PREFACE

In today’s competitive environment, meeting mission objectives requires collaborative involvement across an organization. Project teams must include a number of participants from different areas of the organization. Parties from external agencies, whether consultants or vendors, will also likely be involved. And in today’s challenging economy, you are not guaranteed to get everyone you need, forcing you to make the most of your team and to do more with less. Regardless of who is on a project team and how many members it has, the project will not meet its deliverables and deadlines unless the group operates as a high-functioning team.

No matter what type of team you belong to, it’s challenging to keep everyone focused and productive. This is particularly true on project teams. The secret to managing successful team dynamics is to keep the practices as simple as possible.

I love simplicity. Throughout my personal and professional life, I have always aimed for the least complicated path to find the answer or to complete the task. When communicating with others, I strive to use short, tangible descriptions instead of long, abstract discussions. When teaching, I go out of my way to introduce concepts that are easy to grasp; they are often underscored through interactive activities so that learners can experience the message rather than simply hear it. When speaking in front of large audiences, I design presentations that contain few words. White space and images help to spotlight my messages in a memorable way.

Enhancing team dynamics to improve team performance does not need to be complicated or time-consuming. In fact, the simpler our practices, the more likely we are to follow them. The more consistent we are with easy practices, the more likely we are to evolve our corporate culture—ultimately embracing simple, effective, successful practices.

Making things simple often creates great value to customers. In 2010, President Obama announced the Department of Veterans Affairs’ “Blue Button” feature, which allows veterans to access and download their health information from the department’s My HealtheVet web page. Blue Button gives veterans complete control of this information—without any special software—and enables veterans to share this data with their health care providers, caregivers, and family members with simplicity and ease of use.

Some people have a knack for making things more complicated than they need to be. Sometimes project managers make incorrect assumptions and become intertwined in an endless but futile effort to prove themselves right among team members. When things get too complicated, change your assumptions and try again. Keep it simple to be successful.

This book will help you understand the value of teamwork and the link between teamwork and project outcomes: You will appreciate how simple investments in project team dynamics can provide big returns, you will learn how to introduce the “right” set of behaviors to support productive teamwork, and you will become familiar with easy methods to improve team dynamics and reduce conflict.

Since establishing Your Project Office, a training and consulting practice dedicated to introducing project management as a business competency, I have had the opportunity to work with many organizations across various industries looking to break down functional silos and deliver priority initiatives through effective and efficient means. This book is a compilation of best practices, tips, and techniques identified during my association with clients, colleagues, and project management professionals—all in support of healthy team dynamics. You will find a number of tools and templates throughout the book, each designed to support a specific team need.

This book focuses on project teams. In the spirit of team achievement, many of the concepts, practices, and tools introduced in this book apply to all types of teams in government and business today. When you consistently apply similar practices across the different types of teams in your organization, you will slowly shift the organizational culture toward teamwork in a real and meaningful way. Organizations that appreciate the value of teamwork and perform in true team-like fashion tend to outperform those that only talk about teamwork. So feel free to share this book with other teams; they will thank you.

Introducing practical practices early in team development is critical to establishing healthy teams. Periodically evaluating the team’s well-being is equally important; the ability to quickly diagnose team ailments and apply appropriate treatments is key to hale and hearty teams, which produce efficient and productive output. This book supports both team launches and team operations; they are equally important to sustaining productive team output.

Those of us who are familiar with managing projects know that the greatest cause of project failure is lack of sound project planning. Projects fail when there is poor planning or estimating, no clear assignment of authority or responsibility, and a lack of adequate tools and techniques. Conversely, projects succeed when there is a high degree of end user involvement, realistic expectations are set, ownership (both responsibility and authority) is apparent, and a clear vision and objectives are shared by all.

When launching project teams, a similar philosophy applies. Unless you establish a firm foundation with qualified members who understand their roles and responsibilities and are vested in the team’s success, the team will fail. Project team dynamics are just as critical to project success as proper project planning.

Remember, every project is unique; therefore, every team requires—and deserves—its own set of defined team goals, documented expected behaviors, and endorsed set of operating norms. Project teams can become more efficient and effective by following four steps upon project assignment: define the team, clarify goals, implement team behaviors, and establish accountability. Chapters 2 through 5 of this book will guide project teams through these four steps, offering practical advice and actionable steps for immediate results.

Many project teams naturally navigate the first two steps because most project managers have learned these practices during project management training. Many teams, however, skim or skip steps three and four, most often because of time constraints. Unfortunately, project managers often regret omitting these important steps.

Once the project team has been launched, the challenge becomes making it work as a cohesive, productive unit. The keys to accomplishing this are managing team conflict, making effective decisions, actively sharing information, and ensuring meetings are productive. These challenges are addressed in Chapters 6 through 9. Easy-to-use techniques, tools, and templates are included, offering you immediate opportunities to address and eradicate team afflictions.

Project management and successful project teams are the key to maximizing any organization’s business opportunities and meeting its strategic challenges. Several trends in the federal government contribute to the adoption of project management and the reliance on project teams:

•    Agencies are being called upon to provide tighter security and safety for citizens, resulting in an increase of highly complex information technology projects.

•    Agencies are experiencing budget cuts, forcing them to do more with less.

•    The aging federal government workforce needs subject matter experts to share knowledge among team members to deliver results on time, within budget, and to the government’s specifications.

Because team dynamics are a key influence on project success, finding ways to better manage challenges from a management and communications perspective improves internal dynamics as well as group performance. Properly launching the team and quickly addressing team issues is a winning formula for enhancing performance and improving results.

—Lisa DiTullio