Project celebrations are a time when the project manager and the management team can thank the project team members for their contribution to the project’s success at various stages of the project. Celebrations for successfully accomplishing project milestones are good examples of creating the opportunity to honestly celebrate. Some projects have birthday celebrations for the team or holiday celebrations, and although these events can be a positive contribution to the project morale, they are not connected to the success of the team in accomplishing project objectives.
Successful celebrations reinforce the effort and activities that created the success. Successful celebrations communicate appreciation for the energy and commitment of the team, focused on team goals. Successful celebrations communicate progress and confidence to project stakeholders, and successful celebrations share the success of the project with the client and reinforce the meeting of client expectations.
Successful celebrations result from good planning and the application of some basic principles for celebrations. The following are some of the basic principles for developing a successful celebration:
- What was accomplished and why it was important to the overall success of the project should be communicated to the team. Discuss the goals that were accomplished and the milestones met and how that advanced the project. For example, the civil design team on a construction project completed the site work design early, the bids for the site work were on the street early, and the project met the milestone of moving dirt on the site by May 1. Starting the site work early helps assure that the construction work will be under a roof before the bad weather hits in the late fall.
- Appreciation should be expressed specifically. A general statement that the project met all the goals does not carry the same meaning as “the project team completed the development of the new training curriculum by December 1.” People associate their activities with meeting the milestone and take pride in their contribution to the project’s success. Team members appreciate it when the project manager and others recognize their contribution.
- Celebrations should occur in the work area where the accomplishments were achieved. Celebrating holidays in the cafeteria is appropriate. Celebrating the accomplishments of the project in the project task force area brings a stronger association of the work of the project with the accomplishments being celebrated.
- Accomplishments of the team should be celebrated shortly after the milestone is achieved. The more time elapsed between the accomplishments and the celebrations, the less the impact.
- The persons that publicly recognize the team are important. The project leadership expressing personal appreciation reinforces the recognition of the work and effort to achieve project goals. Senior managers of the company reinforce the importance of the project to company goals and recognition of the role of individual project team members’ contribution to company success.
- In many cultures, food is associated with times of reflection, such as the dinner table discussion or lunch meetings. Serving food communicates that this event is special. Serving food also communicates that someone took the time to prepare and serve the project team as a form of appreciation.
- Clients play a special role in celebrations, and celebrations play a special role in meeting client expectations. A client expression of appreciation to the project team is often more significant than the appreciation expressed by senior managers. Clients in most commercial organizations are acknowledged as the source of profits, bonuses, and future business. A client expressing appreciation to the project team, especially in front of the company’s senior management, gives the project team special status for creating goodwill with clients. When clients speak at a celebration, their remarks usually provide high praise for the work of the project team. This event provides an opportunity for the client to reflect and appraise the progress of the project team. Often the client concludes that the team is meeting or exceeding expectations. The celebration reinforces that conclusion.
If the client has doubts about some of the project performance but still speaks at the celebration and praises the team, the client may experience cognitive dissonance. The client will typically reevaluate the perception of the project team’s performance and conclude the team really has done a good job. The perception is now consistent with the client’s remarks and the end result is a client perception of a project as meeting expectations.
Understanding and meeting client expectations is a proactive process. The project manager and the project team develop plans and processes that focus on defining both specifications and expectations that are often difficult to quantify. The team executes the project in a way that meets both the specifications of the client and also the more subtle expectations not reflected in the measured data.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Making extra efforts to meet milestone dates keeps the project on track and avoids large problems at the end of the project. It allows for lessening of intensity after a milestone to provide stress relief for team members, and it builds confidence in the client that the project will be completed on time.
- If the client is included in milestone celebrations, he or she has a better understanding of what effort it takes to keep the project on track. If asked to say something at the celebration, the client will usually say positive things that have an effect on his or her perception of the project. Celebrations should communicate the importance of the milestone to the project and praise specific accomplishments. The celebration should occur in the workplace. Get high-ranking people to praise the project team in front of each other to reinforce a sense of satisfaction and include food in the celebration to make it more social.
EXERCISES
- Managing a project using keeps the project on track and allows for periodic celebrations of achieving interim objectives.
- Clients should be encouraged to in celebration of project achievements.
- Why should extra effort be expended to meet a milestone when the final project’s due date is months away?
- Why should the client be included in milestone celebrations?
Milestone Celebrations
Consider a workplace with which you are familiar. If it utilizes milestone celebrations to mark completion of special tasks or phases of work, compare the components of the celebration with those recommended in the text. If it does not, describe how you would use milestone celebrations in this workplace.
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