Knowing how to engage your project team is certainly one of the key drivers for running a successful business.

A project manager wants their employees to feel proud of what they do and of the organization they work for.

Those who work with a purpose will give their very best; a practice that can only benefit a project’s goal and a company in general.

Therefore, it is important to consider every aspect of why people do the work and what motivates them to do it.

There are many ways to measure the level of employee engagement within your project team, as well as tools to learn how to engage them. Let’s have a look at them in this article.

What is project team engagement?

Employee engagement means more than knowing whether or not someone likes their job.

Measuring a project team’s engagement allows you to know how committed each member is to the company and its success.

Understanding the engagement level is the first step; the following step is to improve this engagement.

As a manager, creating a workforce that is not only happy, but engaged and motivated to produce, will clear a hurdle on the path to success.

Some factors to be considered in understanding team engagement are the company and its leadership. You might also be interested in this article about different leadership models.

Before you can begin measuring their level of engagement, you need to ask:

• Are the organization’s goals and visions clear and concise?
• Do employees understand these goals?
• Is there a distinct connection between everyone’s work and the company’s goals?
• Can employees see how their work contributes to the company’s success?
• Is the organization’s leadership present and capable of motivating its workforce?
• Do managers have the skills necessary to lead a team to success?

When all of these factors are positive, you can begin to look more deeply at how engaged the project team is.

How do you measure Team members’ engagement?

Engagement is measured by conducting a simple employee survey.

Questions or statements such as “I feel my needs are a priority at this company” or “My workplace is safe” will be rated by each team member on a scale of 1 to 5 based on the degree to which they agree or disagree with that statement.

Once the survey is complete, you must interpret the results: raw scores will give the average of all survey responses, but these results won’t allow you to draw conclusions about actual employee engagement.

If you can compare this data to other companies that completed the same survey, you can better determine whether the scores are low or high.

How to engage the project team

Once you’ve completed the survey and interpreted the data, you need to know how to increase project team engagement.

There are several strategies you can put in place to help the team:

• Know your team members: Getting to know their families, backgrounds and personal goals allows you as a manager to develop a stronger relationship with them. Evidence shows that employees who feel valued tend to be much more engaged in their work and performance.
• Provide them with tools for success: A project manager not only needs to supervise work, but should also be sure that the team understands what they are doing. When one of the team members isn’t sure what to do or how to manage a situation, productivity can stall as they try to figure things out. While additional coaching or training is needed, providing employees with a solid foundation for future activities is a good step to increase their level of engagement.
• Tell them how the company is doing: For the team to have a real interest in the company, they should be aware of its successes, concerns, and difficulties. Empowering the team to know what works and what doesn’t ensures they have the opportunity to develop new ideas for weaker areas and continue to be proactive in the areas they are working in.
• Acknowledge the team and its work: A manager who acknowledges a well-done job is an essential motivator in developing employee engagement best practices. To be a successful project manager, it’s worth understanding what form of acknowledgement works best for each team. Either words of encouragement or a specific employee appreciation activity or, if the company can, a financial bonus. Appreciation helps promote positive attitudes and healthy behaviors in the workplace, a key factor in raising employee engagement levels.
• Promote teamwork between employees: There is a reason why people love playing team sports. When a group of people unite to win, it leads to a contagious feeling that embraces everyone around them. The same can be applied in the work environment, where developing a strong team of employees gives them a sense of greater purpose. Bringing them together to work toward a single goal can be incredibly satisfying and allows them to achieve a sense of cooperation, consideration, and trust not only in each other, but in the company itself.
• Creating a fear-free work environment: Many companies have a tendency to work in a performance-based environment that can lead to a fear of being scolded if a decision fails. Running a business where employees are punished for mistakes or a poor choice is a strategy that will inevitably lead to team members not taking risks. So choosing a gentler, more positive approach can be much more effective in achieving results, without diminishing the level of team engagement.
• Motivate and inspire: Building a positive work environment starts with happy employees, but it doesn’t end there. The tone is set by the management staff and a good way to achieve a positive tone is to be more than just a boss, but to be a true mentor. Whether it’s a pat on the back and words of encouragement urging you to keep trying or pointers on certain procedures, the manager should not be viewed with fear, but be seen as a guiding light.

Engaging the Project Team: Bottom Line

It is the manager’s responsibility to help employees become a cohesive and successful team.

Making your employees feel like they are part of a team and that their presence in the workplace is necessary is a key factor in maintaining high levels of engagement.

Engaged employees means increased productivity, higher profits and margins, and skyrocketing customer satisfaction scores can give your organization a fabulous reputation.

When the company can reflect the best efforts and reliability of its employees, it culminates in a successful business model where everyone is passionate, engaged and committed.

Simply put, project team involvement is a necessary part that will create a fear-free workplace full of ideas and a sense of camaraderie.

Managing and working with international teams from all over the world is becoming the new standard.

Companies are experiencing a particular moment: they are growing, on the one hand, and changing their organizational structure on the other.

Although international growth and team diversity can pose unique challenges, at the same time, working in international teams can also offer considerable benefits.

When you engage with people from around the world and from different backgrounds, you find yourself facing different ideas and perspectives.  This can not only benefit relationships in the workplace, but can also lead to increased productivity and business success.

