For Project Success, Every Job Counts

One thing project managers (and senior managers) often overlook is the importance of the value EVERY team member brings to the project. We need to recognize, cherish, and reward these efforts. But often we don't. Perhaps it the American culture.

Consider this intriguing statement from the chairman of a Japanese electrical manufacturing firm, courtesy of Louis E. Boone's Quotable Business...

"The U.S. puts its best young minds to work in staff jobs and has for years. Bright people have gotten the message. They avoid line jobs. Japan, on the other hand, wants its brightest men [and women] in line jobs. After all, that is what manufacturing is all about. Our people understand that while we may rotate them from line to staff, and vice versa, line jobs are critical for what you in America call fast-track executives."

While project managers need to work within the culture of the organization, the one thing we do have control over is the approach that, when it comes to our project, every job counts.