Best Practices for Forming Cohesive Capital Project Teams
One of the first challenges project leadership faces is assembling a team and establishing a climate for success. In addition to the nuts and bolts of team composition, forming a team involves motivating people to move from a collection of individuals to a strong, cohesive group—which is no easy task.
A client recently engaged Independent Project Analysis (IPA) because they were struggling to consistently establish functional teams from the start and maintain a high level of functionality throughout their projects. They wanted to understand what the industry is doing early on to establish strong teams and set them up for long term success. We were able to leverage IPA research and expertise in capital project teams to provide Best Practices associated with measuring team performance and developing effective teams in the following areas:
- The value of effective teams
- Project leadership
- Team formation
- Training and development
- Team transitions
- On-boarding
- Team-building and communication
- Decision making
This information enabled the client to consistently establish strong, unified project teams and provide the right level of guidance and support to those teams through the transitions and changes of the project.