But when team members are spread around the world, ensuring that everyone works for the same goals can be one of the greatest challenges that a project manager can face.

Here are some tips to make this process easier.

5 tips for leading an international project team in the best possible manner

1. Identify international teams’ cultural challenges

National culture plays an important role in the way people act and it is hardly changeable.

Having an open mind about the challenges of managing an international project is thus essential.

Working with an international team requires an acknowledgement of local feedback to make global projects successful.

One tip, if applicable, is to spend time with team members directly abroad to understand the pace, processes and work atmosphere.

If this is not possible, talking to those directly engaged, asking questions and understanding the dynamics can also be beneficial.

Here are some examples of cultural differences that can emerge in an international team:

• Leadership: an egalitarian and collaborative style will run better with Northern European countries than with Russians, who will generally distrust a leader who is too friendly with their subordinates.
• Timeliness: In some countries, time is a flexible concept. In Spain, getting to a meeting 5-10 minutes late is not perceived as badly as in Germany, for example.

However, when a schedule is absolute, it is essential to make sure that everyone really understands its importance.

• Admitting a mistake: in some cultures it is easier (because it is more acceptable to society) to raise a hand and say “I made a mistake”. In others not. This can make handling problems more complicated.

Knowing different cultures can help you manage the differences that will inevitably happen.

2. Dealing with time zone practical aspects

Project managers who lead international projects have to face a series of practical challenges including time zones.

How can you hold meetings in real time with all team members? Who will be the one who will have to wake up in the middle of the night to attend the meeting?

Of course it will be difficult to find volunteers, so solutions could be to create incentives or move the meeting times so that the burden does not always affect the same people.

3. Giving the right consideration to communication

The main problems for international projects are usually understanding and communicating and this is not something that can be solved just by using a nice software.

Regularly scheduled meetings can be a great opportunity for team members to exchange information and knowledge, to learn from each other’s experiences and to keep up to date with developments and updates of the organization and the team.

In particular, meeting at critical moments in the project and confronting each other is a safe way to move forward with the minimum amount of communication problems.

Successful communication is also based on the transversal skills that a project manager brings to the table, including:

• Listening skills
• Sensitivity to perceive unexpressed concerns
• The ability to answer openly so that the other person can fully understand.

4. Use the right collaboration tools

Technology can definitely play a role in putting communication skills into practice; people need to be able to listen and talk to each other effectively and have access to data to ensure the success of a project.

A project management platform such as TWProject.

is definitely a key enabler. However, you must also be aware that the human element remains, always and in any case, fundamental.

5. Having clear goals and celebrating results

Regardless of where the team members are located, generally speaking, the project manager must ensure that the vision and goals to be achieved are clearly broken down.

For example, creating clear benchmarks and metrics, virtually updating these goals so that everyone can see the progress the team is making can help everyone stay in line with the work process.

Also, creating celebrations of success, whether locally or globally, to share the team’s successes together certainly helps to keep a group together.

Ultimately, a project manager should always be prepared for change. If they are not already working with an international team, this is increasingly likely to happen.

The project manager should therefore be able to address this situation and have their own strategy prepared.

As projects increase in complexity over time, project teams become more large, both in terms of national and ethnic diversity.

It is therefore up to the successful project manager to integrate all team members, regardless of their backgrounds, into a cohesive unit that will ultimately contribute to the overall success of the project.

Lastly, what needs to be stressed is that the need for planning cultural management and communication is becoming increasingly important in today’s globalized marketplace.

Strengths and weaknesses play an important role in determining who we are, both for employees and project managers.

Strengths and weaknesses are vital because they help to decide which career paths to follow, which roles would be better to play and how to behave in those roles.

From a manager’s point of view, simply motivating a team in the classic way sometimes it’s not enough. The real secret to unleashing the potential of each team member and each team is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the members of your team.

This information empowers leaders to make smarter job decisions, provide more effective performance reviews and ensure that every employee can grow and succeed.

However, strengths and weaknesses are often relative and employees alone do not know how to spot them and, above all, how to exploit them. It will be the Project Manager to have to fill this gap by performing one of the most important and delicate tasks assigned to him:

How can you do that? Certainly it takes a lot of sensitivity and experience, but below we will give you some suggestions with which you can perform this task brilliantly:

How to find out the strengths and weaknesses of a Team: Be up-front and honest

Employees are often asked what their strengths and weaknesses are during interviews and performance reviews, but these answers are rarely reliable.

Attributes such as “results-oriented” can be vague and employees can only boast artificial strengths to increase the chances of a promotion or positive feedback.

Once the manager shows his or her most human side to employees, they are more likely to be honest about their strengths and where they are struggling.

An open, direct and honest conversation about strengths and weaknesses is a great way to start.

And why should we wait for the performance review meeting to launch the dialogue window?

Managers can foster a supportive environment every day of the year by expressing their strengths and weaknesses themselves and then inviting employees to do so.

The goal is to developing employees who know what they are good at and what they need to work on.

Managers should recognize employees to be honest, even when they make mistakes.

When expressing gratitude for courageous action, they also encourage people to share, without fear of making mistakes.

How to find out the strengths and weaknesses of a Team: Listen and observe

When working with the same people on a daily basis, it can be difficult to view them objectively.

