ones that attract and retain top talent, build better leaders, and thrive in the new world of work. When your organization doesn’t think about and plan for the future of work, then your organization has no future!

Engagement

Team members don’t leave an organization; they leave their manager. When you want to reduce turnover, improve the number and quality of your managers. Here are some tips:

 

#1: Communicate clear goals and expectations to your team members

The majority of team members want to be a part of a compelling future and to know what is most important at work and what excellence looks like. For goals to be meaningful and effective in motivating team members, they must be tied to larger organizational ambitions. 

#2: Share information and numbers

This provides clarity on what is going on within the organization as well as how they contribute to the big picture and feel a greater sense of worth. Communication must be hopeful and truthful—do not hold or be afraid to share bad news; instead be more strategic about how you deliver it. Improving performance through transparency and sharing numbers helps you increase a sense of ownership.

#3: Encourage open communication

You get insight into what things are important to the team members by using surveys, seeking suggestions, and engaging in team discussions. Your open-minded approach will encourage people to express ideas and perspectives without criticism. Put into practice what you have learned about effective listening and address concerns in the best way you can.

#4: Communicate to avoid damaging an engagement

You lose trust by not communicating an important matter to the team. When they hear about it from colleagues or friends, it has a negative impact on engagement. Ensure that team members hear the important messages from the competent person directly as soon as possible.

#5: Actively promote organizational effectiveness, reputation, values, and ethics

Team members want to feel good about their leaders, where they work, the project they work on, and the market reputation of their company.

#6: Promote company’s culture

Encourage team members to find a personal fit with the company culture.

#7: Help build trust

Create environments for team members to trust each other and their leadership. Teams are constantly watching leadership to see how their decisions affect the strategic direction of the organization and impact their confidence.

#8: Build engagement

It is essentially level of commitment—motivation—alignment with purpose for moving with the organization to higher levels of achievement together. You are genuinely required to watch the concerns of team members to build engagement on a continuous basis.

#9: Enhance sensitivity

Create a sensitive environment to spot a negative feeling of a team member and manage to deal with it on priority before it inflict others. It should be a responsibility of each team member as well as manager to inform the right level for an action.

#10: Create a sense of belonging

Social gatherings of team members and nonwork activities help foster relationships and are good for increasing the level of engagement.

#11: Give immediate feedback

Feedback is a two-way communication. It is the opportunity to share opinions and find solutions. Mistakenly it is considered an annual personnel review. It’s not. It should be a daily affair.

#12: Support team members for growth

Success begets success. Your support to a team member’s growth is very important for motivating them and building their trust and confidence in you. Support may be provided for education, learning opportunities, training, coaching, and any other interactions for members’ personal development.

#13: Collaborate and share on problem solving

Encourage team members to take responsibility, and work through problems or issues on their own, or collaboratively. It’s not the manager’s job to fix everyone else’s problems. When team members get the feel that their leader has to solve all the problems, it takes away their sense of empowerment and decreases engagement over time.

3.2 Human-Needs Psychology

Advancement in project management is more effective and forceful when teams are built keeping in view their human-needs psychology.

Like anything else in life, it takes effort and practice to learn new strategies and develop an “extraordinary psychology.” If you want to become a better leader, you must let go of the past, release the habits and patterns that do not serve you, and work to build and reinforce those new patterns that are needed for and supportive to growth.

The most important thing is to continue to grow. One thing that makes team members feel the most that they are making progress in their lives is improving their relationships with others. It has been observed over the years that all relationships are the same; the only changes that happens is in the level of intimacy.

When working to change anything in life, whether personal or professional, one must first see things as they are. You need to look into those areas that may not be good as desired.

You must be realistic in assessing your own capabilities and where you stand in specific areas.

Your leadership skills explore the areas where you most want to improve, such as conflict resolution, communication, emotional management, and the missing or weak piece of puzzle.

