How do you handle a difficult project team member if escalation to their manager has not helped?

Project Management / By

Each one of us have dealt with such situations, it is really hard to tackle them. It doesn’t go away easily, the only way to move things forward is a face-to-face meeting with that individual, and question the person until some agreement is reached. This works, but is this sort of micro-management, is the right way to handle a project and its team?

Please ask some questions to yourself:

  1. Is the person very influential?
  2. Is there a suitable replacement available?
  3. How did he performed in past, with other project managers?
  4. Is the person really not serious or you feel it that way?
  5. Have you done your homework and documented all your findings?

Before taking any decision just ensure,about relationship of this individual with his manager, or someone much higher up the ladder, it may be stronger than you know. In case the person is really influential, then there is very less one can do, because now you know why even the escalations are not working.

Check if the company have a suitable replacement, in case you have decided to take strong action against him. End of the day the decision should go in only favor of the project.

There are people who don’t take escalations in the right spirit and turns all the more casual and rigid. Check the past performance of this individual, may be the person is an outstanding performer but it is because you have escalated the matter, he choose not to do it explicitly.

There is a possibility that the person is seriously working on his part, and informing his reporting manager about it. But his manager is not responding to your mails, gave you a feeling that things are not moving at all.The alternative of an escalation is talk to the concerned person separately and understand the reason for delay in response from his side. There is a possibility that the person has a valid reason for not responding, walk and talk really works.

If this person has really turned a bottle neck for your project, you need to take a step ahead by documenting all the damage and its impact and analysis caused due to this person.

If escalation did not helped, then you have not one but 2 difficult members. But that’s when a project sponsor or the higher management comes into picture. If there is good data available to prove the ‘difficulty’ level of this member, by all means, raise this with someone as the sponsor, the delivery manager, engagement manager or someone from leadership team.
Often we come across “well that’s all we have and there’s no more money or time – just deal with it” attitude. But a project manager cannot “fire” that person from the team. Instead start reporting where the project is being derailed (to whomever has influence to change things). Highlight all the risks and affected areas in the right forum, with strong supporting documents.

A project manager should choose the smart but ethically correct way to deal with any situation. He must do all his pre work before escalating to the issue to higher management. First explore all the possibilities and if there is an alternate way to deal with the situation, go for it. Further escalation should always be kept as the last option.

Knowledge and certifications play a key role in the career of project managers. PMP certification can help you enhance your skills, so that you know when and how to escalate.Effective escalation requires a background and complete knowledge of the emerging issue, also a deeper understanding of the entire business and company’s goals. Project management can really help to learn this art and building innovative solutions to business’ toughest challenges.

About Aditi Malhotra

Aditi Malhotra is the Content Marketing Manager at Whizlabs. Having a Master in Journalism and Mass Communication, she helps businesses stop playing around with Content Marketing and start seeing tangible ROI. A writer by day and a reader by night, she is a fine blend of both reality and fantasy. Apart from her professional commitments, she is also endearing to publish a book authored by her very soon.

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