Kalei: I decided who takes responsibility for what part of the project in the team.
Nahine: How did your team feel about that?
Kalei: They all had issues, but to be fair they should have been able to sort them... I didn't want them at my door all the time. That's when I decided to add some project milestones to make the team stay on track.
Nahine: Did the team members stay on track when you checked in at the milestones?
Kalei: I had to communicate harshly sometimes. When I instituted daily reporting we started falling behind even more.
Nahine: How will you do it differently if you get another chance?
Kalei: I had very little buy-in from the team because I decided who does what and by when. Next time I will try a more cooperative and empowering approach.
Kalei: I decided who takes responsibility for what part of the project in the team.
Nahine: How did your team feel about that?
Kalei: They all had issues but to be fair they should have been able to sort them... I didn't want them at my door all the time. I scheduled a meeting a week before the deadline to make sure that we can put all the individual parts together though.
Nahine: Communicating in this way did not work this time, did it?
Kalei. No it didn't. I will take a completely different approach the next time.
Nahine: How will you do it differently if you get another chance?
Kalei: I had very little buy-in from the team because I decided who does what and by when. Next time I will try a more cooperative and empowering approach.
Kalei: As a team we came together, set the project goals and came up with a timeline. In the process we were able to draw from each member's experience and expertise to put a great plan together.
Nahine: How did you keep track of the project?
Kalei: We checked in every 7 days and I did a reconciliation of the project goals every 14 days. In that way everyone knew how they were tracking in the project and could ask for support where needed.
Nahine: Supporting your team in this way seemed to have worked well.
Kalei: Definitely. I can't wait for the next project.
Kalei: Because I was part of the team before I became its leader, I had a good understanding of every team member's strengths. So after I decided what could work best, I spent time with each individual member of the team and discussed the project and their contribution to the outcome of the project.
Nahine: Did they like the way you approached it?
Kalei: Yes. Showing them that I saw and recognised their strengths, it gave them courage to take the project to the next level.
Nahine: How did you put the project together in the end?
Kalei: I met every week with each member personally. In these meetings it was also a good time to find out if they needed any other support. We also had a big meeting closer to the deadline to put all the pieces together. It was really fun to see the project come to life.