Managing Fear in Your Project Team
By Bob McGannon, PMP and Conrad Imel

Managing a new project is a lot like approaching an iceberg. If a group of people are sailing and come across an iceberg, naturally, the group will be fearful. It is the responsibility of the ship’s captain, the leader, to dispel the fear. Basically, people know quite a bit about the iceberg, they just don’t understand where the edges are located. Are the edges just under the visible ice? Or are they shooting out for miles? Fear of the unknown can become overwhelming.

If left unchecked, fear, sometimes justified but often representing ‘false events appearing real,’ can become toxic. Fear can cause a team to self-destruct; not fulfill its potential nor effectively execute the project. However, there are many techniques project managers can implement to manage the fear and move a project team forward.

1) Neutralize Your Own Fear

The cause of fear is not as important as much as recognizing that there is fear. Once recognized, the fear can be broken down and neutralized. This fear can be magnified or reduced by the behavior of the project manager. No action that a project manager takes reflects the presence or absence of fear more than the approach taken to making difficult decisions. Suppose that you have a very difficult and potentially unpopular decision to make. You may be very concerned. When you break down the apprehension with a series of questions the ultimate fear may be “I’m going to lose my job.” Is that a reflection of reality? Also, does making a less controversial decision actually put you in more jeopardy in the long run? As a leader, you need to logically reflect on the situation and consequences in order to make the right decision for the sponsor and stakeholders. Approach all decisions logically, and definitively. Understand when fear is present and think through the reasonable benefits and consequences, rather than some emotional, exaggerated fate such as “I’ll get fired.” Once your own fears are broken down and neutralized you can instill that confidence in the team.

2) Outline Expectations

The first thing to do when managing team fear is to inform your team about your expectations. Your team needs to understand where they need to go and what to expect from you along the way. You may say to your team, “Our project objective is to complete your project objective cheaper and more effectively, without adding any new people or skills.” Given just that objective without understanding your approach – or being able to work through that approach - the team is going to wonder, “How are we to be expected to do this?” Without outlining those process steps, or involving your team in creating possibilities, you should expect nothing other than fear from your team.

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