The Psychological Value of Execution in Project Management

I write for PM Hut, which publishes writings from experienced project managers.  This link takes you an article I wrote on the psychological importance of the “Execution” phase, where a project actually gets underway. Here is an excerpt:

The Execution or kick-off phase is a project manager’s opportunity to establish leadership and credibility with the project team, as well as to inspire vision, enthusiasm and commitment within the team members, all of whom likely have other priorities and tasks to take care of in addition to the project. Napoleon was once quoted as saying “an army marches on its stomach,” meaning that being well-fed contributes far more to a campaign’s success than does training or discipline. For as important as training and discipline may be, they fall by the wayside when a team feels less-than-optimum. People need to be satisfied, food-wise, in the case of a marching army, or confidence-wise in the case of a project, and there is no better time to reaffirm this than at that moment when the entire team has your attention.

To read more, please click here.