Making Teams Work IV:
Developing Good Habits
There are some basic principles and values that we’ve already talked about in
relation to successful teams.
The Basic Principles Include:
·
Trust
·
Cooperation
·
Support
·
Mutual Respect
·
Integrity
·
Personal Responsibility
·
Commitment
·
Generosity
Beyond these, there are several specific skills you can develop that will help you in teams – as well as in all your course work, and throughout life.
Specific Skills that can Support
Your Efforts – Both Team and Individual - Include:
·
Time Management Skills
·
Project Management Skills
·
Meeting Management Skills
Time Management Skills
There are some basic principles of time management. These include:
Choosing and Prioritizing Commitments
·
Decide what is important to you
·
This should include everything
you do – from studying to household chores to entertainment
·
Then, prioritize these commitments
·
Decide how many hours per day
or per week you wish to spend on each item
Scheduling Your Time
·
Use a calendar to schedule all
the important elements of your day
·
This puts things “in existence”
- as formal commitments (that you make to yourself)
·
Plan each day at least the night
before, or even a week before
·
Stick to your schedule
·
When you decide to deviate from
your schedule, plan immediately how and when you are going to make up the time
you’re giving up
Tracking
·
The management of your time is
only as good as the paper (or PalmPilot) it’s written on
·
You must plan, schedule all your
meeting and commitments, and update them as needed
·
If you give up tracking your
time, you’ve probably given up on any serious effort to manage your time
Project Management Skills
Any project – large and involving a group or small and personal – can benefit from the basic principles of project management. They include:
·
Specify the Vision, Mission,
& Values (Inspiration: What is the “Possibility” of the project?)
·
Overall condition of satisfaction
(result & date)
·
Intermediate conditions of
satisfaction (results & dates)
·
Milestones
·
Critical actions required
·
Specific (One-time events)
·
Recurring (weekly, daily activities)
·
Identify Resources
·
Enlist a Team
·
Manage all of the above
·
Openly declare the project
& its components
Meeting Management Skills
There are a number of different approaches to managing meetings. Here’s one cut at the steps to follow.
Plan
·
Distribute Agenda
·
Invite the right people
·
Organize the right materials
Inform
·
Be specific re: agenda so
people can prepare
·
Preview the outcome (discuss,
decide, or take action)
Prepare
·
Choose a logical sequence
of items
·
Allocate time based on importance
Structure
·
Topic, evidence, interpretations,
conclusions, options, actions
·
Summarize
·
Review & record decisions
Follow-up
·
Issue minutes or summary (as
appropriate)
·
Provide structure so decisions
lead to actions and ensure decisions are implemented
It’s been said that “meetings are events where the minutes and kept and the hours are lost.” We’ve all sat in a meeting and wondered why the meeting drags, or why it jumps from topic to topic. The leader or convener of the meeting can’t do it all by him or herself. A set of ground rules can be used to enlist the assistance of all participants in keeping the meeting on track.
Here is a possible set of rules for meetings:
·
Appoint a timekeeper and task
master – to remind the group when they’ve exceeded agreed-upon limits on time
and topics
·
Speak only to add substance
·
Don’t kick a dead horse (be
concise)
·
When in violent agreement,
move on
·
Complete items one at a time
·
If only 2 people are involved,
take it outside the meeting
·
If it takes more than 5 (unscheduled)
minutes – consider taking it outside the meeting
·
Display suggestions (for later
consideration)
·
Display new/additional items
(for later consideration)