Invictus : An inspiring tale for all project managers


In the movie Invictus, Matt Damon who play the Springboks South African side captain François Pienaar, gives a rousing inspirational speech to his team when they faced the awe-inspiring All Blacks New Zealand Rugby squad in the Rugby World Cup finals. Intimidated by the huge reputation and stature of the New Zealand team, in particular Jonah Lomu played by Zak Feaunati, the Springboks were in sore need of some inspiration. In his rousing speech, Matt Damon inspired the team saying that who ever was nearest to the huge player, was to hold on to him no matter what and rest assured help will come.


In any project, there will be times when the team members will need to be assured as there may be some doubts as to their capabilities to complete the task at hand or they may have reservations in the capability of the team to be able to complete the project due to some slippage in the schedule, additional requirements etc. The core of Matt Damon's speech is a great assuring piece,which can be applied to any project. To be able to assure your team that what ever happens, they should do as best they can and the rest of the team will be there to back them up in any situation no matter how large the problem or task may be.

Project managers need to be able to inspire the team to allow them to exceed what they think they can do and to bring out the full team potential.


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