Cisco Telepresence for Your Next Virtual Project Event

Bring the project team to your next event via telepresence ...

Teamwork: A Lesson from the Super Bowl

Watching the Super Bowl last night brought to mind a valuable lesson in teamwork.

However, the lesson didn't come from the game itself. It came from a simple statement made prior to the game in a recorded intro spot about teamwork.

During the overlapping voiceovers touting the value of teamwork, a simple definition was announced:

Teamwork... A cooperative effort by members of a group to achieve a common goal.

Now this is a fairly straightforward definition, and on the surface doesn't seem profound by any means. One might even say it's common sense. If that's the case, then why doesn't it feel that way on many project teams?

A project team includes the core members, key stakeholders, and anyone in an organization who's involvement or cooperation is needed to achieve a goal. The problem right off the bat is that most teams struggle with agreeing on what the goal is. If they do reach agreement on the goal, the next challenge is to make it a cooperative effort to achieve it.

If every project manager posted the above definition of teamwork on their wall and shared it with the project team and stakeholders during the project kickoff, perhaps it could serve as inspiration toward further dialogue.... and launch a true "cooperative effort toward a common goal."

Engagement is the answer to many a team's struggles, and this view of a team seems to embody the concept.

Perhaps this definition is pretty profound after all.

Leadership is Plural, and Other Insights on Engagement

A colleague referred me to an interesting Harvard Business School article on leadership from Rosabeth Moss Kanter, author of Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End.

Kanter discusses the importance of creating a culture where natural leaders can emerge, which is often the case during winning streaks (and often lacking during losing streaks). This is equally true in both sports and business.

Says Kanter:

Winning teams and successful organizations become increasingly less dependent on the person called the commander-in-chief—even though, ironically, the same top managers are more likely to stay in place during winning streaks. As a pattern of success continues, many people at many levels take on leadership roles.

By creating the right environment, these managers earn the respect and confidence of their team, which in turn ensures that the management will endure. It's a virtuous circle.

Kanter goes on to explain how this forms the three cornerstones of confidence:

Leaders can multiply on the field when leaders at the top establish the support structure to make further leadership possible. Leaders construct and reinforce the cornerstones of confidence... The mission statement for leaders has three imperatives, one for each stone: to ensure accountability, cultivate collaboration, and encourage initiative.

A quote I particularly liked from the article comes from Mike Krzyzewski, coach of Duke's men's basketball team: "Leadership is plural."

For more details, read the full article below...

How Leaders Build Winning Streaks — HBS Working Knowledge

Project Team Event: Museum Field Trip

Here's an interesting museum you can take your virtual team to. See any familiar items? ...



Pocket Protector Collection

Project Communication: Social Networking is Here!

I knew it wouldn't take long. Technology for project communication is moving at the speed of light. Organizations are already using project blogs and wikis. Intel is spearheading the move towards WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability of Microwave Access), which will allow people to be wired to the Internet wherever they are at lightning speeds, through cell phones, laptops, televisions, and so on.

And now, a web site called Ning allows anyone to create their own MySpace-type social networks. This is a great way for a virtual project team to get to know each other and share ideas, discussions, and documents. You can create public networks or invitation-only networks. And it's totally free. Soon project social networks will be the way business is done.

Check it out...

Ning - Create your own Social Networks!

Another Team Building Option

Just after project kickoff, the Spanish contingent of your project team takes the day off to ...

Leaderless Teams and Nature: Meet the BioTeam

Leaderless teams are a concept that organizations such as Toyota have had great success with. Yet organizations still can't shake the old hierarchical concepts.

Enter Ken Thompson. Thompson has made a career out of studying nature with the purpose of learning how geese, penguins, ants, bees, dolphins, and other creatures communicate and accomplish their significant "projects" in the form of leaderless teams.

For instance, when geese change formation, it's often because the leader no longer knows where to go, so another goose needs to take over. Collectively, they know how to reach their destination. It's the same with migrating penguins. Each contributor is responsible for communicating key messages, taking over when needed, and acting in what they feel is in the best interest of the group.

This certainly has implications on the role of the project manager. I'm not saying the PM role isn't required, but the role could certainly be reframed or rethought in this context. It would be quite an interesting study.

The link below contains a 15 minute video interview with Thompson, where he explains the BioTeam approach. Also, visit his website at http://www.bioteams.com/. There are some fascinating articles there that offer new perspectives on team dynamics, virtual teaming, and virtual networks. For more on the leaderless approach, also check out the book, The Starfish and the Spider, by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom, which I blogged about last year on PMThink.

Meet the BioTeams Blogger PodTech.net: Technology and Entertainment Video Network

Team Kickoffs: Breaking the Ice

Whether conducting a project kickoff, a seminar, or a training session, it's always fun to start with an ice breaker. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. I've seen ice breakers that were nothing more than a funny video, but served to loosen things up (nowadays that's pretty easy with YouTube, such as this one we posted on PMThink).

I've also seen ice breakers that served to get people moving around and networking, such as having each person use pictures (and no words) on a piece of folded flip chart paper to describe themselves, and then having people pair off for a minute at a time and interpret each other's pictures.

If you're looking for ideas, here's a nice list to help get you started. I think my favorite link is the last one.

Ice Breakers