CHAPTER 2

Definitions: Staying Aligned

This book integrates common project management and strengths-based talent development language to help you and your project team learn about and become a strengths-based project team. Project managers and project team members use specific project management terms; however, in some situations (e.g., global project teams), these common terms can have slightly different meanings to different project teams and/or team members. Therefore, to help you prepare to learn about strengths-based project team development, this chapter defines key project management terms that are used in this book and introduces various PM terms connected to strengths-based project teams.

The purpose of this chapter is to help you:

Keywords

The key project management terms used in this book are listed as follows. For ease of reference, the key terms are listed in alphabetical order:

We briefly define the key terms in the following section. In addition to the “standard definitions,” for some of the terms we have also included roles and responsibilities that are relevant in developing strengths-based project teams.

To learn more about the terms, please refer to A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^® Guide) published by the Project Management Institute and strengths-based talent development resources listed in Appendix A.

Coaching

Coaching is a form of development in which a person called a coach supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. In other words, coaching is helping another individual to develop specific skills to reach their goals. The person doing the coaching is the coach and the learner is the coachee. Occasionally, coaching may mean an informal relationship between two people, of whom one has more experience and expertise than the other and the former offers advice and guidance as the latter learns.

Coaching differs from mentoring: coaching focuses on specific developmental tasks or objectives, whereas mentoring focuses on more general goals for overall development.

In project coaching, the coach guides others in developing skills that will benefit the project and the team.

In strengths-based talent development coaching, the role of the coach is to equip individuals and teams with knowledge of strengths-based talent development principles, exercises, and conversations for developing an awareness of their talents and strengths. The talent development coach then guides the individual or team in the process of naming action items to apply their talents/strengths toward their goals.

Functional Manager

The functional manager is considered the individual who has management authority over an employee. A functional manager is an employee’s boss or supervisor, and the employee is the functional manager’s “direct report.” Often it is the functional manager who has assigned their direct report to the project team or has given their employee permission to work on the project. It is the functional manager’s responsibility to ensure that their direct report has the right skills and training, dedicated time, and adequate resources to be a key contributor on the project team.

The functional manager plays an important role in their direct report’s development, including their direct report’s strengths-based talent development.

Mentoring

Mentorship is a learning and development partnership between someone with vast experience and someone who wants to learn. It is a relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person. The mentor may be older or younger than the person being mentored, but he or she must have a certain area of expertise.

Strengths-based mentoring includes modeling, creating an environment for strengths-based workplaces, and encouraging strengths-based conversations.

Project Management

Project management is “the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements.”¹ It is the combination and utilization of these elements that help project managers and project team members to effectively and successfully complete the project.

Project Management (PM) Tool Kit

Project managers and project team members build their project management (PM) tool kits over time. Just like a carpenter, who carries a tool box with a hammer, screwdriver, and other specific carpentry “tools,” a project manager and each project team member have acquired common and unique tools that fit in various “compartments” in their PM tool kit.

Each project team member’s PM tool kit includes a unique combination of specific project management knowledge, experiences, skills, concepts, approaches, techniques, tools, and resources that the team member has acquired, has learned to use, and continues to add to over time. Project team members do not use all their tools at the same time; instead, they select the tools they need depending on the size and complexity of the project and the project management maturity and experience of the team members.

In addition to using project management tools for managing projects, successful project managers are adept in tailoring and re-purposing their project management tools for other uses.

Throughout this book, we encourage you to create a strengths-based talent development compartment in your PM tool kit, in which you can add key learnings that you have acquired from this book.

Project Manager

The project manager is the individual responsible for delivering the project objective and leads the team throughout the project.

A strengths-based project manager’s role includes creating a project team environment in which project team members can individually and collectively engage in strengths-based talent development. It is important that the project manager first understands his/her own talent themes and strengths before the project manager can help other team members “buy-in” and support the development of their strengths-based project team.

Project Sponsor

Have you ever worked on a project without a sponsor? Someone, someplace, authorized the project.

The project sponsor can be an individual, a group of people or department, or an organization who has authorized the project team to do the project. The project sponsor has ultimate control over the project, in that it is the project sponsor who provides the resources, funding, permission, and support to do the project. Depending on the size of the project, the sponsor may have had an informal or formal role.

In some organizations, the project sponsor provides the funding for project team development, including talent development. Ideally, the project sponsor plays an important role in ensuring that there is an organizational culture that supports and sustains strengths-based project teams.

