-P.G. Daly
Not all project teams are made the same. New teams come and go and get reorganized almost every other month in today's hyper paced environment. One thing remains the same, though, from the time the first team was ever formed until today. It is people who make things happen, it is the people in the team who matter, and it is the people on which you must focus your efforts.
The following are some tips for success based on experts approach to, and lessons learned from, this experience.
Keep it manageable
If you have any control over the situation, strive to make your team a manageable size for the task at hand.Too many cooks spoil the broth and too few give the chef cardiac arrest as she tries to do it all herself. If you have no control, as is often the case, you simply need to focus on the other aspects of getting the team up and running, which I talk about below.
Understand each other
Just as you would want to understand the functional requirements of a customer before you build an application, you want to understand the members of your team and their perspective, interests, and talents before you embark on this journey together. Even if the team you are leading is mandated and its membership was determined by "the powers that be", it is still crucial to understand each other as individuals before you get to the task at hand. Taking the time to learn each other's personality, work style, motives, and talents will go a long way toward directing your efforts appropriately and understanding why things are happening the way they are at any given point in time.
Setting the ground rules
The sooner you can set and agree upon ground rules for the mode of operation of your team, the better. Leave no stone unturned in this area. I do not mean that you have to be rigid, procedure and process happy, or adopt an attitude of form over function. I do mean that you need to be clear on how the team will operate both within its confines and with others.The best way I have found to set up ground rules is to create a straw man and let the team provide their own input on it. Provide a suggestion and give your team members full permission to add, remove, and comment on it. Members may be hesitant to do so (especially if they perceive you as an authority figure), but assure them that their input is important. After all, no one wants to be dictated rules they must follow. Plus, people take more ownership in and tend to follow processes and rules they had a hand in creating. Finalize the rules based on consensus. Remember, however, that you are in charge and are responsible for ensuring that the rules are reasonable and will enable you to accomplish the task at hand. (After all a suggested ground rule of 3-hour workdays and free beer might be fabulous, but probably not conducive to accomplishing your objective.) Therefore, as the leader, you still have the last say regarding the ground rules.Bottom Line: make sure the ground rules are something everyone can live with, are practical, and strike the right balance between form, function, and flexibility.
Dividing up the work
Share the load. That is what a team is all about. When it comes to creating a project plan, it is not only important to get the job done but it is also important to make people as happy as possible with their role. Wherever possible, try not only to capitalize on your team members' individual proven talents, but also try to expand their roles to include some of their development interests. Some people need variety and although they may be fabulous programmers, they might also want an opportunity to interface with customers. So, rather than assign 100% of their time to banging out code, you might want to involve them in customer requirements definition meetings and presentations.
From personal experience I know how important it is to have the opportunity to spread my wings and not languish in familiar boredom.
Keep in mind that as people expand their comfort zones; their work might not always be of expert quality. After all, they are learning something new. Curb your need for perfection and speed at all costs and give people the opportunity to try, fail, try again, and succeed on their own.
Another key point in dividing up the work is to keep workloads reasonable and realistic. I am still aghast at the pace, workload, and expectations that exist for all of us in today's times. Since societal norms are just a bit outside my circle of control, I can only recommend to you that you carefully consider a person's work/life balance and workload capacity before you start doling out assignments. Keep in mind that next to no one will set boundaries and tell you no even if they are already overloaded, so be realistic both to yourself, your team, and the project as you plan and assign work.
Communication
Communication within the team will make or break you. I have had the distinct displeasure of being stuck on a team where people cannot and do not communicate. I can tell you it is like serving a life sentence in purgatory. In this situation no matter how hard one person may try and no matter how effectively they communicate, it can never be enough to overcome the unwillingness and inability of the leaders to communicate effectively.
Alas, though, we are building a successful team in this article so you, as team leader, will be eager, willing, and able to communicate with your team. Keys to successful team communication include:
• Regular and consistent communication (but don't overload people).
• Clear, concise, simple terms (remember the principle KISS = keep it simple stupid).
• Relevance. How does the issue at hand affect me?
• Open lines of communication for all members. Everyone and anyone should feel comfortable
speaking up and should have the opportunity to do so regularly. Communication is a two-way street.
• Listen to others. Practice good listening skills and honor the person who is communicating.
Making Decisions
Involve the team in the decision making process. Honor people by including them and respecting their views and opinions. Each day every one of your team members will have to make decisions. Encourage them to be independent as much as possible, while feeling free to seek your input and advice when needed. Empowerment goes a long way toward having a positive experience. If someone makes a wrong decision, do not beat him or her up. We all make wrong decisions now and then. That is life. Most likely, unless you are in a real life or death situation, a wrong decision will not kill anyone. Keep that in mind and maintain your perspective!