Rather than a strength or weakness, you only see how a person behaves normally.

So you have to change the perspective: for example, if someone in the team is known to be always in a good mood and friendly, it could also be a natural diplomat.

Furthermore, weaknesses may not be blatantly obvious, for example, an employee who seems calm may actually be apathetic, disengaged and unassertive.

As a manager, you can only understand the distinction if you see people acting differently in a different environment.

Managers should therefore make an extra effort to consider each employee as objectively as possible and in a broader context.

Brief notes describing how employees behave on a daily basis can be a good way to look for key patterns and characteristics.

How to find out the strengths and weaknesses of a Team: Internal competition

Competition is an effective way to make the best (or the worst) of employees emerge; it is a powerful motivator and can raise strengths and weaknesses in a qualitative and quantitative way.

Hosting competitions within teams and/or between organizations can be a fun and effective way to see who is a natural leader and who excels in certain areas. You may also want to read this Talent Management article in this regard.

This can be as beneficial in general as specifically: if you are trying to figure out who is the best person to lead a new project, why not run a contest to see who possesses the required skills?

In addition, a friendly competition promotes teamwork, which in turn will help increase team productivity in the long term.

It will certainly not solve the main problems in the workplace, such as lack of intrinsic motivation, employees poorly or erroneously assigned to certain roles or confusion about the overall business environment.

However, using internal competition to get people to focus on the task at hand and reveal their real skills can answer many questions.

How to find out the strengths and weaknesses of a Team: Communication and company intranet

Company social intranets contain an enormous amount of valuable information about employees’ strengths and weaknesses if you know how and what to look for.

Managers can watch and monitor user activity to learn more about them.

For example:

• What kind of content do they publish and what does this reveal about their interests?
• Do they often ask for help or seem confused about something? This could be a sign that they need further training or personal attention.
• Are they more talkative in the intranet than in real life or vice versa?
• What does the tone used say about their personality? Maybe they are better at writing, rather than verbal communication, or maybe they are shy when they are in front of a large group.

Social intranets can also provide insights about employees’ networks and relationships, as well as their attitudes to work. Corporate intranets can also give an insight into the company climate and organizational well-being.

Collecting these insights and information does not mean that the work is over.

Once the manager has identified the strengths and weaknesses of his or her employees, we will move on to the stage where these will need to be exploited to keep everyone productive, involved and working consistently as a whole.

Project managers play a key role in every phase of the project life cycle, from planning to execution, from monitoring to control to completion.

The success or failure of the project and beyond may depend on them; the sustainability of a company may depend on their skills and competences.

Let’s try to provide insight about the role of the project manager and everything there is to know about this individual in this article.

First, let’s start with a central question…

…who is a project manager?

A project manager, as already stated before, plays a leading role in every phase of a project and is responsible for the scope, resources and, in short, the success or failure of the project itself.

With the help of their team, the Project Manager takes on multiple responsibilities across all five phases of a project’s life cycle.

These responsibilities are intertwined with the 10 areas of knowledge: integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communication, risk acquisition and stakeholder management.

Project Manager Responsibilities

Let’s see in detail, breaking each phase down, what the responsibilities of a project manager are:

1. Start-up phase

• Preparation of a project document
• Stakeholder identification and management

This involves defining boundaries or scope of the project and set it down clearly and identify the project stakeholders by including them in the stakeholder register.

2. Planning phase

• Development of a project management plan
• Definition and management of the scope, creation of a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and requirements collection
• Planning, definition and development of programs, activities, resource estimation and duration of activities
• Planning, cost estimation and budgeting
• Planning and identification of quality requirements
• Planning and identification of human resources demands
• Communication system planning
• Planning and identification of potential risks, conducting qualitative and quantitative risk analysis and planning of risk mitigation strategies
• Expectations planning and management of the parties involved

3. Execution phase

• Direction and management of all activities involved in the execution of a project
• Quality management
• Project team selection, development and management
• Management of all communication aspects
• Management of all stakeholder expectations

4. Monitoring and control phase

• Supervision and control of the project work and management of all necessary changes
• Validation and control of the project scope
• Time management
• Project cost management and control
• Quality check of the results
• Control of all communications within the team and stakeholders
• Project stakeholder engagement control

5. Closing phase

• Completion of all project activities
• Completion of all contracts and relationships with suppliers or third parties
• Drafting of a final project document inclusive of best practices

As you may have realized, to be a professional project manager is not enough just to possess the technical know-how.

This role also requires a series of non-technical skills and it is these soft skills that often determine whether a project manager – and consequently their projects – will be successful or not.

Project managers must possess at least these seven non-technical skills:

• Leadership
• Motivation
• Communication skills
• Organizational skills
• Priority assignment
• Problem solving
• Adaptability

In conjunction with the necessary technical skills, these skills will make a project manager even more efficient, providing a strong background that will allow them to adapt to the ever-changing dynamics of a project.

Additional responsibilities of a project manager that few people mention

Aside from the responsibilities that we have already discussed and which are automatically related to the management of a project, there are others that are rarely mentioned but which nevertheless have a significant weight in the role of a project manager.

Here are two important ones:

Additional responsibilities of a project manager: Ethical Conduct

A project manager will inevitably be working with different types of individuals and organizations and will experience situations that can be addressed using one behavior or another.

