Little in a large organization is accomplished without many hands touching it. For an executive, few skills are more valuable than being able to put together, and successfully direct, large teams for important projects. Accordingly, following are some simple steps for strong
Make sure your project goals are "clear as a mountain crick" (as an old mentor of mine used to say) - How many projects founder when objectives aren't completely clear? Many, in my experience. At substantial organizational cost of time, money and morale of those involved. As the executive in charge, it's your responsibility to provide strategic perspective to ensure your team members completely understand exactly what they're working on and why - plus of course all necessary parameters involving budgets, deadlines, resource availability, etc.
Select a strong project manager - When I was the executive responsible for a project, I always felt this was the single most important project decision I'd make. The project manager will be your operational eyes and ears. You want someone you can trust and count on, someone who's a friend of deadlines, who can drive for results effectively but cost-consciously, someone who works well with challenging personalities. When it came to choosing project managers, I spent a fair amount of time negotiating the services of capable managers in other departments when there were individuals whose talents I coveted. Managing a high-profile project can of course be a good growth opportunity too, so playing a key role on the right project team can have considerable career appeal.
Expect excellence - "Tone at the top" matters. Make clear at the outset the kind of results you require, the quality of work you and your organization demand. In a word: Lead.
Don't be afraid of talent - Effective management is no place for the insecure. I was always impressed by what I read of Warren Buffet's insistence on surrounding himself by the absolute best people he could and then trusting them enough to give them ample latitude to do great work. But at the same time all good team builders need to be attuned to team dynamics. Be especially alert for issues (i.e. problems) involving talented but difficult personalities. On more than a few occasions, my most talented team members were also my most difficult.
Offer high-level strategic direction rather than pesky micromanagement -Having a strong capable project manager should relieve you of being enmeshed in a quagmire of operational details. But you do want to stay close enough to a large project to be able to offer helpful strategic guidance. All too often executives I worked with would wade too deeply into the small but sticky stuff - when they would have been better served by remaining at a higher altitude and guiding a project's broad general course.
Without exception the best executives I knew were intuitive. When it came to team building, they had a keen sense of personalities and how they worked together. They knew whom they could trust to get a job done - and when to be closely involved and when to keep their distance.
Team building isn't easily taught but it can be learned. The good news is, all organizations need it - and once you learn to do it well, you'll likely always be of value to your company.
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Victor is author of The Type B Manager: Leading Successfully in a Type A World (Prentice Hall Press).
