Teams, diversity and inclusion

0:00Sara: Welcome to Project Management Exam Prep.

0:03This episode is about teams, diversity and inclusion.

0:07Every project management exam tests it, because projects are delivered by temporary

0:11teams.

0:12Leo: You will learn how the three bodies frame it, how to build an inclusive team,

0:17how teams decide and work apart, how they grow, and why people speak up.

0:22We finish with a drill, so keep a pen ready.

0:25Sara: Let us start with the three lenses. What does IPMA® say?

0:30Leo: IPMA®, the International Project Management Association, sets out its standard in

0:35the Individual Competence Baseline, the ICB4.

0:39Its element on teamwork follows a team's whole life, from choosing members to the

0:44end of the work, with more delegation as the team matures.

0:47Sara: And PMI®?

0:49Leo: PMI®, the Project Management Institute, publishes the PMBOK® Guide,

0:54its guide to the project management body of knowledge.

0:57The eighth edition describes what high-performing teams share,

1:01such as open and safe communication. The outline of PMI®'s Project Management Professional

1:06exam, the PMP®, asks you to lead the project team: clear roles,

1:12an empowered team, and respect for its different skills and views.

1:17Sara: And APM?

1:18Leo: APM, the Association for Project Management, publishes the APM Body of Knowledge,

1:24with sections on team management and on diversity and inclusion.

1:28The syllabus of APM's Project Management Qualification, the PMQ,

1:33has objectives with the same names. They cover team models, virtual and hybrid teams,

1:38bias, and fair treatment.

1:40Sara: Where do the words differ?

1:42Leo: In three places. First, the team's own rules.

1:47PMI® calls them a team charter. APM's glossary says project charter,

1:52which for PMI® authorises the project. The ICB4 says team norms and rules.

1:58We say working agreement.

2:00Sara: Second?

2:01Leo: Teams in different places. PMI® and the ICB4 say virtual.

2:06APM says dispersed, and the PMQ adds hybrid.

2:10We say distributed.

2:12Sara: And third?

2:13Leo: The stages a team goes through. PMI® names the Tuckman ladder.

2:16APM gives five stages in its own words, ending with reintegration into new roles.

2:22The ICB4 names no model.

2:24Sara: What is the core, whichever exam you take?

2:27Leo: Four ideas. One: build the team on purpose.

2:30Choose people for skills, motivation and how well they work together,

2:34and agree their time with their line managers.

2:36Make roles clear, and let the team write its working agreement:

2:39how it meets, decides and handles conflict, and what done means.

2:43Sara: Two?

2:43Leo: Diversity pays only with inclusion. A team with different backgrounds and ways of

2:49thinking solves problems better, and understands the people the project serves,

2:54but only if everyone is heard. So recruit on the skills a role needs.

3:00Run meetings where every voice counts, and credit each idea to the person who had

3:05it. Watch for bias, your own too. And fairness is not the same treatment for all:

3:11it is adapting to what each person needs.

3:15Sara: Three?

3:16Leo: Decide in two steps. Open up: collect views, often from each person alone,

3:21so the senior voice does not steer the rest.

3:25Then narrow down. Say beforehand who decides.

3:29Group decisions take longer, but people commit to them.

3:32Sara: And four?

3:33Leo: A distributed team needs design, not only tools.

3:37If one person joins remotely, everyone joins on their own screen.

3:40Meet when the time zones overlap, and build trust on purpose.

3:46Sara: And in agile work?

3:47Leo: Agile teams are small and stable, and choose how they work.

3:52In each retrospective, a review of how it works, the team updates its agreement.

3:58In linear work, teams often change between phases, so they must form again.

4:03Sara: How does a group become a team? Both model sheets are free in the description.

4:08Leo: The best-known model is Bruce Tuckman's.

4:11In nineteen sixty-five, he reviewed studies of small groups and named four stages.

4:17In nineteen seventy-seven, with Mary Ann Jensen, he added a fifth.

4:21Forming: people are polite and unsure of their roles, so give a clear goal and clear

4:27roles. Storming: they disagree openly, so let the views out and keep them on the

4:32work. Norming: the team sets its own rules and trust grows, so step back.

4:39Performing: the team solves most problems itself, so delegate and remove obstacles.

4:46Adjourning: the work ends, so thank people, capture the lessons,

4:50and help each person into a next role.

4:53Sara: Always in that order?

4:55Leo: No. Tuckman's sources were mostly therapy and training groups,

4:59not projects. A team can stall, slip back when people join or leave,

5:04or skip a stage. So plan to form it again after each big change.

5:09Sara: And what makes people report problems?