It is the project manager themselves that sets the basic rules of behavior as a leader within their project.

Therefore, every day, a good project manager should do everything possible to lead the project in a professional and ethical way by referring to the PMI Code of Ethics

Additional responsibilities of a project manager: Motivating and training people

It’s easy to set project goals and deadlines that are too tight and often one might forget that people are involved and not robots.

It is surely important to provide challenges and responsibilities to the various team members as well, whilst paying attention to what their strengths and weaknesses are.

Each project manager is responsible for the motivation and the way their team works, even when working on a short-term project.

People need to be constantly motivated to keep their interest in the organization and the success of a project and, to increase productivity, a project manager will also need to assess any customized training needs.

The goal at the end of the project, besides its success, should be to have people eager to work again.

Bottom line, a project manager must remember that there are responsibilities inherent in their role, although the project management world is so vast that they cannot be engraved in stone.

If the project requires something special, the project manager must be prepared to take responsibility for it – or know how to delegate it.

However, it is very important to remember that it is the project manager who commands the vessel and that the team of “sailors”, no matter how experienced they may be, will always rely on them to determine the direction towards which they should sail.

Assigning roles and managing project responsibilities is certainly one of the most sensitive things a Project Manager has to deal with. You have to deal with sensitivities and expectations of team members, but at the same time you can’t lose focus on the project objective or business purpose.

Successful projects are usually the product of careful planning, talent and collaboration between the project manager, team members and other project stakeholders.

Projects cannot progress without every one of these key elements, but it is not always easy to clearly identify the roles and responsibilities that everyone should cover.

These roles may also be assigned to one or more individuals or, conversely, individuals may play more than one role depending on the structure and type of organization, as well as the scope of the project and its strategic positioning.

So, let’s try to define what the critical roles are to ensure the success of a project. Let’s see and explore at least 7 of them.

1. Project manager

We can’t but start by talking about the project manager (to whom we will soon dedicate an entire article), the main responsible for the completion of the project as initially agreed.

Depending on the type of project organization, typically a project manager leads the overall planning, execution, monitoring, control, and closure of the project.

This includes managing, reviewing, and prioritizing day-to-day project activities with the goal of remaining on schedule and within the project budget.

Their responsibilities also include executive status and reporting, risk analysis management, conflict mediation, communication management and stakeholder management.

The project manager usually uses project management software to plan activities and provide them a framework.

The main goal of these project management tools is to help the project manager prepare, execute, and control all aspects of a project or group of projects with optimal time management.

2. Project team

The project team consists of full-time or part-time employees who are assigned to work on different project activities and outcomes.

Having an interdisciplinary team with the right mix of skills and competences is key to the successful execution of any project.

Project teams, often identified and “put together” by project managers, may include internal staff from different departments and even different geographical areas.

Sometimes, project teams may also include suppliers, contractors, or external consultants, who have been explicitly grouped together for the project.

Their role is to successfully perform the project tasks and activities that have been assigned to them, keeping the project manager informed about the progress of the project, as well as any blockages and risks that may arise during project execution.

Project team members typically use project management software to see the tasks assigned to them, understand their work priorities, report progress and time spent on different tasks, and collaborate with other team members and the project manager.

3. Steering Committee

The steering committee is constituted by representatives of the management and other high-level stakeholders.

These individuals or groups with a direct interest in the outcome of the project supervise the whole life cycle of the project, providing guidance on the overall strategic direction.

They provide “leadership” support for the project, address issues raised by the project manager and decide on requests for changes to key elements of the project, such as final results, planning and budget.

4. Customer of the project

Clients are the individuals, organization or department for whom the project was started.

Whether it is an internal company project or an external project, each project has a customer who has a specific need that will have to be met by the successful completion of the project.

During a project, the role of the client is crucial to overall success.

They play an active role in approving project plans, requesting changes, increasing problems and risks, approving milestones, issuing payments and, most importantly, accepting (or declining) the final results of the project.

5. Project Management Office (PMO)

The Project Management Office, or PMO for short, is a group of individuals who help build and maintain a set of standards and best practices for internal project management and oversee their application in every project.

In other words, a Project Management Office is an organizational structure that standardizes project-related governance processes and facilitates the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools and techniques.

As more and more projects gain strategic importance, PMOs help to manage and execute them in a more predictable and controlled way, ensuring standardization of project management practices to achieve scale economies and thus improve overall project success rates.

6. Resource Manager

Although limited in number, many organizations have this role as a dedicated Resource Manager, whose primary responsibility is to manage groups of resources available and assignable to projects.

The Resource Manager works closely with the project manager to coordinate resource capabilities and workload and is responsible for assigning the right people to the right projects at the right time.

The Resource Manager plays an essential role in capacity planning to ensure that resources satisfy project requirements.

He is also primarily responsible for managing skills management, continuously assessing the training needs and career development of employees working on projects.

7. Project sponsor

The project sponsor is the project’s pilot and internal champion.

Generally, they are top management members, those with an interest in the outcome of the project.

The project sponsors work hand-in-hand with the project manager and validate the project objectives by participating in the project planning.

Moreover, they often help resolve conflicts and remove obstacles that occur during the project and sign the necessary approvals to move each phase forward.

