• I'm a project manager, not a salesperson. If these people aren't persuaded by the facts, no amount of sweet talk is going to convince them to support the project, do the work or use the result.
• I don't know how to talk to people in terms of benefits.
• I don't have the time that would be required to learn the benefits associated with supporting or working on a project and I certainly don't have the time that would be required to find out which benefits were relevant to which Prime Movers or participants.
• Same as above, but for end users.
• Sometimes, when I try to talk about the benefits of working on a project to a participant, s/he'll start telling me about the downsides of project participation and I don't know what to say. So I just stay away from the whole persuasion 'thing'.

Why You Should

Your benefit-point-of-view builds relationships that have both immediate and long lasting effects on your project management productivity. Past participants come to believe that you have their best interests in mind; end users see you as someone who knows that projects are successful to the degree that they embrace the result and Prime Movers view you as an ally in their corporate and career pursuits.

Your benefit-focused methods draw people to your specific position, while the more common techniques of (a) Here's the facts you should be convinced by, (b) If you don't do what I'm asking, terrible things will happen or (c) Please do this for me, either don't work consistently, diminish your credibility (the sky is falling) and/or result in you having a negative balance in the FAVOR bank.

Your career advancement potential climbs as you demonstrate your ability to generate specific desire to act in people.

You contribute to the organization's overall and project-specific motivation level by focusing on benefits and, in the process, make it more difficult for authoritarian and/or fear-peddling managers to sustain credibility.

 

Some Tips On How To

A benefit is the answer to the question, "What's in it for me?". And, while benefits are specific to each individual, some project player-type generalizations can be helpful;

• Prime Movers invest their budgets in order to accomplish the group, departmental and/or divisional goals by which they are judged. As a result, a Prime Mover benefit would probably describe how the project result will yield all or part of their organizational goal more surely, cheaply, effectively and/or quickly than any other approach. Sell your project plan like an entrepreneur would sell a business plan to an investor.
• Participants all too frequently view project work as extra work. Most project managers and organizations haven't provided extra rewards for project work, so the typical participant doesn't come to a project with excessive enthusiasm. That said, try these potential benefits;

• Career-enhancing visibility
• Opportunity to learn new skills
• Relief from the routine of normal work duties
• Favor that will be owed by the Project Manager to the End User

• End Users need to believe that the project result will be enough better, faster, easier than the current way of doing things that the change is worth the trouble. To get acceptance and willingness to beta-test, emphasize that the project result includes end-user input, that the learning curve will be low and relatively painless and that the result, once in place, will be much better, faster and easier.