Nine Ways to Contribute to Project Team Success
The world of work has changed. It used to be that most of us worked as a part of a process, whether on an assembly line, managing interactions with Customers, or any one of a thousand other processes. Processes are ongoing, repeatable and never have an ending.
While there will always be some jobs and tasks which are process focused, most work now is a project or has a project component to it. Any task that has a distinct beginning and ending, or follows a specific life cycle is a project. Examples include: planning a company meeting, writing a new brochure, implementing the new software system, etc.
If the nature of our work has changed, it is important to think about some of the skills that will help us succeed in this different world. Here are nine ways you can contribute more effectively to make the projects you work on more successful, regardless of your specific role.
1. Understand the end goal. Since a project has a defined ending, it is important that each contributor to the effort knows the desired end result. Stephen Covey teaches to begin with the end in mind. This is clearly important to project team members. By understanding the desired result, you can make better individual decisions and reduce confusion and re-work.
2. Identify clear roles. Each person is an important piece in the overall project puzzle. Know your role and the roles of others. If you are a project leader, take the time to clarify these roles for everyone. If you arent a leader, ask until you really understand how you can best contribute.
3. Collaborate. Project work is often fluid and free flowing. Once you understand your role and the roles of others you are in a position to collaborate with them more successfully. This collaboration isnt just a nice thing for you to do. It is imperative to the ultimate success of the project. Look for ways and be willing to collaborate.
4. Recognize interdependencies. The bigger the project, the more linked and interdependent are the people and the tasks. Certain steps need to be done before others can be completed. If you see only your small piece of the project, you may not realize how you finishing two days sooner might have a huge impact on several other things staying on track. Conversely if you fall two days behind on one of your tasks, the effects on the end results could be much longer delays. You arent an island. Your work products, decisions and efforts affect many others. Recognize and work with the interdependencies between you and the others involved in the project.
5. Ask questions. Projects can be complex. Dont be afraid to ask questions to know more about any of the things mentioned above.
6. Communicate. Asking questions is communicating, but so is giving updates. Checking in with others. Coordinating schedules. If you are a project leader the importance of communication cant be overstated. If you are any team member other than the leader, communication is just as important. You cant leave it to the leader. Check in with others. Get their input. Find out when the pieces you will need will be completed. Update people on your progress. Communicate!
7. Break it down. Take the big project steps and break them down into definable tasks that you can get your hands around. By breaking the tasks down the work wont feel so daunting, you will find the interdependencies and you will be able to stay on track much more successfully. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Break down the overall project, and your individual steps into bite sized pieces.
8. Look at the past. If a version of this project has been done in the past, look for the lessons learned to improve your results this time. Think too about other projects you have been involved in. Even if the project was smaller or larger and the goals were very different, there are likely lessons you learned that you can apply things you did well that you would want to repeat and things you could have done better that you can correct on this project.
9. Look to the future. Take a little time to document the best practices and ideas that work for you during the project. Whether this is a formal task for everyone on the project, or just your own notes to help you to continuously improve, investing a little time now will make your contributions to all future projects more valuable and efficient.
There are many more ways you can contribute to great project success. Take these nine ideas as a starting point as a checklist of things you can do, regardless of the role you play. Taking action on these ideas will help you feel more confident and successful in your role on the project team, and will help the projects goals be reached much more successfully.
Kevin Eikenberry 2005. Kevin is Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group (http://KevinEikenberry.com), a learning consulting company that helps Clients reach their potential through a variety of training, consulting and speaking services. To receive your free special report on Unleashing Your Potential go to http://www.kevineikenberry.com/uypw/index.asp or call us at (317) 387-1424 or 888.LEARNER.
Team Building Skills: Up Close With a Work Environment
What can an employee do to contribute to the success of employers, co-workers and the workplace?What can the employer do to help the employee become a better worker?The importance of team building skills is critical in the success of every company. ...
Team Building - Not Just For Sports
Most people think that a team is a group of people gathered together with a particular goal in common. In a way that is right but in many ways tat is very wrong. A group of individuals that are working together without a clear understanding of how ...
Offshore Project Management - What is Offshore Supplementary Project Management
When you offshore projects, one of the key people you will interface with are your first level leaders of the team offshore; this person may be called by various titles - tech lead, module lead or project manager; some times the module and tech leads...
Team Building The Only Way to Succeed
A great way to build a stronger team is to increase the understanding that every member has with regard to the part they play in the team and the part that all other members play. The more a person knows about how they contribute to the whole the mor...
Strategies for Success - Kicking off a Project
This mlh global hr consulting strategies for success article talks about a critical but frequently over looked or under emphasized element of project management, namely project launch, and suggests some ways to tackle this.Good project management req...
Advantages of Corporate Team Building
If you look at companies making excellent profits, you can always find a good, hardworking and dedicated team behind all the success. The advantages of team building events are so many that almost all corporations have incorporated team building stra...
Team-Building Can be as Fun as It is Productive, with the Right Plan and Planner
In todays increasingly global marketplace, companies are forced to set themselves apart from a sea of look-alikes and, as many CEOs are finding out, perhaps the most effective way to do this is through corporate team training events.The bottom line i...
Team Building
Team building is essentially a process involving participation, collaboration and nurturing of team spirit amongst the team members. This sense of team spirit is inculcated amongst participants in the team through interactive team exercises and group...
Quiz - The Ego Of Your Team Members
A team is formed to achieve a goal, and for that all the team members have to combine and pool their abilities to achieve different tasks and achieve that single goal. Many times it is seen that a team with high performance individuals fails to achie...
Corporate Team Building Techniques
Corporate Team Building generally refers to the selection and motivation of teams for fulfillment of organizational goals. Our society is increasingly becoming a multi-cultural one and you are required to work with different groups of people and expe...