“Top 10” Team Management Best Practices…

1. Senior Management Charter

• Senior management must set expectations and establish accountability with the team. It must make clear the team’s mission and deliverables. It must allocate resources for team leadership, membership, and operations. It must establish a Chain of Command for reporting and problem resolution. It must approve and hold to account the teams’ project plans. The entire organization MUST see that the team is supported by senior management!

2. Team membership

• Team membership includes internal and external people. In smaller organizations, the majority of the team may be made up of external resources (suppliers, contractors, etc.). Ideally, team members will share common values and have the skills sets required to do their jobs. Leadership, reporting structures, authority and accountability must be clear.

3. Team member allocation

• Team members need to be assigned to the team and given the time necessary to complete their jobs. Focused resources get things done. When team members are over allocated and assigned too many responsibilities or not available, they have trouble completing their tasks.

4. Deliverables Plan

• Each team member needs to know what they are responsible for delivering. The jobs they need to do, the tasks they need to complete. There should be clear expectations as to how deliverables will be completed according to specification, budget, and timing. Teams watch and manage their deliverables output metric that measures the percent of deliverables completed compared to the deliverables scheduled to be completed by a certain date.

5. Metrics

• Each team member should have a set of performance measures they can directly influence. A means of keeping score and getting feedback about how they are performing.

6. Tools & Techniques

• Team members need the tools, techniques, processes, skill sets, training, procedures, check-lists, equipment, software, etc. required to do their jobs and do them well. Team members must have access to the knowledge required to utilize any tools or techniques.

7. Collaboration

• Team members need a means of working together to communicate, plan, brainstorm, problem solve, and continuously improve. They must have the proper attitude and a spirit of cooperation.

8. Risk mitigation

• Team members need to identify the risks that could jeopardize the mission. They must take appropriate action to reduce the probability of the risks occurring.

9. Deliverables Review Meeting

• A regular meeting whereby the team meets to give an account and make commitments on the completion status of each deliverable. Did it get done? Did it get done correctly? What deliverables will be done for the next meeting? Are there any problems that could jeopardize the completion of a deliverable? Any issues identified should be resolved after the meeting. Any changes, updates, or issues impacting deliveribles must be communicated.

10. Senior Management Review Meeting

• On a regular basis, often at the completion of a major milestone or at set time periods, the team should meet with senior executives to give an account of their achievements, and to present any decisions that must be made or issues that need to be resolved.

DMW