Team Development Function Model

The central role of the PMO in the project management environment makes it a visible support player for the project team development. To the extent that the PMO is established to provide guidance and support to project managers, this function becomes an important one in its array of activities. Implementing this function requires the PMO to instill leadership in the cadre of assigned project managers and cohesive team work in the project management environment.

The prominent activities of the PMO's "team development" function model are depicted in Figure 12.1. Each activity is described in the following subsections.

Figure 12.1: "Team Development" Function Model

Facilitate Cohesive Team Formation

An effective project management environment creates project teams that are productive early on in each project effort. The PMO can play a key role in preparing individuals and facilitating work groups to maximize their performance potential. In particular, the PMO should provide support and guidance to project managers who, in turn, apply their leadership capabilities to form and manage cohesive project teams.

The three prescribed steps the PMO can take to facilitate cohesive team formation in the project management environment are described in the following subsections.

Examine Project Team Dynamics

The PMO can assist in ongoing efforts to assign appropriate and compatible project team members by participating in or prescribing steps for an early review of project staffing requirements. Specifically, this effort calls for an examination of project team dynamics that is conducted relative to an established project team or with regard to pending composition of a project team.

The PMO can support the project manager in this activity by developing and conducting a more-or-less standard approach to the examination of project team composition from the team dynamics perspective. The objective is to determine the characteristics of the current or proposed project team composition and then to ascertain how those characteristics will affect project performance.

An examination of the following elements of team dynamics will provide preliminary insight as to the effectiveness of the project team and allow for leadership measures that can be applied to reduce or remove the impacts of any deficits in team composition.

• Project classification review: The level of project team cohesion and experience required should be aligned with the nature and type of project conducted. Classification factors to be considered include:

  • Strategic importance

  • Marketplace or internal visibility

  • Introduction of new technology

  • Business and project risk

  • Project duration

  The identification of these factors will assist the project manager or PMO in determining whether project team composition is appropriate to meet the business demands of the project. As well, this examination area will enable team formation and development activities to prepare the project team for challenges associated with project classification.

• Technical requirements review: The diversity of technical skills needed to achieve project objectives is considered, with particular focus on identifying skill and experience in the prominent technical areas. This review will ensure that individuals working in technical areas not only have the requisite technical experience, but also have the necessary ability to provide interpersonal leadership that facilitates the integration of all participants across technical disciplines. This examination area will allow identification of team formation and development activities needed to prepare the project team for such interactions.

• Project management review: The size, technical diversity, and depth of project experience of the project team is reviewed to identify the anticipated oversight requirements relative to project manager leadership skill and experience. Logically, either the project manager is selected to manage the project team, or the project team is determined by the technical and management leadership skill sets of the project manager. Realistically, available project manager and project team member resources are going to be assigned to the project effort. Therefore, this examination enables both the favorable and adverse aspects of the pending project leader-team member relationships to be identified and addressed in a proactive manner.

• Project team member and subgroup review: This factor addresses an examination of individual contributions and interactions in project team activities — technical skill, project team experience, professional attitudes and behavior, and ability to work effectively and accomplish project objectives within the project team. On smaller project teams, most if not all project team members can be reviewed for their exposure and activities within the project management environment. On larger teams, time limitations usually require a focus on the key project team roles from both a technical and business leadership perspective. This examination will facilitate identification of fundamental strengths and weaknesses of the project team, as characterized by individual contributions to project team dynamics.

This examination should result in a fundamental understanding of the group dynamics to be encountered within the specified project team. This will enable the PMO to analyze conditions and prescribe guidance, and the project manager to plan and apply leadership techniques that will expedite team formation and maximize team member interactions.

Develop Project Team Orientation

Cohesive project teams demonstrate effective personal interactions and group behavior that enable work to be accomplished in a steady and progressive manner. This often results from team members who gain familiarity with the working patterns and priorities of others around them on the project team. However, there are a few other factors observed in the project management environment that also can be considered in developing project team cohesion:

• Respect for the strengths and weaknesses of each team member, with individual interactions that focus on drawing out strengths

• A common understanding and buy-in of project performance objectives and consistency of project team member motivation to achieve them

• Ability to make decisions, resolve problems, manage conflict, and demonstrate leadership both individually and collectively

• Type and frequency of communication, including dealing with the proximity of project team members and their frame of reference to standard processes and practices

The PMO and the project manager can collaborate to identify general team cohesion issues and characteristics found in the project management environment as well as those anticipated for each new project team. From this deliberation, a project team orientation program can be constructed to meet the general and specific needs of project teams within the relevant organization.

