DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE INTEGRATED PROJECT TEAMS

Much of the work in organizations is accomplished through team efforts. For projects, teams do the majority of the work. Project teams have been used to manage specific time and budget-defined scopes of work for many years. The success of joint ventures and alliances has long depended on the ability to form an effective team that drew from all of the participating companies. The success of teams as an organizational tool has led to the use of a team approach in almost all aspects of business operations. Unfortunately, not all teams are created equal.

Trust is a critical success factor in creating a high-performing team. Through many years of working with project teams, Stratos has developed methods that leverage the skills of the team’s members themselves to develop together into a more effective, integrated project team.

The Stratos process relies on three key elements for performance improvement:

  • Feedback on real issues
  • Skilled facilitation
  • Custom engagement design

The Stratos approach identifies each team’s key improvement opportunities and creates a custom engagement to address them. The result? An experience that empowers a group to build itself into a highly effective, integrated team.

Stratos has developed a set of team engagement tools that address common developmental issues, focused on the six elements of effective teams...

The Six Elements of Effective Teams

  1. Purpose – by engaging together, team members can clearly define, develop a common understanding of, and commit to the team’s purpose.
  2. Team Process – team development ensures clear selection and agreement on primary team functions, such as decision-making, prioritization, delegation, and communication.
  3. Work Process – Stratos tools can aid project teams in identifying and rationalizing the multiple, sometimes conflicting, work processes used to execute tasks.
  4. Roles – Lack of clear roles and responsibilities is a critical issue for many teams. The Stratos Role Clarification tool helps team members clearly define their roles and responsibilities and ensures that other team members understand and support those roles.
  5. Norms – A “norm” is an accepted behavior. Most teams today include members from multiple cultures and organizations. Thus, an accepted norm for some may be unacceptable to others. The Stratos Norm Agreement identifies these conflicts and helps teams negotiate solutions.
  6. Integration – True team integration – the ability to work together as a high-functioning unit regardless of the origins of individual members – is the ultimate goal for team development.