Working with teams their needs to be clarity on the content and method of the project.

The content can be thought of as “what” the work is. This can be defined as the task, goal, objective, etc… the what by when. The most effective way to define the content is a QQT/R format;

• Quality – What are the expectations of how good completion and effort must be.
• Quantity – How much of the quality is to be supplied; What amount is acceptable.
• Time Frame – This is a date a time that it must be completed by, with the Quality and Quantity Standards
• Resources – What can be used, what cannot be used, how the staff member can access the resources, and who has to be informed that these resources are being used.

The method can be thought of as “how” to work gets done. Method is often overlooked or seen as touchy-feely and is where the majority of team based projects fail. The necessity of defining and determining the methods that will be used will catapult team based projects into a rapid growth phase.

For the method to work a focus on facilitative preventions, determining possible problems and ensuring that quality tools are utilized.

 

Facilitative Preventions;

• Creating and utilizing clear & distinct agendas
• Determining the desired outcomes for each team meeting
• Agreement on team ground rules for each team meeting
• Agreement on Decision-Making methods for team
• Obtaining agreement on specific team roles and responsibilities
• Agreement on an evaluation method for each meeting

 

Below are 2 of the 6 prevention methods.

Example Team Agenda

Element	Desired Outcome	Method	Responsible Party	Time Allotted
Project Charter	Clarify project scope	Affinity Diagram	Team Leader	45 minutes

Determining desired outcomes for each Team Meeting

Example of Desired Outcomes to Team Meeting – Business Case

• Explain why this project is worth doing
• Explain why the project is worth doing now
• Identify what strategic objective(s) are affected by the project
• Explain why this project has priority over other projects
• Create an agreed-upon statement around the above

 

Interested in learning more about facilitative preventions is team projects? Could  your team benefit from the use of quality tools in team projects? Contact Mike… to make your team better.

 

michael cardus is create-learning