How to Manage Lots of Teamwork

At ID, we work in a lot of teams. Some say too many. But we get used to it, and we get better at it.

Things become difficult when you have four or five teams facing similar deadlines, working on unrelated projects that change rapidly. Here are some things that have made my life easier and my work better:

1. Become a thought leader on your topic early in the project.
- Read everything about it (my first searches are with Business Source Premier, which scans major business publications like the Journal, the Economist, etc.).
- Interview people in the field (read an article that helped you understand the insurance industry but need more info? Call the author.).
- Understand trends and the big picture. Constantly ask "What are we really talking about?"
- Build a binder with everything printed, highlighted, and tagged. Sort by topic. Use blue sheets to divide topics.
The main idea is to put yourself in a position of knowledge so you can make good decisions throughout the project. This may sound obvious, but when you're working on six projects exhaustive research can be rare.

2. After you divide up tasks among your team, finish your task as early as possible. This prepares you to cope with the unseen issues that your project will without doubt face. Rather than catching up on your work, doing it early positions you to be able to dedicate time to solving these new problems.

3. Come to every meeting with a perspective and an argument for where the project should go. Meetings are times to solve problems and make decisions (see earlier post). If everyone has done their homework and has formed a defensible perspective, meetings can be great places for healthy debates that can lead to better results.

4. "You have to care," says Tom Peters. He's right.