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Welcome to the fourth in a series of articles in which we focus on workplace efficiencies and the use of good man- agement and project management techniques and tools to foster a productive and healthy workplace. This article lays the foundation for creating the work environment needed to realize good management practices. Without a healthy team (or at least a team tending toward health), it can be difficult to organize, motivate, cultivate loyalty, and set priorities. In addition, we discuss why you need to know your organization, your service and/or product, and your culture. If we do not know who and where we are today, then how can we move forward tomorrow ?
We introduced work plans early in the series so our readers could begin to address some tangible issues. But it is just as important to assess the "level of health" of the unit or organization early in the project management (pm) process. It is much easier to introduce or improve efficien- cies when the environment fosters such improvements. Although many terms and phrases can be used to describe a good work environment, we prefer the word "healthy." We often hear about building teams, creating community, fostering trust, and providing a safe place where people can work to their full potential without being bombarded by the kinds of issues that typify low-morale environments. Creating a pleasant place to work requires considerable leadership if only because health-promoting rules and workplace practices need to be enforced and underlying tensions and departmental practices that drag everyone down need to be corrected.
People must be shown the way and given an oppor- tunity to change. (Just a couple of flies in the soup make the whole pot undesirable.) That said, change is a two- pronged process: The boss must lead and manage well, and the team must want to participate. The leader/manager cannot expect much success without a team that wants to contribute, that has purpose, that is eager for change, and that has the fortitude to follow through. It is not all the boss's responsibility; however, too often, failure becomes an exercise in blaming the boss.
In the latter half of this article, we describe how the manager and team can build a foundation to help...