Starting a Successful Team Project. Tips for the initial team meeting

The team building I offer focuses on the team completing their work on time, within budget and quality specifications. Everything returns to the work and developing a team that wants to stay together and continue to work together.

project meeting success tips

Team projects succeed of purpose.

The 1st team meeting is crucial to setting the foundation of the work. Here are some tips that will enable the team to get off to a great start and complete their work.

Give people on the team the chance to get to know one another, build trust, voice expectations and goals, establish credentials, discuss roles, raise concerns, and understand why they are on the team plus why the other people are on the team.

This approach is viewed by some as waste of time.

It is necessary step in creating high performance.

When teams have problems later, everyone gets frustrated and things come to a halt.

Project Manager / Team Leader – What to do

  • In the 1st project team meeting, slow down and schedule some ‘get to know others time’
  • Schedule this time in the agenda. Even if team members know each other, STILL make time for it.

Project Manager / Team Leader explain why this team is together;

  • Who is part of the team
  • What talents / skill sets each individual brings to the team
  • Potential roles that each individual will have on the team
  • Why this is important, and may have priority over team members other work

Team Members need to share;

  • Who they are and what skills they can offer the team
  • What role they feel may be best for them to fill in the project
  • Their expectations and goals for the work
  • How much time they may be able to offer to the project

Time spent on teambuilding pays off in team effectiveness.

Team Building meaning allowing the team to know why it is together; working through a purposeful process to develop trust early on, and building the team to have shared expectations and knowledge of what to do and how to do it.

Resist the temptation to push for a lot of task-oriented work at the initial meeting.

Concentrate on soliciting the “Voice of the Team” and establishing the foundation you’ll need to successfully complete your Project.

Remember: when it comes to creating a successful team, its “pay me now or pay me later.”

 

What do you think?

What helps project teams get off to a great start? What amount of get to know others is appropriate? Do you have any examples of how use have used the above ideas?

Team Building Leadership Innovation expert Michael Cardus

michael cardus is create-learning

image http://www.flickr.com/photos/49889874@N05/7223897618/

Link to original post

Leave a Reply