A project team orientation program can be used to provide insight and guidance that will prepare individual project team members for team assignments. Although such an orientation program will normally be delivered to a group, it is not necessarily a team building exercise. Rather, it is an individual learning and awareness "workshop" that enables individual team members to contribute to developing and maintaining team cohesion.

The PMO can lead the effort to design and create such an orientation program. The program should not be overly time-consuming, perhaps an hour in length, as a reminder to professional participants of the advantages to be gained by applying effective group dynamics skills. The program also should point out the team performance expectations of the relevant organization. Finally, the program should highlight some of the prominent concepts of team building and group dynamics that most participants will be familiar with through personal experience or as a result of professional or technical training that addresses teamwork concepts. Additional specialized training in this topic area can be extended to individuals who require a more comprehensive understanding of group dynamics — fundamental concept training for team members new to the workforce and advanced concept training for new project managers and those who are in initial team leadership roles.

The team orientation program can be as formal or informal as warranted by the organizational culture and the needs of the project management environment. There are two primary approaches that can be taken by the PMO in its development and delivery of this orientation program: a one-time program and an as-needed program.

First, a project team orientation program can be constructed for one-time delivery to new project team members, with "refresher" attendance on an individual basis as requested by the project manager. This program has a focus on preparing each participant for project team interactions. Such a one-time program also may be a part of the organization's project management or other professional training program. This one-time attendance option is good for project teams that have more or less the same recurring project team composition across multiple projects.

Second, the project team orientation program can be made available to specific project teams at the request of the project managers. This approach would be valuable for project teams having a significant number of individuals who have not worked together before. It may also apply to very large project teams comprising multiple subteams.

The bottom line of this effort is to introduce or review concepts of individual and group behaviors that promote effective project team performance and reduce or remove adverse behaviors and barriers to effective project team performance. Realistically, the elements of this orientation program could be included for brief review in the project team's initial kickoff and planning meeting.

Integrate Vendors and Contractors

Vendors and contractors will often become active players in project team activities. If this is the case, then consideration must be given to ensuring their participation in team building activities and their contributions to project team cohesion. The need for such cohesion becomes more critical when there are multiple vendors and contractors that must interact on projects within the relevant organization. Many professionals will agree that the last thing a project manager needs is to be in constant conflict-resolution mode because vendors and contractors were not properly integrated, and therefore are conducting project work based on a separate set of team interaction guidelines and performance expectations.

The PMO and project manager again should collaborate on the intended involvement of vendors and contractors to determine the extent of their integration as participants on the project team. The PMO is involved because it can contribute insight gained from its performance of the PMO's "vendor/contractor relationships" function (see Chapter 19), which should provide knowledge about the vendor and its operating practices. The project manager is involved to weigh that knowledge about the vendor against project objectives, team composition, and work performance goals to determine the actions needed to introduce and orient each outside vendor and contractor. On some projects, extensive vendor and contractor integration may not be required. On others, they play a critical and interactive role alongside other project team members in producing project deliverables.

Vendor and contractor integration, very simply, is the action taken to make them a part of the project team. This action normally is the responsibility of the project manager, although the PMO can assist in certain areas. Essentially, the project manager determines the extent of project team participation to be achieved and then acts to establish vendor and contractor expectations and requirements for the desired level of project team integration.

The PMO can develop or recommend several vendor and contractor project team integration activities for use by project managers:

• Project team orientation: The orientation program described earlier also can include participants from external vendor and contractor organizations.

• Kickoff meetings: Vendors and contractors can participate in project kickoff events to demonstrate affiliation and alignment as a full participant with other project team members.

• Contract and agreement highlights: The extent of required and optional vendor and contractor project team involvement can be specified in contract or agreement documents.

• Vendor and contractor meetings: The project manager can meet individually with vendor and contractor managers to define and develop individual roles and protocols for project team participation.

• Vendor and contractor interviews: The relevant organization can ensure achievement of desired project team cohesion by selecting individuals from vendor and contractor organizations who possess the requisite team interaction skills and experience. The desired individual skill and attributes can be examined through interviews with vendor and contractor representatives.

