5 Ways to Encourage Teamwork in the Beginning Stages of Project Management

In project management, forming your teams and getting them all on the same page is sometimes one of the biggest challenges. When all the dust settles and everyone is securely footed in their roles and responsibilities, fostering an atmosphere of teamwork is important for the overall success of your project.

This isn’t always an easy task for project management professionals. When there are so many moving parts in a project, taking the time to zero in on building teamwork skills doesn’t always make the list of top priorities.

With a little effort, building teamwork skills in your project team is something that can be easily accomplished. Here are a few tips you can begin implementing with your team today.

Hold Effective Meetings

Holding regular meetings with your team is an important part of project management, or at least it should be. The goal shouldn’t just be to meet and touch base, but to really engage with your team and encourage them to do the same.

Hold meetings where each team member has the chance to share their progress, along with their challenges, and encourage other team members to help provide solutions. In some cases, team members can feel as though they’re working on an island. Fostering teamwork through regular meetings can help everyone feel less isolated.

Provide and Solicit Consistent Feedback

As a project manager, it’s your responsibility to provide the type of consistent feedback that keeps everyone motivated and moving on the fast track to project completion. However, this dialogue shouldn’t be a one-way street. Encourage team members to provide feedback of their own on a regular basis. A team that feels they have an active voice and they’re being listened to is going to work together more cooperatively.

Conflict Resolution

When the pressure is high, internal conflicts among your team are a fact of life. Every project manager should have a conflict resolution plan in place that quickly diffuses tension and works toward a resolution that works for your entire team.

Within your conflict resolution arsenal, you should have strategies for compromising or smoothing over an issue when a compromise can’t be met or terms remain inflexible. Most importantly, keep an open dialogue and be open to your team’s ideas for conflict resolution.

Team-Based Decision Making

Project managers carry the weight of much of the decision making, but it doesn’t have to be this way. You have a team of brilliant minds working under your direction, why not enlist their talents and place some of the decision making on their shoulders. Enlisting your team’s input in decision making helps everyone feel involved and invested in the process.

Fostering a Team Environment

Building a great team for your project begins by partnering with a PMO solutions provider to help you find IT professionals that are the perfect fit for your team. Reach out to PMO Partners today, and let us help you foster an environment of teamwork for your project.

 

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