Laura DavidsonGlobal Program Manager, Project Managers Without Borders (PMWB)| PMISmyrna, Ga, United States
Do you know of a skills or capability assessment that will help strengthen my team by utilizing existing skills; identifying skill gaps and partnering team members that compliment each other?
I am part of a small (4 members) team in Enterprise Architecture. We have an aggressive project schedule for the rest of the year and I am looking for tools that will maximize our productivity and solidify us as a team.
I’m looking for a relatively simple (and, free of course ;-) assessment that helps us understand personal and team talents.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Laura Davidson Saving Changes...
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Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Sorry if I did not answer your question, but please let me say that skills is not an item that has a real impact on productivity. You can search for seminal IBM work on that from the end of 1970 and others. And on the other side you have to clear define what is productivity for you or your organization. Just a comment. Saving Changes...
Bala S DuvvuriProject Manager| ShellBangalore, Karnataka, India
Laura,
This is what we are doing in our project.
Create a simple excel with the list of skills to be required for the project and assess the project members against those skills by giving some rating(4-Expert,1-Beginner etc) .
This is how you will come to know what is the required rating for each of those skills and the skill gaps.
Your question have two different parts and in fact it's a big subject but I will try to optimize my response and I wish this can help.
The first part is about capability assessment which is a part of Plan Human Resource Management which is the process of identifying and documenting project roles, responsibilities, required skills, reporting relationships, and creating a staffing management plan.
In short, I will recommend to use "Matrix-based charts" technique (as a start point) which is a responsibility assignment matrix (RAM), it is a grid that shows the project resources assigned to each work package. It is used to illustrate the connections between work packages or activities and project team members (let me know if you need a template for RAM).
I will move directly to your second part of your question which is related to productivity improve which is actually apart of Develop Project Team Process. Develop Project Team is the process of improving competencies, team member interaction, and overall team environment to enhance project performance. The key benefit of this process is that it results in improved teamwork, enhanced people skills and competencies, motivated employees, reduced staff turnover rates, and improved overall project performance.
There are several tools and techniques to develop project team, In short I will recommend to use the following :
1) Enhance Interpersonal Skills: Interpersonal skills, sometimes known as “soft skills,” are behavioral competencies that include proficiencies such as communication skills, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, negotiation, influence, team building, and group facilitation. These soft skills are valuable assets when developing the project team. For example, the project management team can use emotional intelligence to reduce tension and increase cooperation by identifying, assessing, and controlling the sentiments of project team members, anticipating their actions, acknowledging their concerns, and following up on their issues.
2) Training Training includes all activities designed to enhance the competencies of the project team members. Training can be formal or informal. Examples of training methods include classroom, online, computer based, on-the-job training from another project team member, mentoring, and coaching. If project team members lack the necessary management or technical skills, such skills can be developed as part of the project work. Scheduled training takes place as stated in the human resource management plan. Unplanned training takes place as a result of observation, conversation, and project performance appraisals conducted during the controlling process of managing the project team. Training costs could be included in the project budget, or supported by performing organization if the added skills may be useful for future projects. It could be performed by in-house or external trainers.
3) Team-Building Activities Team-building activities can vary from a 5-minute agenda item in a status review meeting to an off-site, professionally facilitated experience designed to improve interpersonal relationships. The objective of team-building activities is to help individual team members work together effectively. Team-building strategies are particularly valuable when team members operate from remote locations without the benefit of face-to-face contact. Informal communication and activities can help in building trust and establishing good working relationships. As an ongoing process, team building is crucial to project success. While team building is essential during the initial stages of a project, it is a never-ending process. Changes in a project environment are inevitable, and to manage them effectively, a continued or a renewed team-building effort should be applied. The project manager should continually monitor team functionality and performance to determine if any actions are needed to prevent or correct various team problems. One of the models used to describe team development is the Tuckman ladder (Tuckman, 1965; Tuckman & Jensen, 1977), which includes five stages of development that teams may go through. Although it’s common for these stages to occur in order, it’s not uncommon for a team to get stuck in a particular stage or slip to an earlier stage. Projects with team members who worked together in the past may skip a stage. • Forming. This phase is where the team meets and learns about the project and their formal roles and responsibilities. Team members tend to be independent and not as open in this phase. • Storming. During this phase, the team begins to address the project work, technical decisions, and the project management approach. If team members are not collaborative and open to differing ideas and perspectives, the environment can become counterproductive. • Norming. In the norming phase, team members begin to work together and adjust their work habits and behaviors to support the team. The team learns to trust each other. • Performing. Teams that reach the performing stage function as a well-organized unit. They are interdependent and work through issues smoothly and effectively. • Adjourning. In the adjourning phase, the team completes the work and moves on from the project. This typically occurs when staff is released from the project as deliverables are completed or as part of carrying out the Close Project or Phase process. The duration of a particular stage depends upon team dynamics, team size, and team leadership. Project managers should have a good understanding of team dynamics in order to move their team members through all stages in an effective manner.