• Public announcements: Significant partnerships with selected vendors and contractors can be endorsed, and joint project team efforts can be recognized through public announcements, press releases, published business news articles, and internal distribution of news.

Vendor and contractor integration activities should also address any limitations or constraints on vendor and contractor project team participation. The project manager responsible for implementing the policies and practices of the relevant organization normally determines this aspect of vendor and contractor integration, and thereby manages any limitations or constraints.

Facilitate Setup of Virtual Team

Today's business world, and thereby its associated project management environment, is no longer constrained by physical buildings or boundaries. Customers and competitors, not to mention suppliers and civil and legal regulators, can be across the globe or just down the street. Virtual project teams are formed to address associated business needs and objectives of work accomplished by the relevant organization.

Consideration of virtual project teams should begin with acceptance of one fundamental premise: The business needs of the relevant organization and the personal and professional needs of the individual team member are not significantly changed because of "virtual" work performance. Rather, it is the conditions under which business is pursued and individual work is performed that are changed.

The PMO's involvement in team development very well may be highlighted by its responsibility for supporting geographically separated or virtual project teams. The context of this function does not purport to be a total solution or even a primer in "virtual team" management. There are volumes of documented expertise on this topic in the published and public domains. Rather, this section identifies the PMO's responsibility to address virtual team participation in the project management environment with consideration of some of the more prominent issues of virtual team management.

The three primary activities that will guide the PMO's efforts are presented in the following subsections.

Establish Virtual Team Alignment

The PMO must ensure that members of a virtual project team maintain strong affiliation with the relevant organization and its business purpose. It can do this by establishing the interface processes and alignment activities needed to maintain ongoing affiliation of the virtual team.

The PMO can collaborate with project managers, as well as with virtual team members, to conduct the necessary organizational interface and alignment activities. The following subsections describe a few of the prominent considerations and activities to be addressed in this effort.

Statement of Purpose

The virtual project team should have a statement of purpose prepared to guide its work on one or more projects. If there is only one project, then the statement of purpose will likely be captured in the project definition or the project charter. The nature of virtual teamwork may also merit including an explanation of alignment with business objectives — why the project was selected — to provide additional insight for isolated or independent project team members.

Virtual Team Process Implementation

To the extent possible, virtual team members should be familiar with and use established standards guidance, project management and technical methodologies, and routine business practices. This is particularly important if the virtual team members are aligned with or support one or more traditional teams. However, variations to standards and process deployment may be warranted, but any adjustments made should be duly considered, documented, and communicated to all involved participants.

Virtual Team Structure

All team members need to know how they fit into the structure of the relevant organization, and virtual team members need similar alignment. Virtual team members should be provided information that specifies key points of contact: their virtual supervisor/project manager, their business unit affiliation, and their primary support resources: administrative, technical, and technological.

Team Assessment

The manager of the virtual project team should perform interval assessments of team performance and effectiveness, such as a project audit in the virtual environment. Likewise, the PMO should assist or otherwise conduct examinations of the technical and administrative processes deployed for virtual team use in a manner similar to that applied when examining project management methodology utilization.

Team Member Recognition

Members of the virtual project team should be considered for rewards and recognition consistent with the practices of the relevant organization. This allows all virtual team members to feel a little more aligned with the business unit and its objectives. Such individual successes also represent a measure of success for the entire virtual team by demonstrating how the virtual team efforts are achieving the specified purpose.

Facilitate Virtual Team Interactions

The project manager may be operating either partially or fully within the virtual environment, and therefore will likely encounter new challenges in managing virtual team activities and interactions. The PMO can anticipate and plan how to handle such emerging issues and lend guidance to project managers in the following three areas.

Socialization of Virtual Team

Members of the virtual project team will have limited personal contact with the project manager, other team members and stakeholders, and other business units. This lack of personal interaction must be considered, and the need for team member socialization must be recognized. The following subsections list a number of activities that the PMO can recommend to reduce the impact of isolated or independent team member work efforts resulting from assignments in the virtual environment.

Face-to-Face Time. Opportunities for the project team to convene in person should be identified and conducted. Project kickoff meetings are ideal venues for face-to-face time needed by virtual team members. Other events should be planned and conducted to enable team members to become personally acquainted as a basis for developing quality, professional interactions.

