Merv Jersak and Tim Jerome host a dialogue that covers personal experiences, the importance of understanding team members' backgrounds, leveraging personal interests for team bonding, and the concept of situational leadership. Real-life scenarios are used to illustrate strategies for building stronger relationships within teams, including respecting and catering to individual expertise, and ensuring project managers create an environment where innovation thrives. The discussion emphasizes the necessity of fostering personal connections, removing barriers to team members' best work, and the pivotal role of leadership in stakeholder engagement.

Main Take-Aways

Stories are powerful teachers. Today’s story lessons:

• Get to know your team as individuals and help them feel important
• Assess the project dynamics and apply leadership principles based on the nature of the situation and the individuals you are leading
• Integrate the client team into your own team
• Cultivate a professional one-on-one relationship with team members

 Show Notes

Today’s Project Managers Coffee Chat: Leadership Lessons from the Trenches – Stories of Team Involvement

00:27 Sharing Experiences based on actual project life situations is a powerful tool to help other project leaders as they go about their day-to-day work.

01:39 Merv remembers fondly a time when an executive in the company he worked for took an interest in him personally and invited him to a professional sporting event. That event impressed him so greatly that from then on he took it upon himself take the time to get to know individuals on his own teams.

04:09 Tim recounts an experience he had in leading deep knowledge experts on his project team. He learned that through applying situational leadership concepts he was able to navigate the team dynamics more effectively. He reminds us that we must always pay attention to the behavioral components of team members.

06:38 Merv provides a remarkable example of how a very experienced executive handled a potentially embarrassing situation with an individual to both protect the individual’s dignity and to provide an example of non-judgmental, compassionate leadership.

10:25 Merv provides a great example of the importance of integrating the customer’s subject matter experts and team members into a single project team with your own team.

Tim augments this point with his own experiences of enhancing project engagement and accountability through integrating additional individuals from your own organization that may not be directly involved in the daily work.

13:07 Merv advises to find creative ways to involve members of your customer’s team in your teams’ social activities, making them feel completely involved while staying within contractual guidelines.

13:42 Merv speaks to the importance of cultivating a relationship with each project member to create a supportive project environment for innovation and growth.

17:57 Merv reminds our listeners that fostering such relationships can lead to rich experiences and lifelong connections.