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

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. Project / Team Leader Learning :: www.MikeCardus.com 2

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 Project / Team Leader Learning :: www.MikeCardus.com 3

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 Project / Team Leader Learning :: www.MikeCardus.com 4

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 Project / Team Leader Learning :: www.MikeCardus.com 5

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. Project / Team Leader Learning :: www.MikeCardus.com 6

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. Project / Team Leader Learning :: www.MikeCardus.com 7

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. Project / Team Leader Learning :: www.MikeCardus.com 8

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 Project / Team Leader Learning :: www.MikeCardus.com 9

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. Project / Team Leader Learning :: www.MikeCardus.com 10

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