“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” –Michael Jordan 

Teambuilding, HCI’s new e-learning track in Talent Development, launches Oct 29 with a great webcast on cross-functional product teams. As talent factors inseparably into business success, the talent that makes up your product teams and the effectivness of your product teams becomes paramount.  Teams that take charge of a product as if they were running their own business is the focus of our first webcast.  Our presenter, Steven Haines, author of  “The Product Managers’ Desk Reference” will share how cross-functional product teams meet the business challenge posed by Jim Collins…combining discipline with entrepreneurship as the alchemy of good performance.

HCI members we look forward to your insights, comments and questions…

What are the challenges product teams face (from HCI members):

“Beasts” (challenges interdisciplinary product teams face)

Question: lack of corporate vision

Question: disaparate experience levels and decision rights among functions

Question: In so many cases, the project/product is just one of many priorities - for the dedicated core team members as well as the associate and extended team members. competing with the other projects for resources is very tough
stion: team members don’t follow through with actions. they dont know how to begin.

Question: Challenges commonly faced are individual agendas and bureaucracy to get things done (too many layers for approval

Question: indecision by executives. constantly changing directions

Question: Commitment of resources - dollars and material resources needed to move at timetable needs.

Question: Resource contraints and scope creep

Question: Motivation towards reaching a common goal

Question: We have a direction but internal issues dealing with accepting new direction.

Question: short term view; lack of a sense of urgency; tunnel vision or lack of a comprehensive view of how the projects fit within the context of the whole

Question: beasts are jealousy, territoriality, inadequate commuications, unresolved conflicts, a culture that works against working in teams and more

Question: Execution on timeline

Question: Poor disemination of information.

Question: We have a lot of them. Top down planning by management that does not want to invest in the business, yet looks to us for revenue growth. People opposed to change, Lack of analytical and problem solving skills. Departmental goals given higher priority than company goals.

You may have heard the expression “peel the onion” or in OD language, “ladders of inference.”  In health care, both patients and staff have choices about where to place their loyalty.  If one were to delve into what lies beneath patient loyalty,  “credentials” and “competencies” come to mind.  Recognition of critical competencies factors into staff loyalty, too, especially with respect to scarce talent.  Today’s webcast,

Health Care Rx (Prescription): Recognize Competencies & Retain Critical Talent

 explores how the best health care organizations have gone beyond credentials to recognizing development and demonstration of critical competencies, particularly amongst their “scarce” talent. 

HCI members, please add your insights, experience and questions below in our post-webcast blog with each other and our presenters Pam Bilbrey and Dr. George Soper, and expert advisors Pat Zingheim and Jay Schuster…     

When organizations use a variety of training delivery approaches, and related metrics, what advantages do they provide to capture:

Learning effectiveness from the learner’s point of view?

How well the training is used from the company’s point of view?

Find out in our High Impact Learning webcast  It’s in the Mix: How Collaborative, On-Demand, and Mobile Learning Drive Your Business

HCI members, we look forward to hearing your comments, experiences and questions…