Project Team

The project team consists of individuals or groups who are working together to deliver the project objective and support the project manager. For purposes of this book, we refer to the project team as all individuals working together on the project team to achieve project success. This includes the project manager, team members, subject matter experts, project coordinator, technical leads, and others who are members of the project core team.

Most often, project team members come from different departments in the organization and even outside the organization. Therefore, generally project team members do not report directly to the project manager; instead, each project team member has a functional manager.

Stakeholder

A stakeholder can be a person, a group of people, or an organization who has a vested interest in the project and can be affected—either positively or negatively—by the project decisions and results. Aligning expectations and effectively communicating with stakeholders are key in successful projects.

Strengths-Based Project Team

A strengths-based team has an awareness and appreciation of each team member’s talents and strengths. Team members can then use their individual talents and strengths to intentionally and collaboratively leverage the team’s collective strengths to complete team tasks, address team challenges, and achieve the team’s performance goals.

Strengths-based project teams integrate their knowledge, skills, and practice of strengths development with project management tools and techniques, equipping the project team to apply and maximize their collective strengths to successfully complete their project on time, within budget, and according to the project objectives and specifications.

Talent Development

Talent development is developing the talent potential in people, so that people can maximize their potential and contribute their developed talents toward their organization’s mission, objectives, goals, and tasks. Organizations that offer talent development believe that each member has valuable talents to contribute to their organization, and each member needs to be equipped to know “how” to invest in their talents and given the opportunity to do what they do best every day. Talent development is a key ingredient for strong organizational engagement.

There are various approaches and tools to use for individual and team talent development. This book will focus on strengths-based talent development, which is founded on positive psychology.

Team Development

Team development equips a team to collaborate well (internally and externally) and maximize its productivity. There are various team development approaches and processes. For example, a common model for team development is the Tuckman model of forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.² (See Chapter 1 for applying strengths-based team development in the Tuckman model.)

This book applies the strengths-based team talent development model to project teams, which includes equipping team members to value and develop their own talents and strengths, appreciate their colleagues’ talents and strengths, and then apply their project team’s collective strengths to their project.

Team Member

Each team member brings value to the team and works collaboratively with the other team members toward the team’s goals.

As a member of a strengths-based team, a team member must first discover, appreciate, articulate, and intentionally apply their individual talents and strengths. Then the team member can apply their strengths collaboratively with the other team members toward the team’s goals.

The Project Manager: Talent Development Coach and Facilitator

There is some overlap between the role of a coach and a facilitator. A coach is someone who walks with a person or group as they engage in personal and/or team development. A talent development coach guides individuals in the process of articulating, developing, and using their talents. A talent development coach also coaches teams to engage in talent development for maximizing the team’s ability to apply their collective talents toward the team’s goals.

A facilitator is someone who guides a group through a discussion. Often, facilitators use curriculum that helps them to guide their group’s discussion. In talent development, a facilitator creates an “environment” for group members to engage talent development discussions to help each other in the process of articulating, developing, and using their talents. Therefore, the facilitator helps the group members to become informal “coaches” for one another. Being a facilitator is one component of a talent development coach’s role.

Can a project manager be a talent development facilitator and coach for their project team? Yes! A standard role of a project manager is to “facilitate” a project team meeting to ensure the team meetings are focused and effective, keeping the project (and team) moving forward. When project teams engage in talent development, the project manager has a key role to create the environment for talent development discussions in order for team members to help one another in the process of talent development and maximize the team’s collective talents.

Project managers may also serve in some capacity as a talent development coach for their project team, providing opportunities for individual and team talent development learning and exercises. Unless a project manager attends a formal talent development training course, they will need some managerial talent development coaching and/or curriculum to use as they coach their project team and facilitate team talent development discussions.

The purpose of this book is to give you an introduction to one form of a talent development process—strengths-based talent development. The book will equip you to facilitate and guide your project team as the team begins investing in strengths-based talent development. After you and your team begin your initial investment, you may decide to seek formal strengths-based talent development training for yourself or hire a trained strengths-based talent development coach to help your team to dive deeper into talent development. Appendix A includes information about how to acquire more strengths-based talent development curriculum, coaching, and training.

Aligning Expectations

For project teams to maximize the use of their combined talents, strengths, and PM tool kits toward their project, project teams need to align expectations. How often do you hear from project team members, “Well, I didn’t know that was expected of me!?” The process of identifying “shared expectations” is an activity that project teams can use to share their expectations and commitments to one another on the project team, including their commitment to developing and using their talents and strengths on the team.

