How can you maintain motivation for long-term projects?

Honest communication irrespective of positive or negative. Keep the team updated on strategy, goals and vision, Adjust priorities, as needed to be successful on long term projects.

Divide it into short-term projects or set milestones and celebrate the completion/ achievement of each one, including individual rewards and recognition (preferebly non monetary).

To stay motivated for long-term projects, setting specific and achievable goals and breaking the project down into smaller tasks is important. Celebrating milestones along the way, staying organized with deadlines and progress tracking, seeking support from peers or mentors, and reminding yourself of the project's significance and the benefits of completion can all help you stay motivated. It's important to remain flexible, adapt to challenges, and stay focused on the end result to sustain motivation throughout the journey.

In my experience, keeping the purpose alive and celebrating wins at key milestones with stakeholders help everyone stay motivated. Communicating the progress to those not involved provides recognition to those on the project and keeps those not involved in the loop. Sharing what will be different and how the project will impact others also aids in motivation throughout the process.

It's hugely important to maintain velocity during long term projects. Human nature is to coast when the deadline is 'far-off'. Break the delivery into sections, tackle the hardest technical parts of the delivery first, test continuously and rigorously and deliver into production incrementally and early. Never miss or underestimate non-functional testing, else it can bury the whole program. Finally if you are an Engineering Lead, no matter how senior - be ready to deep dive the trouble spots with your team.

Keep motivation high by slicing your program into bite-sized pieces—phases, milestones, or sprints. This sharpens focus, tracks progress, and adapts plans flexibly. Celebrate wins and learnings, and don't forget to reward your team along the way.

Identify a quick win at the early stage of the project and conduct a retrospective meeting to discuss the lessons learned. For very large programs, it is important to have clear ownership of each deliverable that is being built in parallel and to align the team on how to seamlessly integrate these deliverables. This approach helps to clarify any grey areas and unknowns that may bring uncertainties and impact team motivation and commitment.

By breaking down the program in smaller chunks, teams can continue to celebrate success (big or small) throughout the duration of the project. This allows people to appreciate progress and look forward to the next milestone.

Especially long-running programs will be challenged by team fatigue and are at higher risk of any of the program's parameters, may it be scope, budget, or timeline. Recognizing that reality and building the framework to deal with those changes upfront (including managing the expectations of the stakeholders) is key. No multi-year program has ever progressed as envisioned on day one.

Bite sized chunks is key. Set clear milestones, work towards them and celebrate successes as they occur. Make sure the whole team understands how the milestones contribute to the achievement of the overall objective of the programme. Recap this periodically, to maintain interest and understanding.

Regular feedback also means listening to your team. Listening requires trust that your team will share their concerns with you. And also listening requires time, time that is purposefully spent without distraction.

For longer projects, keep the wheels turning with a solid feedback and communication system. Share updates, listen to concerns, and solve issues collaboratively. This will help build trust and transparency, while keeping the team motivated.

One of the most important skills for a PMM professional is stakeholder engagemnt. Regular feedback needs maintaining at all levels of stakeholder engagement, from most senior to junior, internal to external teams members and organisations. Depending on type of stakeholders this can be through: - Briefings (Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Corporate level). - Board or Committee packs (management/leadership groups) - Monthly newsletters/bulletins (for staff, stakeholders in other departments and external stakeholders) - Regular engagement sessions tailored to specific stakeholders This will allow you to facilitate engagement, interest, maintain a feedback process, help you raise any concerns/challanges early and ultimately gain buy in.

Get the team into a consistent rhythm of communication. I've lead two polar opposite teams at this point. The first really shined when we met every morning to talk about what they accomplished yesterday, what they were doing today, and what they intended to accomplish. This gave all teammates awareness of the other and this resulted in a lot of organic crosstalk. My second team was more ad-hoc, I made available a set of slides that wrote down all the things we were accomplishing throughout the week that they could reference wherever they wanted. Both ended up improving the communication between teammates, and I felt the first method was a little more effective.

Consistent and clear communication is key in every program but essential in long-running programs. Teams must not lose sight of the program objective, the 'NorthStar' and sponsors and other stakeholders not only need to be updated on progress but also - in some cases - be reminded of the existence of the program. Building out a communication plan for such programs is a helpful activity.

