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Time Limit podcast • 47 episodes

Motivation with Ruth Pearce

Ruth Pearce, author of Be a Project Motivator, explains strengths-based project management to Brett Harned: using character strengths to understand what drives each team member and aligning work to it. She shares how a discouraged programme team turned around, how leaders should balance honesty with hope, the spot-explain-appreciate method, and why tailored communication builds trust.

Key takeaways

  • Look past functional titles to people's intrinsic motivators; someone's past skills or passions can be tapped for the project.
  • Model the behaviour you want, acknowledge difficulties honestly, then move the team to a future goal and concrete next steps.
  • Work on your own strengths first; the people around you will copy what they see.
  • Spot a colleague's strength, explain where you saw it and say why you appreciated it; it always lands well.
  • Project managers rank social intelligence lower than average; one-on-one conversations and tailored communication build it and reduce chasing.

About this episode

“Focus some attention on your people and knowing those people, and understanding what their core strengths are because those are their drivers. Those are the things that really motivate them to show up and get stuff done.”

If you lead projects, you’ve likely had battles with motivation in project management—whether it’s to find motivation to complete your own work, or to mobilize an entire team to meet a goal successfully. You may have won a battle here and there, but sometimes it can feel like the topic of motivation can become an all-out war. But by instilling some basic values and using some helpful tools to help you figure out what motivates people, you can win that war before it even starts. On this episode, Brett interviews Ruth Pearce, who is an accomplished project manager and coach, and the author of Be a Project Motivator: Unlock the Secrets of Strengths-Based Project Management. In conversation, they cover:

  • Strengths-based project management
  • The strengths that PMs possess
  • Techniques used to motivate team members (and yourself)
  • How to you keep your team motivated in the face of tight deadlines or other challenges
  • How to build influence
  • Quick tips and tactics to keep people motivated

Resources mentioned in this episode