Who Is On Your Team? 2

Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe…

I'll trade you all my sleeves for a sweet 'stache.

I’ll trade you all my sleeves for a sweet ‘stache.

As a project team leader, you already know the skills you want on your project team.  Sure, you want a process expert.  And “outside eyes” (someone who knows nothing about the process) is a great person to have as well.  You also want a representative from each major function involved in the process.  With any luck, all of these people will have the authority to make decisions as well.

That’s great.  You’ve filled all the major positions.  So have the Cleveland Browns.  So let’s not get too excited just yet.

Now, who do you REALLY want on your team?

There are a lot of personalities out there, and some are better suited to working on projects than others.  More importantly, some are better suited at WORKING TOGETHER than others.  Luckily for you, there are some good tools out there that can help you identify those ideal teammates.

Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI) is a fantastic tool that allows organizations to categorize natural behavior patterns of individual employees.  But the real value of SDI is that it provides guidance on how those people (and it’s always about the people) are most likely to handle various stages of conflict.  More importantly, it teaches participants to better understand themselves and therefore learn to adapt their behavior to more appropriate situational actions.  I’ve used SDI before and I like it (SDI classifies me as a “HUB”).  SDI is easy.  It makes sense.  It makes for great teams.

Myers Briggs is another tool that can be used effectively.  It is designed to help participants perform better in a team environment, and has similar goals to SDI.  I personally have less experience with Myers Briggs (so I can’t give much of a personal recommendation on it) but I’ve worked with people who swear by it.  And if you’re keeping score at home, I am an INTJ type.

Really, either is a great option.  It is a matter of personal preference.  There are many other tools just a Google search away.  These are the ones I know best.  Whatever your choice, you are better off making a decision based on data and facts (rather than “gut feelings”).

What has YOUR experience been like?  Leave a comment below and share your experiences!

2 thoughts on “Who Is On Your Team?

  1. Reply Matt Warnert Jul 8,2016 11:37 pm

    Hi Anthony,
    My experience has been that I don’t get to pick who is on my team. You put a request into the division and you are assigned a representative from that major process function.

    For those keeping score at home I’m an ENTJ, but I’m not sure about the E sometimes. Definitely an NTJ.

  2. Reply Anthony DoMoe Jul 11,2016 10:07 pm

    Thanks for the comment Matt. What you described is pretty common and understandable considering typical constraints in personnel availability. I have to remind myself that the people I’d like to have in my projects already have a “day job”, and it isn’t always possible to pull them away. Thankfully, Continuous Process Improvement allows us to do the best we can and then come back later and do it again (and again, and again…) so that we will eventually get the results we want. I’ve frequently been very pleasantly surprised by the efforts of those who were assigned to projects, so I don’t lose too much sleep over who is assigned to me (as long as they are willing to try, then we can make progress).

    Regarding the Myers Briggs: I assessed myself based on “reverse engineering” the standard results descriptions and came up with a pretty even mix between INTP and INTJ. I eventually took the full analysis and at the end of the test ($50 later) was told that my score was at the intersection of INTP and INTJ, so I’d have to pick one. It was really a coin flip, but I lean more INTJ. So for $50 I was given validation that I have a little bit of self-awareness.

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