UBC Award of Achievement in Project Management with Microsoft Project

5. Building High-performance Teams to Fast-track Projects

Friday, October 22, 2010, 9am - 4pm at UBC Robson Square

1. Scheduling Projects and tasks
April 9, 2010		 2. Managing projects and resources
April 16, 2010		 3. Initiating Projects Laying the Foundations for Success
April 23, 2010		 4. Specifying and Estimating Deliverables
April 30, 2010
5. Building High-performance Teams to fast track projects
May 7, 2010		 6. Communicating Progress to clients and management
May 14, 2010		 Brian Mullen , MSc, MCP,  your workshop leader UBC Robson Square

High-performance teams complete project tasks faster, deliver results more quickly and reduce schedule time. High-performance teams achieve results all out of proportion to their numbers. They create solutions where others see problems. High-performance teams show initiative when faced with unanticipated challenges. The variation in performance in different industries can vary up to ten times. Learn how smart companies organize teams.

A project manager builds high-performance team by organizing the project with thorough planning, recruiting the best people possible, selecting more effective strategies, challenging team members with shared vision, recruiting best resources, stimulating team members to to think, making project work exciting, assessing skills more accurately, ensuring knowledge transfer between team members, 

This session will cover methods to build high-performance teams and reduce project schedules. Learn how to remove friction from the team process to complete tasks more quickly. Learn how facilitate the team process and reduce the storming phase of team formation. You will learn practical strategies and methods to:

  1. Delight customers by producing superior products.
  2. Reduce project schedule and cost with high-performance teams.
  3. Speed recruitment of high-quality teams.
  4. Leadership strategies to build and excite high-performance teams.
  5. Plan project team structure with proper skill mix to get the job done.
  6. Build collaboration and trust through brainstorming and problem solving.
  7. Improve communication with clients and team members.
  8. Create intellectual commandos who achieve results out of proportion to their numbers.
  9. Build team confidence and risk taking with joint-problem solving.
  10. Reduce conflicts that waste time and energy.
  11. Reduce wasted time in meetings.

See detailed agenda outlining the topics that will be covered in this session. This session includes classroom case studies and team exercises. Because this session does not use Microsoft Project,  you may take this session without taking the prerequisites. Your homework will be to plan and conduct a team-building session within your organization.

Click to register for this course

email Brian Mullen with your questions

Agenda for Building high-performance teams to fast track projects
Friday, May 7, 2010,  9am - 4pm
  Topic Building High-performance Teams agenda
9am Build high-performance teams to fast track projects
  • Produce better results faster with turbo brainstorming
  • Open channels of communication with turbo brainstorming.
  • Compare high performance teams with dysfunctional teams. 
  • Finish projects faster. 
  • Deliver products to the marketplace before competitors. 
  •   
10am Coffee 
 10:15 am Expedite team interaction with turbo brainstorming
  • Avoid command and control style.
  •  Facilitate team sessions. 
  • Coach teams. 
  • Create future possibilities with vision. 
  • Build teams with coaching. 
  • Create change with catalyst. 
  • Inspire teams with Leadership.  
11:45 Mobilize project team
  • Recruit candidate team members. 
  • Hire experienced personnel. 
  • Use experts effectively. 
  • Get dedicated team members. 
  • Backfill operational personnel. 
  • Assign project team members to project. 
  • Arrange release dates for each resource. 
  • Define resource calendars in project software.  
12noon Lunch break  
1 pm Kickoff project with team- building session
  • Plan kickoff session. 
  • Create shared vision with Turbo Brainstorming. 
  • Brainstorm project team goals. 
  • Coach project teams with Facilitator. 
  • Expedite storming phase of team formation. 
  • Challenge team with stretch goals. 
  • Document plans in detail with Planning Software. 
  • Create ignorance maps.  
2pm Prepare project team
  • Analyze skill gaps.
  • Plan skill acquisition. 
  • Respond quickly to opportunities and threats. 
  • Improve performance with Just-in-Time training. 
  • Rehearse skills to improve performance. 
  • Create intellectual commandos.
2:30pm Coffee
2:30pm Assign clear Responsibilities
  • Clear objectives improve performance.
  •  Unclear responsibilities results in turf wars.
2:45pm Build teams with joint-problem solving
  • Face problems openly. 
  • Solve problems jointly.
  • Share knowledge with Turbo Brainstorming. 
  • Empower novice team members with shared knowledge. 
  • Challenge team with stretch goals. 
  • Analyze root causes. 
  • Generate creative, breakthrough solutions. 
  • Evaluate alternative solutions . 
  • Brainstorm multiple topics in one session. 
  • Build confidence with problem solving.  
 3:30 pm Expedite meetings with turbo brainstorming
  • Facilitate every meeting. 
  • Speed decision meeting
  • Suppress team destroying behaviors.
  • Resolve conflicts constructively. 
  • Increase energy levels. 
  • Stimulate thinking to develop better solutions

Click to register for this course

Next session: 6. Communicating Progress to clients and management

Updated: Nov. 25, 2009.

email Brian Mullen with your questions