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| Building Teams - From Random Individuals to Working Teams |  |  |  |
| Written by Jeffry Smith, PMP, MBA | How does one build a team? The key is that everyone cares about and wants to achieve the same goal. That, to me, is the definition of a team.
To create the team from a group of random individuals, I follow these steps:
1) Articulate the goal clearly. This is what we want to achieve. This is why it is good. Use all senses to visualize it. Make it extremely desirable. This is relatively easy in Six Sigma, for you are usually solving some problem with very clear effects. In project management in general, it is less clear, for the goal of the project and the problem it is solving may not be clearly articulated. This is the responsibility of the project manager to provide this clarity of purpose to the team. Each person must see the benefit of the project for themselves. Point out the negative effects of doing nothing; the problems with the current state of affairs. Show how the project benefits each individual team member, in terms of personal growth.
2) Make sure the team members know they are part of the team because of their decision and because of their skills and knowledge. Each person is essential to the team. If they do not want to be on the team despite your vigorous persuasion showing them their value and the importance of the problem before them, work with their management to get a replacement. The freedom to leave gives its own rationale for staying; I chose this, therefore I will stay. This builds internal commitment.
3) Make sure that the team knows YOU care. Sincere enthusiasm and dedication cannot be imitated or faked. If the leader doesn't care or is ambivalent, everyone will know. This is shown by showing yourself--your real self. Show you care about the big picture, the details, and every person.
4) Deepen commitment by assignments. Asking people to do things does not push them away; it increases their commitment. They are valuable. They are needed and necessary. Their work is seen and appreciated by all. I give assignments to everyone in our first team meeting. If people do not attend a meeting, I give them assignments in absentia and communicate it to them personally. I relish the opportunity to speak to them face to face about what they missed and how much we need their contribution. The unspoken message is: "You were missed. You are needed. You still have work to do for this project."
5) Ask people to make decisions and stick with them. If I asked the team for a vote and then overrode it, that would be destructive of team building. But if I helped them make the decision work, then I am part of the team and we are bound together.
6) Challenge people with difficult problems. Solving this business problem or achieving this goal in this project by this date will be difficult, but I'm sure we'll make it. The pressure will increase throughout the project and the whole team must pitch in. I recall more than one team member getting a wide eyed "Aha!" look when I stated, "This is our problem. We own it. We will solve it."
7) Do not plan for failure; plan for success. To plan for failure is to admit you will fail. This provides an "out" for us psychologically to not give our ultimate effort. We don't know what we can do until we strive for our best. We are naturally lazy and resist doing our best. By making a desperate effort to achieve the "impossible" with no fall back plan, we can then push ourselves. This is why sports stars "predict" victory; they are giving themselves no room for failure. Do not give room for failure, but do plan for risks and how to overcome them.
Jeffry J. Smith
MBA, PMP, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and I will be teaching the Essentials Course #E300, Introduction to Project Time Management I have successfully completed over 20 DMAIC, DMEDI, and Lean projects and I teach change management and mentor Black Belts. I've led projects that have changed business processes affecting thousands of engineers, IT support personnel, product support people, purchasing, and logistics. Earlier in my career, I worked with Product Data Management support, installation and training, software and training development, and relational database design |
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