Does a team project assignment excite you or frighten you? Many people have had bad experiences with teams and therefore find team assignments unsettling in the least. Perhaps what you need is a mentor to guide your team through growth pains to become the high performing team that you could enjoy and invest into wholeheartedly.The Professional Teamwork Mentor is a workbook that guides your project team as a personal mentor might, without the expense of a sizable consulting fee. This workbook is used in addition to normal project-related resources that provide the technical content needed for your project. The workbook contains teamwork modules to be used at key points in a team's life. Modules guide your team through discussions to develop common understandings of teamwork, team goals, member relationships and responsibilities, team processes, and ways of documenting teamwork performance. Interspersed assessmsnts guide your team through reflective discussions, documention of strengths and weaknesses, and defining steps to improve team performance. Modules and assessments collectively provide a learning environment that produces authentic learning of teamwork. Modules and assessments are intended for use at suggested times in a 1- or 2-term project. Space is provided with each module and assessment to record team and personal understandings of issues discussed and to craft actions to move the team toward improved performance. Ideally, each team member will possess a copy of Professional Teamwork Mentor, although one copy per team will suffice if a recorder captures both individual and consensus thoughts and decisions. The Professional Teamwork Mentor differs from other teamwork books in that it is not simply a book of principles of effective teamwork. Instead, it is a guide for your team as you go through the many challenges that teams face in formation, organization, management of team member contributions, and refinement of team processes. It uses member discussions to grow common understandings and commitments to the team. It uses assessments to identify areas needing improvement and to define consensus on the best path forward. It records the team's journey as it develops, providing strong evidence of both teamwork development and final teamwork achievement. After using this workbook, your team will have practical, proven teamwork knowledge and skills that will transfer into the workplace and to more challenging team assignments in the future.Not investing in your team will be very costly in member relationships, team performance, and project satisfaction. Being proactive with the Professional Teamwork Mentor will pay huge dividends for small scheduled investments of time. Working together to build an exceptional team will pay back in team satisfaction, project success, and delighted consumers of team outputs.
About the Author: Dr. Denny C. Davis is Emeritus Professor of Engineering Education at Washington State University. His experience includes administering engineering undergraduate programs for 12 years, enhancing multidisciplinary (engineering and business) student project experiences for a decade, and collaborating nationally to develop and test teamwork curricula and assessments. Based on this experience, he has created practical resources for developing authentic teamwork abilities as teams engage in complex design projects.