Part III: Choosing a Project Team Leader Who Can Work in the Trenches

In a world of 24-hour convenience stores stocked with frozen dinners and pre-packaged snacks, your local deli is an oasis. As you approach the counter, the owner smiles and piles your favorite cold cuts onto a warm, fresh-baked roll, topping it with the cheddar cheese and red onions you love. Then he slips behind the register, hands you a bottle of water from the refrigerator and rings up your order.

When you stop by the deli for the morning newspaper, the owner is stocking the shelves with milk. As you drive home from work, you notice him sweeping up the candy wrappers and leaves scattered on the sidewalk. A marvel of multi-tasking and efficiency, the deli owner runs a tight ship. To please his customers, he never thinks twice about working in the trenches.

Your Project Team leader will be expected to operate as selflessly as the deli owner. Not only will your chosen manager guide, mentor and motivate your team, but he or she also will step up and fulfill any role necessary to ensure your implementation succeeds.

Responsibilities of the Project Team Leader
In addition to handling the responsibilities of team members described in the previous article, the Project Team leader must manage the project and its contributors by:
•Leading discussions about the scope and timeline of the project.
•Creating and maintaining a project plan that supports the project’s scope and schedule.
•Interpreting the scope and breaking down the work into specific tasks, deliverables and milestones.
•Assuring that deliverables remain within scope and meet deadlines.
•Assisting in interviewing and selecting team members.
•Setting daily agendas for the project team.
•Lead discussions and facilitating all Project Team events, including daily and weekly meetings, MEDITECH visits, executive presentations, and system-building sessions.
•Communicating project status, risks, and competing priorities to facility leadership.
•Serving as the point of contact with MEDITECH for your facility’s clinical system and its unique requirements.
•Identifying, prioritizing and driving the resolution of software issues with MEDITECH.
•Detailing expectations and deliverables to the project team before each MEDITECH training session.
•Assisting in securing work space, equipment and office supplies needed for your clinical system and your team members, including printers, telephones, desks, network connections and PCs.

The CliniSystems Insider says:
As you consider candidates for Project Team leader, seek out those who possess both project management and clinical expertise. If you settle on a candidate who has one but not the other then put a plan in place to add the necessary resources using other options, e.g. bring in a consultant, consider a co-lead scenario, staff your project team with clinicians.

If your clinical system implementation is your facility’s first, you can’t expect your team leader to know how to anticipate every issue. However, too much is at stake to allow your leader to develop management skills or clinical expertise through on-the-job training.

In our next article, we take a look at the basic skills every candidate must have to be an effective contributor.

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