Routine Business Communication. The PMO should examine needs and recommend the frequency of voice contact for routine communication between the project manager and the team members and for contacts between project team members. For example, routine and recurring contact could be pursued to accomplish weekly telephone status meetings.

Augmented Business Communication. The PMO and project manager should encourage frequent interactions among project team members as a matter of accomplishing project tasks. It is likely that the technology selected for the virtual team will facilitate information exchange, but this can easily be augmented by follow-on personal contact via telephone to discuss receipt and content of transferred information.

Team Member Introductions and Orientations. Individuals joining the virtual team subsequent to project kickoff activities and associated inperson meetings need to be introduced to teammates and to the virtual team processes being deployed. At a minimum, any new virtual team member should receive an in-person orientation from the project manager — whether the member travels to the project manager, or vice versa. As well, the new individual should be introduced to other virtual team members at the next scheduled group telephone conference. A current, experienced team member might be selected to serve as a primary point of contact, or even serve as a mentor, during the initial weeks as the new team member becomes acquainted with virtual practices. It is important to facilitate all opportunities for virtual project team members to know one another at the onset of the project and as new members are introduced.

Management of Trust Issues. Trust issues emerge from isolated and independent virtual teamwork and limited interactions, and these are a prevalent aspect of virtual team socialization. Virtual team members do not have the luxury of frequent interpersonal interactions, as do traditional project team members. It is not uncommon for issues of trust to arise regarding team member performance (particularly work hand-off quality expectations among team members), conveyance and understanding of project manager perceptions regarding individual work performance and acceptance, and business unit recognition and treatment of the virtual team member. The project manager must be cognizant of these issues and, in collaboration with the PMO, develop a proactive means to identify and resolve them.

Virtual Team Collaboration

The geographical separation of project team members working in a virtual environment prompts a significant need for effective collaboration relative to the project work effort. The following subsections show some of the prominent collaboration issues that influence the performance of the virtual team and that the PMO should address.

Communication. The number of team members, their job requirements, and the need for information exchange and discussions must be examined to determine communications requirements for the team and for individuals. The primary goal in establishing communications requirements is to reduce or remove communication delays regardless of team members' time zone, organizational alignment, or physical location. Managing this challenge warrants developing and distributing an effective project communications plan.

Task Flow. The consideration of passing completed project work from one virtual team member to another, or to a group of reviewers, warrants creation of a task flowchart. A task flowchart will show individual team members where they fit in the work-flow scheme and guide them in the transfer actions and activities for completed work. Who to send completed work to, when to send it, and how to send it are essential components of the task flowchart.

Assignments and Responsibilities. Project team members need to be informed of work performance expectations in a timely manner, and a mechanism to confirm their receipt and understanding of assignments and associated responsibilities must be incorporated into the process.

Team Member Training. Like any intact project team member, virtual team members will need training from time to time. This includes skill and competency training in their professional discipline; training in products, processes, and practices of the relevant organization; and training associated with the introduction of new tools or technology. Virtual team members should be included in training plans created for the project management environment. Training courses for virtual team members can be scheduled to accommodate necessary local or long-distance travel, or alternative training methods such as on-line programs can be incorporated into the training plan for their use.

Lessons Learned Exchange. "Lessons learned" is a special example of the virtual team's communications needs, and it is highlighted because of the benefits to be derived from an effective and timely exchange of such information. This item warrants consideration and use of the Web-based collaboration tools outlined in the PMO's "project knowledge management" function (see Chapter 4), e.g., a project team "chat" room would serve these interests.

Governance of Virtual Team

The presumably limited contact between the project manager and virtual project team members, working more or less independently and, in some cases, in isolated conditions, provides a need to ensure some reasonable level of oversight and control of work performance and participation in team activities. The PMO should consider needs for developing and implementing governance activities and establish the virtual team governance solutions described in the following subsections.

Standards. Project management and technical process standards should be identified and communicated for use by virtual team members. As well, business standards related to quality, productivity, and performance can also be conveyed.

Operating Procedures. The "ground rules" for project team members should be specified. This includes addressing such personal aspects as team member work hours, team member availability, and participation in required teleconferences, on-line meetings, and other work-related activities. It also includes procedures and guidance for reporting and managing technical problems and issues, equipment failures and outages, and local disruptions to work.

