In Focus Consumer Credit
Building better credit-project teams
Rewarding people who are willing to challenge perceived wisdom is one key to successful team design
Scott Tillesen Former vice president of credit – The Americas, Tech Data Corporation
scott@ScottRTillesen.com
When a transition team is being pulled together for the design or implementation of an IT project for the credit department, its members are typically subject-matter experts from the credit staff, as well as the various departments that are going to be affected. However, just making sure that all the
seats at the table are filled is not enough to assure success. Team members need to possess the ability
to be a thought-leader, and must have the willingness to be collaborative.
Thought leadership Every project team needs members who can provide ‘thought leadership’. This is the ability to see a future, to find
alternatives, and to also look for various opportunities that not everyone is capable of doing. It is not enough simply to be a expert in
your own subject area. This only represents a strong knowledge of how things are done today. Good ideas are valuable, but individual
team members need to be able to integrate their ideas and, possibly, generate better group ideas. This certainly includes the ability to listen
to others, to competently present ideas, to negotiate, and to concede to an idea proposed by someone else. It is not enough to be smart and clever:
‘collaboration’ is an extremely important trait for project-team members.
March 2018
Company culture The culture of some companies, and some ethnic groups, make thought leadership and collaboration somewhat challenging. In some cultures, it is impolite to publicly
object (or say no) to what someone else has said; as a result, you may not be given an opportunity to hear their objections. In some cultures, it is appropriate to defer
to the opinion of the highest-ranking person in the room, rather than to push forward an alternate idea. The selection of project-team members
requires a special interviewing process that evaluates their willingness to be an advocate of change, the acceptance of the extra duties and time commitment, and a role model for the spirit of cooperation. Use this as an opportunity to counsel those
who are otherwise good contributors to the credit-management effort, but not the right choice for the pending project team.
Aware of your conditions To be sure you are getting the best ideas and the greatest cooperation, be aware of what conditions you are facing. To assure the best results, select only
those people for the project who will bring thought leadership and collaboration to the team. Careful interviewing of perspective team
members and continuous monitoring of team dynamics throughout the project are important steps toward a successful outcome. CCR
www.CCRMagazine.com
In some cultures, it is impolite to publicly object (or say no) to what someone else has said; as a result, you may not be given an opportunity to hear their objections
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