|
Are We On The Same Page?
QUOTE
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed. It is the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Mead
|
|
 Most teams recognize the need to make sure everyone has the same vision and goals before moving into action. But what distinguishes high performance teams during the planning process? Clearly the quality of the project plan is a factor. However, a good plan on paper is not enough. A High Performance Team must look beyond the paper toward an approach for planning that will build strong team alignment and cohesion. High Performance Teams understand that this is necessary to truly have everyone “on the same page.” The best way to build team alignment and cohesion is to approach planning as the development of a “Work Agreement.”
Work Agreements provide a basis for communication, understanding, and commitment. While they address topics similar to those in a project plan, it is how they are created that builds strong team alignment and cohesion. Let’s take a look at some typical planning topics as opportunities to get everyone on the same page:
-
Background/Current Situation: What goes on around a project can greatly affect the team’s progress. Identifying, communicating with, and understanding stakeholders early on will extend alignment and cohesion beyond the team. This will produce a better outcome and help avoid unexpected disruptions.
-
Objectives: Define, document, and agree on clear team objectives, but don’t stop there. Ask team members to define objectives for themselves that are congruent with the team objectives and their own personal and professional interests. Aligning individual and team objectives is a powerful tool for optimizing a team’s motivation and success.
-
Requirements: Make sure everyone understands and agrees on the project requirements, including your client! Ask your client questions to go deeper and deeper (we call it “peeling the onion”) until you understand root causes and can translate them into clear and responsive requirements. One of the fastest ways to erode alignment and cohesion is to skip this step and rush into solution design without a common understanding of what is required.
-
Deliverables: In addition to identifying deliverables, define in advance the review and acceptance criteria for each one. Get the team, client, and stakeholders on the same page early on this one to align expectations and avoid downstream arguments at the 11th hour about the quality or completeness of a deliverable.
-
Process: Determining the phases of the work provides an overall framework and approach for the project. The process adds essential detail to the framework. It defines how the team will work together and provides a basis for defining roles and tasks. A team with clear role definition and healthy accountability is understandably cohesive and high-performing.
-
Schedule: It is one thing to commit to doing something. It is another thing to commit to doing it within a specific timeframe. Schedules provide team members with a collaboration tool for making specific commitments that are achievable. This builds alignment around the plan and cohesion among the team members.
-
Resourcing: In many companies team resources (people in particular) come from various parts of the organization. This requires specific staffing agreements between the team and the departments providing the people. To ensure team/organization alignment, these agreements should include names, time periods, and levels of utilization (e.g., hours per week). Changes to these agreements requested by either party should be discussed and agreed to by both parties in order to maintain the alignment throughout the project.
-
Budget: The team evaluates the available budget, how to best use it, and whether they have sufficient funds to reach their goals. Negotiations with the sponsors and stakeholders may be required if funds are short. In any event, the team must refine their plan as needed to bring the project scope, schedule, budget, and stakeholder expectations into alignment. Sound change management practices should be employed to maintain this alignment throughout the project.
-
Status Reporting: Status reporting provides appropriate visibility into project operations. Stakeholders and sponsors who have very limited visibility will often feel compelled to get into project operations if there is no other way of finding out what is going on. Who can blame them? While they mean well, their active presence usually erodes team cohesion. Design your status reporting early by determining who the team needs to report to, how often, what types of information, and in what format. This will strengthen stakeholder support, maintain team cohesion, and help ensure you project’s success.
High Performance Teams know that in order to build alignment and work cohesively they need to approach planning at a deeper level by creating a Work Agreement. The Work Agreement provides the foundation for team success. At Advance Consulting, we specialize in helping our clients build High Performance Teams. If you would like to learn more about our services, please contact us at 831-372-9444 or email us at advanceinfo@advanceconsulting.com.
|
Subscribe to the Newsletter
