Team Development Activities Across the PMO Continuum

The "team development" function along the PMO competency continuum represents an increasing capability to lead, develop, and manage the full performance potential of teams in the project management environment.

Table 12.1 provides an overview of the range of prescribed PMO team development activities according to each level in the PMO competency continuum.

Table 12.1: Range of Team Development Activities across the PMO Continuum

Project Office	Basic PMO	Standard PMO	Advanced PMO	Center of Excellence
Manages individual integration into project teams and participation in team development efforts	Introduces concepts of project team dynamics Incorporates project team development guidance into methodology Recommends remedies and reconciliation actions for distressed team performance	Establishes and manages practices for project team development Implements tools and techniques for project team development Facilitates and manages project team development activities	Expands practices to develop project manager leadership skill and capability Specifies project manager team development and leadership skill requirements Monitors project managers' team leadership skill and capability	Conducts research and analysis of team performance Performs formal and informal examinations of project team performance Recommends project team composition

The project office has front-line responsibility for team formation and development activities. It will apply the leadership and skill of individual project managers to quickly build viable project teams that are focused on achieving project objectives within the constraints of cost, schedule, and resource utilization.

Mid-range PMO levels have the responsibility of influencing the development of leadership capabilities in project managers at all experience levels, and in guiding and supporting their approach to project team development. This includes ensuring that project managers are proactive in attending to issues of team development, which the PMO influences by incorporating required team formation and team development activities into the project management methodology. It also includes providing a variety of tools and techniques that are available to project managers to assist in their project team development efforts. Advanced PMOs also will use this function to help individual project managers to define and develop leadership capabilities. In some cases, the advanced PMO will monitor and manage development of individual project manager leadership capabilities through observations and the use of survey instruments, with subsequent prescriptions for improvement, as appropriate.

The center of excellence represents an advanced-stage PMO that is concerned with measuring and quantifying business performance. It will therefore examine project team performance from a business perspective and recommend team development activities that adapt project team performance to serve business interests. As well, it will examine team compositions and individual contributions to project team efforts and then recommend preferred individual assignments relative to achieving desired team staffing schemes.

This PMO function has a focus on oversight of individual capability to lead and develop effective and efficient project teams. To that end, PMO responsibilities may be closely aligned with associated leadership training prescribed in the PMO "training and education" function (see Chapter 10).