5:12Leo: Amy Edmondson, a professor who studies teams, calls it psychological safety.

5:17In our words: a shared belief in a team that you can ask, disagree or admit a mistake

5:23without being embarrassed or punished. It belongs to the group,

5:27unlike trust between two people.

5:29Sara: So it means being nice?

5:32Leo: No. A strong team needs safety and high standards.

5:36Safety alone is merely comfortable. Standards alone create fear,

5:40and problems stay hidden.

5:42Sara: How do I build it?

5:44Leo: Edmondson names three kinds of leader action.

5:47In our words: set the stage, by saying you need every view.

5:51Invite input, the quiet people first. And respond well: thank,

5:56look forward, and help. Our own loop is on screen.

6:00Someone speaks up. You respond. The team learns.

6:03And everyone watching sees whether it was safe.

6:07The ICB4 agrees: tolerate honest errors, and fix the cause in the process.

6:13Deliberate breaches of the rules, Edmondson adds, still get a firm response.

6:17Sara: How does this change between Mid-level and Senior?

6:20Leo: First, the two levels. They are this series' own labels.

6:24Mid-level means leading moderately complex projects, the level of IPMA® Level C and

6:30PMI®'s PMP® exam. Senior means leading complex projects and people,

6:35the level of IPMA® Level B and of APM's chartered status, Chartered Project Professional.

6:42At Mid-level, you build and lead one team.

6:44Take Parking Permits Online, a city project that moves resident parking permits

6:49online in eight months. The project manager, Anna, runs a joint start for seven

6:54city staff and a supplier team of five: one goal, clear roles,

6:59and a working agreement they write together.

7:01Sara: And at Senior level?

7:03Leo: You design how many teams form, work together and end.

7:07Take One City Account, a thirty-month city project that brings fourteen online services

7:12under one login, led by Anna some years later.

7:16People from the city, two suppliers and the owners of nine older systems join as

7:21each group of services starts. Anna plans a fresh start for each,

7:25with one agreement across all organisations.

7:28Groups that speak for disabled residents review the design.

7:31She coaches her team leads to build safety.

7:34Sara: Now the drill. A city is moving resident parking permits online.

7:39Three of the supplier's developers work from another country and join design reviews

7:43by video. Everyone else sits in the city's meeting room.

7:47The most senior city officer speaks first, and the room decides.

7:51For a month, the remote developers have raised no concerns, yet two defects they

7:56had noticed reached testing. What is happening, and what do you do?

8:01Leo: Pause and write your answer. You have forty-five seconds.

8:49Sara: What is happening?

8:51Leo: One project, but two teams. The remote developers are outside the room,

8:56so outside the decisions, and the senior voice goes first, so others hold back.

9:02Safety is low, and the project pays in defects.

9:05Sara: So what do you do?

9:07Leo: Fix the two defects, and review them without blame, as a gap in the process.

9:11Thank the developers for what they saw.

9:14Then treat the whole team as distributed: everyone on their own screen,

9:17in the overlap hours. Change how reviews decide: concerns in writing first,

9:22the senior officer last, then the named owner decides and records why.

9:27Let the team update its working agreement.

9:29Then check: do the remote developers speak up in the next two reviews?

9:33Sara: What lifts that to Senior?

9:34Leo: The system. Agree with the supplier's lead, under the contract,

9:39that concerns travel in both directions.

9:43Weigh a joint workshop in person: travel costs money, but trust saves rework.

9:49Give the steering group one signal: defects found late, by organisation.

9:55And coach the senior officer, because the fix depends on that behaviour.

10:00Sara: How do the exams ask this?

10:03Leo: IPMA®'s written exam asks for open answers; at Level B it may be oral.

10:08IPMA®'s certification also includes an interview, where assessors ask about your

10:12own projects, so note one team you built.

10:17The PMP® exam uses scenarios, and questions built on a case study or a chart.

10:23APM's PMQ asks for short written answers, such as why diversity needs inclusion.

10:29Sara: Let us recap.

10:31Leo: One. Build the team on purpose: the right people, clear roles,

10:35and its own working agreement.

10:38Sara: Two. Diversity pays only with inclusion: every voice heard, and fairness adapted

10:43to each person.

10:45Leo: Three. Decide in two steps, and give remote members the same access.

10:51Sara: Four. Teams form, storm, norm, perform and adjourn, and slip back when they change.

10:58Leo: And five. People speak up when your response makes it safe, while standards stay

11:04high.

11:05Sara: The two model sheets and the study handout are linked in the description.

11:09Next time: communication and knowledge transfer.