Should Project Managers Build Relationships

In Roeder Consulting’s Global Webinar today, Christine Zust, MA, discussed a new reality in the work place – a lot of work is being done through virtual teams.  Virtual teams, like any team-based environment, tend to work better when the participants have a positive relationship.  However, team-building exercises don’t always result in positive relationships.  Sometimes they have the opposite effect.  In the words of one of today’s participants:

“So much emphasis is put on getting team members together to build a relationship. That’s great in a perfect situation, but what about when personalities collide? Sometimes getting people to know each other better in a personal way is not conducive to work.”

So, team building works when positive relationships are formed.  But, it can backfire too.  What if you get everyone together and they don’t like each other?  We took this conversation to the 3500+ members of Roeder Consulting Linked In group.  Throughout the course of the day people have already started to weigh in:

• Christine Zust (the webinar presenter) says “To me, the only way we can truly get to know each other is through establishing and maintaining relationships. And yes, it’s hard work. We know, through experience, that not every relationship is going to be perfect…we may encounter people whose styles are very different from ours which can cause tension or uncertainty. The greatest lesson I have learned about building human relationships is acceptance. Once I accept that I cannot change anyone but myself, I open up my thinking to welcome those challenges when they occur. Even when I have a bad relationship with someone, it’s still a relationship. I have to try my best to make the most of it.

• Gregory says “It is a must! Especially in today’s transactional world where “friends”, “connections” and “followers” don’t mean a thing. It is all about the basic human nature. With personal relationship comes trust, reliance and desire to excel.”

Positive relationships are important to teams.  It’s also true that sometimes “personalities collide.”  What to do?  The answer is to do your team building exercise … but be careful!  Human interaction is something we all need.   After all, solitary confinement is a punishment.  But, when you bring everyone together be thoughtful about highlighting the areas of agreement. If you take any random two people out of the world you are likely to find issues they agree on, and others they disagree on.  Our role as team builders is to do our best to keep everyone focused on those areas where they agree.

If you’d like to see the latest comments on this discussion thread and/or offer your insights go to the Roeder Consulting Linked In Group:   http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Roeder-Consulting-1-Community-Project-2800285

 

Managing Virtual Teams – Denver, CO

#pmot #pm #pmp #virtualteams

Managing Virtual Teams (8 PDUs)

 

  Friday, December 9th, 2011
8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Courtyard Denver Southwest/Lakewood
   

 

Roeder Consulting presents this accelerated 1-day course designed for busy professionals. In this course, learn how to lead your virtual teams to better outcomes when presented with the challenge of little or no in-person or team interaction.

For more information or to register, click on the link – http://www.cvent.com/events/communicate-with-competence-confidence-dallas/event-summary-e2f16d319d6f49c7a9fa12a4936aa63d.aspx

April is “Virtual Teams” Month

 

As one of the first posts on our new blog, I figured I would start with something simple: our topic for the month. Roeder Consulting is a project management training and consulting firm located in Cleveland (OH), Boston (MA) and Victoria (Canada) and one of the things we like to do is assign topics for each month (keeps things interesting). In March 2011, we focused on followership and leadership. Today, we debut our brand new course on “Managing Virtual Teams” in Atlanta, GA, so April’s topic of the month is on just that, Virtual Teams. Director Steve Martin wrote a great article for our newsletter entitled “Trust and Virtual Teams.” For a copy of the article and to join our mailing list, check it out here: http://www.roederconsulting.com/newsletters.php.

This is an excited time for Roeder Consulting. We are very proud of all of the time and effort it took for Christine Zust, Steven Hayward and Tres Roeder to create this course. And with all this talk about virtual teams, it got me thinking. As the Event & Venue Coordinator and Social Media Manager for Roeder Consulting, I started wondering: How do I manage the virtual team that I’m in? I’m not a certified project manager (PMP, CAPM), but I do manage projects on a daily basis. Since about 90% of them involve people and places not located in Headquarters (aka Cleveland, OH), something sparked for me. Do I deal with trust on this team? Roeder Consulting is the first organization where I’ve had to deal with virtual teams. But my answer to that question is a resounding Yes! We pride ourselves on having directors, speakers and team members across North America, but that brings challenges every so often. Whether it’s because of technology, time zones or just jammed packed to-do lists, our virtual team probably runs into problems and glitches just like yours.

So how did I learn to trust on this team? It’s simple: I listened. Of course, I wasn’t sitting in meetings mute, I spoke my mind as well, but with listening, you learn things about people, about their work style, their tone of voice (if on conference calls) and so many other little things about them. Listening allowed me to focus on the other person and not be so…well, into myself and my workload. Because I listened, I earned their respect and in the end, their trust. Sure, it took time, but by listening, I was able to show my co-workers that I wanted to hear what THEY had to say or what THEIR ideas were. It also helped that we had one-on-ones every once in a while. Being able to connect with someone without everyone else in a room or on a call was a big help as well.

What can I boil the topic of the month down to? Communication. Team Building in a virtual environment, which is really what managing a virtual team is, takes lots of communication and patience. Sometimes we don’t have the time we need, but we always have the communication factor that won’t go away. Email, phone calls, instant/text messages, blackboards are all ways to stay connected. Just make sure you remember that there is another person at the end of that email/text/call who is working for the same outcome as you!

Roeder Consulting’s “Managing Virtual Teams” in-person course will take place in Richmond, VA (April 29th), Denver, CO (May 20th & December 9th), Chicago, IL (June 3rd) and online in the months of June, August, October and December. For more information, check out: http://www.roederconsulting.com/virtualteams.php

*this article was written by Christina Reid