Maximize Team Performance

Desired improvement of team performance is no longer an option; rather it is an important and most urgent necessity to face an increasing array of pressures and project challenges. Most organizations face, to varying degrees, many of the following challenges:

• Reduced budgets and cost pressures
• Adapting to rapid advances in technology
• Increasing competition and higher customer expectations
• Increasing burdensome “red tape” (i.e., compliance reporting obligations)

Basic Needs

How to form effective teams right from the start is based on an understanding of human-needs psychology. There are six basic human needs. Do not mistake these needs with just wants or desires; these are profound needs that motivate every choice one makes, either consciously or unconsciously.

Each person prioritizes their own needs differently, and use different strategies to meet them. One can meet needs in positive ways that are good for people, or in negative ways that are not good for others. Literally, everything one thinks, says, or does is related to the desire to meet some need. The question is whether one is consciously aware of how prioritization was done, and chose strategies, or merely reacted automatically.

It is important for a leader to understand and know what team members really need, and limit or even eliminate conflict to open up a whole new level of understanding and communication.

Anthony Robbins, “The 6 Human-Needs,” Source: http://www.lifecoachinginterventions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Significance-of-Your-Most-Important-Needs.pdf. Abstracted the following;

The premise is that we all have patterns of behavior, and once understood, those behaviors can be changed to produce positive results. According to Anthony Robbins: “Human factors work to apply principles of psychology to designing products and creating work environments that boost productivity while minimizing issues.” It is worthwhile to have a better understanding of the six basic human needs to develop teams and exercise leadership (see Figure 3.2).

First Need: Certainty—Team members want to feel safe, avoid pain, and feel comfortable in their environment. Every individual needs some sense of certainty and security, knowing that the basic need is being met. Certainty may be shown in comfort, security, safety, stability, protection, and predictability.

Certainty generally shows up as fear. It’s about the unknown. And every one at some level has apprehensions when it comes to uncertainty in their lives. You may know someone who is considered a “control freak.” Clearly, that person places a very high value on certainty in life (see Figure 3.3).

Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.—Stephen Covey

Second Need: Uncertainty or Variety—People need variety and challenges that will exercise their emotional and physical range. Challenge is a motivational factor that pushes people to test competence to face it. Everyone needs some variety in their life. Variety may be expressed in fear, instability, change, chaos, entertainment, suspense, surprise, conflict, and crisis (see Figure 3.4).

In many ways, the level of happiness in life is directly related to how much uncertainty one can accept in life.

So many times in work and life, the situations faced are unfamiliar, and people experience levels of uncertainty. That, in itself, is not a problem. The problem comes when that uncertainty drives them to act in ways that feed their fears (see Figure 3.4).

Third Need: Significance—Every person needs to feel important, needed, and special; they want to feel worthy of attention. Significance comes primarily from comparing ourselves to others, and from the question of our superiority or inferiority. Significance may include pride, perfection, evaluation, discipline, competition, achievement, performance, and rejection (see Figure 3.5). In fact, this is the single biggest contributor to conflict ever encountered on teams. When a person has a high-driving need for significance, it tends to lead to counterproductive behaviors that have a tremendously negative impact on the rest of the team. Those behaviors can include hijacking meetings, putting other team members down, comparing themselves to others, and generally disrupting things to be significant—making themselves more important than the team.

How a leader handles a situation like this can impact the overall morale of the team and affect the success of project or organizational advancement. Sometimes the drive to remain significant may render one unable to effectively provide feedback necessary for advancement (see Figure 3.5).

Fourth Need: Love/Connection—The fourth need is to experience love and connection with others. Everyone needs to feel connected with other human beings, and everyone strives for relationships that give them love. Love and connection may be described as togetherness, unity, teamwork, warmth, and desire (see Figure 3.6).

Human beings are wired for love and connection, more importantly at the workplace.

In fact, scientists have discovered that the same part of the human brain that is triggered by hunger and thirst—basic survival needs—is triggered by feelings of loneliness and disconnection. It’s so powerful that it is considered a survival need. The feeling of being disconnected and lonely can be devastating.

Team leaders must seek to create a connection; it increases sense of purpose and the team is much more likely to commit to the project and to one another (see Figure 3.6).

