Trust is both a gift and a responsibility. It can take years to earn and only seconds to lose. I heard this the other day on a commercial. I can’t remember the product or the company, but I remembered these two sentences. My first thought was…”how true is that?” Very true. My second thought was, “sounds like the topic for an article.” I see this as very translatable to the project management world and how we, as project managers, deal with the people we communicate with and report to – our team, our customer, and our management.
I’ve broken the trust factor with a client before – not by choice but by direction from above – and it does not feel good. Nor does it lead to anything good. In my case, the project completely went away. The customer basically knew my hands were tied and understood the situation to some degree, but the damage had been done and I felt awful for it.
So, knowing that the trust factor is huge, what do we do as project managers to try to maintain, or acquire, that trust from the people we’re working with and for on the engagement?
The way I see it, there are at least these four things we can do to help build and keep trust going with out team, our customer, and our management. Here are my four, in no particular order…
Don’t let outside influences sway your direction
Stay the course. That seems easy, but it isn’t always that way. So many factors and outside influences interact with our project and the individuals working on it each day. It can be easy to let something change our course. Again, stay the course. The project manager and team that stay focused and do not change direction will keep and earn that trust factor from both the customer and senior company management. Plus, the team will see the project manager as a driven and focused leader – one worthy of continued trust.
Always, always communicate the good AND the bad
Communication is key and the project manager who has nothing to hide will always appear to be the more trustworthy leader than one who is tight-fisted with critical project status and information. Whether information is good or bad, don’t hesitate to share it. You need your team, the customer, and your management on your side to help you through the times when the project is experiencing trouble.
Let your team interact with the customer and management
As the project manager, you are the face of the project – no question about that. But don’t shelter your team from the customer or from your management. Let them present during key meetings. It makes everything seem even more above board than if one figurehead – the project manager – is ‘controlling everything… even though the project manager truly is the one in control – as they should be.
Share all financial information upstream