Team Planning for Project Managers and Business Analysts

Gail Levitt

• Publisher: Auerbach Publications
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781439855430
• eBook ISBN:
  9781466578654
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

Supplying busy project professionals with time-tested tips and templates for developing teams efficiently and effectively, Team Planning for Project Managers and Business Analysts provides the planning materials required to increase team collaboration and productivity in a global workplace.This comprehensive resource offers insights and access to c

1

Team Planning in a Project Environment

George, BA (Business Systems Analyst) “Hi, Carol. I’m looking forward to your requirements presentation at the project update meeting tomorrow.”

Carol, PMP (Project Team Leader) “Well, as a matter of fact, I’m not going, but don’t worry—you will receive the information you need from Henry who will be presenting instead.”

George “O.K., that’s acceptable, but why are you going to miss the meeting?”

Carol “The project sponsor is requiring me to attend a ‘team planning’ course for the next two days. I tried to postpone this training due to my workload, but I was unsuccessful.”

George “So while we are completing important project work priorities, you will be having fun doing silly team-building games and learning fluffy, touchy-feely stuff. You are really lucky to have it so easy!”

Carol “I don’t feel so lucky wasting my time and energy when I have so much real work to do, but I don’t have a choice. I just hope there is a quiet location outside the room where I can disappear frequently to check messages for project updates.”

Stereotype of Team Planning

In the above dialogue, George and Carol define team planning as a touchy-feely activity identical to team building that interferes with more important project tasks. Have you ever heard or participated in a similar conversation that stereotypes team building and development processes as irrelevant, silly, and a waste of time? I certainly have—and not just once—but all too often during my extensive career as a project manager and team developer. The purpose of this chapter is to correct that stereotype by providing relevant information about team building and team planning that project professionals can use proactively to become more productive in the workplace.

There is no easy answer to the question: Why is team planning sometimes stereotyped in project management and business analysis as “touchy-feely”? This requires a more detailed analysis to understand how the unique challenges and experiences of project managers and business analysts affect their perceptions of team planning. There are four key contributing factors to consider:

1. Professional competency. Project managers and business analysts have specialized training in their respective disciplines that encourages them to follow specific processes. Although they typically work on teams as part of their jobs, their project duties do not require professional competency to strategically plan for and develop the team throughout the stages of its life cycle. As the wise writer Mark Twain once commented, “Men are usually competent thinkers along the lines of their specialized training only. Within those limits alone are their opinions and judgments valuable; outside of them they grope and are lost—usually without knowing it.”^* Unless they have seen a team development plan before, there would be no reason for project managers and business analysts to know anything about it.
   In my experience training and coaching approximately 1,200 project managers and business analysts annually, only 20 percent of them have ever seen a team development plan. Paramount to the professional competency of team planning is acquiring in-depth knowledge to assess, influence, and evaluate the team’s stages of development. Knowing how to write, execute, and evaluate a team plan is an essential skill for project managers and business analysts challenged to develop a team, with or without formal authority over its members.
2. Intolerance of ambiguity. In a project environment, the ability to objectively define and precisely document ambiguous information is an essential skill that enables project managers and business analysts to effectively solve problems and make decisions. Refining vague details ensures that the project scope, requirements, evaluation criteria, and deliverables are consistent and clear to all team members and stakeholders. Clarifying vague information can also reduce risks to quality, productivity, and revenue loss. Consequently, poorly defined requirements, scope, and deliverables can be attributed to a project professional’s inability to eliminate ambiguity.
   Too much emphasis on avoiding ambiguity, however, can lead to serious team performance issues. Team members and their leaders can become so comfortable with predictable routines and processes that their avoidance of risk and change can lead to missed opportunities for quick decision making and innovation. This response, known as ambiguity intolerance, occurs when individuals and teams experience high levels of anxiety and stress and low levels of performance while they struggle to cope with information that is vague, imprecise, incomplete, and inconsistent. Their ambiguity intolerance can also cause them to become impatient when others do not provide clear and consistent project information. Consequently, interpersonal tensions and conflicts can emerge among team members, stakeholders, and customers who do not express ideas and requirements in terms that are concrete or tangible.
   Ambiguous situations can challenge project professionals to overcome their resistance to change, explore problems and opportunities from new perspectives, and make sounder decisions. Developing a high tolerance for ambiguity can lead to increased innovation, collaboration, and customer responsiveness. Teams capable of addressing ambiguity with confidence have a better chance of developing to their full potential by becoming strengthened by the unforeseen obstacles they overcome together as a consolidated unit.^*
3. The triple constraints. Through no fault of their own, many competent project managers and business analysts still struggle to find ways to cope with the continuous anxiety they feel about managing their ever-expanding workloads on their current to-do list. They can feel stuck on the front lines of endless daily tasks, what productivity specialist David Allen refers to as the runway of current actions that seem to constantly multiply and never get done.^* On the project runway, daily routines and short-term deliverables take priority. The risk is perceiving important activities, including team building and team planning, as an interference with getting things done when both can contribute to increased productivity if sufficient time is allocated for each of them.
4. Stress and conflict reactions. The pressures related to these triple constraints can lead to anxiety and feeling a loss of control, which in turn can put busy project managers and business analysts at risk for experiencing increased stress and conflict reactions on the team (Figure 1.1). The adrenaline that triggers one’s stress and conflict responses can generate three responses:
   • Fight
   • Flight
   • Flight–Fight (Passive-aggressive)

FIGURE 1.1 Conflict reactions signpost.

A “fight” reaction is demonstrated by a forceful, aggressive approach to meeting the stressor or conflict directly. In contrast, a “flight” response is more indirect; it involves wanting to withdraw from the stressors or conflict. When a “flight” response escalates into a “fight” response, the result is known as a passive-aggressive reaction. Although these three responses occur as a natural part of human interactions, it is possible for project professionals ill-prepared to deal with their own or others’ emotions to view them as “touchy-feely” responses that are not appropriate in a project environment.

The reality is that these conflict...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• About the Author
• 1 Team Planning in a Project Environment
• 2 Evaluating the Team
• 3 Creating a Team Development Plan
• 4 Getting Buy-In for the Team Development Plan
• 5 Influencing Multigenerational Team Members
• 6 Facilitating Team Development at Meetings
• 7 Team Succession Planning
• 8 Leading Team Transformation
• 9 Future of Teams
• Appendix
• Selected Bibliography
• Index