Some people are always found saying things like, “We don’t have the time or money to engage in those things.” They are simply ignorant of the fact that they don’t have the time or money to not do those things!

Conservative estimates of ROI for connecting activities range anywhere from 150 percent to 350 percent in terms of leveraging stronger team performance right from the start and gaining commitment to the project and its goals. Think about how much time and money companies lose due to lack of engagement and commitment to projects.

Those first four needs—certainty, uncertainty/variety, significance, and love/connection—are the needs of the personality, or survival needs. Satisfy those needs before seeking to meet the last two needs, which are more related to needs of fulfillment, which provide a foundation for engagement and better outcomes.

Fifth Need: Growth—Not growing only leads to death. It’s a biological imperative in nature; human beings seek to grow intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally. Some will satisfy their need for growth by reading new books or taking classes. Others might challenge themselves by taking on new initiatives. The indicators of growth include development, inspiration, challenges, and learning (see Figure 3.7).

It has been proved that one of the most motivating factors is to provide people the opportunity to grow.

Growth equals progress; find ways in projects to help team members feel their need for growth is being met (see Figure 3.7).

Sixth Need: Contribution—This is about going beyond one’s needs in order to make a contribution, and to give to others. It is essential for fulfillment and happiness. This can manifest itself in the workplace through mentoring programs and training that seeks to improve the individual in meaningful ways. It may include giving, mentoring, generosity, and helpfulness (see Figure 3.8).

When we contribute, it tends to meet all our other needs in a positive, sustainable way. And when we truly contribute to the project, the team, and the organization, it doesn’t matter who gets the credit for success. The whole team shares in that success!

The Bottom Line

The way you prioritize these six needs in your own lives determines every decision you make. Your top two needs are called your “driving needs,” because they literally drive your emotions and actions on a consistent basis.

Here is a key truth about humans that you must understand: People will step all over their values in order to meet their needs! Want proof?

Have you ever lied, even though you value integrity and consider yourself to be an honest person? Why did you do it? Maybe it was to protect you or someone else from something you thought might hurt them. The fact remains; a lie is a lie. You do this all the time—most often without being aware.

The key to understanding human needs is twofold—you must first understand your own needs and structures in order to gain an understanding of how you make decisions and interact with your teams.

Second, by practicing, listening, and observing, you can better understand your team members’ patterns, and respond more effectively to their needs—reducing conflict, improving communication, and gaining commitment to the team and the objectives.

Think about it: If your needs are being met, what is the impact on your behavior? You tend to be more committed, more connected, and definitely more trusting of the people meeting your needs (see Figure 3.9).

Now, all that has been covered here might seem like common sense. Well, it is, but how often has it been said that common sense isn’t all that common?

And almost everyone may even think, “I know this stuff.” Well, when it is not being done, then one does not know it; one just understands it. Understanding without action has no return.

The bottom line here is to do things differently when you want to succeed in creating high-performing, sustainable teams. Everyone has the same six basic human needs; how those needs are prioritized, and the strategies to meet those needs, determine every decision and every action, and establish every emotional pattern developed over the course of our lives.

In reality, this only scratches the surface of the human factor, but taking care of it will definitely lead to higher performance for any endeavor or initiative.

Understanding those needs and patterns gives the tools and strategies needed to develop powerful, effective, sustainable relationships with the stakeholders in project management.

It takes tremendous courage to step up and do what it takes to be a leader for achieving business results, to be the best. It’s a risk, but “It’s a bigger risk to keep doing things the same way you always do and keep missing the desired outcomes.”

Now, when you have access to cutting-edge tools and strategies, the path becomes much easier. Now pursue the following:

• Gain confidence and clarity
  • Know how to handle difficult people and situations more effectively
  • Maintain control of your emotions
  • Learn to understand your team members and their needs
• Learn groundbreaking strategies for success
  • Learn the most effective ways to lead teams
  • Gain commitment to objectives without coercion
• Eliminate self-doubt
  • Become rock solid in handling conflict
  • Learn to confidently set boundaries that everyone will honor
• Create a road map to build sustainable teams
  • Learn new ways to meet your team members’ needs
  • Initiate repeatable processes for sustaining successful teams
  • Have a profound impact on your teams and organization

3.3 Motivating Factors

The quote from Zig Ziglar makes us realize that motivation is not just a one-time thing to do.

