Better Teamwork For A Better Project

There's a lot of responsibility in taking charge of a major project for your business. A vital element of the company's future might rest on your carrying through the project to a successful conclusion. Yet you won't be working on the project alone; a significant operation requires a focused and coordinated effort by a whole team. How, then, can you be sure that the team you're leading towards the project goals will be able to achieve them?

The right team

The first, and in many senses the most important stage in team management is selecting your personnel. Objectivity is critical; there's a natural temptation to favour friends and long-time colleagues, to arrange the team on sympathetic grounds, but such inclinations must be ignored. The team needs to comprise the best people for the job, those with the specialisations and skills needed to produce the best possible result. Of course, if you're taking considerations of friendship out of the equation, then you can't expect everyone to be able to work together right away; this is where team building skills become so important.

Developing the team

Five stages of team development are conventionally identified, named in (mostly) rhyming fashion as forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. It's important to understand the causes and effects of these stages in the team building process and to be aware of how your leadership can drive the team's evolution firmly in the right direction.

The first step, forming, can be seen as the introductory stage: here, team members meet (perhaps for the first time), learn about the project, and learn about one another through sharing experiences and knowledge. Storming follows inevitably, bringing conflicts that arise from differing opinions and expectations. Good management at this stage doesn't mean preventing initial disagreement, but in encouraging and guiding, helping the team to overcome problems and settle into new roles and responsibilities.

With successful management at that second stage, norming will follow, a period in which team members can be expected to better understand and value the team and their position in it, and to work more effectively towards the team goals. With continued and timely guidance and encouragement, the team can move onto the performing phase, a stage defined by a now highly motivated team being able to work, independently of oversight, towards the shared goal of a successfully completed project. Once this goal has been attained, the team should be expected to move on - the adjourning phase - to new teams and new projects, taking with them the experiences and knowledge that the latest work has given them.

Success and failure

The first two stages outlined above are inevitable in the team building process. The latter three are not, however - rather, they arise as a consequence of successful team management. To smooth the way, it's important to ensure that all instructions you give to your team are clear and comprehensible, fully understood by all team members. It's vital to show the team that you are approachable, should they have any questions or suggestions, that you welcome feedback and that, although you're leading the project, you don't see yourself as separate or superior. Shared respect, shared values, and a shared dedication to the common goal are essential to keeping moral high and the team motivated.

The signs that a team are working successfully together are easy to see. Communication between members will be clear and relaxed, and brainstorming sessions will benefit from the participation of all. There will be high degrees of commitment, respect and understanding between all team members, and a willingness to focus on the goals will come naturally. However, where team building has failed, you can expect to see stunted communication and a lack of that respect and commitment. Absences will become more frequent, whilst those who aren't absent might be seen increasingly to pass work and responsibilities onto others without concern for the consequences.

Clearly, the impacts of successful as against failed team building are clearly visible. A focused, committed and comfortable team will be far more able to make a success of the project, and to benefit the organisation as a whole - and it's good leadership that will make the difference. A short training course might be invaluable in honing team building and leadership skills and these are skills that no project can risk lacking. It's always better, whatever the circumstances, to stand united than to fall divided.