Project Managers Need to be Cheerleaders Too

Sometimes the project manager also needs to be the head cheerleader, if you will.

Recently my project team has been suffering with morale issues due to a shifting organizational culture and marketplace. On Friday, the project hit 50% completion. With this, an opportunity was created to remind them that they have accomplished a lot and in fact, all of these accomplishments have collectively resulted in our achieving 50% completion. I praised them and thanked them. This cost nothing but a few minutes of my time. There were no mentions of a hard road ahead - simple, sincere praise and thanks - no ifs, ands or buts.

Cheer your team on - find a reason - any reason. It certainly can't hurt.