Back from the brink: Re-energizing project teams
I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that occasionally, I'm involved with projects that seem to draaag on. For whatever reason, the things we were so excited to accomplish at the beginning of the project become less exciting as the project progresses. Sometimes it's because red tape gets in the way of you really jumping to do the work required of the project. Sometimes it's because the people you're working with lose interest, making it difficult for you to maintain your own interest in the project. And sometimes it's because the project was better in theory than in practice. There are a plethora of reasons why a project can start to drag. The question is, what do you do about it?
As a team member, the things that immediately pop into my mind are offsite morale events, mid-project check-in discussions where you go over what's going well and what isn't, and maybe even a swap-out of team members to inject some new energy. I'd love to hear what kinds of things you do, have done, or have heard of doing to help re-energize project teams. I know there are great ideas out there…let's hear 'em!
