Part II: Evaluating Team Members in Terms of Their Responsibilities

Sitting on the other side of your desk is George. Your director thinks George will make a fantastic systems design lead for your project.

You like George. His boundless sense of humor makes working the weekend shift tolerable, sometimes even fun. He brings in fresh-baked, chocolate-chip cookies. Your kids and his attend day care together. And there is no software bug he can’t fix.

But George always leaves his status reports half blank. Despite repeated warnings, he shows up 20 minutes late for every meeting. Unless he’s experienced an epiphany in the last 24 hours, George will not be an asset to your team.

When you interview an outside applicant for a position in your department, you can be objective. As you consider candidates for your project team, you face a more difficult challenge: The people you interview are not only colleagues, but, in many cases, friends.

To ensure you pick strong teammates, approach each interview with the same rigor as you do when evaluating an outsider. In addition to reviewing each person’s skills and experience, pay close attention to his or her strengths, weaknesses and intangible qualities, such as meeting deadlines, following through on promises and focusing on objectives. Indeed, your task is not an easy one.

The CliniSystems Insider says:
Even if it’s not an election year, you will have to be the consummate politician. Avoid letting other colleagues, even your senior managers, choose your team members for you. Candidates who have been volunteered or are being rewarded by their manager will not share the same stake in the project as you do.

After thorough evaluation, if you believe a candidate will be a liability, exercise your skills of diplomacy. Tell whoever recommended the person why he or she won’t serve as an effective team member. But first, prepare your reasons carefully. You will need to state your case clearly, calmly and objectively.

Next, we delve into the wide range of responsibilities your team members will manage. We begin with the obligations of teammates because the team leader acts not only as the project manager, but also wears a second hat as team member.


The Responsibilities of Project Team Members
Project Team members will assume various roles and manage many responsibilities. Disclose everything to your candidates and secure their commitment before adding them to your team.

Every team member will be expected to:
• Grasp the scope of the project and stay within its boundaries
• Actively participate by attending every Project Team meeting and MEDITECH training session
• Learn the system inside-out and become an expert for the facility
• Evaluate the existing process and design the plan and the tools for automating the process
• Ensure decisions and system design comply with facility and regulatory agency policies and procedures
• Design and build the system
• Test the system to ensure that all functionality works as designed
• Effectively communicate ideas, decisions, issues, and functionality

Additionally, every team member will:
• Travel to Boston for one week of intensive training at MEDITECH
• Travel between facilities for a multi-facility implementation
• Adjust work schedules to accommodate meetings and training sessions
• Perform lots of tedious data entry
• Work on the PC every day
• Organize existing documents by department, including forms, protocols and reports
• Review the documentation and decide what should be automated
• Plan how to automate tasks, build the functionality into the system and obtain leadership’s approval
• Document and track issues on the MEDITECH website
• Develop, lead and participate in presentations
• Create end-user training materials
• Train end users
• Provide on-unit support

The CliniSystems Insider says:
Let potential team members know exactly what the trip to MEDITECH in Boston entails.Some may assume it’s an opportunity to evaluate new software, eat clam chowder and perhaps enjoy the fall foliage.

Make it crystal clear that your facility’s leaders already have chosen MEDITECH as their clinical system and signed a contract. Colleagues who travel to Boston must learn the new application (s) in its entirety. When they return to your facility, the real work begins, and the expectations will be tremendous.

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