Some project activities aren’t much fun, and people are more likely to drag their feet when work is boring or tiresome. But because delays and poor-quality efforts could erode an initiative’s value, project teams must find ways to keep stakeholders engaged and willing.
Processing thousands of records as part of data hygiene exercises, auditing legacy systems that have lots of pieces but few integration options to quickly pull information, gathering requirements from many sources, or capturing information over an extended time period—these are the kinds of tasks no one wants to do. But they are also the activities that make it possible to achieve good outcomes and so they must be done.
If you’ve encountered reluctant stakeholders or had trouble assigning unpleasant activities, consider these 4 strategies your project team can use to close the motivation gap, keep people interested, and make participation feel valued rather than thankless.
Connect tasks to what matters
Stakeholders are more likely to take ownership of tedious tasks if they understand why the activities are important, and specifically why the activities’ outcomes are important to them. If a legacy system audit is necessary to ensure their team’s data survives the migration to a new platform intact, that matters and will materially affect the project participant’s work in the future. Build connection to the task by drilling down from the project value statement to why the work is relevant at personal level.
Make activities manageable
When projects have extended time horizons and expansive scopes, individual tasks can look unwieldy and unrealistic if presented in the wrong way. Don’t request data cleanup support and give stakeholders a vague timeline like “a few weeks.” That’s too uncertain for someone to make a firm commitment. Break unglamorous activities into manageable chunks and set clear parameters. Open-ended tasks feel like punishment, particularly when stakeholders have daily responsibilities to execute. Defining the cleanup activity in terms of the number of records or a concrete “four weeks” will be far more motivating.
Once a contributor commits to an unglamorous project activity, protect their involvement by honoring the scope they agreed to. Expanding the ask after people have already taken on the task turns the work into an unwanted obligation and it can easily erase the project team’s goodwill and credibility. If it looks like the activity will be bigger than expected, be sure the affected contributors are part of the decision to continue under the new scope.
Recognize the contributions
Project-level designations can be surprisingly inspirational and help to push people to engage differently with even the most mundane tasks. Publicly identify the initiative’s data champions, system whisperers, and decommissioning leads. It sounds more exciting than “spreadsheet scrubber” and adding some personality to the role creates a sense of ownership and invites stakeholders to put their stamp on it. Callouts in progress updates, team standups, and quarterly project reports signal that the contributions are seen and appreciated. When stakeholders make room in an already full workload to contribute to a strategic project, authentic public recognition is meaningful.
Remove the friction
Tedious tasks can sometimes be made less painful by eliminating unnecessary work and irritation. Empowering project contributors with the right tools and processes can make the activity more palatable and sustain participants’ dedication to completing the task. Understand what’s needed before asking anyone to take on the work, give stakeholders clear instructions to reduce confusion, remove any redundant steps that consume time unnecessarily, provide any equipment or systems that can help to streamline the task, and clear away obstacles before the task begins. Make it easy for participants to say yes.
Frequently Asked Questions About Motivating Project Stakeholders
How do you motivate stakeholders to complete boring project tasks?
Connect the task to an outcome the stakeholder cares about, give the assignment clear boundaries, recognize the contribution, and remove unnecessary obstacles. These strategies increase the perceived value of participating while reducing the effort and uncertainty involved.
Why do stakeholders resist tedious project work?
Stakeholders may resist tedious work because it competes with their regular responsibilities, has unclear benefits, feels open-ended, or requires excessive effort. Resistance can therefore indicate a problem with the way the work is framed or structured rather than a lack of commitment to the project.
How can project managers increase stakeholder buy-in?
Project managers can increase stakeholder buy-in by explaining why participation matters, connecting requests to stakeholder priorities, establishing clear expectations, respecting agreed-upon commitments, and demonstrating how individual contributions affect project outcomes.
How should project teams recognize stakeholder contributions?
Recognition should be specific and connected to impact. Mention contributors in project updates, meetings, milestone communications, or reports and explain what their work enabled, improved, protected, or prevented.
What should you do when a stakeholder’s project task becomes larger than expected?
Avoid automatically expanding the stakeholder’s commitment. Explain how the scope has changed and involve affected contributors in determining the next step, such as adding resources, extending the timeline, reducing the scope, or dividing the work differently.