So much of what we know and do in the corporate world is based on outdated strategies from the early industrial era and shortly thereafter. Think “carrot and stick” motivation.

We think we know how to motivate others, but half the time we can’t even motivate ourselves.

Examine here two ways that one can help to motivate team members or, at the very least, provide the catalyst for them to motivate themselves (see Figure 3.10).

1. Autonomy. Give them complete independence, the ability to make decisions, take action, and seek assistance as needed without the feeling of being micromanaged.

   Autonomy encourages creativity rather than stifling it; creates conditions for team members to grow and succeed; and empowers them to take action to meet the goals of the project.

   When given a sense of autonomy or control over their own decisions and destiny, team members are more motivated to make the best choices. When team members are given the opportunity to make choices, they surprise with their exceptional ability.

   

2. Significance. Treat them to feel special, needed, and worthy of attention. Practically done meaningfully, not just about constantly patting them on the back for a job done well.

   On the contrary, when praise is overdone, it becomes meaningless.

   We wildly underestimate the power of the tiniest personal touch.

   —Tom Peters

   When one can give team members even a little attention, whether it’s listening to an idea they have or acknowledging them in a team meeting, it gives them a boost that can pay significant dividends. And the cost is almost nothing!

   “Limited recognition and praise” was cited as the most common reason for why employees left the company. It was rated higher than compensation, limited authority, personality conflicts and all other responses.

   —Robert Half International

   “How do you motivate a project team during the crisis (no bonuses, reduced salary but a lot of work because of firing others)?”

   How do you cheer the crew on when you just found out you’re captain of the Titanic? It’s ineffective if the captain is yelling, “Keep up the good work, men!” when he is getting too much Margaritas at the Acapulco Deck to forget his sorrows.

Start with Yourself

Motivating yourself is essential during a crisis. “Your own attitude” matters the most.  Always start with yourself to motivate others; you should look for positives in all situations. As a role model, you are energetic, and you are inviting your team to have confidence in you.

This doesn’t mean you should go into denial and put up a show for good appearances. This only makes things worse. It will backfire when the whole world thinks it’s an economic disaster and you picture a sunny and bright situation. The team won’t think you are onto something. The team will think you are getting delusional. Be realistic, calm, composite, and positive for solutions.

Be Creative

Address the situation as it is. Discuss with the team members their individual ambitions. Find elements that you have influence on and that inspire your team members.

Instant Motivation

Take creative actions within your own circle of influence. You will be amazed about what you can accomplish, for example, by giving team members a role they desire, instead of what it says on their functional title.

3.4 Emotional Engagement of Team Members

Project implementation demands highly motivated and highly engaged team members to help make advancements in the right direction.

The inability to handle negative emotions effectively is a major contributor to lack of team member engagement. The fact is that when team members are engaged, they are emotionally attached to the positive outcomes of the project. This means creating a bigger picture and showing the team what contribution they are going to make and what value will be added to reach what results.

When they perceive the outcomes are not positive, they’re going to have negative emotional responses. When you don’t manage those emotional responses in workplaces, team members will naturally become less attached or, in other words, less engaged.

There is little direct control over emotional reactions in the heat of a fearful situation. Connections from emotional systems to cognitive systems are stronger than vice versa, from cognitive systems to emotional systems. This means that emotions quickly override logical thinking and the rational mind is usually unable to do away with anger or anxiety.

Emotional responses occur before cognition has a chance to intervene. The emotional systems activate bodily response systems at the same time they activate cognitive systems.

Prepackaged responses to a fear stimulus, such as fear of failing, have been shaped by evolution and occur automatically or involuntarily. They take place before the brain has the chance to start thinking about what to do. Thinking takes time, but responding to danger often needs to occur quickly and without much mulling over the decision.