4) Ground Rules Ground rules establish clear expectations regarding acceptable behavior by project team members. Early commitment to clear guidelines decreases misunderstandings and increases productivity.
5) Colocation Colocation, also referred to as “tight matrix,” involves placing many or all of the most active project team members in the same physical location to enhance their ability to perform as a team.
6) Recognition and Rewards Part of the team development process involves recognizing and rewarding desirable behavior. The original plans concerning ways in which to reward people are developed during the Plan Human Resource Management process. It is important to recognize that a particular reward given to any individual will be effective only if it satisfies a need which is valued by that individual. Award decisions are made, formally or informally, during the process of managing the project team through project performance appraisals. Cultural differences should be considered when determining recognition and rewards. People are motivated if they feel they are valued in the organization and this value is demonstrated by the rewards given to them. Generally, money is viewed as a tangible aspect of any reward system, but intangible rewards could be equally or even more effective. Most project team members are motivated by an opportunity to grow, accomplish, and apply their professional skills to meet new challenges. A good strategy for project managers is to give the team recognition throughout the life cycle of the project rather than waiting until the project is completed.
7) Personnel Assessment Tools Personnel assessment tools give the project manager and the project team insight into areas of strength and weakness. These tools help project managers assess the team preferences, aspirations, how they process and organize information, how they tend to make decisions, and how they prefer to interact with people.
It's really a huge subject, I hope my answer help you and I will recommend also to see my previous response about enhance productivity under my contribution before. Saving Changes...
I may add that there are approaches that analyze and recommend actions like DISC, MBTI, and many more.
Last year I was lucky to receive the StrengthsFinder 2.0 as a gift. The test included in the book (test vouchers are also available online at gallup.com) got me taking the online test. After 177 questions I received my top 5 talents - my most dominant strengths - along with a detailed insight guide and action plan to strengthen these talents and to partner with people with other strengths than mine. The main ideas are:
- everybody (!) has visible and hidden talents
- focusing on talent instead of shortcomings leads to greater effects
- partnerships are the way to combine talents not dominant in one single person
There are more than 5000 individual profiles in the report - so they really get close to who you are (in terms of talents). I was very happy they figured me out and could suggest very useful actions for further development. I bought an upgrade to the full report and I am still glad I did! I learned about my dominant, supporting, and lesser strengths and worked through the material.
All across the world there are certified coaches - I've never met one - but if you check the Gallup called to coach webcast series you get a notion of what benefits they can add additionally to your reports and online resources, esp. regarding teams and enterprises. But you may as well start just with the book. :)
I hope that short report on my personal experience helps.
Bests
Christina
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1 reply by Rajesh Yerunkar
Jun 07, 2016 12:23 AM
Rajesh Yerunkar
...
This was real nice one...
Saving Changes...
Makrand SatarkarDirector of PM/PMO| CapgeminiPune, Maharashtra, India
For Skills assessment define Roles required in the team & competency requirements for each role. Define the training & certification needs for each competency. Provide rating for each competency based completed training, certifications & job performance to provide where an employees stands out for each competency. Saving Changes...
Rajesh YerunkarEnjoying Life| In TransitionMumbai, Maharastra, India
Hi Laura,
Define your assessment in two parts.
1. Let your team members tell you what they know and their level of expertise.
2. Then give them small tasks relevant to the current profiles with different levels of complexity, and what they have told you they know. This will help you with exact level of knowledge they have.
Then you can fill in the gaps to make them more productive and up to the mark. Saving Changes...
Rajesh YerunkarEnjoying Life| In TransitionMumbai, Maharastra, India
May 31, 2016 9:37 AM
Replying to Christina de Vries
...
Hi Laura,
I may add that there are approaches that analyze and recommend actions like DISC, MBTI, and many more.
Last year I was lucky to receive the StrengthsFinder 2.0 as a gift. The test included in the book (test vouchers are also available online at gallup.com) got me taking the online test. After 177 questions I received my top 5 talents - my most dominant strengths - along with a detailed insight guide and action plan to strengthen these talents and to partner with people with other strengths than mine. The main ideas are:
- everybody (!) has visible and hidden talents
- focusing on talent instead of shortcomings leads to greater effects
- partnerships are the way to combine talents not dominant in one single person
There are more than 5000 individual profiles in the report - so they really get close to who you are (in terms of talents). I was very happy they figured me out and could suggest very useful actions for further development. I bought an upgrade to the full report and I am still glad I did! I learned about my dominant, supporting, and lesser strengths and worked through the material.
All across the world there are certified coaches - I've never met one - but if you check the Gallup called to coach webcast series you get a notion of what benefits they can add additionally to your reports and online resources, esp. regarding teams and enterprises. But you may as well start just with the book. :)
I hope that short report on my personal experience helps.
