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50 Context-Sensitive Solutions (CSS) in Multi-Disciplinary Teams What are the critical success factors to assure CSS multi- disciplinary team success? ⢠Managing expectations and having a transparent pro- cess for shared roles and responsibilities ⢠Managing resources ⢠Commitment and focus from all participants ⢠Trust ⢠Leadership ⢠Clear communication internally and externally ⢠Education of all involved from the beginning of the process ⢠Success of the team can be measured by whether âspeaking with one voiceâ ⢠Is your relationship better at the end, compared to where you started, in terms of trust and credibility within your team and with your stakeholders? Do you have examples of successful CSS interdisciplinary team formation and use that you can share? What factors contributed to their success? ⢠Defined roles, defined timelineâclear expectations ⢠Inclusive representation (construction, maintenance, and operation mentioned specifically) ⢠Using a facilitator ⢠Having regular meetings ⢠Documentation of the entire process and making sure as new members come on the team they are âbrought up to speedâ to avoid revisiting decisions already made. What are the challenges to internal multi-disciplinary team formation? Do you have examples of innovative ap- proaches to create and support these teams? Summary points primarily focused on challenges: ⢠Resourcesâprimarily staff time ⢠Training ⢠Lack of respect for other disciplines ⢠Boredom or perception of irrelevance to my discipline ⢠Dealing with people who do not want to changeâ making sure it gets institutionalized ⢠Direction from management. Suggested approaches to support internal teams? ⢠Project management training and implementation ⢠Making sure not one discipline leading the process ⢠Using newer technologies to support team ⢠Reporting progress ⢠Awards and kudos. What are the challenges to external multi-disciplinary team formation? Do you have examples of innovative approaches to create and support these teams? Challenges: ⢠Expectations from the public as far as participation ⢠Unclear roles and responsibilities ⢠Getting right people involved depending on the size of the project ⢠Staff turnover. Suggested approaches: ⢠Use formal memorandum of understanding to set clear roles and expectations ⢠Empowering the community as a part of the team ⢠Use celebrations at key points and at the end ⢠Use local staff rather than politicians as team members ⢠Fund positions. What teaming skills do you think are critical to success- ful CSS implementation? ⢠Listening ⢠Flexibility ⢠Strong facilitation ⢠Communication ⢠Respect ⢠People skills ⢠Team leadership ⢠Conflict resolution ⢠Openness ⢠Integrity ⢠Creativity ⢠Specific transportation discipline skills. What strategies can help assure coordination and com- munication among multi-disciplinary team members and/or related multi-disciplinary teams (internal/external, technical/policy, separate but related projects)? Communication challenges are keyâdealing with: ⢠Logistics ⢠Potential geographic separation ⢠Changing players or representatives. Strategies: ⢠Liaisons across multiple teams ⢠Technology to support communication (intranet web- site, project website that is password protected) ⢠Documenting process and being very transparent with what you can and cannot do from the beginning ⢠Documenting not just the decision but why the decision was made ⢠Using project managers and clearly defining project managerâs role. APPENDIX A Peer Exchange Information on Multi-Disciplinary Teams
