Proposal preparation is a complex process that involves undertaking several measures and steps. One of the pillars of effective proposal preparation is the interaction with team members as it can ensure the effective functioning of the team. It is important to engage people and encourage them to become active team players who are committed to achieving the goals set (Katz and Miller 51). Once the groups of people working on the project are assigned, it is crucial to have some consultations with team members.
These consultations should be well-thought and properly designed. Writing meeting minutes will help the team leader when developing the action plan and communication plan (Gutmann 83). When writing meeting minutes, it is essential to address such points as the topic, team members’ responsibilities, gap analysis, as well as questions raised and answered (Butterfield 109). As for the responsibilities, General Manager will supervise the work of the team and coordinate the process; Sales Manager will develop a marketing strategy for the potential clients. Finance Manager will create a preliminary budget with the focus on benefits for the potential clients. Automotive Engineer and Workshop Manager will be responsible for the description of technical features of the products offered. After Sales Manager will develop plans for the collaboration and provision of the associated services. The meeting minutes will include the following sections: topic, goals set, responsibilities discussed, questions asked, answers provided, unresolved issues, timeline.
The consultations will also help in developing performance plans for the team members mentioned above. These plans will include such sections as responsibilities, KPIs, competencies needed to fulfill tasks, and career development plans (Parmenter 11). The major responsibilities of the team members have been discussed above. The other sections of the performance plan are shaped by these responsibilities (see table 1). It can be important to focus on such areas as communication skills in terms of career development
Table 1. Major Points in Performance Plans for the Team Players.
Some of the major issues associated with meeting KPIs is associated with time management, communication skills, and conflict management. People often focus on their specific tasks and forget about the major goal and the need to collaborate (Levi 137). The development of an effective communication plan can contribute to solving these issues. It can also be effective to conduct some teambuilding activities and have more group discussions and individual consultations when necessary.
The communication policy that can help in crafting an effective proposal should be based on the following principles: respect, diversity, proactive criticism, ethics. Respect is the cornerstone of the effective teamwork, which needs no further discussion or justification (Viscuso 163). The team members should, however, remember that diversity and plurality are keys to success. Therefore, they should share ideas and come up with innovative ideas and ways. It is also vital to understand and explain if needed that criticism is helpful when it is proactive. In other words, it is important to identify flaws but do it in a respectful way and encourage the person whose ideas are being criticized. As for the procedure, each team member addresses the supervisor via corporate telephone communication, email, or instant messenger. The group will have a chat room within the corporate messenger that will be devoted to the proposal writing. Team members will initiate discussions and consultations through the channels mentioned above.
The developed performance plans can be enhanced with the provision of particular instructions to major tasks. For example, the documents provided by the team members (proposals, budgets, presentations) should be brief but contain all the major points. The employees should use the formats and standards existing in the company (or major business standards). All the reports provided should be accompanied by brief memos. All the reports and documents should be delivered to all the stakeholders.
As has been mentioned above, communication is one of the most important aspects of the project. Therefore, every meeting should be conducted in terms of the developed communication policy. When the team members are ready with their portions, it is important to distribute these parts of the future proposal to all the stakeholders. Members of the team should meet and discuss the work completed. Employees will share their ideas on each other’s projects and suggests some ways to eliminate errors or enhance the documents. One of the results of this meeting will be a meeting minute that will be used to develop a corrective action plan. This document might have the description of new responsibilities as well as different types of collaboration within the team (Levi 55). It is possible to create pairs or groups of three that will collaborate and unite their portions of work into a preliminary proposal draft.
In conclusion, it is necessary to note that the development of a proposal will require strong leadership. Therefore, the leader of the group should be inspirational and effective. My contribution as a leader will be mainly associated with mentoring and problem-solving. I will help team members to communicate effectively and collaborate in the most efficient way. I will participate in all the processes and will make sure I have the most recent information concerning the project. I will communicate with every team member and encourage them to share their views on proposal development, their performance, and other people involved in the project. I will try to make the groups of people working on the project feel they are a part of the team. Each member of this team will feel empowered and motivated.
Works Cited
Butterfield, Jeff. Illustrated Course Guides: Teamwork & Team Building – Soft Skills for a Digital Workplace. 2nd ed., Cengage Learning, 2016.
Gutmann, Joanna. Taking Minutes of Meetings. 3rd ed., Kogan Page Publishers, 2013.
Katz, Judy H, and Frederick A. Miller. Opening Doors to Teamwork and Collaboration: 4 Keys that Change Everything. Barrett-Koehler, 2013.
Levi, Daniel. Group Dynamics for Teams. 4th ed., SAGE, 2013.
Parmenter, David. Key Performance Indicators: Developing, Implementing, and Using Winning KPIs. 3rd ed., John Wiley & Sons, 2015.
Viscuso, Frank. Step up Your Teamwork. 4th ed., Fire Engineering Books, 2015.