2. Teams don’t just happen—they must be built!
Building an effective team begins on the first day of
the team’s existence.
Failure to begin the team-building process may
result in a team that is more like a group than a
team.
3. In a group, members may be involved in but not
committed to the activities of the majority.
The problem of commitment is a major one for both
organizations and project teams.
4. A primary rule of planning is that those individuals
who must implement the plan should participate in
preparing it.
Yet, leaders often plan projects by themselves, then
wonder why their team members seem to have no
commitment to the plans
5. All planning requires some estimating—how long a
task will take, given the availability of certain
resources, and so on.
In my seminars, I ask participants, “Do you often find
that your boss thinks you can do your work much
faster than you actually can?” They laugh and agree.
As I tell them, it seems to be some kind of
psychological law that bosses are optimistic about
how long it will take their staffs to get a job done.
6. Here are the four major steps in organizing a project
team:
1. Decide what must be done, using work
breakdown structures, problem definitions, and
other planning tools.
2. Determine staffing requirements to accomplish
the tasks identified in the first step.
7. 3. Recruit members for the project team.
4. Complete your project plan with the
participation of team members.
8. Following are some of the criteria by which
team members should be selected:
1. The candidate possesses the skills
necessary to perform the required work at the
speed needed to meet deadlines.
9. 2. The candidate will have his needs met through
participation in the project (see the March and
Simon rules discussed later in this chapter).
3. The applicant has the temperament to fit in with
other team members who have already been
recruited and with the project manager and other
key players
10. 4. The person will not object to overtime
requirements, tight timetables, or other project
work requirements.
11. If possible, the entire team should participate
in developing the team’s mission statement.
This is a tremendous team-building activity in
itself!
12.
13. Experience has shown that team members are most
committed to a team when their individual needs are
being met.
Sometimes members have what are called hidden
agendas, personal objectives that they do not want
anyone to know about, because they are afraid other
members will try to block them if their objectives are
known.
14. There are four general issues with which a team
must deal. These are:
1. goals,
2. roles and responsibilities,
3. procedures, and
4. relationships
15. So-called personality conflicts are often simply the
result of people’s lack of good interpersonal skills.
This lack can be resolved through training.
16. Friction occurs in nearly every interaction between
human beings.
There are misunderstandings, conflicts, personality
clashes, and petty jealousies.
Project managers must be prepared to deal with
these.
17. One thing to be aware of is that many personality
clashes are the result of people’s lack of good
interpersonal skills.
We have never been taught how to sit down and work
out differences with others, so, when the inevitable
conflict happens, the situation just blows up.
18. The best way to minimize the impact of such
problems is to provide training for all team members
(including yourself) in interpersonal skills.
This area has been sorely neglected in many
organizations because there seems to be no bottom-
line impact. It is hard to demonstrate that there will
be a $10 return on a $1 training investment.
19. 1. Have team members interact frequently so that
they gain a sense of being a team.
2. Be sure that individual needs are being met
through participation in the team.
3. Let all members know why the project is
important. People don’t like working on a “loser.”
20. 4. Make sure all members share the goals of the
team. One bad apple can spoil the barrel.
5. Keep competition within the team to a minimum.
Competition and cooperation are opposites. Let
members compete with people outside the team, not
within it.
