How to kick off a brilliant project

Follow these five top tips to get your project off to a flying start, writes Emma De Vita.

 

Put the right people in the right roles

Get the people with the right knowledge, qualifications and skills on board early, says Christine Unterhitzenberger, senior teaching fellow at Lancaster University Management School. “It is important that you are not just given people because they are available, but get the people who can help make the project a success. They need to want to see it happen and speak up for it – get them on your side.”

Nassar Majothi, a director at WSP, agrees: “The old adage ‘recruit in haste, repent at leisure’ is absolutely true. You can get stuck with the wrong team for a long time if you’re not careful. Take the time to pick the team.”

But to have a high-functioning project team, you need to understand what type of people you are working with – their technical and behavioural skills – so that you can play to their strengths by giving them roles they will excel in.

On the technical side, ask HR for their CVs, check out LinkedIn, speak to them about past projects. To discover their behavioural type, do some psychological profiling (such as Myers-Briggs).

“Whenever I go into a team, I profile them straight away,” says Nick Fewings, CEO of Ngagementworks. “Who is the person who likes details? Who likes to plan but is quite quiet? Who is the loud one who is happy to stand on stage and talk about the project? Who focuses on timescales and schedules? And who keeps an eye on stakeholders to make sure they’re happy? Then I match them to the right role.”

Build a cohesive project team

“All successful project teams take time out to run a workshop to find out how the team will work together,” says Fewings. “It doesn’t take much time – probably a day – but that day can be so useful because, as the project gets bigger, risks appear and stress occurs. If you get people who understand each other, they can mitigate that stress.”

You also need to build trust between individuals, which doesn’t happen overnight. “One of the things that helps is understanding what your colleagues do in work and also as people,” says Fewings. He asks each person in a new project team to do a 15-minute presentation on something they are passionate about outside work.

Unterhitzenberger says an off-site event for team-building isn’t necessary, but “at least provide the opportunity for people to meet in person at the beginning of the project,” she says. “This will massively improve collaboration.”

Majothi warns that: “It takes time and effort to build the team. There’s a huge move to collaborative sessions and integrated teams with clients and stakeholders. That is helpful, but you only really become a team when you are in the thick of it, and that doesn’t happen just by artificial scenarios.”

Finding a collaborative workspace where the whole team can work together can be massively beneficial. “These days, teams are spread out across big geographies, so you need to be able to meet and work in the space regularly. Have a physical area that belongs to that team,” Majothi says.

Have one clear vision for everyone

“Everybody needs to know what the team exists to do,” says Fewings. “You might think that is a given, because it’s a project team, but I work with so many where people don’t understand what the purpose is.” To do this, he adds, the project manager should sit the team down once and spell out that: “Our team exists to do XYZ, this enables A, B and C to happen, and these are the benefits.”

Unterhitzenberger agrees. “Be as clear as possible about what you want to achieve with the project. My experience is that sometimes it can’t be done internally. I have been involved in big construction projects and it is often external advice that helps you to clarify what you want to achieve – and also to identify the needs of the project, because sometimes what you want might differ from what you need.”

External scrutiny can help you understand whether the needs of the project conform with what you want, and how you can best achieve the aim.

Set a strong culture and pace

“You’ve got to keep the pace going from the beginning – you’ve got to have a regular tempo of action. That creates the team,” urges Majothi. “You can’t spend much time relaxing – the leader has got to be the metronome. Invariably, the team will take the personality of the leader. Show that you are actually going to hold people to account from day one. That sets the culture pretty quickly.”

At the project kick-off, make sure that you have clear governance structures in place so that people know what they are responsible for, what the recommended communication channels are, and who reports to whom. “Is email okay, or do you need formal letters? Will there be regular meetings to facilitate communications? This is a very important point, and often project managers don’t have the authority to put a structure in place that works for the project – that’s why you need top management support,” says Unterhitzenberger.

Meanwhile, Majothi recommends thinking with the end in mind. “It’s about anticipating what is coming next and what might or might not happen on the project. Having this anticipation and working through those scenarios helps you to prepare as a team, right from the beginning. Really thinking ahead, visualising the end goal and all the steps along the way, is really important, because people can understand the journey and see how they fit in,” he explains.

Step into your stakeholders’ shoes

When it comes to stakeholders, Fewings explains that “you need to identify the people who are not in the project team but are impacted by what you are delivering, and make sure that you are managing those relationships effectively”. Find the people in your team who are really good at stakeholder management. Make one of their key roles to manage stakeholders by going out and telling them what the project has done so far, and asking whether this meets their needs and if they have any feedback.

“Stakeholder management is about identifying those individuals who can seriously damage your project if you don’t manage the relationship effectively,” says Fewings. If they throw their toys out of the pram, what impact will that have? “What tends to happen is that project managers tend to like process and procedure and to work by themselves, and prefer to use email, but you need to see things from the stakeholders’ perspective and anticipate their needs.”

Majothi emphasises the importance of involving stakeholders right from the kick-off. “They might not work on the project but they need to be very close to the project team. That’s very important from the beginning. The softer aspect of bringing these people with you as part of that team is key.”

Project tips from the dojo of life

Jerome Evans, group programme director UK and Europe, Meggitt
The usual kick-off meetings, while better than nothing, are not the answer. So what is? Preparing your team to launch. This is not just a process or a checklist. It is about our collective behaviour: ensuring every stakeholder from the integrated product team through to the sponsor has been truly engaged in creating, integrating and owning the plans they are going to be held accountable for. To achieve this, you must ensure that everyone has exactly the same view of where they are going – what it looks like when they get there. Publishing a simple and inspiring vision of what success looks like is essential.

Chloe Lewis, assistant project manager, Turner & Townsend
Don’t rush in – take the time to plan and plan well. At this stage, do not get too lost in the full details of the project. Concentrate on the next milestone. Do not be afraid to ask questions; there’s a high probability that someone else also requires clarity surrounding your question. Do not be afraid to nag to get the answers required to ensure your project is a success from the start. A solid foundation is always best. Lastly, don’t forget to keep confirming the client’s requirements – often people think they understand what the client wants, but more often than not they don’t.

Sabrina Waite, change quality partner, Nationwide
Facilitate conversation with key stakeholders to gain clarity and alignment on the why, what, how and when of the initiative. This helps to avoid investing in solutions that do not address a real business priority; jumping into the detail of deliverables, products, milestones and tasks before understanding what good looks like; and going around in circles, delivering things according to who is shouting the loudest. It also avoids spending time and effort polishing a compelling proposition that we cannot resource or deliver within timescales, or that the business could not absorb.