“Never let formal education get in the way of your learning.”
Mark Twain
Project teams, once assembled, should not be reluctant to assess themselves as individuals and as a team. Knowing the personality traits, strengths, weaknesses, preferences and biases of the individuals on the project team is important for a project manager to appreciate the diversity and differences that will make the team strong.
Project Managers should strive to enhance their project team’s performance and effectiveness through a professionally challenging learning environment. At least the first two project team meetings should impart focus on growing to understand each member’s priorities, interests and concerns in an effort to create a vision of project success. Hearing each other’s perspectives and beliefs will help set a collaborative tone and create a framework for “thinking beyond the pavement” as the project moves ahead in project development.
The objective of team self-assessment is to guide participants in becoming new observers and listeners of themselves and others, and to be present in the team experience in newly self-aware and different ways. A number of self-assessment tools can help facilitate this type of dynamic team experience, including but not limited to the following (Click on links to visit websites with additional information about these tools):
Drucker Foundation Self-Assessment Tool
Stephen Covey (7 Habits of Highly Effective People)
Society for Organizational Learning (Peter Senge)
NewInsight Associates’ Four Pillars of Powerful Teams (Dennis Robert Pescitelli)
Most of these tools lead to an understanding and appreciation of the interpersonal relationships that form the basis for effective teamwork.
Team self-assessment could save time, money and resources caused by trial-and-error management by team leaders. Awareness of differences in personal thinking and behavior styles also allow project managers to communicate in ways that leverage the best performance from project team members, and to establish processes that help individuals overcome their anxieties and perceived barriers.
For project teams to be successful, members must also be aligned to the organization’s vision and strategic goals. Therefore, expanding its context by placing the team’s objectives firmly within the ground of the strategic organizational goals, team members are encouraged to find specific elements that relate directly to their project responsibilities. These project responsibilities include best professional practices, achieving project financial goals, excellent project delivery, and customer-minded service to communities and stakeholders.