In all teams there will be situations where either no one will make a decision or it is really not appropriate to empower the masses. In these cases, you must step up to the plate and make the decision. If you respect your people and save these authoritative moments for only the times where it is necessary to move the team forward, you will be much more successful in earning the respect of the people on your team.
Handling Conflict and Disagreement
Conflict and disagreement are inevitable. Even the best run and most compatible teams have run into these obstacles occasionally. The measure of success is how you handle them. Do not back away from conflict, but do not engage yourself emotionally in it either. In moments of conflict you must first honor the individuals involved and then seek to solve the problem at hand. If need be, diffuse a particularly heated situation by creating the necessary time, space, and perspective for people to regain composure.
If you have fostered an environment of trust within your team, you will be able to encourage team members to resolve differences on their own. If need be, facilitate the process in a professional manner. All conflict and emotional upset stems not from the actual problem at hand but from the emotion and feelings individuals assign to the problem at hand. That is, their reaction to the problem and what they make that mean.
Bottom Line: People first, then things (I paraphrase and steal some of financial guru Suze Orman's philosophy here). If you handle the people successfully, the problem will just become another item that requires a decision.
Tooting the Horn
As team leader, you are in a unique position to do much horn tooting. Toot your own horn, toot the collective team's horn, and honor individual accomplishments whenever possible. Oftentimes, as the leader, you will have more access to the customers and managers than your team. As a result, people may associate the project's success solely with your efforts. Although this is good in terms of tooting your own horn, a good team leader brings the contributions of all team members to the forefront. That is, tooting the collective horn of the whole team. Lastly, for outstanding individual contributions, recognize those people and toot their horn by mentioning their name to your superiors and customers and giving credit where credit is due. People need to feel their contributions are valued.
Doing this will not only gain you the respect of your team members, it will also make you feel good to be able to make a difference. This is one way you as a team leader can truly make a difference in the lives' of others in the course of your daily job (and you thought being in Intranet Development couldn't make the world a better place!).
Measuring Success
Quite obviously, there are the typical project deliverables on which your team's success will be measured. These deliverables typically include the usual delivering what's required, on time, within budget, etc., etc., etc. However, I believe there is one deliverable even more important than these even though no one will ever give you a bonus, raise or promotion for it. That deliverable is: the growth of the individual team members as people.
The ability of you and your team members to grow and learn in a positive, enjoyable environment is the #1 deliverable of your project team even though no one will ever admit to or reward you for that.
The following are some tips for success based on experts approach to, and lessons learned from, this experience.
Keep it manageable
If you have any control over the situation, strive to make your team a manageable size for the task at hand.Too many cooks spoil the broth and too few give the chef cardiac arrest as she tries to do it all herself. If you have no control, as is often the case, you simply need to focus on the other aspects of getting the team up and running, which I talk about below.
Understand each other
Just as you would want to understand the functional requirements of a customer before you build an application, you want to understand the members of your team and their perspective, interests, and talents before you embark on this journey together. Even if the team you are leading is mandated and its membership was determined by "the powers that be", it is still crucial to understand each other as individuals before you get to the task at hand. Taking the time to learn each other's personality, work style, motives, and talents will go a long way toward directing your efforts appropriately and understanding why things are happening the way they are at any given point in time.
Setting the ground rules
The sooner you can set and agree upon ground rules for the mode of operation of your team, the better. Leave no stone unturned in this area. I do not mean that you have to be rigid, procedure and process happy, or adopt an attitude of form over function. I do mean that you need to be clear on how the team will operate both within its confines and with others.The best way I have found to set up ground rules is to create a straw man and let the team provide their own input on it. Provide a suggestion and give your team members full permission to add, remove, and comment on it. Members may be hesitant to do so (especially if they perceive you as an authority figure), but assure them that their input is important. After all, no one wants to be dictated rules they must follow. Plus, people take more ownership in and tend to follow processes and rules they had a hand in creating. Finalize the rules based on consensus. Remember, however, that you are in charge and are responsible for ensuring that the rules are reasonable and will enable you to accomplish the task at hand. (After all a suggested ground rule of 3-hour workdays and free beer might be fabulous, but probably not conducive to accomplishing your objective.) Therefore, as the leader, you still have the last say regarding the ground rules.Bottom Line: make sure the ground rules are something everyone can live with, are practical, and strike the right balance between form, function, and flexibility.
Dividing up the work
Share the load. That is what a team is all about. When it comes to creating a project plan, it is not only important to get the job done but it is also important to make people as happy as possible with their role. Wherever possible, try not only to capitalize on your team members' individual proven talents, but also try to expand their roles to include some of their development interests. Some people need variety and although they may be fabulous programmers, they might also want an opportunity to interface with customers. So, rather than assign 100% of their time to banging out code, you might want to involve them in customer requirements definition meetings and presentations.
