Are you working with a new project team? Here are some tips for getting your team past Storming and Norming and into the zone of Performing.
Use a shared language
Use vocab and process names that are meaningful within the team, and make sure everyone uses the same terminology.
Chances are, if your project team members have been around a while they will know the in-house language of projects. However, you might have some specific project language that everyone needs to be onboard with. For example, is it Phase 2, Stage 2 or Tranche 2?
Build and share experience
Do you know the background of your colleagues? Can you recall the projects they have worked on? Take the time to call out and share the experience you have collectively. Celebrate successes and give everyone the chance to shine.
What you’re trying to do is build respect and understanding for what people bring so you can shortcut some of the ‘I don’t know if she’s ever done that before’ worries that the team might have about each other.
Foster an environment where trust is the norm
I know that trust isn’t always something you should assume, but in the workplace, trust people to do their jobs until they show you otherwise. Don’t make them jump through hoops just to do the roles they are hired to do.
Actively create resilience
Create resilience in the team by promoting wellbeing activities and encouraging the team to collaborate. You can also take practical steps like making sure project team members have a deputy who can step in when they are off, and that there is resilience in the resourcing plan in that you have enough people to do the job.
Build resilience into your solutions too, so you aren’t trying to run a network on a single server.
Share lessons learned
Make it normal to share lessons learned across the team. When you’re still learning how things work in this new environment, it can speed up adopting new (successful) ways of working but it also takes a bit of vulnerability.
If that’s a problem, focus on sharing the ‘this worked well so we’ll do it again’ lessons and keep the ‘what didn’t work’ conversations to your one-on-one chats.
Manage anxiety
Being in a new team is anxiety-provoking. Will they like us, what will they think of the way I do my work? Focus on psychological safety and setting expectations that are reasonable and manageable – for example, not expecting overtime, not emailing them on the weekends and giving people enough time to do tasks before you chase them.
Live the vision
Finally, make sure the team is aware of the common vision for the project. Talk about your hopes for the future and the goals you want to achieve together. OK, it takes more than a quick chat in a team meeting to create a genuine sense of wanting to work together to achieve a goal, but it sets the tone and gives people an understanding of the ‘why’ behind the project.
Tie your decisions back to the vision, reference it often and challenge activities that don’t lead you closer to it.
You can’t magically get to a performing team overnight, but these activities will help you start off on the right path so you reach a good standard of project performance together as quickly as possible.
