Once you've set out on your own path and have now identified which projects will be most profitable for you to work on, it's time to identify the super-talented people who can make your projects come to life.
There's three types of project team members you need to consider before seeking to initiate a profitable project:
1. Those ABOVE you. This is your project sponsor and anyone else you need to report to on the project's progress.
2. Those NEXT to you. These are your peers either internal or external to your department, depending on the scope of the project.
3. Those BELOW you. These are most often your immediate team members, but can also be high potentials from outside your immediate team or even department.
Whatever level they're from, the way you ideally work with them is to be able to identify their talents (raw or mature) and how to help them become increasingly realised as strengths by working on the project itself.
I liken it to the comic book world when superhero teams are put together to solve a specific challenge. Each has a unique combination of super-powers that together enable them to to fight and win.
The best tool I know to manage all the tasks and milestone for your project if it's longer than a quarter (which many improvement projects are) is MS Project, using the Project Planning Breakthroughs Methodology. The best tool if it's less than that is MS Outlook.
Currently, the best tool maintain engagement and momentum for the individual project team members is StandOut.
StandOut works because it allows for regular team check-ins, works with people based on their strengths, provides real time, valid engagement survey data, and allows for regular coaching of the team members during the lifecycle of the project. It gives you a dashboard that allows you to see how people are tracking not on the tasks themselves, but on how ENGAGED they are actually doing the tasks.
When the project is finished, you can easily disband the team and reconfigure around your next project.
Aside from your project plan itself, there is nothing more vitally important than who you select to be on your project teams. Working with super-talented people is one of the biggest drivers of intrapreneurial engagement that exists - second only to the legacy that you leave.
So be very careful about who you choose to bring onto any project team that you assemble. Make sure they're not just super talented, but are on the path to maturing their talents into strengths, and are seeking to display the true spirit of intrapreneurial leadership - humility, the fruit, trust, compassion, stability and hope.
Surround yourself with team members like that, with the right project plan, and apart from a sponsor killing the project, you're almost guaranteed to rock the world of your organisation for the better.
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Nathanael Small is passionate about strengths, performance and the world of the intrapreneur - the team leader or leader of leaders within the organisation - helping them move their career from high potential to peak performance.
Nathanael has over 25 years of acquired wisdom in leadership development. His unique perspective and combination of skills allows him to work with intrapreneurs to realise their ambition to be deeply engaged and leading with their strengths.