“I’ve just been asked to lead a change project within our company. I know I don’t have all the skills and information to achieve the expected results on my own. It’s going to be especially tricky because a lot of groups are going to be impacted by the change, and I’m sure they are going to resist. What can I do to lower my risk and improve my chances of success?”

#9: Project Teams

What are Project Teams?

Most significant decisions require changes to people, processes or technology when they are implemented. Therefore, they require significant effort to design, prepare for, transition to and implement. Forming a Project Team specifically to support these efforts is a great way of lowering risk and improving your chances of success. Project Teams are made up of a diverse group of people called together to analyze the current situation, design the elements of the change, and identify the steps to achieve it, and support implementation. Individuals are asked to be a member of a team either instead of or in addition to their current responsibilities.

When to use Project Teams

• When a change is considered ‘high risk’ or difficult to implement
• When your project has several different stakeholder groups involved, i.e. divisions, geographies and will involve significant changes to your existing ways of working
• When your organization has a history of poor delivery on previous initiatives

How to use Project Teams

1. Confirm the purpose and scope of the Project Teams.
2. Determine the skills and expertise required on the team. Be sure to consider all stakeholder groups and their required involvement.
3. Look around the organization for those individuals with the required skills and expertise. Look beyond your favorites. Participation on a project is a great way to ‘grow your next generation of leaders’. Team members must not only have the required skills and expertise, but also be considered a credible representative for their part of the organization.
4. Determine if you need the team to work on your project full time or part time.
5. Work with proposed team members’ direct managers to gain support for their involvement in the project. Ensure that the workload of team members is distributed to someone else, or stopped.
6. Launch the team. Involve team members in designing the details of your project plan.
7. Hold regular meetings throughout the project. Use the techniques outlined in this book to support your success. Take time to have fun along the way.
8. Celebrate the end of the project and ensure that team members are successfully re-integrated into old or new jobs.

In Summary:

Most changes require significant effort to design, prepare for, transition to and implement. Forming a Project Team specifically to support these efforts is a great way of lowering risk and improving your chances of success.

1. Confirm the purpose and scope of the Project Team.
2. Determine the skills and expertise required on the team.
3. Identify individuals with the required skills and expertise.
4. Determine if you need the team to work on your project full time or part time.
5. Work with proposed team members’ direct managers to gain support.
6. Launch the team.
7. Hold regular meetings throughout the project.
8. Celebrate the end of the project and ensure that team members are successfully re-integrated into old or new jobs.

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You will find my book Mission Critical Meetings: 81 Practical Facilitation Techniques on Amazon. Your feedback and reviews are most welcome.

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