Team Member Supervision. All virtual team members should be notified of who is responsible for oversight of their work performance and productivity. This item also identifies the preferred means for contact and availability of the supervisor, and it includes arrangements for initial and recurring contact with the supervisor. Ideally, performance and productivity expectations established by the supervisor will be included in the initial notification.

Team Member Administration. Each virtual team member should be advised regarding whom to contact (or expect contact from) with regard to administrative matters. This includes such things as personnel actions, time reporting, benefits management, travel, and of course salary and payments.

Introduce Virtual Team Technology

Effective communication and collaboration is essential for any project team, and it is absolutely vital for a virtual project team. Fortunately, communications technology is rapidly evolving to facilitate virtual team needs. The Internet alone is a powerful tool that enables real-time communication and collaboration as well as on-line access to software applications.

The PMO should be involved in planning technology support for use by virtual project teams. This effort can be integrated with the establishment of tools as specified in the PMO's "project knowledge management" function (see Chapter 4), its "project management tools" function (see Chapter 2), and its "facilities and equipment support" function (see Chapter 8). In particular, the PMO should address the following technology needs of the virtual project team in its overall plans:

• Telephony lines and equipment (telephone and fax capability)

• Computer hardware (desktop and laptop computers and supporting peripheral equipment)

• Project management software

• Technical development application software

• Communication and collaboration tools (Web-based and server-based)

• Connectivity hardware and software (Internet access, server access, and e-mail access)

Enable Project Team Development

The PMO can be a vital resource that assists project managers and, for that matter, individual team members in developing enhanced team performance capability. It works under the premise that a fully developed project team will be more effective in achieving project objectives than a less cohesive team.

Project team development is generally seen to occur on two levels: individual learning and group development. First, individual learning about effective interpersonal interactions, group dynamics, and leadership provides the general concepts, knowledge, and understanding about oneself and others that the individual can bring to team efforts. Then, group development represents the application of individual learning about effective team development and performance within the context of team member interactions.

The following three subsections discuss the activities that the PMO can pursue to enable project team development within the relevant organization.

Promote Team Skill Learning

The PMO should foster a project management environment that promotes individual learning and group application of effective team development practices. All professionals having project team affiliation have applied team skills through a combination of learning and personal experience. The PMO should provide guidance regarding preferred team skills, including consideration of the following:

• Leadership: All project team members — as each progresses from project team member, to project task leader, to project manager and higher in the project management environment — should be aware of their individual leadership styles, comprehend the influences and impacts of other styles, and learn to apply effective leadership techniques.

• Interpersonal skills: Individuals contribute to project team development when they demonstrate capability to work effectively with other team members. Interpersonal skills often tend to be relegated to second-class status compared with competency in primary technical or professional disciplines. The nature of project team-work necessitates that the PMO introduce a renewed emphasis on interpersonal skills in such areas as:

  • Effective communication

  • Interpersonal conflict resolution

  • Team problem solving

  • Consensus building

  • Group dynamics

• Work/professional-enhancement skills: The PMO should consider endorsing and providing skill-development opportunities in the following extended-capability areas:

  • Time management

  • Stress management

  • Supervision

  • Decision making

  • Meeting management

The PMO can address these important areas of team development through a variety of means, including some that have presumably already been established in other PMO functions, such as training, team building exercises, mentoring and coaching, peer-feedback activities, and access to project management and technical library materials.

Develop Project Manager Tools and Techniques

The PMO can support the project manager's leadership and team development efforts by creating one or more team development tools and techniques that can be applied within the project management environment.

The following are a few examples of such team development tools and techniques:

• Team building exercises: Construct or acquire workshops to achieve team building objectives

• Assessment of team development stage: Develop the means and methods to measure the current stage of project team development, e.g., forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning, or some other preferred team development stage model

• Communication and collaboration assessment: Develop the means and methods to conduct a formal or informal assessment of project team communication and collaboration effectiveness

• Motivational techniques: Examine and apply motivational techniques applicable to the organizational culture, e.g., group-performance monetary rewards and bonuses, cross-project team performance indicator tabulation (awards program), and team social events

• Team recognition techniques: Apply current business practices or devise new ways to convey project team recognition and conduct recognition activities

Facilitate Leadership Development

Project management leadership is a critical component of recurring project success. Advanced project management leadership capability is an essential ingredient for recurring success of large and complex projects. To that end, it is imperative that the PMO attend to leadership development within the project management environment. The PMO will need to examine ways to develop individual leadership capability, with consideration for specific leadership training programs, progressive assignments that enable individuals to demonstrate increasing leadership capability, and formal and informal mentoring in the "art and science" of leadership.

