Five ways to drive projects forward faster

By Josef Hajkr, Genius Group Mentor and Co-Creator of Wealth Dynamics for Project Management 5.0

Speaking to any project manager, they’ll tell you one of the biggest sources of frustration is the ability to deliver their projects on time. Whether it’s due to constant back and forth over decisions that need to be made, team conflict, or external factors that are outside the team’s control, there are multiple reasons that mean projects are delayed. However, there is a way to mitigate the unnecessary hold-ups, it just comes down to following a few basic rules. Here are the five keyways that drive project success.

Today’s world is so complex, fast-changing, and increasingly project-based that you can beat its complexity with one thing. That is simplicity.

1. Understand the capabilities, attitude, and personal character of individual team members

To get your projects moving fast you need to look at three things with people –

1. Capabilities
2. Attitude
3. Personal character

Capability relates to a person’s knowledge and skills.

Attitude is closely related to a team member’s motivation, the importance of what they want to achieve, the right working environment, and fair remuneration.

The third area – personal character – is the most interesting. Each of us is born with specific talents that influence how we learn, our leadership style, our lifestyle, and our natural strategies for building good relationships at work and even managing projects. The wealth dynamics/talent dynamics typology is a great tool for understanding a person’s character. When a person embraces their natural energy, they are much more likely to be in flow. And in flow, they are 5x more productive. The capabilities, attitude, and personal character triangle create a unique project management 5.0 solution that works.

2. Get organised and put your team in the picture

People need to know what is expected of them. It isn’t just about telling people what they have to do and who is responsible for what, but you should give them the information they need to understand what the project involves its purpose, what role each person has, and the deadlines that must be met. This will ensure that everyone is crystal clear on what they’re doing – and, more importantly, why they’re doing it.

Clear communication is equally important with feedback. Focus on the outcome and discuss why something is wrong and how can it be corrected. This minimises repeated mistakes and ensures a smoother workflow.

3. Translate your goal into an action plan

With a clear timeline and plan for your project team members know exactly what they have to deliver and by when.

Work backward from your deadline for project completion and break the outcome down into what needs to be done and by when. This will ensure the project is completed on time.

It’s important to factor in time for delays when setting deadlines, if you think something should take a week, it will probably take two, so bear this in mind.

Clear weekly actions will ensure your team knows what needs to be done and will be ready to report at the weekly progress meeting. This keeps the whole project moving forward rather than getting stuck due to lapsed deadlines that affect other team members’ activities.

4. Build a strong team

One of the main problems I see when a project team is put together is the lack of alignment between people’s skillset and the roles they’re given. Look at your individual team member’s strengths and weaknesses, and, if you’re unsure of what they are, ask them. Give your team members roles that they’ll thrive in to make project management smoother and reduce conflict and issues.

Always ask yourself ‘Who will do the best job on this task?’. If you have someone who’s notoriously creative, put them in a position where they’ll be able to generate ideas and think outside the box. Similarly, if you have a person on the team who is not so good with people and struggles with communication, put them in a position where they aren’t reliant on others to complete tasks and are not in management roles.

5. Be firm on deadlines, flexible on approach

Hands-off leadership can hinder a project, and too much micromanagement can kill your team’s ability to get on with tasks and make timely decisions. If you’ve delegated responsibility for an outcome, let people get on with it – as long as they deliver on time. Proceed with agility. Step by step, build a self-directed project team.

Your role is to set deadlines, assign tasks and trust that your team will deliver what’s needed when it’s needed. They might surprise you!