I was recently asked to produce a two-slide deck, discussing some easy ways to reduce team friction and encourage management-level collaboration.
My findings won’t knock your socks off.
Seriously though, I’m continually amazed how many teams I’ve encountered that don’t do what I’d consider "the basics" of managing team deliverables and expectations. They stumble along, can't understand why each project is so stressful, are shocked at team attrition levels and seem to think "last minute heroics" are a good thing (instead of realizing that many times this is just an indicator of poor planning).
My slides were as follows:
Part One: Project Management
• What/Why – state the goals/objectives of the project
• Who – list out the specific tasks and resources for each task
• How – produce peer-reviewed specifications
• When – create/maintain/publish delivery schedules. Hold individuals accountable.
Part Two - Collaboration
• Hold a weekly meeting consisting of the leadership team (varies by project/team). Each person should discuss current projects, status, set expectations
• Produce a weekly project status to the entire team. Stress accountability
• Ensure product, design and test specifications are peer-reviewed.
• Broadcast any changes to the plan
If you're team isn't doing the above, give it a shot. You'll be amazed at the improvement in team dynamics.