PM101-7 Are You Building a High Performance Team OR Just Adding People?
Robert Trajkovski, altPMP BSEE MSE Ph.D(ABD)
Billion Dollar Project Leader| Director of Capital Projects | Helping Companies Execute Their CAPEX Goals into Reality
Projects are led by a leader BUT succeed or fail as a group. This raises the question, “Is team building more art than science?”?
In my opinion team building is an art.? Notice I did not say science.? However, some of it must be executed in a step by step nature.
?It all starts by identifying key recruiting partners that can bring you great talent.? Sometimes you need more than one partner.? ?The recruiting firms usually pull from different sources and the mix is better than any single one can provide.
?As a Project Leader, I often review the candidates and ask a small team of 3 to 4 team members to grade each candidate.? Each candidate is compared only to the one before.? I usually tell the evaluators that the first candidate should get a 7 even if they can walk on water.? ?That way you can evaluate the second one as either better(7.5,8, up to 8.5) or worse 6,5 or below. Next, compare the second one vs the third and so on.
Hiring is one piece BUT once in place you must nurture and connect with each team member.? One-on-one meetings with direct reports are a must.? ?Every two weeks invest 30 minutes into your direct report.? ?Allow them to tell you their successes, needs, and roadblocks for 15 minutes.? Provide your assessment and coaching within 10 minutes.? ?Lastly, agree on a deliverable(s) for the next meeting.?Record this in a note and send it to them within 24 hours.
The opposite side of hiring and mentoring is being willing to cut a toxic employee.? In one of my roles,? during Covid when there was a lack of qualified people, I had a couple of senior employees who at times turned toxic towards other team members.? I tried coaching and reprimanding BUT no improvement. The effect on the team was detrimental.? I have promised myself to critically evaluate each member once a month and if toxic to fire quickly.
?I also believe that bi-weekly Lunch and Learn(LnL) is key to team unity.? During the first third of the LnLI try to update the team on project progress, hiring and recruitment efforts, ?and external dynamics. The second third is for inspiring and teaching the team.? Inspiring by sharing the vision you have for success.? Or teaching something that updates their skills or informs them on tools that need to be used.? This is sometimes done by a team member most familiar with the topic or tool.? The last third of the time is for team bonding by posing a question that each member answers in order to learn about each other. Lunch is usually provided but if that is an issue it could be a bring your own brown bag.
Judging team performance is difficult.? ?Each member contributes to the overall success.? As a leader you must be friendly but not necessarily a friend.? This is necessary in order to be objective.? With that being said, some relationships evolve and? I am still friends with many of the people that once worked for me.
As I mentioned in the last article, ?the next piece is vital.? ?You must have a one-on-one with the project sponsor(s).? A great relationship with the sponsor is critical.? You must nurture it and the communication must be very regular.
领英推荐
To be successful, team building has to be two-directional.? It is your relationships and communications with your employees AND your relationship and communication with your boss AND their boss.
In one of the trainings that I attended a presenter said that 70 percent of success is due to your boss’ boss opinion of you.? Your boss contributes 20% AND you only contribute 10%.
You can not forget to build yourself.? If you are a level 1 leader then what do you need to work on to become a level 2.? A portion of your work and personal time needs to be spent on this effort.…?
In summary, building a successful team requires a lot of critical soft skills.? You must get good candidates from your recruiters, You must inspire, nurture and build your new team members.? You must cut the toxic ones quickly.? You must build good bonds with leaders above you.? AND you must build yourself..? ?
My four? cents...
Links to previous PM Series of articles are shown below: