HEADING TO THE ENERGIZATION OF THE TEAM
Having an energized team is the desire of most organizations, but how do we achieve this? Well, the first step begins by creating trust between the team members, this will allow them to connect with the team and they will be able to carry out a more efficient and collaborative teamwork. In environments such as IT projects, many times we get lost in our daily tasks and we do not give ourselves the opportunity to meet the people with whom we interact, or we do not know how to do it. Fortunately, Management 3.0 teaches us very powerful tools that help us achieve this energization. One of them is the Personal Map, a tool that helps us develop synergy in the team and leads us to energize it. Learn more about this tool at: https://management30.com/practice/personal-maps/
Context of the Experiment
The experiment was developed in a critical context because the project was out of date on its schedule and was going through a change of project manager at the most critical moment of the project; additionally all the work was remote due to the current context of the pandemic. Under these conditions the team members worked under a lot of pressure due to time, workload and remote work. I was assuming the position of being the new project manager.
Applying the Tool
The challenge of being a new project manager was to be able to develop synergy in the team and to be able to connect with them, which was a bit complicated due to the circumstances described above, so I decided to apply the Personal Map tool to achieve it. As a first step to apply this tool, I had to create an environment of trust, therefore, while I was working on creating it, I was preparing the templates to use, relying on the collaborative Miro tool.
Once the trusted environment was achieved, I was ready to apply the tool, so I started by telling you about my Personal Map using the following template:
They listened very attentively; at the end of my story, I asked them to enter the templates I had prepared and I gave them 10 minutes to complete them; the template shows 8 categories (Education, family, values, friends, hobbies, home, goals and work), but they were given the freedom to add the category they wanted to share. Then they started working on their Personal Map:
After the 10 minutes were completed and it was time to share …
They began to share their Personal Map, and I observed that as they shared the way of counting, it changed, since it was like a monologue at the beginning, then it became something more participatory, because among them they noticed that they had several similarities in their interests and goals.
At the end of the experiment, the participants thanked for the provided space since they were able to relax and get to know each other more as a person and not only in the workplace, they could feel a more fraternal and collaborative environment among them.
It is important to place the Personal Map worked on by the team in a visible and accessible workspace (shared repository) so that team members can review it whenever they see fit.
Learning
Without a doubt, the application of this tool has brought me several benefits in the team; however, as part of continuous improvement, in my subsequent experiments with this tool, I would like to add more categories to the Personal Map (such as birthday) and thus cover other edges that help to build trust. Fortunately, the tool allows you this flexibility for both the facilitator and the participants.
Another learning from this experience is that during the presentation of the Personal Map by the participants, due to the friendly atmosphere and the generated camaraderie, we may be tempted to make it an open time and thus be able to share more, but we must remember that every experiment must have a timebox. Later you can apply other tools or even repeat the Personal Map again and as the team matures, the time needed may decrease.
Conclusions
This tool is really powerful, the meetings developed after the experiment had another nuance, the tense and stressful environment became pleasant, collaborative and trustworthy environment. Communication in the team improved and synergy was established, resulting in more efficient work.
If you find yourself in a similar case, I advise the use of this tool, perhaps many companies, especially IT companies, think that they do not have time for these experiments, but believe me, it is the best invested time, the results will be able to verify it. Thanks Management 3.0 for these tools.