Tasks of the project sponsor:

• Make key business decisions for the project
• Approve project budget
• Ensure resource availability
• Report the objectives of the project throughout the organization

Bottom line, in order for a project to be successful, a whole team effort is required.

The roles and responsibilities assigned to team members and various stakeholders can be small or massive, but in the end every role and responsibility is important because the project can only be successful through efficient teamwork.

Having a strong, cohesive team, is the dream of every Project Manager.

Working in a team has become common in many organizations, but working with others may not always be easy, especially when team members disagree with each other.

This can lead to serious consequences, such as not finishing a project on time or breaking the budget.

Instead of angering in case of disagreements, groups should therefore learn to stick together and communicate in every situation.

If a group is cohesive, members are more motivated to work together towards a single goal, which will lead to success.

So, how can we increase the cohesion of the working group? Let’s see our 6 tips.

What is the working group cohesion?

Group cohesion results when a group of individuals feel connected and moved to achieve a common goal.

Team members respect, trust and support each other.

While cohesive teams are often made up of people with different skills, what unites them all together is a strong sense of identity drawn from the organization itself where they share values, goals and processes.

In a way, a cohesive group can be compared to a group of fans following the same sports team in search of a collective victory.

Team cohesion is important because this social and professional connectivity can create a culture that inspires employees to remain loyal to the company.

With team cohesion, the team will feel comfortable in their work environment and satisfied to be part of something greater than themselves and the individual.

How to increase working group cohesion

Team cohesion isn’t always immediate and is generally the result of targeted actions taken by managers to promote positive group dynamics.

Here are 7 tips that a project manager can adopt to increase team cohesion:

1. Set objectives and values

Before beginning to work on team dynamics, it is important to have the team’s goals and values in mind.

If the organization does not already have a clear mission or vision, now is a good time to create it.

These elements will provide team members with a clear and shared picture of what they are working on.

2. Provide training and development

In order to maintain a strong team cohesion, each member of the team should feel qualified enough to contribute to the overall objective in the first place.

Upon recruitment, employees should be provided with clear information on their responsibilities, as well as adequate training to ensure the efficient performance of their work tasks.

Over time, employees should improve their work and to do so, they will need opportunities to develop their skills.

This can be achieved through cross-functional collaboration within the organization itself or through company-sponsored conferences, programs or training courses.

This will help team members feel adequately prepared and move forward in their careers within the organization.

3. Support team building

Part of team cohesion is also based on the self-esteem and morale of individuals.

Embarking on team building activities can be a great way to build the empathy and respect needed within a successful team.

As employees interact with each other and get to know each other beyond their work roles, team cohesion will increase.

4. Promote and enhance communication

Team building only works with unambiguous and continuous communication and the project manager is in charge of providing the appropriate resources to accomplish this.

Everyone should be able to connect easily and comfortably with their colleagues, without blockages or interruptions.

Here’s how establishing different communication channels to help the team stay productive and involved becomes essential, such as choosing project management software that includes an instant messaging feature, so that even remote teams can remain easily connected and cohesive without distractions.

5. Build trust

When establishing channels for interaction, it is important that team members feel comfortable with open communication.

Whether they are discussing with the project manager or a colleague, no one should be reluctant to express their thoughts and ideas.

Team cohesion will not be achieved if secrets are being kept at the management level, even if unintentionally.

6. Celebrate success together

Celebrating success – big or small, as a group or individually – is key to maintaining the cohesion of a team.

When the entire organization works towards shared goals, it is appropriate to share the results as a group.

The project manager should remember to thank the team members for their hard work and, in the case of important successes, also give a recognition.

7. Have fun

Lastly, have fun.

This does not mean that work has to play second fiddle and that time has to be spent telling jokes, but seeing the workplace not just as a boring, dull office can boost employee morale.

At minimum you work 8 hours a day and if every now and then, for about ten minutes or so, team members find themselves telling funny stories about their lives, the project manager doesn’t have to worry, on the contrary.

Opening up and getting to know each other can only be seen as a positive element.

Group cohesion is therefore the best way to ensure that all talent is maximized while increasing employee commitment and satisfaction.

This lasting bond will keep the team productive and more effective than ever before and projects can only succeed.

How is the team’s work assessed and measured? This may seem like a trivial question, but it’s not actually trivial at all.

Evaluating your team’s work correctly can be far easier than it might seem. Also, there is often talk of improving teamwork in an organization. A correct evaluation of the work done is definitely the first step towards this improvement.

It is quite obvious that evaluations can take place in many ways. An example of an approach consists, for instance, in measuring the team’s output: the hours invoiced, the units sold, the number of clients acquired or whether the team completes a project on time and within budget.

Keeping track of these actions is easy because they are concrete and you can see at a glance how the team is improving against basic performance.

Although sound, this approach can be a bit disappointing because it does not show who is doing what in the team and how members have worked together to achieve their goals.

In short, the numbers are not enough and it is much more efficient to add qualitative measures and assess the extent to which the team is demonstrating its key teamwork skills.

When to evaluate the team’s work

Team assessments provide more value to the team on some occasions than others.

Unfortunately, these assessments often tend to be carried out in search of a scapegoat after things went wrong.

Even though this is a perfectly legitimate reason for an evaluation, organizations can gain more benefit when they do not consider group evaluations as a response to difficulties.

