Just read an interesting article by Suzy Thompson entitled “The 5 Habits of Highly Effective Project Teams” and I think she has gotten it pretty much right on. Made me stop and ponder all the dysfunctional teams I’ve been on and which of the 5 ingredients listed below were missing. Let’s take a look at each:
1. Establish Structure and Discipline: Without some sense of the project, short term goals and objectives, people have a tendency to drift. Worse than drifting is the feeling that the project or their individual part of the project, might not be important. And, without a feeling of self-worth, it is difficult to feel compelled to produce quality.
2. Act with Urgency: This is interesting. I can remember many occasion when a team member and I have talked about the missing sense of urgency by managers or other team members. Why is this important? Sense of urgency is actually what puts people on the edge, makes them better, more creative and more willing to be innovative. Sense of urgency means that the project and associated deadlines are actually important, and with importance comes the built-in desire to do your best. Productivity increases when there is a sense of urgency. Most people will tell you that they are more productive when their lives are really busy. When they haven’t much to do, it takes twice as long to accomplish the same task as when you are busy and vibrant.
3. Cultivate a Sense of Ownership: Without ownership, who cares when something goes wrong? Without ownership, who cares if deadlines are not met or the end product is sloppy? It is ownership which gives us pride in the project. A very necessary ingredient.
4. Lead: Project managers, and even team members, need to be able to take leadership stances. This also means that they must know the difference between quality and junk. Nothing is more demoralizing than when you work really hard but know that, your leader does not know the difference between producing something mediocre versus producing something of substance. Hard to work for people who have no direction, no leadership skills, or are basically clueless.
5. Be the Change You Want to See in the Project: Certainly leadership means a lot, but even if you are not the team leader, others will respect you and notice if your behavior is remarkable and your professionalism is evident. You can really set the tone for the group by displaying and modeling excellent team habits. Try it and see!
I think she is missing one important ingredient however. Respect Fellow Team Members. Finding strengths in all team members, and respecting each other for what each person brings to the project team is also very important. I call this “not hogging the ball” as you dribble down the court. One person sometimes can do it all, but the team will be richer for sharing your strengths and encouraging others to share and grow. When each member has an important role that they feel competent and highly qualified to accomplish, the team really rocks!
So, an interesting article to stumble upon and I think, valuable to think about.
Posted by Kathi 
Posted by Kathi 
Posted by Kathi 
