Surefire Strategies to Turn the Tide
As a project manager, it’s inevitable that you’ll run into a bad attitude with one of your team members. Whether it shows up as negativity, resistance, or just plain toxicity, your response can make or break the project.
With the right approach, you can quickly turn things around and steer your team into the smoother waters. Here are some strategies to help you turn the tide.
How to spot a bad attitude in the first place
Spotting a bad attitude early allows you to get proactive and address the issue before it escalates. These are some clear signs that point to an attitude problem which you’ll want to nip in the bud:
- Negative body language and lack of enthusiasm
- Missed deadlines and poor quality work
- Resistance to feedback
- Lack of collaboration
- Constant complaining
Act now!
Left alone, negative or toxic attitudes get worse, not better. If you, as the PM, don’t deal with the issue, it sends the message that their behavior is acceptable – which ultimately creates even more problems.
- You need to promptly address signs of a bad attitude with your project team member to:
- Prevent escalation
- Maintain a positive team environment
- Stay on track with project deliverables
What next?
Depending on what’s going on with your team member, there are a few ways you can respond. I want to clearly explain what to do next, so I put together a video that dives into:
- How to dig in and determine the underlying issues
- What to do to improve things immediately – and what to avoid at all costs!
- How to respond if conflict erupts
- Turning the negative to positive
- When it’s time to escalate the issue
Follow me over to YouTube and we’ll keep chatting about this!
If you want even more project manager tips on every aspect of managing a successful project, make sure you check out my SLAY Project Management course where I give you all the templates, tips, and techniques to implement to make all your future projects productive and successful.
Adriana Girdler, PMP | Creator of Slay Project Management™
P.S. Check out what one of my students said recently about SLAY:
“…it gives a foundational roadmap to elements present in every project, and also puts into words how to go forward to navigate to success.” MK
