 Written by Rachel Wasik There are multiple factors that can hinder a project’s success. In most cases, the project can be intertwined with unforeseen setbacks. Shortages in material, increased costs, delays in manufacturing, and waiting on feedback all take time and, depending on the severity, can significantly delay success. If every project, and every team, encounters unavoidable delays, what steps can be taken to distinguish a successful project from a failed project? Often, it is the unity of the team that helps launch projects to success. In order to prioritize the synchronization of your team, it is important to understand the full picture of the project, as well as where people thrive. What is the full picture?
The process of starting from an idea and progressing to a final product or result requires a variety of different skills. Every team needs 5 types of people: problem identifiers, brainstormers, critical thinkers, motivators, and project executors. Problem identifiers are people who can identify what issues exist in the current world. Without them, there can be many missed opportunities. After your team identifies areas for improvement, you need brainstormers who can utilize their creativity to come up with new solutions. In this brainstorming stage, it is important to encourage ideas and generate as many as possible. That being said, you also need people who excel at using critical thinking to see past the surface level benefits of each solution. Maybe the solution does not fully cover the scope of the problem. Maybe the monetary cost and time is just too high to be a truly effective solution. Once you have down selected your solution, depending on the project’s scope, you’ll need team members who can convince and motivate other departments, investors, or managers to approve your project and carry it forward. After a solution is approved and support is gathered, you need people who enjoy supporting new ideas and can execute the project to completion. Building a team with different skills and personalities to complete each style of task will help you achieve success. Where do people thrive? As a result, it’s important to understand where people feel most fulfilled. Do they enjoy creating new ideas? Do they enjoy working out the details? Understanding different team members’ strengths and passions helps you to understand how to include them in your project. Incorrectly assigning team members to tasks can leave them feeling very burned out and unmotivated. A team member who excels at the beginning stages of a project might not excel at handling all the little details needing to be completed at the end of the project. Understanding your team’s strengths also helps you understand gaps in your team. If your team is missing a skill sets, it might be more difficult and time consuming to complete some steps in the design and production process. What can you do to understand your team’s strengths? Next Steps? It is important to sit down with your team and have an open dialogue about what tasks they enjoy completing. Encouraging communication creates an environment where people can express their opinions and desires. Be sure to build a team that includes skills and personalities that can each take ownership of specific styles of tasks so you all can achieve success. Additionally, there are countless tests online that can aid you in learning more about yourself and your team. While it would be impossible to link all of them, below are a few of the tests that exist, for those who are interested in learning more. Personally, I haven taken both the DiSC Test and the 6 Types of Working Genius. These tools made me realize that I enjoy working with all the little details involved in supporting projects and seeing them to completion. I would recommend trying a strengths test as it can be a valuable tool in understanding how to be more efficient in communication and working with your team. 6 Types of Working Genius DiSC Test 16 Personalities VIA Character Strength Finder Big Five Personality Test Workplace Personality Inventory Team Dimensions Profile
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