Rather than focus on structure, focus on people; rather than rely on control, inspire trust;
Old Dogs, New Tricks
rather than have a short-range perspective, have a long-range vision; rather than accept the status-quo, ask questions
Introduction
As discussed in Chapter 1, the balance of attention between business processes and people must never be overlooked. It is only by getting the balance right and ensuring that the opportunity/project team’s organizational structure and individual responsibilities are well defined and the attitudes, skills and behavior of the individuals and the team are appropriate that the maximum benefit will be derived from the business processes. The interaction of processes, structure and attitudes and competencies is shown (again) below.
The emphasis of the ORP Process is on an integrated, multi-discipline team approach to an opportunity – the right people in the right numbers at the right time with the appropriate responsibilities. It is no longer sufficient to bring the “project manager” and the “the project team” into being at the completion and delivery of the Basis for Design or even later.
How many opportunities have been beset with problems because the strategic thinking has not involved the right skills and experience? How many times has there been a lack of buy-in to the initial strategic thinking by later team members who were not involved in the process? Far too often opportunity/project teams are developed without sufficient thought on the required prerequisites for a high performing team. Large mistakes can be made in both the organizational structure and the skills and attitudes of the team if care is not taken to consider all aspects of the issue of how to build a team.
The management, engineering and operations skills that have been developed in the latter part of the Define Phase and during the Execute and Operate Phases of projects must be brought to bear in both the Identify and Assess Phase and, especially, the Select Phase when the technical and strategic planning options are being examined. It may be that these planning skills are required in the team full-time (“engaged”) in these phases or only needed part time (“involved”) but the required skills and experience must be identified during the Opportunity Framing process and indicated by phase on the Roadmap.
When building a team the following primary elements need to be considered:
- Leadership – what is Leadership and how does it fit with Management?
- Attitudes and Behaviors – how is a high performing team obtained?
- Organizational Structure – what should it be?
- Resourcing – where do the people come from?
- Responsibilities – how are these defined?
- Skills and Competencies – what is needed?