Narrative practices to motivate project teams

Narrative practices are very useful when the team is faced with negative and disappointing results, such as the accumulation of major delays despite real efforts made. This situation gives rise to a feeling of inadequacy on the part of the team. This feeling has the effect of :

• cause severe demotivation;

• give rise to tensions and conflicts between project team members;

• break team cooperation and performance mechanisms.

Narrative practice questions thus enable the project manager to ensure that team members :

• become aware of the negative effects of demotivation on their behaviour and work;

• learn to defend themselves against feelings of inadequacy;

• reconnect with a shared and preferred history of what happened;

• use past history as a springboard for motivational cooperation.