1. Above and Beyond
NASA 2010
Project Management Challenge Conference
The Power of Teams!
Dr. Jerry Mulenburg
NASA Ames Research Center (Retired)
Used with Permission

2. Something About Teams
Insights into “sound practices” for Project Teams
Research findings
Personal experiences
Current thinking
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3. How Do Teams?
• Overcome Challenges?
• Achieve desirable results?
• Overcome significant obstacles?
By working together - toward the project goal
through a
“Social Contract “
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4. Do we Really Need Teams?
Forming a team is unnecessary and
undesirable if the work can be assigned to
individual contributors in discrete tasks, and
then combined into a whole
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5. Do we Really Need Teams?
When work needs to be organized in such a way
that the people doing it have to collaborate with
each other, working as a team, is necessary.
Project work is just such work. So, we need
project teams!
Teamwork: Cooperative, coordinated work by a
team in the interest of a common cause
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6. What is a Project Team?
A small unit of [multidisciplinary] people,
working [collaboratively] toward a specific
purpose, for a defined period of time.
Wikipedia
All teams are built on the foundation of trust
and understanding.
Project Management Institute
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7. Groups versus Teams
Group:
a collection of people, considered together as
being related in some way
Team:
a number of persons associated in some joint
action
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8. What Makes Teams Different?
Project Teams, by the very act of bringing together
representatives of specialized subunits, become a
microcosm of the larger Organizational Dynamics
Hill & Somerest, 1988
What happens in organizations, happens
in projects
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9. What Makes
Project Teams Powerful?
The People!
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10. What Supports The Conclusion
that People are the Power of Teams?
Who does the work on a project?
Who solves the problems on a project?
Who makes the decisions on a project?
Who creates the innovations on a project?
Who is responsible for the outcome of a project?
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11. What Causes Problems on Projects?
People!
The Dilemma: People make the team powerful, but also
create the most problems
“People Do Not Always Act Rationally!“
(As we want, or expect them to)
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12. The Development of a Team
Necessary, & Inevitable
Development Stages for a Team to Grow
Forming – Orientation: individuals, focused on themselves
Storming – Organization: ideas competing for attention
Norming – Cohesion: agreeing on rules, values, behavior, methods
Performing – Synergy: motivated to function as a “unit”
Adjourning, or Mourning – Deconstructing the relationships
Bruce Tuckman, 1965
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13. The Social Contract
A Social Contract is a mutual agreement
among people to surrender some individual
freedom for the well being of the group.
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Anticipatory anxiety:
Fear of an undesirable outcome,
making it even more likely t occur
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14. The Social Contract is About:
Conflict
Dynamics
Emotion
Status
Inclusion
Control
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15. The Social Contract
Is All About Relationships!
It’s not just what you are willing to give
to be part of the team, it’s also what you are
willing to give up to be a member
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16. What People Want & Need
To feel valued, appreciated, for themselves
and for their work
All teams are built on the foundation of trust and
understanding. This foundation allows a strong
commitment to shared goals.
Brian King
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17. Social Conflict
Social conflict is “relational.”- a problem does not
exist until two or more persons need to work
together.
Dysfunction lies not in one person or the other, but in
their relationship, often based on an individual need
for Inclusion, Control, or Affection.
(FIRO, Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation, Hill & Somers, 1988 )
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18. Dysfunction: When Teams Don’t Work
Dysfunction is generally defined as a failure to
function in an expected or complete manner.
Dysfunction occurs in Project Management when
an individual or group does not, or cannot, perform
its role properly, resulting in abnormal relations.
Jerry Mulenburg
The 77 Deadly Sins of Project Management
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19. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
1. Absence of Trust,
2. Fear of Conflict,
3. Lack of Commitment,
4. Avoidance of Accountability
5. Inattention to Results.
Patrick Lencioni
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20. What is Involved in Being Effective?
How do you motivate each person on a team to cooperate
and collaborate as an interdependent part of a group?
Through understanding their ways of seeing the world
and operating in it
If we do not know anything about an individual, we are
less likely to trust and work with him or her effectively.
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21. Personality
“…much seemingly chance variation
in human behavior, in fact is not due
chance; it is the logical result of a
few basic, observable preferences.”
Isabel Briggs Meyers
A Guide to the Development and use of the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator
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22. Personality
How do different personalities make teams
powerful?
Extraversion......................Introversion
Sensing..............................iNtuition
Thinking............................Feeling
Judging..............................Perceiving
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23. Personality
Meyers Briggs Personality Type (MBTI)
Extraversion - Introversion (how we energize ourselves)
Sensing - iNtuition (how we gather information)
Thinking - Feeling (how we make decisions)
Judging - Perceiving (how we bring closure)
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24. NASA Project Manager - Research Findings
NASA Women Project Managers (ENTJs)
Extraversion XXXXXX XX Introversion
Sensing XX XXXXXX iNtuition
Thinking XXXXXXX X Feeling
Judging XXXXXX XX Perceiving
NASA Men Project Managers (ENTJs)
Extraversion XXXXXXXX XXXXX Introversion
Sensing XXX XXXXXXXXXX iNtuition
Thinking XXXXXXXXXXXX X Feeling
Judging XXXXXXXXX XXXX Perceiving
30 0 30
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25. Temperament
tem·per·a·ment,
“ the combination of mental, physical, and emotional
traits of a person; a natural predisposition”
How do different temperaments make teams powerful?
“Our brain has temperament for hardware (inborn), and
character for software (experience in the environment).
Temperament is …our inclination - our pre-disposition
Character is …our habits - our disposition.”
David Keirsey: Please Understand Me
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26. Temperament
Four Types of Temperament
(Using two middle letters of the MBTI typology)
SJs - Guardians - Most Traditional >38% Of the population
SPs - Artisans - Most Adventurous >38% of the population
NFs - Idealists - Naturally Empathetic >12% of the population
NTs - Rationals - Most Independent <12% of the population
David Keirsey: Please Understand Me
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27. Ego Resilience
- A Measure of Ego Brittleness
(a measure of Ego “toughness”)
“…ego resilience can be considered
a surrogate of Emotional Intelligence.”
Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence
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28. Emotional Intelligence Needs
Personal Competences
Self-Awareness
Knowing our internal states, preferences, resources, and intuitions
Self-Regulation
Managing our internal states, impulses, and resources
Motivation
Emotional tendencies that guide or facilitate reaching goals
Social Competences
Empathy
Awareness of other’s feelings, needs, concerns
Social Skills
Adeptness at inducing desirable responses in others
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29. Emotional Intelligence Benefits
Group Trust Participation Better decisions
Emotional Identity Cooperation Creative solutions
Intelligence Efficacy Collaboration Higher productivity
Team Effectiveness Occurs Through the Group:
- Self evaluation
- Feedback
- Making time for, and acknowledging and expressing emotion
- Being optimistic
- Anticipating and taking initiative on problems
- Focusing on solutions and success
Steven Wolff, HBR Mar 01
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30. So, How do We Go
“Above and Beyond”
for Teams?
Recognizing how important,
and how difficult it can be,
how can we capture the power of teams?
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31. What Can We do to Help Teams
be More Effective?
How do you motivate each person to cooperate
and collaborate as part of a group?
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32. Seven Deadly Sins of Teams
1. Ineffective leadership
2. Inadequate resources
3. Flawed procurement implementation
4. Broken context
5. Power struggles
6. Unsuited temperaments
7. Flawed organizational structure
2/19/2010 Pellerin, 2009 32

