Today I took a moment to reflect on the teams I have built-in the past and the teams now coming together in my new role.  How did I build them?  What was the result each time?  Who did I have in leadership roles and why?  As I thought about these questions, I began break it all down into a few foundational ideas that were consistent across all the teams.

Self assess your weaknesses and find people who will fill in the gaps.

This wasn’t an obvious one for me early on in my career but as I look back, I intuitively surrounded myself with people who were better at certain things than I was.  When I was a turnaround manager, I would have a few folks that would follow me from store to store.  These were folks that were very capable specialists at things I was not and naturally we worked well together as a result.  More recently, I purposefully find people who augment my weaknesses.  For instance, I am not  a detailed oriented person by nature.  I can do it when needed, but if buried in the detail day in and day out, I feel I am not keeping things moving forward at a strategic level.  So I find those who are good at being detailed oriented and love being in the weeds.

Take an honest look at how you operate the best.  Find the gaps and fill them with the skill sets that will best fit the situation you are in and will help you keep the team focused and performing.  If you hire people who are just like you, then your weaknesses will only be exasperated exponentially.  Keep your team diverse so they all complement each other.  As you access yourself, you must assess the rest of the team and apply the same principles.

Understand personality types and find people who will work together the best

Personality ranks right up there with finding people with the right skills.  If I am building a team from scratch, it is easer to assess personality as you bring people into the team.  If you are taking a team over I like to have the team go through a personality assessment program.  I prefer the DISC assessments as they are fairly straightforward and provide insight into how people are normally and under stress.  I generally like to see this effort completed at a team level so that each person can see the styles of the others and have discussion around the best way to work with each personality type.

Like the skills assessment above, you don’t want to have to many folks with similar personalities on your team.  Many types in large numbers create dysfunctional teams.  A more diverse team is preferred and understanding your own style will help you find the right people to surround yourself with.  Taking into account what the person will be responsible for may also drive your decision making process. 

Allow the team to mesh on their own while encouraging good conflict

I like to allow a team to operate as autonomously as possible as I am not a micro-manager.  In my opinion,  a team isn’t functioning unless they can operate on their own without a lot of direct supervision.  If they need constant direction from me then I have not put a good team together or there is a need to change some of the dynamics. 

Another thing I have found out about teams is they will always have some sort of conflict going on.  Hopefully it is the good kind of conflict that generates new ideas, gets problems solved and keeps the mission moving forward.  I have found that allowing the team to resolve its differences forces the leaders to be leaders and not just managers.  It should be a rare situation where I have to wade in a be a tie breaker or moderate a decision.  There are situations where strategic decisions have to be made where you have to set expectations and moderate a decision.  However, once it is made, a good team will execute.

Hold the team accountable

Accountability is an amazing thing and I am constantly amazed at how little there is of it.  It is difficult to understand how a team is functioning if you don’t have measurements in place.  I like to work with the team to design the measurements by which they will be evaluated on.  Allowing the team to come up with their own measurements puts more ownership into ensuring they are executing on them.  

Once measurements are in place, make sure they are reviewed on  a regular basis as a team.  I like having the team present their findings to the larger group.   This creates more accountability through the peer pressure nature of the goals.  No one likes to get in front of a group and talk about how they missed their targets or goals for the timeframe.

Change will be your only constant

Once you get your team up and running your done right?  Unfortunately it isn’t that easy.  High performing teams have to be constantly challenged and requires a certain amount of upkeep.  As with any large group of people, there will be those who perform consistently and those that do not.  Out of all the teams I have built, I never hit one 100% the first time.  There is always a need to tweak the teams by removing poor performers.  I like to use these opportunities to fine tune the team.  Always be on the hunt for talent and keep your relationships with key potentials going.  You never know when there will be an opening on your team for that perfect person you have been looking to add to your team.

Team building is part science and part art form.  Building your team will require you to know yourself, your limitations and those of the people you are making part of your team.  Always find the people who will compliment you and each other.  Allow them to work together to solve problems on their own as much as possible.  Track and report their progress to ensure they are performing to  your standards.  And finally, always look for opportunities to upgrade the talent on your teams. 

What do you think about building teams?  Feel free to leave your comments!

“The galleries are full of critics. They play no ball. They fight no fights. They make no mistakes, because they do nothing.

Down in the arena are the doers. They make mistakes because they try many things.

