Monkswood Associates

Monkswood Associates Newsletter:
August 2003: Projects and Teams

Projects and Teams
When people think about projects quite often project management tools first come to mind – terms of reference, critical path analysis, Gantt charts, et cetera. My personal experience is that the planning and the people issues are the factors that normally supply the ‘challenges’! I am going to reflect on what we did and see where our success lay in how we undertook the river bank project.

Terms of reference
At the beginning of less than straight forward projects, it has been found of great use to sort out under what terms of reference a project is working. I have made bold the word or phrase for each aspect normally covered in terms of reference. The factors are:

We had a clear idea about the background to the project - why we were doing it, past experiences and what had taken place so far.
We certainly knew what we wanted to achieve (objectives) as a minimum by the end of the four weeks we had put aside for the work – the 120 metres of bank repaired and seeded so that it would give flood water more space (and in consequence put less pressure on the bank) and allow the grass seed to grow in order for the roots to hold the soil sufficiently, so that, in combination, the bank has a better chance of withstanding normal level floods. The costs were already going to be less than those quoted for an external contractor to do it all so we had quite a bit of leeway, although in our minds we had given ourselves an informal budget.
We knew the scope, with the exception of who would definitely be involved. Two of my brothers had indicated that they and parts of their families would supply people power and gave some indication of the maximum level, but no commitments were made.
This lack of clarity could be considered a constraint as we were not sure whether we could achieve it without additional volunteer support.
As for assumptions, we hoped, rather than assumed, that the weather would be kind to us as high river water levels would make it difficult if not impossible to do. We would cope with rain – this would just mean more will power would be required! We recognised that we had little room to manoeuvre in terms of when we could do the work in 2003 (another constraint).
The management responsibilities were clear, yet as I have indicated in my covering email, I was not sure whether my uncle would resist the temptation of getting involved where his input was not wanted/needed, unless requested. My husband, Alan, was responsible for planning and managing the day-to-day operation, while any key decisions had to be referred to me in my capacity as Trustee (and I involved my sister as one of the owners). Overriding it all was maintaining our good relationships with each other. This focussed our minds on what we said and how we said it – and sometimes when we said it.
As for issues, I did not talk about my concerns to my uncle and, instead, planned how I would address it if it occurred.
The constraints were clearly end date, when we were available to do the work, when the JCB and associated equipment and drivers were booked to start and finish, people power and where the job was going to take place.
The stakeholders were clear too
Finally this project had no short term implications or impact on other projects – it may have implications if the floods are bigger than its vulnerable state can withstand.

Needless to say, we didn’t look at this checklist when we were doing the planning and yet we had covered all the points, with the exception of gaining clarity about the level of commitment from my brothers and their families. If a similar project arises in the future, we will gain commitment so that we can plan with greater clarity around the people resources and avoid any feelings of being let down.

People Power
For the first three days we had two friends, my husband, my sister and I working. We had already worked out a method of getting heavy concrete blocks from the top of a steep bank to where they were going to become the front of the future bank. When we got to ramming stakes, my husband, sister and I worked out a system, which suited us. What we learnt during the whole process included:

Different people needed different levels of communication and feelings of safety when doing particular jobs. For instance, when lowering the blocks down the steep bank the person controlling the speed knew she was in control and so went as fast as she knew it was safe to – however, the person next to the block found this too disconcerting and told her to slow down, but did not explain why. I enquired what the issue was and this helped the speed controller to cope with slowing down.
After this it was important to guide the trolley, which was carrying the block, so that it did not fall off the ramp. One person was happy to gain advice from the person at the top of the bank while another person found it very irritating, but again nothing was said directly. I suggested that she check what the person below wanted, and having learnt that no directions were wanted, she adjusted her way of working.
Small adjustments make important and positive differences to the smooth running of the team. It is not usually sufficient to ask for a change – reasons help the other person not only understand the request but also to make the change willingly.
There is more than one way to do a task effectively depending on who is doing the work. My brother found it easier using the lighter stake rammer and working at a pace that suited his fitness, while the three regulars had already adjusted to our differences and sorted out a system that fitted us. And both produced good results.
Positive mental attitude: saying to the other team members and yourself that despite having already bashed into the ground 40 stakes we now feel as fresh as we did at the start of the day does help the energy level, even though you know you are playing games with your own mind.
Praising each other and/or the whole group especially after a particular strenuous or difficult bit of work, helped keep our feel-good factor up, which (in turn) kept our energy up.
Accepting each other’s strengths and limitations as fact rather than as being better or worse than someone else, meant that our energy was available for work rather than being defensive or judgemental. It also led to honesty which enabled us to work to the best of our ability.
Knowing and focussing on the purpose of the work kept us going when energy was flagging or overcame our disinclination of doing a full day of some arduous job.
Treating all jobs as important, including preparing food, washing up and tidying things away – in what was said and done – added to everyone’s motivation and took away the likelihood of feelings of being undervalued.
Accepting reality was important when we knew for definite that help from the rest of the family was going to be minimal and paid help was only going to be in the shape of JCB drivers, who were not paid to help with the work we had to do. We forewarned those that could be affected by any delay, who took the pressure off by saying that they could do some work earlier to fill in the time, if necessary. As it was, there was no delay.
Being flexible and working with the unexpected was important when we found that we could not use stakes for a section as the bedrock was too close to the surface. We learnt to check this detail in future. We had to do a quick risk analysis about moving river stones from one place to fill this section of bank, and hope the source would not be made vulnerable.

What can you do with this information?

Apart from keeping these factors in mind when working with others, you can use it in the following ways:

learning is not just about going on training workshops or reading books or watching videos;
take time to think what you have learnt from both routine and one-off events on a regular basis and this will speed up your personal growth;
take time with your team, individually and as a group and speed up their personal growth. I would recommend you have a monthly meeting and have as a standard part what has been learnt and how it can be applied in future (be it starting, stopping or continuing a particular practice);
when carrying out the selection process, keep in mind that examples outside work are equally valid when considering ‘past behaviour predicts future performance’; and
accept/use non-work examples in the performance management process.

You are welcome to reprint any part of this newsletter as long as you acknowledge the source, including full authorship, copyright, and subscription information.

Please ask any questions that the topic has raised, or share your thoughts and experiences with me, Helen Wade, at:

Monkswood Associates
Bankview, Shortwood, Nailsworth, Glos GL6 0RZ, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1453.835263 Email: helen@monkswoodassociates.co.uk
Website: www.monkswoodassociates.co.uk