Conducting evaluations before problems arise can avoid or mitigate them, potentially saving time and money.

Here are some great times and motivations to conduct an assessment of the team’s work:

• Strengthening a team that’s struggling
• To launch a new project in the best way
• Helping a team to grow
• When some team members are changed
• Bonding teams and start-ups in remote team settings
• Before a great strategic change
• As part of team development to compare performance on a regular basis

Team assessments also offer value to established teams, especially when there is a change in the organizational context or when the team is preparing for a new project different from those carried out in the past.

8 steps to take to correctly evaluate your team

We wanted to create a checklist so that you can properly evaluate your team. Hopefully it will come in handy, let’s take a look at it together.

Knowing expectations and needs

First of all, you need to know what the expectations and needs of the organization in general are. These can be a variety of valuable objectives, such as streamlining internal processes, increasing sales, reducing staff turnover or improving employee morale.

Talking to team members

The project manager should spend some time talking to team members, first in groups and then individually, to learn about their feelings, concerns, goals and ambitions about their progress and obstacles in activities and roles as well as in the work environment in general.

Listening carefully

When the project manager talks to team members, they must also listen carefully. Sometimes you can read between the lines when an employee is trying to act diplomatic because they fear recrimination or even losing their job.

Identifying the challenges team members are facing

These challenges may be obvious and predictable factors, but project managers should also be aware that while some problems are internal to the organization, others occur in the employee’s private life and can also have consequences in the workplace, causing the person to become tired, irritable and stressed.

It is obvious that these factors must be taken into account when assessing the work of the team.

Ensure that existing procedures and systems are in place and actually work

Sometimes systems can be installed but do not work, making the team’s work more complicated than it should be. This can reduce productivity and increase levels of frustration.

Requesting external feedback

Ask for feedback from customers – where possible – or even suppliers about how they view the team’s work. This can be done either by anonymous survey or in other ways. Getting feedback from all stakeholders is an important measure that can help to assess the work of the team and to understand if the direction the organization is going in is the right one or not. However, it is worth remembering that it is impossible to win everyone’s approval.

Making the necessary changes and monitoring

It is no surprise to learn that a negative assessment of the team’s work is also caused by a lack of feedback, follow-up, leadership and monitoring from the manager. Therefore, the project manager must make sure that they are present before assessing – especially if negatively – the members of their team.

Creating a team evaluation process

In general, creating a process for the evaluation of the team’s work can make things clearer for both the project manager and the team members. Here are some examples of questions that might be included:

• Does the person show up on time at work?
• Is the person well prepared for the meetings?
• Does they take responsibility or do they always find an excuse when things go wrong?
• Do they focus on the needs of the team and not on their individual successes, failures or wants?

Clearly, it is crucial that team members receive feedback after the evaluation. Feedback is even more valuable when it is conducted with solid data.

Team evaluations help an organization to visualize and achieve broader results and objectives, making them an integral part of the evaluation process.

It is essential that the project manager avoid public criticism from team members at all times.

If negative feedback is needed, the person should be called separately to discuss the performance evaluation calmly and without pressure.

Moreover, the project manager should give feedback on how to improve and achieve the objectives by outlining, if necessary, a training or mentoring program.

Generally speaking, each team works differently, so it is important to choose evaluation methods that help prioritize results and areas for improvement that fit the overall business strategy.

Project coordinators are individuals that project managers sometimes need for their project management.

There are already many articles that explain the work of a project manager and his responsibilities in detail, but let’s take a look at this article to better understand who is the project coordinator.

First of all, to get a general idea of where the project coordinator is in the general structure of the organization, it is important to map the different roles in project management.

The project coordinator is the person who reports to the project manager and is immediately in the next tier of the chain of command.

Project manager vs. Project coordinator

Whilst project managers and project coordinators usually work side by side, it is very important to differentiate these two roles.

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Every information or update that the team needs should be easily accessible, thanks to the project coordinator, throughout the project lifecycle.

Meanwhile, it is the project manager’s duty to oversee the planning of the project until its completion.

In the end, the project coordinator is tasked with streamlining and simplifying some of the project manager’s functions in order to facilitate everyone’s work.

Quality of the project coordinator

A project coordinator will coordinate, needless to say, the project program, budget, issues and risks.

It is his job to make sure that the project is well organized and runs smoothly and this may include communication with various departments of the organization to make sure everybody is on the same page.

Project coordinators must stand out in a hectic and challenging work environment and be prepared to be the project manager’s right-hand man.

Furthermore, project coordinators may have experience and technical knowledge in specific areas and may be assigned to specific departments according to their qualifications.

There are many qualities that define a successful project coordinator; here are the most important ones:

• Detail-oriented: attention to detail is essential when supervising many different aspects of the project, all of which are key to the successful completion of the project.
• Reliability: the project manager will answer to the project coordinator to manage the small details of the project management and, therefore, it is essential that the project coordinator is reliable and does not work against the project manager’s guidelines.
• Good communication: the project coordinator can be considered as a bridge connecting the project manager to various other project team members. Therefore, they must have above-average communication skills.
• Productivity: The project requires productivity from the team working on it and this is particularly important in the case of the project coordinator. Coordinators are like the oil that makes the wheel of the project spin perfectly.
• Self-sufficiency: The last thing a project manager needs is a project coordinator who does not follow the task assigned to them. The project coordinator must be highly self-sufficient and capable of self-organization.

