I will be in Australia from February 13 to April 24. I am looking forward to seeing you again – and to experiencing the warmth!

This topic is not of course ‘new’ however I have seen some unique changes in what constitutes a ‘team’.

For example, at one of the universities, a medical faculty decided to re-design its programs and to offer them on line as well. The program redesign meant cross disciplinary work in teaching and program development. This was a massive task! The question of fit between disciplines, the creating criteria for what a graduate should know, etc. Aligned with this shift – which was like plate tectonics, was the decision to offer the program on line. Although the university had many qualified ICT people, it was evident that specific expert skills were needed. This meant going beyond the current staff and hiring experts in design. The immediate leadership team was internal to the university. In my experience this is not always the case. Sometimes leaders come from out side the university. The team was composed of a highly experienced and expert staff lead by respected internal leaders. The challenges lay in certain areas. Given the commitment to quality of the staff, deadlines were a problem. How do you get cooperation from experts to do a job quickly and yet have quality? How do you get the right conversations between these experts so that their designs present a seamless reality to students? What sorts of conversations are needed between academics, ICT people and students? The problem was compounded by the complexity of the academic work and the on going development of the programs.

In several other universities, the challenge has been to make the decision on which data management system is best suited to the needs of the university. Once that decision is in hand, a team is needed to adopt the new system and design a fit – if possible with existing systems and focus on current and emerging needs. Once again, these challenges demand a complex mix of experts - insiders and outsiders.

Some of the difficulties within teams come from different perspectives on the organisation. Those who are employed and have their careers in the university, work from very different assumptions to those who are on contract for their expertise. Questions of loyalty, cultural norms, choice need to be addressed. If the project management leaders are from outside the university, this influences what they see needs attention as well as when and if to take action.

However, these challenges are visible and observable. My first work with such teams left me puzzled. Although we had addressed identified issues I had a lingering doubt that the source of the issues had been identified. Certainly there was more than met the eye. In discussions with a colleague, she pointed out the age of Generation X and its influence currently on teams. Their expectations of work are different and that means different management.

Researching Gen X gave me some consistent messages which I applied in my subsequent work with these teams. For example, they have grown up with information and computers. They are not daunted by the flow of information. They are at ease with this fast changing scene. They are entrepreneurs who want the space to define problems, develop solutions and produce results. Along with that they want lots of feedback on their job performance. This latter point is one where they are most often disappointed.

Some articles suggested strategies:

• establish contractual win-win situations, cozy ‘family’ type bonding doesn’t work with them;
• be very clear with the end results, deadlines and parameters within which they work, then let them be creative;
• listen, provide career advice as well as personal advice – often this is missing
• lighten up, fun on the job is a priority
• provide frequent, focused feedback
• trust them and don’t micromanage