Image: SXC.hu

To help determine what a dream team looks like, I thought I would share some of the traits for the ideal team member when managing a project. Check out the list below:

• Balanced team. Make sure that you create a team that have people who have different strenghts. You don’t want a full team of leaders and not followers. Or a team of web designers and noone who know how to program or work with content.
• Housekeeping rules. Ensure that you explain from the beginning what is expected of each team member. This way you can make sure they know the rules and follow them.
• Past success. When building your team, research their past projects to see what type of success they have had. In looking at their past success, it may help you determine if they will fit into your team well.
• Relationship building. After you have created your team, make sure that you build relationship with your team members. Also, create a way for team members to build a relationship with each other.

Keep in mind that a dream team is built on the efforts of everyone and not just the project manager or the team member. It’s all about keeping everyone on the same page and in the same frame of reference.

Post from: EveryJoe

Project Manager’s Dream Team

In reviewing the “Obama Connection”, you can see that they used social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter to keep their teams connected with each other and supporters. Is your team as well connected under your leadership? To help you measure your team’s connectivity, I have created a short list of questions that you can answer about you and your team to help you determine your connectivity.

1. Do you have a strategy plan in place to handle communication for your team?
2. Does your communication strategy plan allow each member to communicate with other on the team without having roadblocks that they have to get through?
3. Do the team members understand who is responsible for specific task so if an issue arises they will know who to go to?
4. Do you have an intranet in place so that team members can share documents and information in a protected environment in case they are not in one central location?
5. Have you been using an instant messaging system to make it easier and quicker for team members to communicate instantly with each other about question and answers?
6. Is there a direct tie-in between upper manage or decision makers and your team?

These are just a few of the questions that you can ask yourself when it comes to making sure that you team has a well connected communition strategy plan. Below is a video about leadership and teamwork collaboration that can help you better understand the connection factor for teams.

Teamwork and Collaboration

Image: ZumaPress.com

Post from: EveryJoe

Leadership and Teams: The Obama Connection

Image: SXC.hu

In order for business owners or team managers to be able to identify negative behavior, then they must be fully aware of their teaming environment. This doesn’t mean that they micro-manage their team members by lording over their ever move. What this does mean is that the business owner of team manager is in touch with their team members and understand that it is important to communicate with them on a regular basis.

Below are good suggestion of ways that a business owner or team manager can use to make team work, work:

• Keep open lines of communication in the teaming environment.
• Allow team members to have input or buy-in into the planning of team projects.
• Use communication tools such as project management software (Zoho, Basecamp, or Quickbase) to manage team projects and communication.
• Incorporate partnering between team members to encourage the sharing of ideas between members.
• Create a team recognition program so that you, the business owner or team manager, and the team member can recognize the special effort of team member.

Check out the video below that shares and humorous view about team work. It makes some really good point though.

Post from: EveryJoe

Making Team Work, Work