CPD: The art of building a winning team

Continuing Professional Development: People management

•  Creating strong relationships within teams

•  Understanding motivational value systems (MVS)

•  Applying MVS to strengthen project performance

The CIOB requires members to assess and fulfil their own CPD needs. Members can therefore choose to study the CPD articles published in CM as a valid part of their personal record of CPD activity. 

To complete the questionnaire, members should click on the link to the online questionnaire below. Select your answers, fill in your contact details then click “submit”. If all five questions are answered correctly, you will be invited to download and print a PDF document confirming your successful completion of the questionnaire. If one or more questions is answered incorrectly, please reread the article and try again, pressing “submit” to resend the amended form.

Click here to be taken to the online CPD questionnaire for the April 2011 issue

We are no longer offering the facility to send questionnaires by fax or post. Please email any questions regarding this CPD service to cmcpd@atompublishing.co.uk.

Successful teams – such as Alex Ferguson's Manchester United – are built on good people management

Donnie MacNicol and Keith Robinson explain how management models can help build productive relationships and manage conflicts effectively

The construction industry is built on relationships which will be tested in the next few years due to the ongoing slump in public and private sector spending. 

In addition, recent reports, such as last December’s Cost Review from Infrastructure UK have highlighted the inefficiency and high cost of delivering major projects, particularly in rail, roads and infrastructure, leading to an industry drive to deliver 10-30% efficiency savings. This will require a different mindset and way of working for many.

Project managers will often be at the sharp end of these changes, needing to deliver even when there are multiple technical challenges and relationships are under strain. It is therefore critical that project managers develop strong
and sustainable relationships to allow them to influence others and deal effectively with these challenges. This will require them to understand:

• the impact they have on the feelings of others;

• what makes others “tick” and how they react in certain circumstances;

• what makes them tick as individuals.

This increased awareness will allow project managers to create more effective personal and professional relationships. In a project context, this will allow you to manage risk more effectively, to adapt project management to suit the project, deal more easily with conflict and engage with stakeholders. Each of these three areas will be discussed later in this article. 

Building self-awareness

But first we will discuss a model that can help facilitate self-awareness. This model is one of several we use with individuals, teams and organisations to provide a vocabulary and common basis around which performance can be improved.

The Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI), developed by US psychologist Elias Porter, is a self-development tool based on relationship awareness theory (RAT).

It has been in use for 40 years worldwide in all sectors and industries. The theory helps people build productive relationships and manage conflict by providing a window into the motivation that drives others.

We use the SDI extensively in both public and private sector organisations.

A worldwide “community of practice” for project managers is now being developed around the common structure and language of SDI, around which relationships can be strengthened, in locations from California to China.

The underlying assumption of the inventory is that “all human beings need to interact with others in a way that makes them feel good about themselves”. SDI looks at our motivations in good times as well as when faced with conflict.

The SDI distinguishes our underlying motivations by introducing four main motivational value systems (MVS), which describe how we seek to be valued by ourselves, others and in all life situations (see Figure 1, overleaf).

Developing awareness of different individuals’ MVS offers opportunities to improve relationships, increase the effectiveness of our delivery processes and highlight the way we deal with conflict. With the challenges facing the construction industry, this is a valuable business advantage that should be embraced by all, helping the industry to innovate and build the alliances that are so critical for success.

The four MVSs dictate that we seek to be recognised for being:

• of genuine help to others — Blue;

• focused on achieving results — Red;

• self-reliant and orderly — Green;

• part of an effective group – Hub.

Our behaviour may vary due to circumstances and the environment, but our individual MVS will remain as an anchor when things are going well. It is therefore important to understand a person’s intention and motivations as this allows us to relate more effectively to them and their actions.

Using the MVS diagram allows project teams or management groups to view each others’ motivational value systems so that they can see their diversity, explore this as a source of strength, and highlight how these same differences may lead to misunderstanding and conflict with others. Alternatively, for a team which has similar MVSs, this may identify an opportunity to view situations from a different perspective, improving innovation and decision-making.

Exploring the MVSs within a team is particularly useful at the start of new projects or when conflict arises within a team or between different teams. Similarly, it can be helpful in developing senior management teams and project boards, who may not have the opportunity to meet regularly, but must function effectively when they do. Given the importance of the decisions made by these groups, this should be a primary area of focus at the start of any project.

Below are four ways in which these awareness skills can help you with common challenges on a project.

1. Engaging the team in the management of risk

Planning for future eventualities, including the identification and management of risk (as either a threat or an opportunity), is a core project management skill. There are infinite variations in the way people perceive risk, and assess its impact and probability before identifying appropriate courses of action. It is therefore critical that the project manager appreciates these differences and implements a process that engages the different team members.

For example, when first identifying risk, a person with a Hub MVS will be motivated to involve the team on an ongoing basis, so that the risks are owned by the team. If risk on a project is managed by an individual with a Green MVS, then the identification, recording, assessment and ongoing management is likely to be done in a far more structured and analytical manner than if a person with a different MVS had the responsibility. A Red MVS, meanwhile, may take on the role of identifying risks and then delegating responsibility to team members in developing mitigation plans. This may appear to be effective from a time perspective, but would not engage the team to own risk.

2. Adapting the style of project management

The project manager should identify the type of project (based on factors such as the complexity of the task, and the pace and capability of the team) and also the culture of the organisation before considering the appropriate style of project management, for instance “command and control” or “open and trusting”. These two considerations will most effectively support the team in delivering success.

On a recent client assignment, we worked with a team charged with delivering a programme that was key to the organisation’s future. The style of project management was having a detrimental effect on relationships and, in turn, performance. Using SDI and understanding the motivations of the project team helped the project office manager identify the need to adopt a less systematic and inflexible approach to project management. The bulk of the team had a Hub MVS, and did not feel the group was consulted enough or that the project management style was flexible enough. A “command and control” regime and rigid comprehensive monitoring and reporting meant that factual information on the project was available, but little was identified or discussed around the engagement of the team towards achieving the end goal.

Alex Ferguson (left) and Martin O'Neill have shown how good management can bring success

3. Identifying and dealing with conflict

Relationship awareness theory defines conflict as a reaction to a perceived threat to self-worth. So, typically, people are willing to go into conflict about things that are important to them. This allows you to identify their conflict “triggers”. For example, for a Green MVS individual this may be working in an unstructured way without reference to supporting information.

It is important to view conflict, when it surfaces and is dealt with in an effective manner, as a positive. Conflict can serve as a safety valve, act as the spur needed for change and potentially end unproductive associations.

In the case study (see box, right) we facilitated a series of Strength Deployment Inventory workshops with a construction company’s key supply chain partner to resolve a crisis in their relationship. These workshops allowed both organisations to understand why, in part, conflict had arisen through misunderstanding each others’ motives. For example, when a decision was made to delay an element of one organisation’s work that resulted in disruption to the other, no rationale was provided. Opposing project managers who were not communicating and had become hostile to each other, realised during the workshop process that thinking their opposite number was intentionally delaying the project was illogical: in reality they were doing what they believed was in the best interests of the project.

Another useful insight from relationship awareness theory is that we approach conflict with a predictable sequence of motivational changes and related behaviours. Initially, we tend to focus on the problem, the other person and ourselves. If the conflict is not resolved, then we enter a second stage where our behaviour changes and we tend to focus only on the problem and ourselves (not the other person). If still not resolved, then at the third stage the individual focuses only on self-preservation. 

Conflict is rarely resolved at this stage.

Therefore it is critical that we identify conflict early on, something that is not as easy as it sounds. A Green MVS individual, for example, may withdraw and become quiet, which may be perceived as acceptance. Also the change in an individual from things going well to being in conflict may be subtle, resulting in no obvious change in behaviour. This does not mean they are not in conflict — just that it’s not obvious. The answer is to listen carefully and openly discuss their feelings towards the situation by first sharing yours.

Good managers will reap the rewards of a motivated and focused team

4. Engaging with stakeholders including sponsors

Strong relationships with stakeholders often characterise successful projects. The project manager must understand their motivation, which is shaped by the stakeholder’s role on the project and the culture of their organisation.

Understanding how each stakeholder views success is critical, both in terms of what is delivered and in the way it is achieved. For example, if the project manager was a Red MVS and the project sponsor a Blue MVS, it would be important for the project manager to understand that they may appear pushy and insensitive if conversations with the sponsor focus on the delivery of outcomes. In this scenario, a project manager might be well advised to listen to not only what is being said, but how it is being said.

Donnie MacNicol is visiting fellow at Kingston Business School, and a director of management consultant Team Animation. Keith Robinson is managing director for Integrated Systems and Strategies and a visiting professor at University College London.

Nailing its colours to the mast

Using the Strength Deployment Inventory, Team Animation helped improve performance at a specialist contractor, starting with boosting the board’s communication skills

Management consultant Team Animation has worked with a £30m medium-sized specialist construction contractor over a number of years to improve the performance of individuals through coaching, and the effectiveness of teams using the SDI. We have also helped improve decision-making around their investment strategy, as well as the relationships they have with alliance partners.

We also assisted the senior management team to develop the collective capability of the board. The SDI provided an objective and impersonal way for the directors to discuss their different motivations and the impact these had on relationships and performance.

Lack of influence

The senior management team had four strong Reds, all directly involved in the operational delivery of projects, the strongest of which was the managing director. The other three members of the senior team (each of which had a different MVS) regularly challenged decisions but, as their focus was not shared by the Reds, they could not exert influence, leaving them feeling isolated and unvalued.

One such decision resulted in the use of considerable resources on a procedural mapping project that brought no real benefit, which was identified as a risk by the non-Red members of the senior management team.

Recognising that a “personal weakness” is no more than the overdoing or misapplying of a personal strength, the senior team experienced a number of “a-ha!” moments. One included the impact of having  a Red-focused leadership style and the way it was stifling the development of all layers of management. This led to multiple layers of management doing the job of those below, leading to inefficiency and creating a source of conflict.

Red goes to green

As we tend to perceive others’ behaviours through our own MVS, this often prevents us from appreciating the strength and opportunity that diversity within a team can provide. This insight provided the senior management team with the opportunity to borrow other members’ behaviours to help identify new decision-making strategies. For example, a Red may borrow Green behaviours when looking for alternative options and seeking evidence, rather than just focusing purely on delivery.

Finally, as it’s a truism that “people like people who are like themselves”, this has also led the senior team to review its recruitment policy, ensuring that there is diversity within the professional team.

Donnie MacNicol, Team Animation

CPD test paper

People management

To access and complete the April 2011 CPD online questionnaire, click on the link below. Select your answers, fill in your contact details then click “submit”. If all five questions are answered correctly, you will be invited to download and print a PDF document confirming your successful completion of the questionnaire. If one or more questions is answered incorrectly, please reread the article and try again, pressing “submit” to resend the amended form.

www.construction-manager.co.uk/construction-professional/cpd-questionnaire/12/

The questionnaire for the April edition will be available on the website until July. We are no longer offering the facility to send questionnaires by fax or post. Please email any questions regarding this CPD service to cmcpd@atompublishing.co.uk.