Education, training and certification of a project coordinator

A formal degree in project management is generally not required.

However, most employers do seek several years of experience in their specific field and, preferably, a degree or certification in that field as well as some experience in project work.

For example, a degree in communication, management and business management, economics or other similar fields may provide the required skills.

Employers are also looking for skills in IT, Microsoft Office and, preferably, project management software.

For those who would like to expand further, training courses are organized every year for future project coordinators.

Project coordinator responsibilities

Some project coordinator responsibilities include:

• Ensure that teams have the necessary tools to run the project.
• Create a project program, with milestones, expiry dates and estimates of required materials and resources, e.g. team members, which will be submitted to management for approval.
• Help with the documentation of each stage of the project, as well as drafting brief reports.
• Working “on field” with team members.
• Keep the morale of team members high and build relationships with them to develop a solid unit.

In conclusion, a project coordinator must not only be familiar with a hectic environment, but must also embrace it.

There are many different tasks and qualities expected from a successful project coordinator.

As stated above, coordinators perform very important tasks throughout the life cycle of a project.

We are confident that in the future, the role of the project coordinator will further develop into a highly integrated management role with the project team and will eventually become responsible for more – and increasingly important – tasks during the project lifecycle.

Knowing how to manage a talent, as long as you have it at your command, is not just a generic management of human resources.

Even when the project plan is drafted and sound, provided the project manager has the tools, technology, and time to complete the project, the key question remains: Does the project manager have the right talent and the right place to work on the project efficiently?

Effective project talent management begins even before the planning phases of a project, through selective recruitment, continuous training and career development.

Talent management should be conceived and regarded as a business strategy that will help the project manager retain exceptional employees.

For effective talent management, every aspect of recruiting, hiring and developing employees is addressed.

The ultimate goal must be to achieve a superior quality workforce.

What talent management implies

Talent management, if managed strategically, is driven by the mission, vision, values and objectives of the organization.

This allows each employee to see where their role fits into the organization and thus enables them to be involved in the overall management of the company.

From a strategic point of view, an effective talent management system helps employees to feel part of something bigger than their “simple” day-to-day business.

This management includes the following work processes:

• Develop precise job descriptions so that you know the skills, abilities and experience needed for each role.
• Use an appropriate selection process to select employees who have superior potential and fit the culture of the organization.
• Negotiate requirements and performance standards based on rationally acceptable results.
• Provide effective employee onboarding and ongoing training and development opportunities that meet both the employee’s needs and those of the organization.
• Provide ongoing coaching, mentoring and feedback, so that the employee feels appreciated and important.
• Hold regular meetings concerning service development planning focused on the interests of employees.
• Develop effective compensation and recognition systems that reward people for their contributions.
• Conduct exit interviews to understand why a talent has decided to quit the organization.

The three phases of talent management

Talent management approaches vary, however, there are three critical phases common to all organizations.

1. Talent identification and acquisition

It is increasingly difficult for organizations to find talent with the right combination of technique, leadership and strategic and business management skills.

However, without that particular talent, organizations risk not being able to ensure the proper implementation and completion of projects that are critical to achieving their objectives.

Once the skills needed for the role sought have been identified, talent can be found in two ways:

• External recruitment
• Internal recruitment

The potential to attract external talent and generate interest among internal candidates is often based on factors over which HR managers have little or no influence.

Being perceived as a first choice employer and the ability to offer a variety of interesting projects make an organization attractive to talents.

2. Talent development and preservation

Once the right talent is found, ensure that the skills are relevant to the company’s needs and that the employee remains interested in the organization are ongoing challenges.

Key areas to focus on to develop and retain talent include:

• Support the effective mobility of resources from current assignments to the following opportunities.
• Interlink career advancement processes.
• Create extensive plans for progress beyond the boundaries of the organization.

Most organizations should pay attention to training and talent development.

It is therefore important that organizations, with the help of the project manager, set up a defined career and training path that allows them to develop the skills and competences of talents in their different areas of expertise.

3. Integration and transfer of talent knowledge

Project managers, human resources and business leaders will also benefit from the acquisition and sharing of knowledge.

Having a structured process to embed and transfer knowledge within an organization has a high positive impact on the success rate of projects and initiatives.

Organizational success is strongly correlated with both high maturity in talent management and the high level of matching between human resources, project managers and business leaders.

Research also supports the use of talent management strategies: in a study by the American Society for Training and Development in collaboration with The Institute for Corporate Productivity, the following practices have been identified as having a positive impact on talent management:

• Standardize review and feedback processes.
• Assign a sole functional owner – who can be the project manager – with regard to talent management.
• Develop an organizational culture that supports talent management.
• Ensure consistency between talent management activities.
• Increase the visibility of talent management initiatives.

Bottom line, the project manager’s approaches to talent management may differ from organization to organization.

Through a more collaborative relationship between project managers, human resources and business leaders, it will be possible to gain more knowledge and information about project management and its critical connection to organizational goals, enabling more efficient and effective recruitment, retention and talent development.

As an organization is more experienced in talent management, the better it performs in executing projects that meet corporate objectives, drive strategic initiatives and improve financial performance.

