This is how it starts.  Your boss just assigned a project to you.  It’s too big and too complicated for you to do alone.  So your boss has given you a list of people to help you.  “Great,” you think.  “I’ve been asking for a project like this for a long time.  It’s bigger than anything I’ve ever done, and it’s important for the department to get it done quickly.” 

There’s only one problem.  None of these people report to you.  You can’t order them to do anything.  Most of them don’t work in your department.  Many don’t even work in your company. 

Look at your “team”: 

• The prima donna, “My way or the highway”
• The Vendor guy
• The Customer lady who only calls to yell at us
• The Accountant
• That mousy woman who works by the copiers
• And then there’s Moe, who’s never done any known work in the last 15 years

What do you do?

You ask your boss.  She says she’ll support you.  “Just let me know if you need help,” she says.  “I’ll make sure that they get their action items done.”

“Right,” you’re thinking.  “You travel about half the time, and when you’re in town you’re in meetings all day long.  Besides, even Moe’s boss hasn’t been able to figure out how to get any work out of him.  Moe must know something incriminating about him.”

“How am I going to get this project done with this crew of misfits?” you ask yourself.  “I don’t know how to persuade anybody to do work for me.  I’m a(n) engineer/scientist/accountant/machinist/graphic designer/etc., not a sales rep.  What am I going to do?”

The web and bookshelves are filled with books telling bosses how to run their empires.  But with the proliferation of virtual companies and the flattening of the pyramids of traditional companies, most people struggle with an entirely different set of problems.  How do you get your work done when your success depends on the output of other people who don’t report to you? 

And what if your training and experience are confined to analytical subjects?  What if you are not a gifted people person?  How do you get your team to follow your lead when you can’t simply tell them to go do it?  Here’s how to turn a liability into an asset.

As a compliance consultant I’ve spent many years working with large numbers of people trying to get important projects done on schedule.  I have to herd these folks toward the common destination in spite of the fact that rarely do any of them report to me. 

Over the years I’ve learned a few lessons the hard way.  Maybe you can use my experience to avoid some scars.  These techniques work whether you’re running a big capital project or the church picnic.

First, try to get the best people on your team that you can.  There really isn’t any better predictor of success than the quality of people on the team.  But for this conversation we’re going to assume that you can’t make any changes.

Make Sure Your Cluster Knows Why the Project is Important

Your cluster needs to understand WHY the project is important.  Good people will respond and produce amazing results if they feel the importance of the project.¹ 

Try to get the highest person in your organization possible to kick off the first meeting.  If there are customers or vendors in your team, get their top brass, too.  Have them describe the project and its importance in their own words.  This perception of the importance of the project will pay off later when you feed back the ongoing results of the project to the team, as we will see when we discuss motivation.

The purpose of the Kick-off meeting is primarily to communicate to your cluster that this project will represent a significant Achievement.  We will discuss how Achievement motivates employee performance later in this series. 

Make sure that everyone on your team understands what the priority is.  Ask the questions that other people are afraid to ask.  Don’t assume that your cluster really understands what’s at stake.  Connect the dots for them.  Use examples to show how the project will benefit them individually.  At the end of the kick-off meeting your team should have a good idea that you have the backing of management.

The kick-off meeting is a good time to set up the mechanics of the project.  Let the big managers leave to get on their planes first.  Then get everyone to agree to meeting times and places.  They should be prepared for this because you will have followed good meeting practice by sending out an agenda in advance with expected decisions.  This is important because now they know you mean business; that you expect them to come to project meetings prepared.

Analyze your own assets

As the project moves forward you will be faced with the daily task of motivating your team members.  You need to understand your own strengths and weaknesses.  Are you a great orator?  Can you lead throngs of people to achieve great things strictly through the power of your voice?  Let’s be honest.  When was the last time that you got a standing ovation when you spoke in front of a crowd?  There are extremely few people in that category.  So, the answer is no.

Well, if you can’t motivate your team through sheer charisma, what do you do?  Fortunately, the answer is a lot.  And this is where your analytical talents will save the day.  Now we are going to turn your weaknesses into strengths.

¹Knowing "What" to do Is Not Enough:  turning Knowledge Into Action.  http://www.stanford.edu/group/WTO/cgi-bin/docs/PfefferSutton-CalMgmt99

Next time:  Understanding Motivation.