Having a balanced and productive team is crucial for high project performance. However, you might have already seen some cases where teams failed to deliver the project even though each of the members was well-qualified and perfectly skilled for the job. The truth is, while focusing on such essential factors as project deadlines, employee qualifications, skills, and proactiveness, people often fail to recognize the things that matter most: the things that make people enjoy their jobs rather than detest them. You’re probably wondering how to build an effective team and what project management techniques to apply. Let’s look at the latest TED Talks for project managers and business leaders:
Сhristine Porath: Why being respectful to your coworkers is good for business
Christine Porath speaks about the effects of incivility on people and team performance. Incivility can mean belittling and humiliating coworkers or texting in meetings. At first sight, these might seem like small impolite actions, yet they actually destroy work performance. What’s more, incivility causes aggression and kills motivation. At Cisco, executives recently realized that incivility costs them $12 million a year: it reduces performance by 25 percent and new ideas by 45 percent. Furthermore, even if employees only see incivility or read rude words, that still harms performance.
Julia Dhar: How to disagree productively and find common ground
Julia Dhar talks about the types of debates and conversations that make teams stronger rather than cause discord. Dhar focuses on ways of embracing constructive negative feedback. Her rule number one is to make sure that in a meeting people challenge the ideas presented rather than the individuals who present them. Challenging your colleague can lead to humiliation and disrespectful remarks rather than to healthy and fruitful debate. Dhar shows you exactly how to find common ground as well as the benefits such an approach can bring to your business as a whole. After watching this TED Talk, read more tips on providing constructive feedback to employees.
Melinda Epler: 3 ways to be a better ally in the workplace
Melinda Epler talks about her experience working at her dream job, which turned into a disaster because of the disrespect she, as a female employee, received from colleagues. Epler points to the fact that gender, class, geography, ethnicity, race, religion, disability, and sexual orientation can impact work opportunities. This is indisputably unfair, as people should be judged for the quality of the work they do rather than for characteristics that have no relation to work. Diversity and inclusion is what make powerful teams, while disrespect only leads to employee demotivation. Read more on how to build an effective team.
Mike Robbins: The power of appreciation
Feeling appreciated and valued motivates and encourages employees. Mike Robbins talks about the simple concept of appreciation, since it influences not only relationships between employees but team performance too. As human beings, we all need to feel appreciated for who we are and not necessarily for the impressive results we achieve. Even in cases of failure, team members shouldn’t face humiliation or public embarrassment but should feel support and appreciation for their effort. Read more about how to keep teams engaged.
Michael C. Bush: What makes employees happy at work
Michael Bush talks about his research on employee job satisfaction and his finding that as many as two billion people are not happy with their work. Surprisingly, what causes dissatisfaction is not salaries or scarce vacation opportunities. What people need to be happy is different:
- Trust and respect: When an employee says they need a laptop, it shouldn’t take 15 people to approve the request and actually provide a new laptop. How much trust would you feel in such a case?
- Fairness: People want to be treated fairly, whatever their position.
- Being heard: People need to see that their ideas are heard, not ignored or automatically rejected.
At Epicflow, we know how to help you enhance team performance and make multiple projects work. That’s why we’ve devised a software solution that can help multiple teams work toward the same goals and succeed within their set deadlines and budgets. If you’re interested in software for managing multiple projects, make sure to request a demonstration below. One of our managers will contact you shortly.