Category: Teamwork

A Successful Team is a Powerful Force

I’m drawn to team work so completely because I’ve seen the amazing power it can generate.  I’ve witnessed many times how a group of people who were on the same road at the same time going in the same direction moved mountains!  How the absolutely impossible tasks and deadlines were accomplished with integrity, pride and a sense of purpose.  We rose above the politics and the mundane to become unstoppable and amazingly successful.

Individuals can be smart and intelligent, but a group of people are geniuses.  True collaborative teams will grow each good idea into greatness.  Each participant coming to the table with their best self and work together – it is POWERFUL!

Is your team capable of moving mountains?

karenwiley@appliedteamdynamics.com

Making the Impossible Feasible, then Successful

The Fabric of Teamwork

Fabric of Teamwork

There is an invisible web, or fabric, that runs through every group of people and it is composed of human interactions, expectations, communication, processes and system automation.  It is the underlying reason that groups succeed or fail. The web/fabric is dynamic and moves as events trigger it – deadlines, new management, or change in personnel. 

But slow changes that creep in without anyone realizing it, can destroy it.  When expectations get out of concert with reality; when communication is not kept up with growth; when processes become obsolete but held on tightly as ‘we’ve always done it this way’; when a new system wasn’t truly integrated, or Day 2 items never materialized. Or hardest yet – when a young startup with new experts must learn to work together and create the fabric.

As you look to figure out what is going wrong with your group of people, you need to ensure you look at all aspects of them.  What is triggering them, where are the holes in their team fabric, where are the areas that have become rigid?

 Karenwiley@appliedteamdynamics.com

Making the impossible feasible, then successful

 

From a Science to an Art – Project Management

When you start out in Project Management, you are excited about all the planning, checking off boxes, taking each step towards a successful end to your project – the Science of it.  After a few years, you learn to navigate the consistent issues that come up.  Inevitable delays, other projects taking your resources, or additional work without additional funding or time – these get easier and easier.

But, what about the PEOPLE in the way of your success?  Sometimes it’s your boss, sometimes it’s your team members, and sometimes it’s your sponsor.  It’s counterintuitive that the very people who want your project to succeed, are often the ones in the way of that success – but it’s true.  It’s not necessarily their fault, maybe their boss changed the plan, a critical event turns their attention, or they’re just plain overwhelmed.  Navigating the people of your project with no power or authority – that teaches you the ART of project management.

When you can negotiate the people, their personalities, the details, the lists, the timeline, the reporting, the client, while staying honest and transparent, and still succeed – you’ve made it!

How can a project manager help a startup?

Startups are hot beds of chaos. The constraint of time vs resources vs scope (aka ToDo’s) is never more critical than in a small company. If entrepreneurs have reached 15 or 20 employees in their company, a few things have happened – they have financing, they are on the edge of finding, or have found, a ‘breakthrough’ product, and they’ve hired a few business people and experts.  The gift, and the curse, of financing is that now there’s more cash to get it all done but there are either banks with payments due or an investor in their board room sharing their profits. There are no specific ‘projects’ but there are very defined goals and very real constraints.

What if they had a resource to turn to, someone skilled at negotiating the time vs resources vs ToDo’s, skilled at helping teams work together toward a common goal, skilled at making the most of whatever software is handy, skilled at communication and skilled at efficiency? Here is Project Management for Startups. We figure out the who, what, when, why, and how, help with communication feedback loops (aka reporting), and help with just the right amount of process to create efficiency but not bureaucracy. We help breakthrough the current obstacle, streamline efforts, and create some stability. We help keep you moving forward and ensure your processes grow with you.