In the Middle of the Project

It is important to use what you learn from working together so you can do a better job. Do not just write down how the group did and then put the paper away. Tell the team about the feedback you got and how you will use it. Ask them to help all the team members succeed.

As you work on the project, you will need to look at two things:

• Have you done work that will help you meet your goal on time?
• Does everyone work well together?

The team's work plan says who will do what and when. You can use this to help say if the team is doing a good job to reach the goal. Here are some things to look at:

• Did the actions lead to the results you wanted? Have they helped you reach your goal?
• Did team members get their jobs done on time? If not, why not?
• Have you had to give a team member's job to a different team member to complete?
• Did anyone need help to do the job they took on?
• Has everyone taken on jobs that help the team meet its goal?
• Has the team had to pick a different goal? If yes, why? Was the first goal too hard to reach?

If the team does not work well together, the answers to these questions may tell you why. But you also need to ask team members what they think about how things are going [D4]. Each team member should tell you if

• They are happy with the speed of the team in reaching the goal.
• They still feel the goal is important.
• They feel they have helped the team get good results.
• They feel they get the support they may need to take part in the team work.
• They understand what happens in the meetings.
• They feel they understand what to do.
• They have learned new skills or other things.
• Others listen to them with respect even if they do not agree.
• They feel they have a say in decisions.
• They have fun working together with you and other team members.

You may find out about many of these things at the end of meetings if you ask each team member to tell you

• What did we do well?
• What do we need to be better at? How can we do better?

It is also important to call people between meetings to find out how the work is going. You can use these phone calls to ask how they feel about their work on the team and how other team members treat them.

If the team's work does not need very many meetings, you can call members for feedback between each meeting. If the project goes a long time, ask for feedback a bit less often. If you call everyone after every meeting, team members may feel you take up too much of their time.

If the work your team has done has affected others, you may also want to get feedback about the results from those people. Has it made their life better? Has it made their life harder?