the best way to carry them out. You may allow them consider-
able authority in decision-making as you assume a delegating/
facilitating style. In this stage, you’re primarily an enabler.
Confident in your team’s abilities, you’ll tend to manage by
exception, concerning yourself primarily with variances from the
intended course of the project.
Mourning: In this stage, much of your project’s original structure
has disappeared or become irrelevant. As your team members
struggle to figure out what they need to do to conclude the proj-
ect successfully, you should return to the structuring/directing
style of the forming stage. Organize the remaining work, assign
responsibilities, and provide specific direction so you can avoid
the syndrome of the never-ending project.
Fostering Teamwork and Synergism
As project manager, you provide leadership at two levels—with
the team and with individuals. Though there many similarities,
each has unique considerations. We’ll begin by examining some
of the more important leadership issues that pertain to the team
as a whole.
It Takes More than a Pizza Party or Rock Climbing to Build a
Team!
Teambuilding is one of the more misunderstood principles in
project management. Regrettably, many people equate team-
building with poorly orchestrated, “voluntary” social gatherings
or artificial, imposed, often hokey, events. Though some of
these approaches can work, they often evoke more laughter
than respect, for one reason because it’s difficult to pull them
off without appearing manipulative.
It’s well worth noting that teambuilding can occur in various
ways using a variety of methods. It’s also worth correcting the
misconception that teambuilding events must be done in an
environment away from work or the project.
The essence of building a team is very simple: get people to
spend time together so that they can know one another better.
88 Project Management