Team Building Tips

A new client called the other day and asked: “How do I get my parent company to support my team’s ideas?” As a team leader developing a new product line, he felt that no one was taking his team seriously.

I started by saying that he needed to develop a case, a project case also known as a business case. A project case is a method for documenting critical information about a venture in story form. It is an effective tool in project planning and reengineering design, used to justify resources, relay critical facts and provide a complete overview to stakeholders.

A project case is the process used by a team to document all relevant facts and link them together to make a complete story about a new project or change process. There are five functions of a project case:

1. It forces the team to reflect on each phase of the process and ensures they have not missed any critical steps. It is not unusual for teams to plug along and fail to document the knowledge they have gained. This is especially true in the concept and design stages of a team project.

2. It verifies that the project meets the needs of the organization. It is a vehicle for obtaining approval, funding or additional resources.  Taking the steps to write a story about the project provides a way of linking solutions to obstacles and presenting the benefits of the possible results.

3. It is a way of subjectively reviewing the projects facts and assumptions.  It is a way of presenting an analysis in simple terms. This enables management and staff can see the value of the team’s proposal over other projects that may be competing for the same resources.

4. It provides a historical record of the project. This is especially valuable for long term projects, providing accurate and factual information used to evaluate success and measure progress.

5. The project case plays an important role by providing a consistent message to the various stakeholders. It is a sort of overview of the project and enables management, staff, customers, suppliers and funding sources to become knowledgeable about the project.

The goal of a project or business case is to communicate all the facts as part of an overall story. It provides a way of presenting your team’s accomplishments. It shows progress and provides a vehicle for obtaining approval or support for continuing the project. The project case is a necessary step used by very successful teams.

Dennis Banowetz, Ph.D. is an organizational development consultant with CA Wine Savvy Associates. Dr. Banowetz is also an adjunct faculty member at California State University, Sacramento, the University of La Verne and the University of Pheonix. His passion is to work with small businesses to help them become even more successful though Oragnizational Development. Visit: http://www.cawinesavvy.com and his blog at http://www.dbanowetz.com