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”Teamwork is the ability to work together
toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward
organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain
uncommon results” Andrew Carnegie
Assembling a team requires that we
understand the skills needed to make the project successful. Pulling in
high quality people for functional organizations can sometimes be like pulling
teeth: A lot of hollering and pain! If company management is serious about
making improvements, then there must be the decision to assign the best people
to the project. Assigning junior employees or marginal employees to a project
does not display the management commitment required. Perhaps one of the most
challenging tasks of a project manager is to find the best resources for a
project, get them assigned to the project and freed up from their day to day
activities so they can devote sufficient time to the project to get things done
on time.
Make the project formal through the use of
documentation, status reports, schedules, meetings, management reviews,
milestones and project reviews. Making the status and progress of the project
visible can be a sense of pride that boosts project morale. A certain level of
formality in the project management methodology helps to build team work by
providing a common understanding of what is to be done and when. Status
meetings help to provide information and a certain degree of camaraderie within
the team.
Project direction must drive towards
vision of the completed project. The project team must share a common vision and
understand how their efforts contribute to the overall project success. The
project team must understand how the pieces of the project that they are
responsible for are important to the team’s success on the project.
It has been my experience that APICS
education for all the team members provides a common terminology among team
members and also provides a common understanding of which activities need to
take precedence. Without question, the best teams that I’ve had the pleasure
to work with had a strong APICS based education. This kept the teams on
track and provided common terminology and understanding of project priorities.
A project team can benefit from a certain
degree of enthusiasm. Fifty dollars worth of pizza once in a while won’t break
anyone’s budget and can provide an intermediate reward to the team members.
Many projects can last for months if not years, the whole while waiting for that
single reward of a successful implementation. Providing some sort of
occasional reward to the team during the course of the project can help instill
enthusiasm and promote teamwork. Celebrating the achievement of key project
milestones is a great opportunity to pick up the teams’ spirits!
Perhaps one of the most challenging
aspects of project management is getting some people to cooperate with others.
Let’s face it, there are conflicts within companies and these conflicts can
invade a team. It’s the job of the whole team to work together. It’s
not the job of the project manager to babysit those that can’t get along with
others for whatever reason. Conflicts need to be avoided if possible by
understanding the dynamics of those being considered as project team members.
Should conflicts exist, it is up to the project manager, the conflicting team
members and all team members to face the issue head on and get it resolved.
Don’t try to sweep it under the carpet. The success of the team and the
project is very dependent on a high degree of cooperation!
Building teamwork is an important aspect
to successful projects. Teamwork can make the time spent on the project much
shorter and provide better results! |
