Developing a High-Performing Team: Perspectives and Strategies

1. Developing a Team Environment Karl A. Smith University of Minnesota ksmith@umn.edu www.ce.umn.edu/~smith January 2005 Engineers Leadership Institute Minnesota Society for Professional Engineers

2. Teambuilding and Project Management Perspectives • Capitalizing on individual differences • Leading a team to consensus; the importance of buy-in • Expanding a team’s capabilities • Perspectives on the role of project manager • Key components to project and/or team success • Project coordination 2

3. Design team failure is usually due to failed team dynamics (Leifer, Koseff & Lenshow, 1995). It’s the soft stuff that’s hard, the hard stuff is easy (Doug Wilde, quoted in Leifer, 1997)

4. Engineering Total Design – 36% Computer applications – 31% Management – 29% Civil/Architectural Management – 45% Design – 39% Computer applications – 20% Top Three Main Engineering Work Activities(Burton, Parker & LeBold, 1998) Burton, L., Parker, L, & LeBold, W. 1998. U.S. engineering career trends. ASEE Prism, 7(9), 18-21. 4

5. Teamwork 5

6. Characteristics of Effective Groups • Common goal • Communication • Respect for one another on the team • Willing to help • Desire to succeed/commitment to succeed • Chain on command • Clear leadership/facilitation • Adequate resources especially adequate budget • Clear objective • Clear, defined timeline • Specific or assigned tasks delegated • Innovative, creative • Consistent accountability • Ownership – sense of responsibility • Belief in your objective • Element of feedback • Team members roles well defined 6

7. A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable • SMALL NUMBER • COMPLEMENTARY SKILLS • COMMON PURPOSE & PERFORMANCE GOALS • COMMON APPROACH • MUTUAL ACCOUNTABILITY --Katzenbach & Smith (1993) The Wisdom of Teams

8. Six Basic Principles of Team Discipline • Keep team membership small • Ensure that members have complimentary skills • Develop a common purpose • Set common goals • Establish a commonly agreed upon working approach • Integrate mutual and individual accountability Katzenbach & Smith (2001) The Discipline of Teams 8

9. Group Task and Maintenance Roles Group Task Roles Group Maintenance Roles Initiating Encouraging Seeking Information Expressing Feelings Harmonizing Giving Information Compromising Seeking Opinions Facilitating Communications Giving Opinions Clarifying Setting Standards or Goals Elaborating Testing Agreement Summarizing Following

10. Group Processing Plus/Delta Format Delta Things Group Could Improve Plus Things That Group Did Well

11. Team Charter • Team name, membership, and roles • Team Mission Statement • Anticipated results (goals) • Specific tactical objectives • Ground rules/Guiding principles for team participation • Shared expectations/aspirations

12. Code of Cooperation •EVERY member is responsible for the team’s progress and success. •Attend all team meetings and be on time. •Come prepared. •Carry out assignments on schedule. •Listen to and show respect for the contributions of other members; be an active listener. •CONSTRUCTIVELY criticize ideas, not persons. •Resolve conflicts constructively, •Pay attention, avoid disruptive behavior. •Avoid disruptive side conversations. •Only one person speaks at a time. •Everyone participates, no one dominates. •Be succinct, avoid long anecdotes and examples. •No rank in the room. •Respect those not present. •Ask questions when you do not understand. •Attend to your personal comfort needs at any time but minimize team disruption. •HAVE FUN!! •? Adapted from Boeing Aircraft Group Team Member Training Manual

13. Ten Commandments: An Affective Code of Cooperation • Help each other be right, not wrong. • Look for ways to make new ideas work, not for reasons they won't. • If in doubt, check it out! Don't make negative assumptions about each other. • Help each other win, and take pride in each other's victories. • Speak positively about each other and about your organization at every opportunity. • Maintain a positive mental attitude no matter what the circumstances. • Act with initiative and courage, as if it all depends on you. • Do everything with enthusiasm; it's contagious. • Whatever you want; give it away. • Don't lose faith. • Have fun Ford Motor Company 13

14. Engineering Design – Team Exercise The engineering method is design under constraints Wm. Wulf, President, National Academy of Engineering Design in a major sense is the essence of engineering; it begins with the identification of a need and ends with a product or system in the hands of a user. It is primarily concerned with synthesis rather than the analysis which is central to engineering science. Design, above all else, distinguishes engineering from science (Hancock, 1986, National Science Foundation Workshop). A scientist discovers that which exists. An engineer creates that which never was. (Theodore von Karman, 1881-1963). 14

15. Team Member Roles • Task Recorder • Process Recorder • Materials Manager 15

16. Design objective Design and build a tower which can support a standard book as high in the air as possible (at least 25 cm). The tower is built from index cards and office tape. Design rules Materials are 100 index cards and one roll of office tape Cards can be folded but not torn No piece of tape can be longer than 2 inches Tower cannot be taped to the floor Tower must be in one piece, and easily transported in one hand Time to design and build: 20 minutes Height is measured from the ground to the lowest corner of the book placed on top Tower must support book for at least 10 seconds before the measurement is made Room must be cleaned up before measurements are made.

17. Group Processing Plus/Delta Format Delta (∆) Things Group Could Improve Plus (+) Things That Group Did Well

18. Teamwork & Project Management Heuristics--Examples • Identify the weak link and Allocate resources to the weak link • Freeze the design--at some stage in the project (when about 75% of the time or resources are used up) the design must be frozen • Discuss the process and ask meta-level questions, e.g., What are we doing? Why are we doing it? How does it help? 18

19. Project Life Cycle? • Wild enthusiasm • Disillusionment • Total confusion • Search for the guilty • Punishment of the innocent • Praise and honors for the non-participants 19

20. The prevailing view of the project life cycle is that projects go through distinct phases, such as: • Conceiving and defining the project • Planning the project • Implementing the plan • Completing and evaluating the project • Operate and maintain project A typical construction project has the following seven phases (Kerzner, 1998): 1. Planning, data gathering, and procedures 2. Studies and basic engineering 3. Major review 4. Detail engineering 5. Detail engineering/construction overlap 6. Construction 7. Testing and commissioning

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23. Traditional Create – 10% Sell – 0% Implement – 90% Exit – 0% The Project 50 Create – 30% Sell – 30% Implement – 30% Exit – 10% The Project 50 – Tom Peters 23

24. Project Manager’s Role Over the Project Life Cycle: • Planning • Organizing • Staffing • Directing • Controlling See Smith (2004) p. 67-68

25. Engineering Method The engineering method is design under constraints – Wm. Wulf The engineering method is the use of heuristics to cause the best change in a poorly understood situation within the available resources – Billy Koen 25

26. Session Summary • (Minute Paper) • Reflect on the session: • 1. Most interesting, valuable, useful thing you learned. • 2. Question/Topic/Issue you would like to have addressed. • 3. Comments, suggestions, etc • Pace: Too slow 1 . . . . 5 Too fast • Relevance: Little 1 . . . 5 Lots • Instructional Format: Ugh 1 . . . 5 Ah 26