37. How do I keep people focused without hurting morale?

It is easy to keep up morale when things are going well. Projects being projects, though, this is rarely the case for long. Sustaining motivation depends on maintaining relationships, positive attitudes, recognition, and awareness of why the project matters.

Maintaining Relationships

Sustaining good relationships and trust is a recurring theme throughout this book. This is particularly important whenever a project goes through a bumpy period. If there are problems and people need to spend extra time to recover, stress and tempers tend to rise. An effective project leader works very hard to keep people focused on the situation and the work required for recovery. It does little good to “blamestorm” ...

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