Create continuous milestones and objectives to the team. Celebrate achievements. Diversify motivation benefits along the project lifetime. Be closer to the team to avoid accumulation. Trust, Empower and control.

Fuel long-term project motivation by handing your team the reins. Grant autonomy in how, when, and with what tools they work. Empower them to make decisions and innovate. This cultivates skills, creativity, and confidence and boosts satisfaction.

Establish the structure (people, process, tools, delivery plan, communication plan). Enable the teams. Empower the teams (avoid micro-managing). Step in to mentor and aid when team members hit a block or a perceived block.

L autonomie est un must. Le micro managing de projet ne vous donneras jamais le meilleur résultat. Im va vous donner un résultat mais choses certaines vous aller passer à côté de plein de belle solution et profit. Vous travailler avec des professionnels, encadrer les supporter les et laisser les travailler.

Listen to the team and understand how they are with the objective and milestone. Encourage them to present their ideas with brainstorming session to enable communication within the team so that individuals get empowered and enthusiasm.

For long term projects it is important to celebrate milestones, build in team building time and include fun. Think about facilitated sessions with engaging group sessions, food and even balloons! These type of sessions give the team a point in time to stop and assess what has been accomplished, what is working, what is not working, ideas for change and then planning for the next stretch of time ( ie quarter, half year etc.)

Nurture motivation in long-term projects by advocating for a positive, supportive culture. Embrace diversity, inclusion, and equity. Foster belonging, community, and a love for learning. Recognise and celebrate efforts, successes, and even failures. Cultivating this type of environment elevates morale, well-being, and motivation for a lasting program impact.

Without measurement and evaluation (objective measurement), nothing will not get there! You must keep a log of where you want to get to and where you are at the moment. Think deliverables, then measure them.

Building a positive and supportive culture is crucial for sustaining motivation in long-term projects. By valuing diversity, inclusion, and equity, you create a sense of belonging and community that enhances team spirit. Encouraging continuous learning, growth, and development fosters a dynamic environment. Providing feedback, coaching, and mentoring opportunities further supports individual and collective progress. Recognizing and appreciating achievements, efforts, and strengths, while celebrating successes and learning from failures, contributes to a culture of resilience and motivation. It's a holistic approach that not only boosts morale and well-being but also leaves a lasting, positive impact on the overall success of the program.

Recognition is the most underrated aspect of project and programme management in my view. It should be considered as an investment in your people. Research shows that just as important as financial reward is the feeling of being valued. There is a very small price to pay for small, thoughtful, and timely gestures (but significant and lasting return on investment), but to ensure this happens consistently requires authentic leadership at all levels. Get the right leadership in this respect and you cannot fail.

Time and time again, long term projects need "refresh" and "resets" so that interventions are cutting edge, sustainable and relevant. Consider incorporating quality improvement strategies into program delivery: PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) or PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) are great examples of objective ongoing program reviews and identification of what is working well and what needs a rethink...

Don’t just focus on getting the final deliverable completed and closing out with the customer. Other facets of motivation can include the new processes and networks built as a result…especially when working with new customers/stakeholders. Challenging our teams and orgs with new and different constraints can also be invigorating. This is a means to drive innovation and creativity and is a way I build in deliberate ’play’.

Transparency is a key aspect to aligning motivations of individual members to the shared goal of the program. For longer projects, it's even more important as the end is not always in sight. Sharing and repeating the objectives and benefits of the project, communicating changes often and keeping doors open for questions / concerns throughout the project helps maintain engagement and sense of belonging - all important to keep the team motivated.

Program/Projects managers are the agents that connect Strategy of the organization with the operational execution. While its important to explain the strategy and goals to executers down the line, it is Critical to make them realize how their contribution is actually valuable to the strategy and benefits. Few other things motivate people as much as value and worth of the selves.

Consistent pace is very important in any long term programs. It increases predictability, optimises cost management and management over head. But it’s tricky to maintain this consistency. Hence with my closer to 2 decades in IT and industrial manufacturing experience, I have ensured to create every or alternate goal to be a converging goal towards program’s objectives and celebrate them. This motivates teams and all stakeholders to develop the rhythm of consistency!