There are two ways for project managers to have had a different response:

1. Detach from the fear stimulus, so in this case become less attached to giving the team what they want, or
2. Reprogram the response to the fear of failing, so it doesn’t evoke so much anger.

Like most people, project managers don’t have a clue about how to reprogram the response to fear, and even if they did, it takes time and lots of practice. Therefore, when a project manager needs to refrain from emotional outbursts in the future, what should they do? One option would be to detach themselves from the fear stimulus, which means becoming less emotionally invested in giving the team the technology they want.

When you don’t make it acceptable for team members to express negativity in project environments, you are forcing them to detach from caring. What other choice have you given the project manager? When one doesn’t want to have another emotional outburst, the easiest thing to do is not care so much.

As you learn more from neuroscience about the incredible power of group emotions, you see reasons to adopt techniques beyond the ordinary.

Enhancing Key Emotions

The key emotions that lead to engagement are as follows:

1. Enthusiasm
2. Inspiration
3. Empowerment
4. Confidence

Enthusiasm: It includes positivity, level of satisfaction, and harmonious energy to achieve end results.

Inspiration: It means ignited performance for a cause, purpose, and self-satisfaction.

Empowerment: It is a level of entrust in oneself by superiors.

Confidence: it is a level of self-assurance for meeting the requirements.

 

The following text has been adapted from Dale Carnegie Training Institute White Paper (2012):

The Emotional Effect

It is important to note that fully engaged employees express feelings of enthusiasm, empowerment, confidence, and value based on their interactions with their direct managers. While a good supervisor makes all employees feel valued and confident, a poor supervisor irritates them and makes them feel uncomfortable. The importance of this cannot be overstated; the relationship to the immediate supervisor impacts the investment an organization makes in its people. When supervisors communicate positive emotions, the employee feels good about the organization as a whole. Likewise, negative reactions cause a decrease in productivity and morale, leading to disengagement. Moving disengaged employees to full engagement leads to an improvement in employee retention rates, fewer sick days, and less absenteeism.

Practical Engagement

To achieve full engagement of workers, the line manager needs to be proactive, exhibiting strong leadership and fostering a positive working environment. Thirty-eight percent of employees who express confidence in the leadership ability of the supervisor are satisfied with him or her. Over half of these employees are engaged. Good supervisors know employees need to develop the right skills to work efficiently. For example, new employees need more guidance than those who have been with the organization for a few years. While they are optimistic and excited to advance within the company, they are unsure of their roles and responsibilities. To succeed, they need feedback to understand what they are doing right and encouragement to help them improve. Immediate supervisors can turn that initial level of enthusiasm into full engagement by setting clear goals and training staff. There is also a need for the supervisors to maintain training as the level of engagement plateaus after 3 to 5 years of employment. Fifty-three percent of fully engaged employees say they learned a lot from their supervisor compared to 19 percent of people who are not fully engaged.

Successful managers lead by example, which generates enthusiasm and inspires employees to work harder. A remarkable 62 percent of engaged employees say their manager sets a good example, compared to only 25 percent of those not fully engaged. Supervisors who delegate and trust employees to carry out tasks empower their staff to make decisions; 40 percent of those who feel empowered are engaged.

Open and honest communication between the employee and the supervisor allows for greater understanding of both expectations and job performance. Employees who trust and feel respected by their supervisor will be confident that they can speak freely without the fear of repercussions. Conversely, a supervisor who fails to communicate openly may lose the confidence of his direct reports and cause them to doubt their own ability or the ideals of the organization. Supervisors who communicate and trust and respect their staff generate the highest levels of engagement.

The Caring Manager

It pays dividends for line managers to get to know their staff as this translates into higher levels of engagement and all the consequent positive effects on the organization. An employee wants to feel that the immediate supervisor is interested in him or her as a person and cares about his or her life outside work and its effects on job performance. Research revealed that employees aged 40 to 49 often become less engaged as they face external family pressures. Supervisors who get to know their employees on a personal level and care about their private lives can counteract this middle-age disengagement. These caring activities are two of the four most important drivers of engagement. Training the immediate supervisor to care about employees has a major impact on business performance, reducing staff turnover and heightening productivity. This leads to more satisfied customers and increased sales. Employees have a positive relationship with supervisors who care. Just one-third of respondents believe their manager cares about their personal lives, but 54 percent of these are engaged. Among the two-thirds who do not believe this, only 17 percent are engaged. There is a dramatic opportunity to boost engagement by managers, demonstrating a caring attitude to staff.