The component skills of leadership are identified differently by a variety of practitioners. For the purposes of application within the project management environment, each PMO will have to define desired leadership skills based on the values and culture of the relevant organization, as well as the influences of professional and technical disciplines, industry norms, and requisite skills for individual levels of leadership responsibility.

The following is a list of leadership skills for PMO consideration. Of course, each PMO should examine which are aligned with the needs of the relevant organization and which are appropriate for different levels of performance responsibility, e.g., project executive, project manager, project team member. As well, the PMO can add additional leadership skills not included in this list.

The following four categories of leadership competency and associated skill areas are presented for individual and organizational consideration, and the PMO should select and facilitate their development.

Personal Leadership Skills

Leadership is often said to emerge from within the individual. This competency category is represented by several skills inherent to personal behavior that prepare the individual to develop the self-awareness, confidence, and interactions needed to be an effective leader of others:

• Interpersonal communication

• Listening

• Interpersonal behavior

• Stress management

• Personal and professional ethics

• Awareness of management and leadership style

• Awareness of personality characteristics

• Emotional stability

Process Leadership Skills

Leadership skill in dealing with work processes facilitates reasonable control and influence within the work environment. It also provides a focus on the group leadership needed to achieve results from project team efforts. There are several skill sets that help to accomplish this:

• Motivating

• Team building

• Organizing

• Planning

• Decision making

• Delegating

• Conflict management

• Time management

• Problem solving

• Negotiating

• Meeting management

Business Leadership Skills

The nature of business warrants oversight and direction that drives all project team members and other stakeholders toward achievement of business goals. A few leadership skills will facilitate that effort:

• Strategic perspective

• Derivation of tactical solutions

• Cultural and political awareness

• Diversity management

• Customer relationship management

• Vendor relationship management

• Industry and market knowledge

• Business acumen

• Management of organizational change

Technical Leadership Skills

This category is intentionally separate to show that (a) technical competence alone is not the sole basis for effective leadership and (b) technical leaders sometimes need to address skills in the earlier categories as they progress in their career and advance in the organization. However, technical competence is a distinct factor in overall leadership capability, and it includes varying degrees of competency — from general technical familiarity to technical expert — that can provide the necessary technical leadership skills for project and business efforts.

• Specialized technical and professional knowledge

• Technical and professional certification

• Presentation skills (e.g., preparing and presenting abbreviated topic content)

• Effective writing (e.g., technical reports, white papers and manuscripts, correspondence)

• Effective speaking (e.g., conveying concepts, achieving buy-in, making announcements)

Monitor Project Team Performance

The PMO's responsibilities to the relevant organization warrant an ongoing examination of project team performance, with particular attention to reviewing the effectiveness of project team development activities and initiatives.

The following subsections present three recommended activities to assist the PMO in planning and accomplishing project team performance monitoring.

Assess Team Dynamics

The PMO should establish a formal or informal method of examining the activities and interactions of the project team members as a means to determine strengths and weaknesses encountered by the particular composition of the team. Aspects of team dynamics to identify could include:

• Observed or measured project team "stage of development"

• Frequency and type of discernable favorable behavior (e.g., collaboration, effective communication, listening)

• Frequency and type of discernable ineffective behavior (e.g., personality conflicts, disagreements, disgruntlement, adverse emotional reaction)

• Situations of demonstrated leadership by individual team members (e.g., consensus building, encouraging and facilitating others' achievements, volunteering for special or additional duties that contribute to project success)

• Situations of demonstrated indifference by individual team members (e.g., withdrawal from team activities, frustration, limited active participation, missed deadlines)

• Variation of project team member responses to project manager leadership and management styles

• Variation of project team member personality traits demonstrated in the project management environment

The PMO can use this type of examination to ascertain how well project team members work together, perhaps identifying preferred project team composition for future efforts. As well, the PMO can evaluate formal and informal assessment findings to prescribe team activities and team development solutions for use by the project manager in creating a more effective work group.

This type of assessment should be pursued from a positive perspective — a focus on making the project team more effective rather than a practice to identify poor performance. To that end, such an assessment of team dynamics may be transparent to project team members.