From personal experience I know how important it is to have the opportunity to spread my wings and not languish in familiar boredom.
Keep in mind that as people expand their comfort zones; their work might not always be of expert quality. After all, they are learning something new. Curb your need for perfection and speed at all costs and give people the opportunity to try, fail, try again, and succeed on their own.
Another key point in dividing up the work is to keep workloads reasonable and realistic. I am still aghast at the pace, workload, and expectations that exist for all of us in today's times. Since societal norms are just a bit outside my circle of control, I can only recommend to you that you carefully consider a person's work/life balance and workload capacity before you start doling out assignments. Keep in mind that next to no one will set boundaries and tell you no even if they are already overloaded, so be realistic both to yourself, your team, and the project as you plan and assign work.
Communication
Communication within the team will make or break you. I have had the distinct displeasure of being stuck on a team where people cannot and do not communicate. I can tell you it is like serving a life sentence in purgatory. In this situation no matter how hard one person may try and no matter how effectively they communicate, it can never be enough to overcome the unwillingness and inability of the leaders to communicate effectively.
Alas, though, we are building a successful team in this article so you, as team leader, will be eager, willing, and able to communicate with your team. Keys to successful team communication include:
• Regular and consistent communication (but don't overload people).
• Clear, concise, simple terms (remember the principle KISS = keep it simple stupid).
• Relevance. How does the issue at hand affect me?
• Open lines of communication for all members. Everyone and anyone should feel comfortable
speaking up and should have the opportunity to do so regularly. Communication is a two-way street.
• Listen to others. Practice good listening skills and honor the person who is communicating.
Making Decisions
Involve the team in the decision making process. Honor people by including them and respecting their views and opinions. Each day every one of your team members will have to make decisions. Encourage them to be independent as much as possible, while feeling free to seek your input and advice when needed. Empowerment goes a long way toward having a positive experience. If someone makes a wrong decision, do not beat him or her up. We all make wrong decisions now and then. That is life. Most likely, unless you are in a real life or death situation, a wrong decision will not kill anyone. Keep that in mind and maintain your perspective!
In all teams there will be situations where either no one will make a decision or it is really not appropriate to empower the masses. In these cases, you must step up to the plate and make the decision. If you respect your people and save these authoritative moments for only the times where it is necessary to move the team forward, you will be much more successful in earning the respect of the people on your team.
Handling Conflict and Disagreement
Conflict and disagreement are inevitable. Even the best run and most compatible teams have run into these obstacles occasionally. The measure of success is how you handle them. Do not back away from conflict, but do not engage yourself emotionally in it either. In moments of conflict you must first honor the individuals involved and then seek to solve the problem at hand. If need be, diffuse a particularly heated situation by creating the necessary time, space, and perspective for people to regain composure.
If you have fostered an environment of trust within your team, you will be able to encourage team members to resolve differences on their own. If need be, facilitate the process in a professional manner. All conflict and emotional upset stems not from the actual problem at hand but from the emotion and feelings individuals assign to the problem at hand. That is, their reaction to the problem and what they make that mean.
Bottom Line: People first, then things (I paraphrase and steal some of financial guru Suze Orman's philosophy here). If you handle the people successfully, the problem will just become another item that requires a decision.
Tooting the Horn
As team leader, you are in a unique position to do much horn tooting. Toot your own horn, toot the collective team's horn, and honor individual accomplishments whenever possible. Oftentimes, as the leader, you will have more access to the customers and managers than your team. As a result, people may associate the project's success solely with your efforts. Although this is good in terms of tooting your own horn, a good team leader brings the contributions of all team members to the forefront. That is, tooting the collective horn of the whole team. Lastly, for outstanding individual contributions, recognize those people and toot their horn by mentioning their name to your superiors and customers and giving credit where credit is due. People need to feel their contributions are valued.
Doing this will not only gain you the respect of your team members, it will also make you feel good to be able to make a difference. This is one way you as a team leader can truly make a difference in the lives' of others in the course of your daily job (and you thought being in Intranet Development couldn't make the world a better place!).
Measuring Success
Quite obviously, there are the typical project deliverables on which your team's success will be measured. These deliverables typically include the usual delivering what's required, on time, within budget, etc., etc., etc. However, I believe there is one deliverable even more important than these even though no one will ever give you a bonus, raise or promotion for it. That deliverable is: the growth of the individual team members as people.
The ability of you and your team members to grow and learn in a positive, enjoyable environment is the #1 deliverable of your project team even though no one will ever admit to or reward you for that.
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