You may not think about this often, but reality is that your employees are the face of your company. They provide customer service, they perform sales functions, maintenance, build products for customers, do implementations, provide documentation and assistance. The quality of that interaction, their morale, and their work provides a key impression of your company just as much as your branding or your marketing.
This is where your attitude comes in. You cannot control completely how your employees treat your customers- you can only influence it. Your influence is tied to how you treat your employees. You, as direct management, are a direct representation of the company’s attitudes. If you do not show that you care about your employees, then your company does not care about your employees- and in turn, your employees see your company as an uncaring organization. And that is exactly as they will portray, by intention or by accident, your organization to your customers. Happy employees who value their company will take care of clients. Unhappy employees won’t care about clients. And nobody values a company that does not value them. It’s that simple.
How does this translate to project management? The same thing applies, actually. Think of your project team as a company producing a product. If you do not value your team members, there is no chance that they will value your project. Team members that value your project will take care of it, go the extra mile for it, and evangelize it. Attitudes are contagious.
