“GOOD TEAMS BECOME GREAT ONES, WHEN THE MEMBERS TRUST EACH OTHER ENOUGH TO SURRENDER THE ‘ME’ FOR THE ‘WE’ ” – PHIL JACKSON
I feel very fortunate to be a part of the wireless industry for the past 18+ years and in that process have been very lucky in having built good, bad and great teams. Through my mistakes I have learned a lot of things that have worked and a lot that haven’t worked but at the end of the day I have come to realize that success is decided not by one individual but by the team. There are a lot of books and articles written on the subject and is a widely discussed topic. I want to focus on boiling it down to simple things that have a huge impact and base it on my experience in building multiple wireless deployment teams for various projects nationally and internationally.
Here are the 6 Tips for Building a Great Project Team –
Create a Strong Vision – It all starts with creating a strong vision. Human beings, social animals that we are, have a need to be a part of something bigger than us. The leader has a big responsibility in defining what success looks like as this is a foundational step in ensuring the team will be successful in the future. A simple definition of vision is a mental image of what the future will or could be like. What you believe, you can achieve. It starts with the leader drawing a picture of the future and constantly communicating it. Whether it is for a large initiative or a small project, if success is the desired outcome then defining what success looks like is the first step on the journey.
Hire Winners and Empower Them- This is a critical tip in ensuring a high probability of success. Although it may seem very simple and intuitive, most people stumble at this step. Winners aren’t necessarily people with the highest skill level but are the ones with a high level skill coupled with the best possible attitude. Attitude goes a very long way as does the next important trait which is diversity. Now, diversity for me is defined not only by age, race and gender but by the diversity of experience that people have in their lives. Building a team with people with similar backgrounds leads to group think which can sometimes inhibit progress. Building a team with people with diverse backgrounds leads to conflict but if managed correctly almost always leads to innovative results. It is therefore important to have all team members have a great attitude. Now that you have your world class team, here is the kicker; they need to be empowered to make decisions. You hire smart people so they can tell you what to do not the other way around. Winners can’t win if they aren’t empowered.
Architect Solid Processes – Early on in my career, when projects didn’t go right I would go on a witch hunt to figure out who wasn’t doing their job. Looking back, it was a pretty dumb approach on my part. Over the course of many years and learning, I realized one thing, most of the time, the process was to blame not the people. The process was my responsibility and I realized I had to take ownership of things not working right. One of the best things a leader can do is involve the team and get their input in building solids processes that work. A solid process is one that is simple to understand, makes logical sense and is streamlined. It should be not be cumbersome and bureaucratic as it will fail and can’t be so loose that no one knows what they are supposed to be doing. A solid process allows people to create an almost automated repeated approach and results in increased efficiency and most importantly less frustration and finger pointing.
Implement CLEAR Goal Setting – You measure what you get and you get what you measure. High performing teams are competitive and once you have defined what success looks like, measurements need to be put in place so the team is aware of where they are in the journey to the finish line. Not everything needs to be measured as it results in the team thinking they are being micromanaged. People should be allowed to have their freedom and creativity intact so they can stay motivated but key elements should be measured to ensure the team is getting closer to the end goal. Goals used to be defined using the SMART format – (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time based). SMART goals worked for me for many years but I have noticed that the environment has now changed. Now, I relate more with CLEAR goals defined by Adam Kreek who is a motivational speaker and an entrepreneur. CLEAR stands for
Collaborative (Goals should encourage employees to work together collaboratively and in teams)
Limited (Goals should be limited in both scope and duration)
Emotional (Goals should make an emotional connection to employees, tapping into their energy and passion)
Appreciable (Large goals should be broken down into smaller goals so they can be accomplished more quickly and easily for long-term gain)
Refinable (Set goals with a headstrong and steadfast objective, but as new situations or information arise, give yourself permission to refine and modify your goals)
I agree that setting goals in this format unites the team instead of dividing it.
Provide support without removing responsibility – Earlier I spoke about hiring winners and empowering them. Now, we will discuss it further detail. Accountability is a key trait that should never be discounted. Not only is it important for the leader to hold his team members accountable, he needs to demonstrate it by his own actions as well. Accountability in a nutshell is an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions. The leader needs to demonstrate accountability through his words and his actions. An unaccountable leader over time loses credibility and this impacts success for the team. In the same vein, the leader has the responsibility to hold his team members accountable for their actions. This is a complex topic as it is not as simple as punishing people when they don’t do what they say they will. A broader understanding of the situation is needed to first understand if the process is working or if a process even exists for the situation. If the process does exist then an evaluation of the process needs to be conducted to see what could have gone wrong and what can be done to improve it. All along the way, the affected employee should be involved as well so they can provide input on what can be done to improve the process. This in my mind is providing support without removing responsibility.
Recognize High Performers, Coach Under-Performers, Replace Non-Performers – People are people and they are different and have different skills, needs, wants and interests. Not everyone will win at everything. In any project and team, there will be the high performers, average performers, under-performers and the non-performers. It is one of the main responsibilities’ of the leader to recognize the high performers so they are motivated to keep doing a great job, coach the under-performers so they are given an honest chance to success and replace the non-performers as you don’t want anchors to weigh your team down.
For the high performers, recognition comes in many forms. When I ask people their idea of recognition, the first thing said is more money. Money is a big motivator and if the project budget allows it, it is my strong belief that the high performers deserve bonuses commensurate with their contribution. Money is just one tool for recognition. Every person has a different idea of what recognition means to them beyond money, it could be a public acknowledgement of a job well done, an award, a trip, peer recognition, email recognition, time off or it could even be more responsibility (yes, I said it! some people equate more responsibility to recognition as it shows them career progression). The bottom line is everybody is different and it is the leader’s responsibility to figure out what recognition means to the high performers and ensure that he is recognizing them for doing things right.
For the under performers, it is the leader’s responsibility to discover if there are hurdles stopping progress. It is easy to say if they are under performing then just replace them but doing that will make you lose out on diamonds in the rough. The leader needs to determine if the process is to blame or the person who is under performing needs some extra support to get up to speed. Only after a comprehensive review and exhausting these options, should the decision be made to replace the under performers.
For the non- performers, if coaching has not worked for a period of time, replacing them is the best option. If replacing them is not an option then removing them is the best option. Leaders fall into a trap where there is a common belief that if they remove a non-performer and can’t backfill them it is better to keep them. I disagree with that statement wholeheartedly. It is better to work one non-performer short rather than deal with the repercussions of having a non-performer on your team. Non-performers are not motivated to perform and their negative attitude is infectious and over time is like a bad apple that spoils the bunch.
Each one of the above tips can have full articles or even books written about them as they are fascinating and complex topics but to keep it simple, if leaders follow the above tips using their own approach and flavor, success is only inevitable.
So, there you have it! 6 tips for building a great project team. I would love to hear your opinion or comments on the article and if there are any topics I should elaborate on in subsequent posts!