Making an Investment in the Work of Teamwork

As I write, my team and I are on our way to a Partnering session for a large Federal project in the Midwest.  This is an extremely complicated project, with multiple firms and stakeholders representing hundreds of constituents and their needs and interests.  Participants in the session come from the design, development, construction, and support fields. They are coming together to build a framework and foundation for collaboration and team success that will last for the duration of this highly sensitive and critical project.  As their facilitator, I think the partnering process has already begun with team members’ commitment to attend the session and bring issues and concerns to the table in what promises to be a very eventful and content-rich couple of days.  These team members clearly get it; They understand that they have to work together to achieve common as well as individual needs, goals, and expectations.

 

Partnering, done correctly, does not involve the singing of songs or the playing of silly games. Rather, it involves team members making a commitment to come together to discuss their needs in an open environment.  It involves team members, with often competing interests, aggressively working to identify and meet common goals.  And, it involves aligning team members’ beliefs and actions around a common definition of success.

Having completed extensive pre-partnering information gathering, I can tell you that this team faces some significant challenges – most project teams do.  Their challenges relate to the usual suspects of time, money, and resources, but they are also facing the added difficulty of a stressful and changing economy where all of the involved organizations are working harder with fewer resources and increased risk.  That these firms are willing to come together to for their common success, is both satisfying and humbling.  It’s satisfying that the leadership of these organizations understands the value of teamwork and that each are committed to achieving it on this project.  And, as a facilitator, it’s humbling to realize that these leaders have done the real work of partnering already – making time in their incredibly busy schedules to talk about the tough issues associated with teamwork. 

Building a team isn’t easy – and it doesn’t come without cost or conflict.  Teamwork requires airing out concerns and being willing to work through them in an open environment.  It requires revealing your issues to team members and asking for their assistance in resolving them.  And, it requires making yourself responsible for meeting other team member’s needs.  This collection of leaders knows that in this challenging economy, far from being an unnecessary expense, partnering is a proven path to maximizing success for all parties.

Meg Winch, President

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Meg specializes in the facilitation and training of communication and organizational skills, working with project team members to enhance the communication behaviors critical to their jobs.  She is a trained facilitator of formal partnering and public involvement processes.  She regularly works with teams to develop presentations, manage messages, and develop communication strategies and agreements. Meg also works with both public and private sector clients to develop comprehensive programs of both qualitative and quantitative research.