Managing projects and being a member of a team that is charged with bringing change to an organization can be daunting. Our inbuilt human nature can sometimes resist change and feel comfortable with the ‘status quo’. So leading the change initiatives brings with it extra challenges of firstly, and hopefully, persuasion or lastly, and reluctantly, coercion. This can mean pushing the change more than you would like but knowing that it is the right thing to do and that the change is inevitable.

The difficulty comes when you have to use your experience to know when and how much to push and that behind you there is a leader who can and will back you up and stand side by side. Too many times i’ve seen leaders back away from supporting their teams leaving them with little credibility to drive change. That then drives uncertainty in team members, dampens creativity due to lack of perceived support and will mean little success.

Leaders (true leaders) need to talk to their teams and ensure they know when and how much they place their trust in them to drive change. This will deliver confidence to the project teams who will become more passionate about delievry and willing to take some risks (which every good project needs to take once in a while).

Message is talk to your teams and make sure they know they have your support and when they can rely on it.