TeamUP

Collaborative Decisionmaking: Workshop-Based Method

Contents of this section:

• TeamUP and ZOPP
• Twelve Basic Steps
• References
• Uganda, Private Sector Development Workshop (Box A1.3)

TeamUP is a flexible, teambased method for improving both the substance and process of project cycle management. It was developed to expand the benefits of ZOPP and to make it more accessible for institutionwide use. PC/TeamUP, a software package, automates the basic stepbystep methodology and guides stakeholders through teamoriented research, project design, planning, implementation, and evaluation.

The TeamUP method is an organized process for building high performance teams. It has two dimensions, (a) task functions, which assist stakeholders in planning, decisionmaking, and acting and (b) team building, which encourages stakeholders to collaborate as an effective work group.

The TeamUP method is a series of steps or modules designed to enable a group of individuals to perform essential management functions collaboratively. Typically, the team meets for a twoandahalf- or five-day workshop. Software (PC/TeamUP) is available to facilitate the process. The software accommodates input from a broad range of stakeholders who stand to benefit or otherwise be affected by design or implementation decisions and adjusts as the range of stakeholders changes through the planning and implementation process.

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TeamUP-developed in the late 1980s by the World Bank's World Bank Institute and Team Technologies, Inc.-uses the basic ZOPP method and then expands it. TeamUP assumes that the past and future are two different sources on which to draw when designing and implementing projectrelated events. ZOPP, mainly concerned with anticipating and avoiding problem situations, looks to the past to understand the present. TeamUP, concerned with both problems and opportunities, looks to the past and the future to understand the possibilities that offer themselves to the present.

Furthermore, TeamUP adds depth to basic problem identification and design features by encouraging teams to anticipate implementation arrangements and inform the quality of their designs with these realities.

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TeamUP's twelve core steps are arranged so that earlier steps help a team build identity and later steps help them take action.

• Opening round. In the opening round, stakeholders discuss their expectations for the team during the TeamUP workshop and beyond. What does each stakeholder hope to accomplish in the workshop?
• Clarify representation. Stakeholders define the interests each represents and set out roles that each will play. Who will act as the team manager? Who will be responsible for what?
• Set norms. "Rules of the game" are set out so that all team members have common expectations of how they can most effectively work together. How will consensus be measured? What will the protocol be during discussions? How will conflicts be resolved?
• Identify action sponsor/beneficiary. In this first actionoriented module, stakeholders establish who will benefit most if the objectives of the project are achieved. What is the total range of potential beneficiaries and negatively impacted groups?
• Review history. This is a team-building and action-oriented exercise to ensure that everyone at the meeting has equal footing. Is this a brand new project with no prior history? Are there applicable lessons from elsewhere? Have some team members worked together before?
• Define mission. What is the team's mission in the workshop? To prepare a project or a program? To develop a strategy for wider action sponsor/beneficiary participation? Furthermore, what is the mission of the project or program itself?
• Define deliverables and assumptions. In this module, the LogFRAME (see the glossary of tools at the end of this Appendix) is used to map out end products and necessary conditions in relationship to overall impact. What changes in behavior and environment will the project outcome inspire? Who will change and how? What are the assumptions on which these outcomes rest? Are these assumptions biased in any way? What if these assumptions do not prove to be true?
• Clarify work plan. Through the LogFRAME, team members define steps to move the project from idea to action. How will the intended deliverables become reality? In what order and with whose help? What tools and further plans are needed, and whose support is critical?
• Define roles and responsibilities. This module is designed to prepare the team to take action beyond the workshop by organizationing up how the work is broken down. Who will manage what aspects of fulfilling the objectives? Tools used in this module encourage people to identify specific tasks and take responsibility for following through with those tasks.
• Define learning system. The team establishes a process to review what they have done and how the team has worked together. What have they learned from this experience? How will they carry what they have learned into the future of this project or program?
• Establish budget. Using performance budget planning tools, the team reviews the work plan and systematically attaches cost to each activity in the plan. Will this project or plan be feasible? Where should the team turn to secure financing? What are the possible sources of funding? Do budget estimates meet operational requirements? What further information is needed?
• Implement and improve. The conviction and wisdom of the team's plan is put to a series of tests. For example, the workshop facilitator will take on the role of devil's advocate to introduce obstacles that the plan might face. What if certain assumptions turn out to be untrue? What if certain unforeseen events take place? Are contingency plans possible? Finally, a plan for future team workshops is set out.

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Cracknell, B. 1989. "Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Logical Framework System in Practice." Project Appraisal 4(3): 163-167.

McLean, D. 1988. Logical Framework in Research Planning and Evaluation. International Service of National Agricultural Research Working Paper No. 12. Washington, D.C.: ISNAR.

Team Technologies, Inc. 1991. PC/LogFrame R&D Software and User Manual. Chantilly, Virginia.

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The World Bank provided assistance to the Uganda Manufacturers' Association and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to organize a workshop, whose purpose was to (a) review survey results on 105 project/programme purposees and 265 private investors, (b) introduce a private sector development strategy to a broad constituency of private sector, government, and donor participants, (c) achieve agreement on fundamental elements, and (d) identify a private sector task force to begin preparation of a possible International Development Association-funded operation in this area.

The workshop design, based on the TeamUP approach, used public involvement methods for involving large numbers of stakeholders in building agreements about policy, strategy, and execution. The method integrated more than seventy participants in a series of small group discussions designed to identify issues, surface and resolve conflicts, and build understanding and initial agreement about a proposed project design. Summary responses from participants indicated they believed the workshop demonstrated the government's and Bank's commitment to a collaborative, demand-driven process.