{"id":558,"date":"2021-10-27T09:43:58","date_gmt":"2021-10-27T16:43:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wanhow.com\/projectmanagercoach\/?p=558"},"modified":"2021-10-27T09:44:04","modified_gmt":"2021-10-27T16:44:04","slug":"build-trust-to-boost-project-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wanhow.com\/projectmanagercoach\/build-trust-to-boost-project-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Build Trust to Boost Project Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Build<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Project managers are trusted to deliver on time, within budget and scope<\/a>. The longer your track record of successful deliveries, the more executives trust you to deliver the next big, hairy, audacious project. In turn, you need to trust your project team members to complete their action items on time, raise risks before they become issues, and constructively disagree to come up with creative solutions. Here\u2019s a few tips on how to build trust in your project team:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The larger the team, the lower the level of trust.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Think about this for awhile. What will you confide in with one person that you won\u2019t share with ten? What will you share with ten persons that you won\u2019t say in front of 100? So while the overall project team may be large to encompass every contributor, keep your core project team as small as possible to cover all the functions you need. These workstream, sub-group, or working committee leads need to be able to work together well in an atmosphere of mutual trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One way to gauge the level of trust in your core group is by considering whether they are merely representing their area or function in discussions, or are they thinking and problem-solving as part of the core team?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you commonly hear, \u201cI am delivering my part, my area of responsibility\u201d and \u201cthat\u2019s your department, it\u2019s not my problem\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or do they say, \u201cwe are in this together\u201d, \u201cwe succeed and fail as a team\u201d, and \u201cwe have your back\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Build the foundations of trust with shared values<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You can build the foundations of trust by facilitating a shared values workshop. Set aside an hour where your core team writes down a list of their personal, individual values and shares them with the rest of the team. Then as a team, rank the top values everyone shares. Pick the top three and discuss these further. Ask how team members can support each other with these values? If you are the project lead, it is best to have an external facilitator from outside your team facilitate this exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did this once with my team and one of the top three values that emerged was work-life balance<\/a>. So we asked how we were going to support each other in this area? Some ideas that emerged were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n