High Performance Work Teams

Projects whose leaders engaged in effective leader behaviors experience reduced cost growth. (RS134-1, p. 10)

 The research team identified 19 Leader Behaviors a few of which are: 

1. Communicates the project’s goals
2. Sets high standards and expectations
3. Supports team decisions
4. Fosters a good work ethic
5. Interfaces well with external constituents

Refer to the publication for the complete list.

Projects that use the CII best practices of scope management and project alignment experience reduced cost growth. (RS134-1, p. 12)

Projects that use the CII best practices of planning and project controls experience reduced schedule growth. (RS134-1, p. 12)

An apparent “trade-off” occurs between cost and schedule in achieving high performance targets. That is, a project team may achieve reductions in cost or schedule, but rarely both, even in a high performance environment. (RS134-1, pp. 12-13)

No strong association was found between formal team building and either actual or perceived project high performance. Formal team building, in the absence of effective, consistent project leadership behaviors, is not a predictor of “high performance.”

However, effective leaders inherently perform continuous team building through the use of appropriate leadership practices. (RS134-1, pp. 10-13)

IR 134-2, Tools for Effective Project Team Leadership

The tools are based on effective leadership behaviors and member characteristics identified in the research. The three tools can be used separately or together, and can cover the entire project life cycle.

Tool 1:  Leader Selection Guide. This structured decision-making tool can be used to guide selection of a project leader by a management team or by an individual. The selection process is divided into five sequential steps, with worksheets to assist in performing each.

Tool 2:  Team Leadership Planner. This tool is intended to help a project leader develop specific strategies for team leadership, again based on the set of leadership behaviors that have been identified with high performance project teams. These strategies can be integrated into the overall project execution plan to get the team off to a good start and improve the probability of achieving superior project performance through enhanced teamwork.

Tool 3:  Team Health Check. The project leader may use the Health Check tool to survey team members on his/her leadership behaviors as well as their perceptions of the characteristics of the team membership.