Keys to Better Project Team Performance

In this chapter

• Review the primary traits of high-performing teams
• Understand the key principles that lead to better project team performance
• Review proven techniques to improve project team performance
• Learn effective responses to special situations, including poor performers, high maintenance team members, and team conflicts

When it comes right down to it, you've got to deliver. And the key to doing this is having a high-performing project team. You can have the greatest plan in the world, but if your core project team can't get the work done as expected, it really doesn't matter. Conversely, a high performing project team can go a long way to compensate for inadequate planning and other "less than ideal" project environments. While effective leadership and communication skills are key ingredients of a successful project team environment (and we reviewed these important facets in Chapters 16, "Leading a Project," and 17, "Managing Project Communications," respectively), there is tremendous value in understanding the specific principles and techniques that we can apply to maximize the performance of our project team.

In this chapter, we will review the common characteristics of high-performing project teams, explore the management principles and techniques that foster better team performance, and offer key advice on how to best handle challenging project team situations frequently encountered by project managers.