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Sue Dyer   (July 13, 2006)




Project teams are made up of interdependent roles. When information hoarding, blame seeking and self-protection kick in, a breakdown isn’t far behind. Here are five concepts to help create a foundation that allows for cooperative relationships and teamwork to grow.

Did you ever work on a team where it seemed that everyone was working against each other? It’s no surprise when such a project or initiative fails. Sometimes you just wish that there were a way to get everyone on the same page.
 
On a highway-widening project, the team had to calculate how much asphalt it would take to fill the holes left when they dug out the failed areas of the road. The client and project lead went out separately to measure the area to be filled, but time after time they couldn’t agree on the measurement. Then they differed on how long the project would take, how far the work should proceed in a day, what work had been completed, if the work had been completed correctly, or even what time of the day to meet. Finally, in frustration, the project lead blew up and was kicked off the job.
 
This was fairly straightforward stuff and, still, common ground could not be found. How many times have you been involved with a project that is going south and you just don’t know what to do? Here are five concepts that help create a foundation that allows for partnership and teamwork to grow.
 
#1: Take Ownership of Problems
What happens when a problem occurs? Is your first reaction, “I thought Bob was supposed to do this” or, “I paid a lot of money to get this right” or, “These numbers are just wrong”? If so, the next logical step is to figure out who is to blame for your having this problem.



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