Accountability of all project participants starting with the project manager is a fundamental prerequisite for successful project work. Without it, you can hardly expect a good end. Ensuring accountability is, however, not as simple as it may seem. Members of project teams are often subordinates of different managers. Projects are also often taken as a lower priority than their everyday duties. So, how to ensure accountability in project management?
1. Establish clear expectations
Do not rely only on the assumption that everyone knows what is expected of them. Prepare a written document describing the accountabilities of your project participants. Consider potential problems and conflicts, identify priorities and clearly communicate your expectations in advance to all the interested parties.
2. Follow the progress of the project
When you do not know how you are doing, you cannot adjust possible problematic parts of the project. Therefore, determine critical milestones you want to achieve in a certain time beforehand. Speak with key members of the project team about how they perceive their progress. If you are behind, seek ways to speed up. In addition to the schedule, it is also essential to monitor the quality of the work done so far, costs expended and the level of services prodived. That is why you should collect feedback from customers as well.
3. Connect the work on projects with performance management processes
People are more focused on the processes that are measured and may therefore visibly contribute to the development of their careers. Integration with performance management process can be achieved in the following ways:
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Regularly - ideally every week - publicize specific benchmarks and communicate about them with your team members.
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Connect with managers of your team members and ensure that the objectives of projects are a part of their performance evaluation.
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Make sure that your team members clearly understand their work on your project in the context of their other projects and daily responsibilities.
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Clearly communicate the value of the project towards the project team members and also the rest of the organization.
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Provide continuous feedback.
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