Making Things Happen vs Letting Things Happen

In project management it is equally important for a project manager to develop a strong team, provide all requisite resources for carrying out a task, and thereafter let the team to perform with creativity and innovation in the best process to progress for achieving the desired outcomes.

Letting Things Happen

Source: Shunryu Suzuki-roshi, “The Zen of Work” Sep 2012. https://zenhabits.net/zen-work/

The principle is: The best results come not from what you make happen but from what you let happen by the team. It might seem like a simple, if not simplistic, concept for leadership, yet difficult to control ego.

“Leadership” is generally taken “to make go.” The trouble is, people misunderstand who makes what go.

The orthodox view of leadership is that the leader makes things go by directing people and resources toward certain goals. But within the context of this principle, this view misses what great leadership is about.

To take this principle into project management activities as a leader, do these three things:

1. Change assumptions. As a leader, adhere to the principle of how you relate to the team to get results. Your trust in their abilities trumps your abilities in almost all cases.

   Abraham Lincoln described this truth in another way: “You cannot build character and courage by taking away a person’s independence and initiative.”

   This is not about a simple change in mindset; to achieve great results by letting things happen, you should undergo a transformation of your consciousness so broad and deep that it animates your activities throughout your career. When you come to understand that your leadership is not just about compelling or persuading people to act in certain ways, but helping them bring out the best in themselves, you’ll make big advances in your effectiveness.

2. Be rigorous. You cannot apply this principle to unskilled, undisciplined teams. Bringing out the best in team by letting things happen entails, on the part of everyone involved, hard work, clear communication, cultivation of job skills, and a dedication to practical processes.
3. Be results-oriented. This is a patently obvious point, but many leaders, strangely enough, miss it. Just like conductors who are into “tacking it down,” these leaders focus on cementing their power at the expense of releasing the greater power inherent in the people they lead.

There is only one reason letting things happen can truly be a trumpet call for you to end your commitment to orthodox leadership: It gets results. In fact, when the imperative is not helping you get far more results than ever before, don’t heed the call; stick with the old leadership methods.

Mind you, when you do answer the call, know that putting an end to orthodoxy may not happen all at once. The endeavor can be carried out many times daily for the rest of your career. You’ll often fail. But keep trying. Fail forward, fail better.

Summary

A better understanding of underlying factors that influence people’s behavior helps manage a team and ensure productivity on a project. Primarily, everyone does something either to repel pain or to gain pleasure. A project manager needs to understand the factors while dealing with engagement of their team members.

Considering six human needs is important for building a team, and the motivating factors autonomy and significance are forceful for driving results.

Make the best use of the motivating factors of autonomy and significance; when a team is built including the member best fit for the job, let the person bring the results and recognize the contribution.

The emotional engagement of a team member with the project deliverable brings the highest level of results and, most importantly, lets the autonomy play its role.

References

Babauta, L. 2012. “The Zen of Work.” https://zenhabits.net/zen-work/

“ClearRock” Awareness Unlock Potential. http://www.clearrock.com/

Dale Carnegie Training Institute White Paper. 2012. “Enhancing Employee Engagement: The Role of Immediate Supervisor.” https://www.dalecarnegie.com/assets/1/7/Enhancing_Employee_Engagement-_The_Role_of_the_Immediate_Supervisor.pdf

Robbins, A. “The 6 Human-Needs.” Dec 2012, http://www.lifecoachinginterventions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Significance-of-Your-Most-Important-Needs.pdf

“Saratoga Institute” Value Based Management and ROI of Human Capital. http://valuebasedmanagement.net/organizations_saratoga.html