Tired of Managing Lazy Team Members?

Adriana Girdler

Tips to Get Your Slaker Team Members Pulling Their Weight! Is there someone on your project team who only does the bare minimum, leaving everyone …

Tips to Get Your Slaker Team Members Pulling Their Weight!

Is there someone on your project team who only does the bare minimum, leaving everyone else to pick up the slack? If managing lazy team members feels like your biggest project challenge, you’re not alone.

Sluggish team members show up everywhere, and they can really slow things down. Arming yourself with some tried and true tips can help you quickly turn things around though, and before you know it, you’ll have everyone pulling their weight.

Tip 1 –  Don’t enable them

As much as it might be tempting to avoid the discomfort of addressing the issue and instead pick up the slack for a lazy team member, that’s a passive way of dealing with the issue, one that will likely backfire and burn you out.

As the Project Manager, you’ve got to take the bull by the horns and have a tough conversation and hold them accountable. Don’t wait until things get worse, because the project will suffer, other team members will get resentful, and things can quickly get out of control.

Tip 2 – Offer direction

Your lazy team member might not be just goofing off – they might be overwhelmed with work and need some help. 

Talk to them about how they’re spending their time, and if they seem overwhelmed, offer guidance on how they could be more efficient and productive with managing their workload.

More tips for managing lazy team members

There are a few more things you should do when you encounter a team member who isn’t pulling their weight, so I put together a video explaining some key strategies. It dives into what kind of tools and motivation you can offer your team member to get things turned around.

Follow me over to YouTube and we’ll keep chatting about this!

And if you want to make sure you really succeed in your project manager role, make sure you check out my SLAY Project Management course where I give you all the templates, tips, and techniques to implement to make every project successful.

Adriana Girdler, PMP | Creator of Slay Project Management

P.S. Check out what one of my students said recently about SLAY:

“This course was priceless. It showed the practical side of PM work. Great examples and templates that you can add to your toolbox. It will surely give you the confidence needed to manage a project.” NF

Thanks For Sharing!

Photo of author

Adriana Girdler is a project manager, productivity specialist, entrepreneur, professional speaker, facilitator, visioning wizard, and author. As President of CornerStone Dynamics, Adriana is one of Canada’s prominent business productivity and project management specialists—helping both individuals and businesses do what they do, only better. She is a certified master black belt lean six sigma with over 20 years’ experience improving how companies work.

She also holds both PMP (project management professional) and CET (certified engineering technologist) designations. She’s a Tedx speaker, as well as a HuffPost and Thrive Global contributor. She has been interviewed on Global, CBC, CTV, CHCH, 680News Radio, Newstalk 1010, Sirius XM and published in the Globe and Mail and numerous industry magazines. WANT ADRIANA'S FREE ONLINE TRAINING? In 45 min, learn Adriana's 5 project management secrets she use on EVERY project. Sign up for the Free Webinar here: THE FAB FIVE FUNDAMENTALS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

SLAY Project Management

Online Course

5 Sections and 24 step-by-step HOW TO Videos! The only 5-hour on-line course that teaches you the PRACTICAL side of project management. This course will guide you step-by-step on HOW to successfully run a project and provides you with all the templates and tips you need to be successful.

Fab 5 Fundamentals

Free Training

Are you striving for successful projects, but get overwhelmed figuring out what elements of project management to focus on for the best results? In the Fab Five Fundamentals of Project Management, you’ll learn the five things you need to do on EVERY project to bring it to success.

Why Projects Fail?

Free Download

If you're new to projects or need a refresher, here's a guide of all the things I learned during my journey. Project success is about knowing how to navigate and stay clear of roadblocks, issues and problems. Understand the top 10 reasons why projects fail and how to avoid them.

Interested In Working Together?

We are business productivity experts. Contact us to learn how we can help your business become more efficient and increase profitability.

Join Our Newsletter

Join over 50,000 subscribers. Get the latest and the best in project management information delivered straight to your inbox.

Follow Us