The person who makes no mistakes lacks boldness and the spirit of adventure. He is the one who never tries anything. He is the brakes on the wheel of progress.

And yet it cannot be truly said he makes no mistakes, because his biggest mistake is the very fact he tries nothing, does nothing — except criticize those who do things.”

I try to be a problem solver and train my direct reports to be problem solvers.  Nothing irritates me more than someone to come into my office with a problem and no solution.  This is especially frustrating when they ask me for the solution.  If I have to solve all of the problems, then why would I need managers?  In any case, while I may be frustrated, I try not to show it as this is an opportunity to teach the skills of problem solving. 

I keep the quote above hanging in my office as a reminder to myself and those who enter that I am always in the arena.   Problem solving is not a spectator sport, it is a contact sport.  You will get dirty, dinged up and banged around.   To solve problems, you have to seek out conflict (the good kind).  Someone once said to me that bad news doesn’t get better with age and the same applies to problems.  The longer they sit, the harder they are to solve.   There is nothing more satisfying than getting  a problem figured out.

So, for everyone out there with a problem to solve, dig in and get some solutions going.  Don’t be the person in the room who has nothing better to do than criticize those who take risks or put solutions on the table.  Be the risk taker, be the person who steps up first to say “I have an idea”.  Be in the arena.

I teach a course at the University of South Florida as part of their continuing education project management certificate program.  The course is called Leading & Influencing Projects and is focused on the psyche of project management.  Topics that are covered include stakeholder analysis, understanding personalities, communications and building high performance teams.  I love teaching this course as it gives me an opportunity to convey best practices I have learned on the change management component of projects I have been involved in.

Every class offers a rather diverse group of people who are from many different industries.  However, despite their differences, many of the same questions come up.  One of the most common questions is how to manage expectations when end users ask for changes or management continues to pile on the projects.  Typically, the IT answer to anything out of scope or out of reach is just to say no, or we can’t, or impossible or whatever.  The customer side of that equation leaves unhappy, frustrated and results in instant friction with the IT and/or Project Management department.  Having experienced the very same scenarios in my career, I have developed a few techniques for dealing with these situations.  Just say YES!

People naturally don’t like to hear the word “no” when it comes to changes to projects or new projects.  Especially if they feel they have no control over the decision-making process.  The best way to combat this behavior is to put the power back in their hands.  I always ensured my project management team were mere conveyors of facts.  This allows those who need the facts to make the appropriate decisions.  Reversing the decision components allows the requestor to make an informed judgement on whether their request still has merit and whether they are willing to go to bat to get the resources needed.  Instead of spending your energy on saying no, spend your energy on what it takes to say yes.

Making this happen is a relatively simple process.  The same thought that most people go through to come to a “no” conclusion will help you come to a “yes” answer.  Most project managers think first about the triple constraint; time, money and resources.  These are the primary factors when considering scope increases or new projects.  These same factors are considered when formulating your ”yes” answer.    Compile the information you need provide what it takes to say yes.  Figure out the costs, other project impacts, scope and timeline impacts then present the information back to the requestor and allow them to decide how to move forward with the change or new project. 

Essentially, a conversation could go like this “In order to accomplish your project under the given timeline you have provided, I will need 5 additional resources at a cost of $150,000.  If you can move your timeline into the future  by 8 weeks, I can accomplish your project with only 2 additional resources at a cost of $25,000.  Which option would you like us to proceed with?”  This puts the decision squarely back onto the requestor who is then responsible for acquiring authorization for budget and resources.

At the end of the day, saying yes is much more fulfilling than saying no all the time.  Additionally, the exercise enables customers and end users the ability understand the ramifications of their requests and ultimately helps both parties become better at communicating their needs.  The word “no” should not exist in your vocabulary, only “YES!”

What do you think?  Feel free to comment on your own experiences or post a question.

Welcome and please contact me if you have any ideas or questions regarding topics.

Seriously? What could they be watching?

So, for my first foray into the Blogosphere, I will throw out an idea dropped on me yesterday while getting ready for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Ybor City, FL.  Ybor City (pronounced “eee-bore”) is a historic district located in Tampa, FL, known historically for its Cuban culture and more recently for its party scene. Ybor has a significant number of surveillance cameras on the streets and was the prototype for the Tampa Police facial recognition pilots.