Project Teams

1. Project Teams Project Management

2. Planned, Scheduled, Budgeted…What’s next? • Assembling the Team • Good planning, scheduling, and budgeting are necessities to managing an effective project. However, you can’t just rely on these things without assembling a team to accomplish your objectives and tasks. • Teams just don’t happen, they are built!

3. How to build an effective team. • Building an effective team starts on the first day. • An effective way to build teams is through team building exercises. • Build a team not a group, in groups people may be involved but not committed…

4. Questions for potential team members…4 steps. • 1. Using the WBS you have created, decide who needs to accomplish what objectives and/or tasks. Prepare to make them the owner of that objective and/or task, based on the following: • 2.Asses & Recruit, does the team member posses the skills and experience to perform the tasks within the given time frame. • 3.Team member has the temperament to fit in with other team members, and work in a collaborative environment. • Person is willing to work overtime, tight timetables, and other stressful requirements to accomplish their tasks.

5. Clarifying mission, goals, and objectives • Once you have selected the right team members, redefine and clarify your mission, goals, and objectives of the project. • Be sure that the entire team understands both the teams mission and goals, and can simultaneously set their own goals within the parameters of their responsibilities of the overall project. • People want to be recognized for their hard work and accomplishments, as a project manager, it is important for you to know team goals and individual goals, in order to recognize team and individual achievements.

6. Common Stages in Team Development • Forming Stage: People are concerned with how they’ll fit in, who calls the shots and makes decisions. This is when they will look to you, the Project Manager, as a leader, to give a sense of direction to help them get started. It starts with you! • Storming Stage: Is frustrating for many team members, people begin to question themselves and their goals. Are they on the right track? Is the leader, leading? Pointing fingers can often happen frequently in this stage of team development…

7. Common Stages in Team Development • Norming Stage: Conflicts and finger pointing get resolved, people begin to settle down and get things done. They have developed unwritten laws (rules) about how they will work together. Each person has found their place within team and how they work with other members. • Performing Stage: The burden on the project leader are mitigated, teams enjoy working together and tend to produce high end results. They are now officially a team!

8. Courses of Action for the team,to get through the stages… • Have team members meet frequently so that they gain a sense of being a team. • Be sure both individual and team goals are being met. • Reassure the team why the project is important and why it needs to get completed. Give it purpose and constantly reassure each team member. • Make sure each team member shares the overall mission and goals. One bad apple…spoils the barrel. • Keep competition to a minimum, team building is positive, but let members compete outside the team, not within it.

9. Quick Team Building Exercise • The scenario is that the group has survived a plane crash. There is an island nearby, and room in the lifeboat for every person plus 6 items. The team must decide which 6 items to take. After the team decides on the 6 items, they should discuss how they decided on the items and then rank each item in order of importance. • PURPOSE: Collaborating as a team/class to determine priorities.