Getting the team started - Team Leadership

Getting the
Team Started 1
Role of the Project Team Leader
Project / Team Leader Learning :: www.MikeCardus.com
1

View Slide

The Role of the Project Team Leader
The team leader has overall responsibility for making sure the work of the team gets done.
Those responsibilities start before the team comes together, and continue until the team
has disbanded.
Before
The team leader gets the team started.
During
The team leader keeps the team on track, acts as the primary point of contact for the rest
of the organization, and works to gain stakeholder commitment to the project.
After
The team leader ensures that the team’s work is documented, hands the project off to the
process owner, and debriefs the Project Sponsor/Champion.
2

View Slide

Draft preliminary project charter with champion/sponsor. Include:
Project Description
Scope
Goals and measures (indicators)
Expected business results
Team members
Support required
Expected customer benefits
Schedule
If required, select team members
Contact and welcome members to team
Draft initial agenda for first meeting
Send out the preliminary charter and initial agenda for comment; incorporate suggestions before
the meeting.
Establish meeting logistics.
Select a proper way to begin the meeting.
Establish a relationship and expectations with the process owner.
Do a stakeholder analysis of those you have selected as team members.
Begin to create a list of people outside the team whose support you will need.
Team Leader Checklist:
What to do before the first project team meeting
3

View Slide

Key Principle:
While team leaders must ensure that the work gets done, it is not their responsibility to do
all the project work. The main reason for having a project team is that each member
brings something essential to the project so that the work is divided among contributing
members.
Guidelines:
Consider including a combination of people who:
• Have detailed knowledge of the target process.
• Have the technical skills required to complete the project.
• Can help build commitment and buy-in to the project and its outcome by being
involved at the start.
Identify the main activities of the project and ensure you have the right people to
handle them.
Look in the workgroup of the target process and ensure that those closest to work are
represented.
Include support groups (HR, IT, Marketing, etc…) whose buy-in will be needed.
Ensure finance’s involvement, even if not on the core team.
Include members who can represent internal and external customers and suppliers.
Team Leader Guidelines:
How to select the right project team members
4

View Slide

Attendees: (list)
Date: xx/xx/xx Time: xx:xx – xx:xx Place: xxxxxxxxx
The purpose of Meeting: Kickoff on (name of project) project team.
Agenda Items:
Welcome
Introductions
Discussion of team members’ goals, expectations, potential contribution,
desired team role, concerns, team norms, etc…
Review of project charter
Preliminary list of project stakeholders
List of action items related to member concerns, project charter,
preparation for next meeting.
Set agenda and time for next meeting
Evaluate meeting
Close
First Team Meeting
Project Team Meeting
5

View Slide

Application Example
One project manager was given the task of reducing new patient
admittance approval process time from over a month to 24 hours. She knew
the task was possible because several competitors were already admitting
newly qualified patients within 24 hours, and other divisions of her
organization were close to meeting that goal. Before the first meeting, she
assembled and organized all the best practices she could find.
6

View Slide

Application Example
The team she had been assigned was made up of representatives from
nursing, clinical care, admissions, and payment processing, so at the first
meeting, she assigned the implementation of each best practice to an
appropriate team member. The team members seemed cooperative, and
nobody objected to his or her assignment, so the Project Manager was
surprised that little or no progress had been made by the time the team
met again. That pattern continued over the next few meetings.
7

View Slide

Application Example
She decided to suspend the project meeting and discuss why things were
not going so well. The team members were quiet at first, but soon issues
began to surface. There had been no written charter for the team, so team
members were not sure if they were supposed to help design the new
process with the Project Manager or just do what they were told. Some of
them had never even met her and weren't sure what kind of power she had
in the organization. All the team members knew that the most significant
delays in the new patient admittance approval process came because the
people sending the patients to them did not always get all the
documentation up front. Yet, there was nobody from the places that sent the
patients were on the team. Finally, a few members admitted that they were
afraid they would be eliminating their jobs if they improved the process.
8

View Slide

Application Example
The Project Manager asked the project sponsor to step into the meeting,
and together they drafted a team charter that outlined the benefits for all in
improving approval time. The sponsor was able to reassure the team that
there was plenty of volume in new patients and that, while some jobs might
change, everyone was still needed. Representatives from some patient
referral agencies were added, along with Quality Assurance and IT to the
team
9

View Slide

Application Example
The team eventually reached its goal, but more than a month was lost
because the team leader did not take the time upfront to use the Team
Leader Checklist: What to do before the first team meeting and the
Sample Agenda: First Project Team Meeting.
10

View Slide

11

View Slide

Getting the team started - Team Leadership

Getting the team started - Team Leadership

Mike Cardus

More Decks by Mike Cardus

Featured

Transcript