Situation – No Authority
Doaa’s projects span organizational departments. She finds herself relying on people whom she has no authority over. She often has difficulty enlisting them as accountable, enthusiastic team members. This is hurting her projects and making her rather frustrated.
The project manager knows she is not going to be given organizational authority over all of these people. What can she do to make this work?
What Project Management Tools & Techniques Should be Used?
Charter. Ask your sponsor to publish a charter and in the charter to name you as the project manager. This is important in establishing referent power in your project management role. Also, this will help make sure they understand the importance of the project to the organization. Also, have the charter note that problems will be escalated to the project sponsor if necessary.
Network diagram. Showing the network diagram to the team members helps them understand the importance of the timing of their work and how it fits with the entire project.
Communication plan. Make sure the team members are involved in the communication and that communication with them is a 2-way street. Plan to include core team members in project status meetings where the open task report is reviewed.
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Give them small work packages with strong completion criteria.