There are many different ingredients that make up a good project team. I want to focus on one for this blog post and that is to not pass judgment. Let me clarify, I think it is good to offer an opinion during normal business discussions because it allows people to agree or disagree with you. But it is not helpful when people are critiqued with your answer especially when you asked for feedback. Let’s look at an example: You are sitting in a Project Meeting with your Project Sponsor and some Key Members of the Project Team and look at different idea’s how to resolve a specific project issue. After different Team Members present their solution idea’s the Project Sponsor tells the first person (Person A) “That is a great idea”. Then he tells the next person (Person B),“Well, that might work” and he doesn’t comment the third person’s (Person C) proposal at all.
You can bet that everyone in that meeting has made a mental note of that Project Sponsors rating. He judged the peoples response with his answers. This in turn will determine the dynamics for this group going forward. Most likely everyone in that group, except Person A, will become more careful when they respond the next time, especially when this happens repeatedly. That is because nobody likes to be critiqued. To get the best out of yourself and the Project Team it would help to take on a more neutral attitude because it encourages more feedback from everyone. You listen to all the proposals without commenting them. Keep in mind that you don’t have to agree with the person and/or proposal. All you do is keep your thoughts to yourself and hear the person out.
The advantage of this approach is that you don’t take sides and you don’t judge people. This will encourage and nurture open Team discussions, which in turn leads to more productive teams that are more motivated. As a positive side effect you will also spend less time in arguments who is right and who is wrong and why. Again, you can disagree but you don’t say it because it doesn’t help the team. You don’t need to have a “everybody loves everyone” attitude in your project, which is not even desirable but you want to create a climate in which everyone can make their maximum contribution.
This way the Project Manager/SCRUM Master creates and supports an open and trusted environment where everyone is welcome to contribute. Try it and see how it works for your project.