Examine Team Effectiveness

This activity is primarily assigned to the PMO because of its cross-project alignment. An examination of project team effectiveness looks at the "hard numbers" of project performance: cost, schedule, and resource utilization. This normally comes out of routine and recurring project reporting and control activities. However, in the context of this PMO function, the next step is to contrast the results of project team dynamics assessments with project performance results.

From this examination, the PMO should be able to identify indicators in the following areas:

• Relationship of project team "stage of development" with project progress and timely achievement of deliverables, including quality of deliverables and extent of rework

• Characteristics of effective individual and team behaviors in the project management environment, in terms of contributions to project success

• Impacts of project team dynamics on customer satisfaction and acceptance of project deliverables

• Implications of vendor and contractor participation on project teams, in terms of results from cohesive involvement or independent activity

The PMO can define additional indicators to examine project, technical, and business aspects of project team effectiveness. All indicators can be analyzed to gain a better understanding of which project teams are most effective based on the group dynamics in effect. Then the PMO, in collaboration with project managers, can create team composition models and construct team development programs to maximize the strengths and minimize the weaknesses of all teams working within the project management environment.

Conduct Team Improvement Activities

The PMO can use results of project team performance assessments and analyses to determine areas that warrant improvement and work with project managers, individually and collectively, to plan and conduct team improvement activities.

Team improvement activities can be applied in response to assessment findings, as appropriate to the culture within the relevant organization. The following list identifies several solutions that can be considered for implementation within the project management environment:

• Training: Individual and group training courses (including on-line learning) can be provided to offer insight and understanding into group dynamics and interpersonal skills.

• Team spirit exercises: Activities focused on team building can be conducted to promote personal interactions for the purpose of reducing or eliminating "drudgery" and instead concentrating on team spirit and enthusiasm. This activity area can be a formal facilitator-led event or an informal social event.

• Lessons learned: Appropriate "lessons learned" sessions could be conducted as ad hoc or facilitator-led events to obtain team member feedback and discussion of future direction that the team can take to reduce or remove ineffective group behavior. The "lessons learned" aspect of this activity prompts participants to consider the impacts incurred and presumably to address team interactions, including processes, to rectify situations encountered.

• Self-evaluation/self assessment: Individuals and groups can be provided opportunities to examine the dynamics and impacts of personal and group behavior, group processes, and the general effectiveness of each. There are a significant number of different survey and assessment instruments that can be obtained for use in this type of activity.

• Team member role reviews: Team member responsibility and authority may need to be examined to clarify individual roles on the project team. This activity is conducted to identify where role ambiguity or uncertainty is creating blockages in project teamwork progression. This is an activity that can be performed informally by the project manager or more formally with PMO, mentor, or facilitator assistance, and it can include discussion and deliberation with individual team members. Results of this examination are provided to individuals or the project team for action, as appropriate.

• Mentoring/coaching/counseling: This activity can have either an individual focus or a group focus, as warranted by the situation at hand. Mentoring and coaching offer a personalized approach to interpersonal skill development when provided as a one-on-one activity. Conversely, counseling activities tend to be viewed as placing responsibility for corrective action on the individual, per discussion of the problem to be rectified. The project manager, with the support of PMO guidance and recommendations, will normally conduct counseling for project team members.

• Technical qualification examination: The project manager or the PMO conducts this activity to gain insight to problems that could be caused by inadequate technical skill of one or more project team members. In this activity, several individual performance indicators can be examined, including the capability to handle the assigned workload, the competency to perform technical tasks, and the ability to manage and meet work schedules and deadlines. Identified weaknesses must be addressed with the individual to determine whether the person is underqualified for the position (i.e., needs more skills training and experience to perform the assigned work) or is not achieving results at the present level of qualification (i.e., factors other than personal competency are affecting performance).

• Executive/senior management intervention: The primary aim of this activity is to demonstrate senior level interest in removing road-blocks to effective project team performance. Senior manager appearances and comments in the project management environment, and in association with a particular project team, is one means of reinforcing business interest in the project at hand and conveying the need to immediately resolve any disruptive team conditions or interactions that threaten project success.

Of course, many of these activities can be used as proactive team building and team development measures. Their early use will preclude the need for later implementation to rectify or correct weak project team interactions and reduced project team performance.