Will Your Team Succeed?

Reasons Teams Fail (In Business & School) Poor

communication

Personal styles and paces that clash

Free riders who don’t contribute fair share

Focus on product, ignore the process

Leadership issues

Poor quality product

Tendency to give up when faced with obstacles

Solutions to Poor Communication Establish comm links early - e-mail,

phone lists, weekly meetings Accept feedback Written, clear assignment instructions -

Gantt chart, members re-state assignment in own words

Meeting Agendas Status reports w/feedback Ask questions for clarification

Solutions to Personal Clashes Respect each other’s position

Make conflict professional not personal

Treat each other professionals

Try compromising to meet the same goal

When required, seek an arbitrator (e.g., instructor)

Have fun

Solutions to Free Riders Establish clear team rules early

(expectations, removal process)

Address inactivity immediately

Document warnings (both oral and written)

Team removal

How to Focus on Process

(Chapter 4 of SPM) Good, clear, detailed project plan Have agenda available early Use good research tools (library, Internet,

etc.) Emphasize quality, not quantity Use a Gantt chart Schedule aggressively (p. 100 in SPM) Status reports Ask questions

Solutions to Leadership Issues

Create leadership questionnaire carefully Establish leadership roles that work for this

particular team Create meaningful guidelines for leaders in

team charter Talk to leader about problems or potential

problems, not other team members

Insure Quality

Research (library, Internet, company) Use your imagination in preparing

documentation (use graphics) SPELL CHECK - GRAMMAR CHECK Would you present the document to your

manager who is considering you for promotion?

ASK QUESTIONS Work as a Team not a Group

Don’t Give Up

Seek professors’ advice

Develop a team spirit, name & logo

Don’t get ‘senioritis’

Effective Team Members in Projects High Quality Technical Skills – members

need to solve technical problems without outside assistance

Political Sensitivity – Leaders and team members should have an understanding of the organization’s politics

Strong Problem Orientation - effective team members need to be problem oriented not discipline oriented.

Effective Team Members in Projects Strong Goal Orientation – Focus

should be on results not activity. (no clock watchers)

High Self Esteem – Never surprise the boss(Team members willing to admit

problems/errors) Multiple roles – team members willing

to perform multiple types of tasks