Whatever the industry in which the organization operates, strategic change is driven through projects and programs.

Organizations that have the right talent and the right method of talent management undoubtedly have a critical capability that gives them an advantage over their competitors in the long run.

Finally, more and more organizations are considering talent management as an opportunity to distinguish themselves in the marketplace to gain a competitive advantage.

Leading a team successfully, being an efficient manager and a charismatic leader at the same time may seem an impossible task, however, it doesn’t necessarily have to be so.

To do so, one must be a steady landmark for team members, a beacon to be followed at all times with confidence and admiration.

How can this be done? Let’s see it in this article on how to lead a team successfully, in which we have summarized the 9 basic rules that can help us in the mission.

9 basic rules to lead a team successfully

As we have already said, being a Project Manager who successfully leads a team is not an easy goal to achieve, yet at the same time it is not pure utopia.

Let’s try together to consider the following 9 rules that can smooth the way to our desired success.

Rule #1 to successfully lead a team: Find a management strategy and stick to it

There is nothing worse than a project manager who keeps changing his opinions and methods according to his mood.

Chaotic decision-making increases a team’s uncertainty and frustration, so it’s better to find a strategy and stick to it.

If you find some new methods that the manager wants to apply, they should make sure that they do not conflict with the overall direction of the project. Also, why not ask for Feedback from the Team before applying them?

Rule #2 for successfully leading a team: Set goals and track progress

This may seem obvious, yet too often a project gets stuck between client requests and monthly reports, and the overall goal and vision just seems to fade away.

Setting and achieving goals will provide a clear view of the team’s overall efficiency and daily progress.

Over time, you will be able to see weaknesses and improve results.

Rule #3 for successfully leading a team: Promote training

The key to a fast-growing organization is to empower the personal and professional development of its employees.

The idea is that as the organization grows, so do people develop in their positions, which means they have to learn constantly.

So a good manager offers training courses for employees or encourages peer-to-peer learning by asking more specialized team members to teach their particular experience or skills to colleagues.

Rule #4 for successfully leading a team:  Invest in a pleasant working environment

Research shows that a well-designed office environment can increase overall team performance by up to 20%.

Even small internal changes that do not require large investments can improve employees’ performance.

Here are some ideas for a more productive and pleasant working environment:

• Modern furniture, such as ergonomic chairs and desks.
• In-house library: recreational reading, even for just 30 minutes a day, has proven sufficient to increase productivity in the office, improve concentration and address problems such as depression and anxiety.
• Music at the office: rhythmic background music will help workers feel more energetic and enthusiastic as they perform their daily activities.
• Entertainments or break room: having the opportunity to relax and have fun at work creates a strong commitment, helps employees to relax and clear their minds and increases productivity.
• Living plants: they make the atmosphere more welcoming and it has also been observed that they guarantee better air quality, increasing workers’ productivity by 15%.

Rule #5 for successfully leading a team: Be kind and honest with the team

Most of the time, when people quit their jobs, they do so mainly because of their manager.

Being friendly and honest might not be enough to be a successful project manager, but it is a key part.

Here are some ways to appreciate and care for the team:

• Celebrate progress and achievements of team members.
• Talk regularly with the team and listen to what everyone has to say and, if necessary, implement new ideas.
• Don’t throw stress and anger at the team.
• Try not to overload the team.
• Don’t be selfish, i.e. the manager should focus on what’s good for the whole team, not just for himself.

Rule #6 for successfully leading a team:  Offer flexible working hours

The traditional working hours, Monday to Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., are becoming less and less common.

Offering flexible hours or remote working is an effective way to inspire existing staff and give them more motivation. What matters is the final result.

Rule #7 for successfully leading a team:  Use only constructive criticism

Constructive criticism means offering rational and sound opinions about other people’s work, including both positive comments and remarks about what should be improved.

Constructive criticism is usually expressed in a friendly manner.

When evaluating the work of the team, it is important to always give useful, specific and genuine feedback.

There is no need to be shy and merely praise, although a manager should also be direct and even harsh when necessary.

Rule #8 for successfully leading a team:  Don’t give yourself special treatment

The actions of the leader are followed, directly or indirectly, by the team.

This means that employees watch, observe and often emulate the manager’s attitude towards the work and the organization, especially if his actions do not show commitment.

In fact, no one wants to work for a leader who does not inspire motivation or looks like a slacker.

What a manager must do is therefore set an example: if, for example, they expect employees to arrive at work on time, it is important that they do the same.

Rule #9 for successfully leading a team:  Nurturing the corporate culture

Corporate culture is the personality of an organization that defines the working environment and relationships between team members and co-workers.

Corporate culture also includes corporate mission, values, ethics and objectives.

Whatever personality the organization has, it is imperative that the manager makes sure to embrace it, nurture it and pass it on to employees.

Here are a few things that might help in this regard:

• Team building events.
• Relevant books in the office library.
• Proper initial training and coaching for new employees so that everyone is on the same page.

True leaders are hard to find, at any level of the organization… yet it’s not impossible to meet them.

Leaders show a unique blend of charisma, vision, and character traits that attract people to follow them.

That’s why for a leader who applies all 9 of the factors listed in this article, it becomes automatic to successfully manage a team.