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I have been privileged to have, for the last 10 years, delivered a session, as part of the Challenge Of Major Projects Programme, entitled “Leading Teams To Achieve High-Performance Teamwork.”
As part of my session, I have had the opportunity to work with and also profile those leaders attending the programme, and it has been refreshing to know that there has always been a diversity of leadership styles, whether in the room, or more recently on a video conference call (Oh, how I hate them!)
After introducing myself, I invariably open the session, with one question.
“When you and your team get together at your regular team meetings, what do you talk about?”
Rewind 10 years and the replies were as follows;
“Risks.
Work schedules/plans.
KPIs – invariably related to quality, costs and time.
Progress against milestones.
Margins.
Budgets.
Scope and deliverables.”
Have you noticed the theme that emerges?
If you haven’t, I will put you out of your misery. All the above are task related, and the majority are measurable and therefore tangible.
Now, don’t get me wrong, these are extremely important topics to discuss at project meetings with your team but, what about your team?
How are they feeling? What are stress levels like? How effective is team communication? What are relationships between individuals like? Is there a high degree of trust within the team? How well are your team collaborating, sharing their skills, knowledge and experience, for the good of the team? Is the working environment and culture of your team positive?
I could go on, however I have balanced the relationship comments above with the task related answers mentioned previously.
This is really important to remember, when you are leading a team.
Whilst as a leader, I would suggest that the majority of your time should be spent on building relationships, developing individuals and motivating your team to achieve the goals that have been set, when it comes to team meetings, I would suggest, that maximum benefit is achieved, when you have a balance between discussions about task related and relationship related topics.
Why? Well, quite simply, it is people who deliver projects, and the level of achievement against your KPI’s, will be directly impacted by the well-being of the individuals in your team and the inter-personal relationships they have with their colleagues, and how effective your teamwork is.
So, fast forward to the current day.
Once again, I asked the same question as 10 years ago;
“When you and your team get together at your regular team meetings, what do you talk about?”
Imagine my delight, when the most recent group of leaders shared that they discussed well-being, individual workload issues, how people were feeling, trust, in addition to the task related topics.
Here’s hoping that this recognition, that it is people and the effectiveness of their teamwork that ultimately delivers project success continues.
Nick Fewings
About the author
Nick Fewings
, Director of Ngagementworks, calls himself a Teamologist, someone who specialises in the study of the dynamics of teamwork, using this knowledge, to help teams become more effective.
After a 20-year career in banking, including project leadership, and also a change director, Nick has spent the last two decades, developing teams across the globe, encouraging, facilitating, and helping them to make a positive difference to the effectiveness of their teamwork. During this period, he has profiled thousands of individuals across hundreds of teams.
Nick is also the creator of the Team DyNAmics Model that measures overall team effectiveness and effectiveness across 16 areas of teamwork, important in helping to achieve high-performance. His most recent project, has been writing a book, Team Lead Succeed, which has received Best Seller status on Amazon, in addition to 5-star reviews. An overview can be found using this link www.teamleadsucceed.com