As your project team members enter into a new working relationship as a project team, use the shared expectations exercise for getting started as a project team. Ideally, the shared expectations exercise is best used at a project kick-off meeting or early in the project. Everyone on the project team is a key contributor and needs to be an active participant in the exercise.

The shared expectations exercise is done as a project team where the team members are asking questions, clarifying the responses, and documenting the results. Consider using a flipchart or white board. If you are a virtual team, use a virtual white board or interactive tool to capture the discussion. Exhibit 2.1 can be used as a sample.

Step 1: Start with the project manager. State clearly: “As your Project Manager, here is what you can expect from me. I will start meetings on time; I will end on time. There will be an agenda distributed 48 hours in advance.…”

Exhibit 2.1 Shared expectations document

What are your expectations of me as the project manager?	What are my expectations of you as a team member?	As a team member of this group, what are your expectations of each other?
•  I will start meetings on time •  I will end meetings on time •  I will distribute the agenda 48 hours in advance of meeting •  I will provide opportunities for our project team to become aware of our collective strengths •  I will encourage all team members to develop and use their strengths on the team	•  I will complete my tasks on time •  I will reach out if I have questions •  I will utilize my talents and strengths toward the project •  I will articulate my talents, PM tool kit, and strengths that I bring to the team •  I will learn about and value the strengths of my fellow team members •  I will continue to develop my project management strengths	•  We will reach out for help if needed •  We will resolve problems among ourselves •  We will support one another •  We will learn from each other •  We will engage in strengths conversations to further develop our strengths as a team •  We will value what each team member brings to the team •  We will apply our collective strengths as a team

Step 2: Turn to each team member and ask: “As a member of this team, what can I expect from you?”

The team member may reply with items like: “I will complete my assigned tasks on time. I will reach out if I have questions. I will utilize my talent themes and strengths.…”

Step 3: Turn to the group and collectively ask: “As a team member of this group, what are your expectations of each other?”

The group may reply with items like: “We will reach out for help when needed. We will resolve problems among ourselves. We will support one another. We will learn from each other. We will encourage each other to use our strengths.…”

The results of your discussion may look like what is shown in Exhibit 2.1.

Once all commitments are captured on a flipchart or virtual white board, transfer the commitments to a written document. This is called a shared expectations document. The shared expectations document should be one page.

After creating the shared expectations document, every project team member needs to sign (or concur with) the document, which will confirm that everyone is “buying in” to the commitments listed.

At the end of the exercise, the team agrees and understands their commitments. Everyone knows what is expected of them and what they can expect from the project team and the other team members.

The shared expectations document is posted where readily available for reference by the project team or individuals involved. The document is added to your other project team documents, such your project plan and ground rules for meetings.

The shared expectations document is similar yet different from a team charter. A team charter is focused on many aspects of the project. While a team charter may describe how you are going to work together as a project team, it could also include items like the team’s mission, project objective, roles, responsibilities, decision making process, and many other elements. A team charter provides a much larger “picture” for the project team. Whereas, the shared expectations exercise is focused on one thing—expectations! What are the mutual expectations of being part of this team? It is a great exercise to jumpstart your work together! It is a tool that has worked well for many project managers on many projects—regardless of the size or complexity of the project.

In Appendix B, you will find a template and completed example for your use. Like many project management tools, the tools are adaptable to be used in any team environment. You can use this exercise in a mentor/mentee relationship, as a functional manager with your direct report, as a President working with a Board of Directors, and with other types of teams. The shared expectations tool is intended to be modified to fit your team’s needs.

Summary

Having alignment on key terms is critical for effective communication and understanding. This chapter gives you a high-level overview of key words and terms, which we will be referring to throughout the book. As you continue reading this book, we encourage you to refer back to this chapter for clarity. Check out the Project Management Institute resources and other resources listed in Appendix A for additional information about key project management and strengths-based talent development terminology.

This book will help a project manager begin the process of facilitating talent development for their team. Other strengths-based talent development resources and training are also available to the project manager and located in Appendix A.

Aligning expectations at the start of the project to ensure that expectations stay aligned throughout the life of the project will also help you maximize the strengths of your project team. Use the “shared expectations” exercise to help you align your project team’s expectations.

After you conducted the shared expectations exercise, you may never hear again “Well, I didn’t know that was expected of me!”

Key Questions

Notes

References

PMBOK^® Guide. 2017. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, 6th ed. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.

Tuckman, B.W. June 1965. “Developmental Sequence in Small Groups.” Psychological Bulletin 63, pp. 84–99.