TRUST AND INTEGRITY IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Stakeholders in project teams must have authenticity and integrity. When lack of integrity is prevalent, trust cannot develop, and progress toward creating a project-based organization is greatly hindered. But why are authenticity and integrity so important to project success? And how can stakeholders create a culture that supports these qualities instead of undermining them?
Authenticity means that managers mean what they say. Integrity means that they do what they say they will do, and for the reasons that they originally stated. 
How to create a culture that supports trust and integrity;

•  Say what you believe.
• Act on what you say.
• Involve team members in designing strategic implementation plans.
• Align values, projects, and organizational goals through asking questions, listening, and using an explicit linking process.
•  Foster an environment where project teams can succeed by learning together and operating in a trusting, open organization.

Impact of Trust and integrity in project management

•  Effective communication is easier and more likely to be complete between people who trust each other.
•  Contract relationships, and as a result, contract administration, is easier if we can trust the contractor and the contractor can trust its client.
• Discovering and implementing cost-saving ideas will occur more readily if the participants can expect fair compensation and can be sure that their interests are being taken care of in the process.
•  Teams work better together if the people in them can trust each other.  Identifying client needs (the REAL ones) is easier if we have open communication, which is dependent on a high level of trust between client and supplier.
•   Schedules and estimates are more likely to be accurate if the contributors feel that their honest opinion will be considered and valued (trusted).
• Progress reporting is more honest in a trust-based environment.
• We are more likely to be successful project managers if our team trusts us, as well as do our clients and suppliers.
• We are more likely to be accepted as manager of a project (and have the resulting authority and influence on stakeholders) if others can trust us to do our jobs well.

Written by Adejumoke Akinrele