I have been away for quite some time and it is refreshing to come back again to what I like and enjoy the most. My summer break was quite fun, enjoying it with the kids and had a road trip to Berlin. Everything has come back to normal and even with Covid-19, the rules have been removed. We are slowly going regaining normalcy again and hopefully businesses are starting to see early signs of positive trends. When I talk with my friends across different industries, it is apparent that most of us are hopeful of how things are unfolding, and remain very optimistic, that the dragon has been slain.
While at it, I have been assigned two project teams that have varying level of maturity when working with projects. One of the teams is co-located and the other one is a virtual team, where we interact online. Any project manager, will tell you that this is a nightmare and it is no easy task. The virtual team composes of competent individuals, who unfortunately are not used to working within a project framework and “Teaming” is alien to them. The leadership is also wanting in communication and planning is just a buzz word for them.
The co-located team is also competent, have a fair knowledge of what it means to work in a team and have the advantage of a fairly supportive leadership. The team is not so much cross-functional and it means that I have to play a double role, assisting with the technical stuff as well. I am aware that double-dealing contradicts the tenets of psychological safety, but then again I am at a crossroad on how to support the team to achieve stability. Recently I have been revising the “Servant leadership” approach of leading to understand how to approach the situation and I am happy I got some good insights.
So, I am currently meeting the team members individually to understand them and create a bonding session. I want to establish a platform where we can leverage each others strengths and form a strong coalition where the team members feel safe to operate in. Within the last two weeks, this has gone so well and I have also had online meetings with the virtual team. All is not rosy, but it is not bad either. One of the greatest tools from project management that has been of great use is LISTENING. It feels so refreshing to hear team members open up about the pains and troubles they are experiencing, and yet they remain optimistic that I can be a core player in finding a solution. I am also finding the skills of Decision-making coming into play, being applicable in areas where there is need to elicit more information from stakeholders. I remain positive, that the experience I have and the knowledge acquired, will be feasible in helping the teams to have a conducive environment. So far, I am avoiding situations where my teams feel cornered and have to play along my rules. I try to facilitate the meetings and hear the participants’ corncers’ and then finally voice my thoughts as well. It is working well so far, and participants are sharing their thoughts out.
This, my friends, will be interesting. Follow me on this journey of “Team Virtual” and “Team Office”.
Project Management 