Will Your Project Team Get The Job Done?
By Bob McGannon

The formation of dedicated teams to accomplish business or technical projects is viewed as a prudent way to achieve the aggressive business objectives managers face today. A key indicator of the potential success of these teams is the way the team is formulated and launched. A large number of managers do not know how to perform this critical skill, resulting in teams that start off on shaky ground and face an uphill battle.

You are given the opportunity to manage a portion of the business that requires significant improvement, or needs to innovate to maintain the edge necessary to stay on top. Critical projects need to be launched to accomplish your goals and ensure you demonstrate the progress you require. So, you pick your finest resources, call a meeting, describe the objectives you envision, and stay out of the way, right? Wrong  this is an error made by many managers wishing to ìempowerî their project teams, but often leads to a floundering group of frustrated employees.  To improve the probability of success, the astute manager will ensure the team is built and launched appropriately.

A model for this process is to utilize the SHAPED team model. SHAPED is an acronym for

Share a common objective
Having rules and accountability
Agreed to milestones and performance criteria
Pursuit of a common working approach 
Evolve high levels of complementary skills
Directed by an equipped team leader

Share a common objective
Carefully selected team members are critical. In addition, the purpose of the team not only should be articulated to the team, but each member should be able to discuss this purpose with you with confidence and complete understanding. Also, the ability of the team members to share this objective is vital. As much as this is viewed as an obvious element for a successful team, it is often overlooked. Do the team members you have assembled report to a management structure that will allow them to easily share a common objective? Are there personality dynamics between team members that will need to be addressed directly prior to launching the team? An initial evaluation of the conviction to achieve the objective, as well as periodic revalidation of this conviction, is a strategic means to ensure success.

Having rules and accountability
Highly effective teams benefit from established relationships amongst its members. Successful relationships, be they a marriage, the interaction between employee and supervisor, or between members of a team, are more fruitful when agreed to rules are established. Likewise, responsibilities that are delineated for the participants in a relationship yield more consistent results.

The rules for how the team operates is a topic that is frequently overlooked.  The time spent on establishing and reaching consensus on these rules enhances the fundamental relationships between team members  a critical success factor for team synergy and success.  In addition, establishing rules, sticking to them, and challenging each other to stick to them increases team productivity that far outweighs the effort in establishing and reviewing the team rules.  Accountability for sticking to the rules, and producing the desired outcomes should also be discussed in advance. What will be the result of achieving the objectives? What will be the result for team members who do not meet their deadlines? How will the team know this, and how can they rally as a team to assist struggling team members? How do we ensure the team remains focused on the objectives?  Discussing these concerns in advance creates a mood and success oriented approach that will bond a team and drive it towards its goals.

Agreed to milestones and performance criteria
Milestones are a critical part of a project plan, though are often overlooked as a means of incenting and rewarding a team. The use of milestones to recognize teams  - even if is just a ìpat on the backî or an announcement of the accomplishment in the company newsletter, can motivate a team to continued, or expedited, success.

Another means of improving the probability of team success is to establish team performance criteria. Managers usually focus on performance criteria for individuals, but overlook the benefits of putting forth the same effort in working with a team. Engaging the performance planning activity for teams in the same fashion as applied to individuals can help ensure that teams understand the requirements of the sponsor, and business objectives they are expected to fulfill.

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