4 Considerations For Building A Team The first time I had the chance to put together my own project team I can’t say that I did a very good job. I chose people that I knew, people I had worked with before. That meant that while I had a project team that I trusted and that I knew would work well together they weren’t always the best people for the job. Luckily, since then I’ve had the chance to put together a lot of project teams and I’ve learned from that experience. There’s more to putting together a good team than simply picking the people you like. On the other hand, I have found that it really isn’t as complicated as some consultants would like to make out. You can spend a lot of time using psychometric tests and personality profiles to create the perfect team, but in my experience there are only 4 things that you really need to consider: their skills, their price, their availability and their fit with the rest of the team. Let me tell you more about what I mean. 1. Do They Have The Skills? If you are working on a project with a lot of data and that needs someone to be in the project reporting software all the time, then you need someone with those skills. If you need help with project accounting, be sure to get someone on the team who is good with numbers. Match the requirements of the project to the people you have to choose from and try to find those with the right level of expertise. It’s not always possible to know who would be the best choice, especially if you are new to the company or working with an area that you don’t personally have much experience in. Ask other project managers, go through the documentation for previous projects or talk to the line managers of functional teams to get some ideas about who would bring the required skills to your project team. Remember, you may be able to successfully use a resource who doesn’t have quite the right level of skills required if you can offer them training or support to bring them up to the level you need. 2. How Much Do They Cost? Internal resources are nearly always cheaper than external how much does the team costresources, so if your project budget is tight, try to fill your team with internal staff. This is normally better anyway as the knowledge gained during the project then stays with the company, whereas a contractor will leave and take that knowledge with them to their next assignment. Cheaper isn’t always better though, especially if that means that an individual will take longer to complete a task. Sometimes more expensive resources can be more cost-effective over the long term because they can work faster and more effectively. However, don’t spend money on top-priced resources when the work they will be doing doesn’t require that level of expertise. Someone cheaper could be equally capable of doing the work, so don’t assume that more expensive is always better! 3. Are They Available? A major decision about who to bring on to the project team has to be whether or not they are available during the required time. Someone who might be perfect in terms of their skills and cost may not be available, either in the short term or because they have a period of time later in the project where they would be unavailable for work. This could rule them out as a project team member right from the beginning. Unfortunately, many project teams are put together simply on the basis of who is available. This isn’t the best way to choose individuals for your team, but we have to acknowledge that it plays a big part. Sometimes your first choice resource simply isn’t available so you either have to choose someone else internal or bring those skills in by buying in external resource. If you want someone on the team and then find out that they aren’t available to work with you, ask them to suggest someone else. People often know who has similar skills to them – perhaps they are currently mentoring someone who would be a good choice and who has fewer constraints on their time. 4. Are They A Good Fit? Try to find people who are a good cultural and personalitygood fit for the job fit for the team. They should ideally be people you would like to spend time with, as you’ll be spending a lot of time with them! A team that’s made up of lots of loud, outgoing people might be a difficult environment for someone who is very introverted. However, don’t rule out anyone just from what you see. Have a conversation with the individual and explain the working environment and the culture of the project. You may both agree that actually you can make it work. Whole teams have been brought down by one individual who wasn’t a good fit for the team. It can create a very negative working environment, so if you can, opt for people who look like they will get on. Of course, you don’t always have the luxury of being able to make decisions based on this and if that’s the case, you’ll just have to make it work with lots of team building, communication and respect for individual contributions. And don’t try to recruit a whole team of very similar personalities as this can also cause issues – diversity on teams is good and generally makes teams perform better! Putting teams together is something that you will get better at with experience, so don’t worry if your first attempt turns out like mine. Simply bear in mind these 4 considerations and think carefully about how your team will work together and what you’ll do if it doesn’t go smoothly. There’s nearly always a remedy, so get on and create your team, and try not to look for problems where there aren’t any!
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 16:06:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015