Applying MOVE in Projects

Emotional Frontloading is a deliberate setup phase focused on psychological safety, emotional alignment, and shared values.

It:

• Creates a climate that balances tolerance for mistakes with accountability

• Encourages humor and openness to reduce tension

• Aligns roles, work styles, autonomy levels, and task orientation with strategic goals

• Uses tools such as Team Charters and Teaming Agreements to formalize agreements

In multicultural or cross-functional teams, this step is especially critical. It can also include:

• Personality profile sharing (e.g., PCM, Big Five, Needs Profiles)

• Co-creating ground rules for trust (MOVE Trust Model)

• Individual “project stories” that link project goals to each team member’s values and strengths

Needs and emotions shift throughout a project. Regular checkpoints help maintain alignment:

• Phase starts → emotional readiness check-ins alongside technical setup

• Phase ends → reflective reviews covering both outcomes and emotional climate

• In agile teams → frequent “emotional retrospectives” in addition to sprint reviews

Organizations using stage-gate models can formalize these as mandatory emotional checkpoints, ensuring consistent attention to team cohesion and motivation.

MOVE practices can be embedded into:

• Initial planning (emotional frontloading with change management involvement)

• Phase transitions (emotional reviews with lessons learned)

• Subteam coordination points (aligning agile and non-agile groups)

• Final handover (involving operational stakeholders early for smoother transition)

• Project closure (capturing emotional lessons learned for future initiatives)

The MOVE Competency Model can be used as a staffing reference:

• Evaluate leaders for both skills (trainable) and traits (harder to develop)

• Select leaders with the traits needed for needs-focused leadership — or adjust expectations if gaps exist

• In some cases, consider dual leadership models (technical leader + emotional leader) to cover both operational and interpersonal needs — while managing role clarity to avoid inefficiencies

In self-organized teams, MOVE competencies should be distributed across team members, not just the facilitator (e.g., Scrum Master), enabling collective responsibility for emotional and interpersonal alignment.

Project managers often act as mediators, but boundaries matter:

• Avoid overstepping into a therapeutic role (“red couch” situations)

• Recognize when neutrality is compromised or conflicts exceed managerial capacity

• Bring in neutral third parties (internal HR mediators or external professionals) when needed

• Ensure any mediator uses a needs-focused approach and applies MOVE competencies