Page 183 - Project+

negative comments. If the team member is repeating incorrect information, set the

record straight. If they are frustrated about some aspect of the project and feel no one
is listening, find out what the issue is and explain that going around bad-mouthing the
project is not the way issues get resolved. If the person truly does not want to be part of
the project team or does not want to do their assigned tasks, work quickly with the
functional manager or your sponsor to get this person replaced.

It’s your responsibility as the project manager to hold your team members
accountable. Once you’ve given them an opportunity to state their case and have made

a few positive changes to address their concerns, make it clear you expect their
negative behavior to stop. If they don’t, you’ll need to get your human resource experts
involved and begin disciplinary action.

Ideally, conflict resolution should not dominate your time with the team. In my
experience, this is typically a one- or two-time issue on most projects, depending on
the length and complexity of the project. Most likely, you’ll be more involved with

building and managing a cohesive team and using an effective rewards and recognition
system to motivate the team. You’ll look at rewards and recognition systems next.

Now that you have the team established and assembled, it’s time to have the project
kickoff meeting.

Project Kickoff

A project kickoff meeting is generally held after the project charter is signed. However,
in some cases you may not have all the project team members assigned at that time. If
that’s the case, it’s a good idea to hold off on setting up the kickoff meeting until the
majority of the team members are assigned.

It is also common to conduct two kickoff meetings to avoid this problem. One meeting
is held after signing the project charter, and another one is held to kick off the
Executing phase of the project once all team members are assigned.

The timing of the kickoff meeting isn’t as important as actually holding a
kickoff meeting. It should occur early on in the project, ideally after the project
charter is signed.

The project kickoff meeting is the best way to formally introduce team members and
stakeholders and convey the same message to everyone at the same time. You may not
know all of your team members, and you may not even have had the opportunity to

interview them for the positions they will fill, depending on how they were selected (or
appointed) to work on the project. As I’ve discussed, some organizations provide team
members based on the functional manager’s say-so, with little input from the project
manager.

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