Project Team Building
This isn’t going to be an article about taking your team on a venture weekend trekking through the wilderness – but it is going to be an article about how to set about building your project team in terms of recruitment. When beginning a job as a Project Manager, chances are that you will not already have in place either a complete compliment or staff or, even more likely, an effective team capable of delivering what you require. Project team building will require time and effort from you, so we hope you’ll find the following pointers helpful.
Recruitment constraints.
You must acknowledge that when it comes to recruiting staff from within an organization for an in-house project you will come up against some obstacles. Namely that managers of staff you wish to recruit to your project will either not release them in the case of them being competent staff and/or will try and off-load onto you staff that are less effective in their current jobs. Here you mustn’t let your desire to get started with the project rush you into making rash decisions. Better to wait until the caliber of staff you require are available than finding yourself with an uphill task with under-achieving staff. ****Also, project budget restraints could be a hindrance to project team building – so be prepared to be shrewd in your salary negotiations.
Project team building priorities.
Although you must get the right people on board you can save money by only getting them at the right time, when their skills are needed within the project. Project team building doesn’t mean you have to recruit all the staff for all the life of the project – so, here are the main priorities to be concerned with. Do recruit your key team members early on, even if their contracts don’t begin immediately. Only recruit the best you can for the budget you have available and never appoint someone just to fill a vacancy. Look at the personalities of those you employ to check that they’ll all work well together and will foster positive attitudes. Finally, from their first day at work make sure they feel welcome and involved, so make sure their office space and equipment is ready, their security pass is waiting for them … etc.