Give credit where credit is due

Typical amateurish management attitude: It's his job, after all. Why does he also need a pat in the back? He gets a salary!


Giving people credit and compliments makes them feel good. People who feel good work better. So the more opportunities you find for complimenting your team, the more you gain.


That's besides the moral aspect; true they are being paid, but if they achieved something they deserve the credit.


Credits can be given in many ways:

• The "about" section can list all the team players; keep it alphabetic to avoid upsetting people.
• Patent applications can list all those involved, even if their idea didn't make the final cut.
• Progress reports can highlight those people who made a difference; rotate the names regularly to have everybody included.
• At company meetings make sure to mention a few people by name.

But beware of adding a prize to the credit:

• If it's not substantial, then it may have the opposite affect:
• After all those extra late nights all I got was a meal for 2?
• It can create internal competition - something we'll discuss in a future post. 
• It can put a monetary value on effort and people will start comparing their effort to their prizes and invariably you will get some unhappy campers.
• When finances get tight the first thing to go will be the prizes; and that's the time you need the most goodwill from your team.

Even sending out a company-wide "Happy Birthday" note to the daily celebrants is a way to make them feel special. If this comes with a birthday gift, then make sure that everybody (in a 6 - 9 months period, if not a full year), get the identical gift.

Another way of giving credit, saying thank you and making every feel appreciated is to occasionally give out freebies. Company T-shirts, pens and other give-aways can do the trick. If you order them for clients or fairs then order enough to also give one to each employee.

Celebrating major milestones or releases is another way to say Thank You to the teams involved. Ordering a cake or having some fun time with some games / quizzes or similar will cost the company 2 - 3 hours and will create the goodwill you need to start the next project with new energy.

Giving credit for non-job related tasks is also effective. Be it for somebody who keeps the coffee area clean or who starts an internal book club or even for somebody who did something outstanding in their private life.

Even though it's not work related, the person deserves a round of applause, and it will make them and their friends feel better - and they will all have a more productive day.

On the other hand, don't overdo it. Sending out a company-wide Bravo email when somebody does a 2 hour fix, is silly and shows that you don't understand the effort that goes into the bigger tasks. If you feel that a particular minor job was well done, then email that person - and her boss - but not the entire company.

Give credit where credit is due, and your team will respond by giving you lots of opportunities to give them credit. It's a win-win deal.

- Danny Schoemann

Emotions and Projects

Conundrum: Should a Project Manager be emotionally involved with her project?

A  Project Manager needs to consider her project as the most important thing happening in the world. It needs her entire focus and concentration.


The more she thinks about it in the shower and while falling asleep, the better chance of her coming up with ways to improve the project and to realize what is missing and to identify potential trouble before it becomes obvious. 

This is why it's best when a Project Manager has only a single project to manage, at any one time.

That said, the worst thing that can happen to a project is to have the Project Manager emotionally involved with the project.

Why? Because it's crucial that the Project Manager be able to make decisions based on data and not on emotions.

Once a Project Manager is emotionally involved in a project, she will not be able to make drastic changes; she will fight any attempt to change, shrink or otherwise modify the project, since she is now emotionally attached to this project; the way it is now.


Once emotions are involved, then logical arguments become futile. Worse - this may hinder the project form completing, since that would be like saying good bye (or killing) a good friend.


So while the project needs to be the Project Manager's main focus in life, it must remain a project; something that needs to be defined - and continuously redefined, tracked, updated and completed.


Decisions need to be made based on data and facts. In a future post we will discuss how to make decisions when no data is available.


When asked her opinion on any aspect of the project, the answer needs to be "I don't have an opinion; whatever is best for the project is my opinion". If needed/warranted, the answer can include "I have an opinion, but my opinion is not relevant."


This does not mean that the Project Manager should not give input before the decision is made.


This does not mean that the Project Manager cannot suggest a better and/or different solution if it would seem to improve the project.


It does mean that the Project Manager will not try change a project merely to prove herself right. A Project Manager with an big ego is a Project Manager who cannot be trusted to make decisions in the best interest of the project.