33. The Social Context of Teams
We define teams as groups of people who interact
sufficiently that their behaviors affect others’
behaviors. These collective behavioral norms define
the team social context that shapes the experience
of people in the team environment, whether
temporarily or over long durations.
...experience with workplace teams shows that
behaviors of the hierarchal leaders are the most
influential on other team members’ behaviors
Pellerin, 2009
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34. Social Context : What Members of a
Team Need
1) To feel valued, appreciated
2) To feel a sense of belonging
3) To have a hopeful, realistic future to look
forward to; and
4) To know what others expect of them and
have the resources to succeed.
Pellerin, 2009
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35. Social Context: Innate Critical
Soft Skills
CULTIVATING VISIONING
( NT)
Visioning – Idea Builders
(NF)
Reality based optimism, commitment
Cultivating – People Builders
Mutual respect, people feel valued
Directing – System Builders
Clear organization accountability
Including – Team Builders
(SF) (ST)
INCLUDING DIRECTING People feel included, trustworthy
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Pellerin, 2009 35

36. Recognizing the Critical Soft Skills
It’s not about having any one of these
characteristics, it’s having the right balance
of them for the correct leadership, depending
on the project’s needs
Pellerin, 2009
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37. Recognizing the Critical Soft Skills
Green 1. Show authentic appreciation
2. Address shared interests
3. Appropriately include others
Yellow
4. Keep your agreements
5. Express reality-based enthusiasm
Blue 6. Be 100% committed
7. Avoid blaming or complaining
Orange 8. Clarify role accountability & authority
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38. Creating the Team You Want
Through Emphasizing the Soft Skills
Green Cultivating Dimension Blue Visioning Dimension
1. Express 2. Address 5. Express 6. Be
Authentic Shared Reality-Based 100%
Appreciation Interests Optimism Committed
3. Appropriately 4. Keep all 7. Avoid 8. Clarify Roles,
Include Your Blaming & Accountability,
Others Agreements Complaining & Authority
Yellow Including Dimension Orange Directing Dimension
2/19/2010 Pellerin, 2009 38

39. Building Effective NASA Teams
What Works
Learn how to authentically appreciate and share
with everyone
Appropriately include others and keep your
agreements to them
Focus on reality-based optimism and be 100%
committed
Clarify roles, accountability & authority
Take responsibility for not blaming or complaining
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40. Building Effective NASA Teams
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