Effective Project Management

Section Q Selecting and Building the Team

“A round man cannot be expected to fit into a square hole right away. He must have time to modify his shape.”

Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) More Trumps Abroad, 1897.

I trust that it is self‐evident that one person is not a team. With two people in a project/work environment, it is likely that job titles, rank, or years of service will skew the relationship. With three people, there will always be the problem of two people against one. It is not until there are four people that the true dynamics of a team come into play. With four people, it is also possible to have all of Belbin's original eight team roles (see the following Section R) in existence within the group – if we take into account their secondary as well as their primary roles.

As is stated in Part IV Section D (paragraphs 1.1 to 1.5) and reiterated in Sections H, K, O, P, Q, and S of Part IV, get the right people. This is one of the most, if not the most, important thing you can do. In the same way that the client project manager is relying on you to make a success of the project, so you are only as good as the people who report to you. You are dependent upon your team. As Charlie Croaker (Michael Caine) says in the film The Italian Job, “This is a very difficult job, and the only way to get it done is that we all work together as a team, and that means you do everything I say!” You, the project manager, then have to provide the leadership and guidance to allow ...