Knowing Your Team Members’ Mental State
Dr Maxwell Maltz, in his classic book, Psycho-Cybernetics, wrote “the brain and nervous system constitute a marvellous and complex ‘goal-striving mechanism,’ a sort of built-in automatic guidance system which works for you as a ‘success mechanism,’ or against you as a ‘failure mechanism,’ depending on how ‘YOU,’ the operator, operate it and the goals you set for it.”
If this is how we are wired as humans, you can see why it is important for a Project Leader to understand that, about their team members.
A team member who is working on your project in a failure mechanism mode is unlikely to contribute meaningfully towards a successful project delivery. On the other hand, a team member working on your project in a success mechanism mode is likely to contribute meaningfully towards a successful project delivery.
This is one of the more mental aspects the Project Leader has to consider, as she strives to excel. The mental dimension to leadership is present from the get-go, even in the pre-project stage, where the project is still being created. The mental dimension runs right through project delivery.
“Rethink without over-thinking”
GAICD, M.Comp (Monash)
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