Perception is intertwined with the environment; both have the same roots. When you walk in to a new organization, what is the work environment like? Are people talking to each other? Are there pictures and jokes on the wall? Have workspaces become personalized? When the work environment is a positive one, it can help produce positive results. However, you may enter an organization where there is little interaction, where people are not happy and excited to be there. In that case the environment will need to be improved. In order to do so, you must change the perception of the employees and get them to buy-in to your ideas for a better environment. In doing so you will improve job satisfaction and create the atmosphere needed to introduce and execute your vision.

Stretch the Organization

The challenge as a project manager is to find the point at which you’re stretching the organization, but not making your goal unachievable. If your staff is sitting in their chairs saying “I can’t do this” then your vision will never be successful. If Kennedy had challenged NASA to get to Mars, it would not have worked. He knew the NASA limitations and he knew how far that organization could be pushed. A good manager will know the point to which the organization can stretch. That manager can then push them to that point, but not beyond it, to maximize the productivity of the group. Remember that people like to be challenged, but do not like to be overwhelmed!

Stretching the organization also involves identifying the organization’s “true leaders.” The true leaders of an organization are not necessarily at the top of the hierarchy; sometimes they don’t even appear on the organization chart! These natural leaders are the people that others will follow just because of who they are. The project manager will need to identify those natural leaders in the organization, and get those leaders to buy-in to the “stretch” created by the vision. If a project manager ignores those leaders and instead makes a statement that stretches the staff, the staff members will immediately look to their established natural leaders. If those leaders look shocked, the staff will be apprehensive. If those same leaders, though, are rubbing their hands together because they are excited, the organization will do the same.

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