The podcast by project managers for project managers. If your team alignment is off, this misalignment becomes amplified with remote teams. Hear about tools to manage the human side of your project as we take look at The Team Alignment Toolkit. Table of Contents 02:34 … Meet Stefano03:17 … Interest in Team Alignment06:45 … Impact of Pandemic on Team Alignment09:44 … Mastering Your Technology13:20 … Challenges to Remote Work17:34 … Effective Use of Online Communication Tools21:48 … Hybrid Teams are Here to Stay24:47 … Wrong Channel Selection27:53 … Team Alignment Toolkit29:01 … The Team Alignment Map32:08 … The Team Contract34:35 … The Fact Finder35:43 … The Non-Violent Requests Guide37:05 … The Respect Card39:44 … How to Get the Tools43:56 … Closing STEFANO MASTROGIACOMO:  And these two root reasons, mutual understanding and psychological safety, have been at the core of the creation of the tools that are, you know, “High-Impact Tools for Teams.”  Because these were the missing plugins in my own practice to deliver more successful projects.  I think we have amazing tools out there, both Agile, non-Agile, or typical Waterfall.  All tools are good, depending on the type of project we have.  But I was missing the human component embedded in the tools, you know, mixing both, because we’re humans, and language fails, and trust is not always at super levels.  And these are two essential requirements for succeeding as a team. WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Every couple of weeks we meet to talk about what really matters to you as a professional in the field of project management.  We aim to bring you top experts in the field, those who can speak to the challenges you face and draw on their own experience.  I’m your host, Wendy Grounds; and joining us on Skype is Bill Yates. I want to take a quick moment to say thanks to our listeners who reach out to us and leave comments on our website or on social media.  We love hearing from you and always appreciate your positive ratings on Apple Podcasts, or whichever podcast listening app you use. Our guest today is Stefano Mastrogiacomo.  He is a management consultant, professor, and author.  He has been leading digital projects and advising project teams in international organizations for more than 20 years, while teaching and doing research at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.  His interdisciplinary work is anchored in project management, change management, psycholinguistics, evolutionary anthropology, and design thinking.  And he’s the designer of the Team Alignment Map, the Team Contract, the Fact Finder, and the other tools presented in his book. BILL YATES:  Wendy, the Team Alignment Toolkit that Stefano and his colleagues have come up with is really impressive.  It’s so practical.  This is applicable whether you’re using an adaptive approach, a predictive approach, it doesn’t matter – Waterfall, Agile, Scrum, whatever flavor of project management you’re using.  You have, at the core, you have people and a team that you need to keep healthy so that they can produce good work.  And his tool set gets into that. Meet Stefano WENDY GROUNDS:  Stefano, welcome to Manage This.  Thank you for joining us today. STEFANO MASTROGIACOMO:  Thank you for having me, and welcome to our listeners. WENDY GROUNDS:  Yeah.  So you’re Italian, and you’re working in Switzerland.  How did that come about? STEFANO MASTROGIACOMO:  No, I was born from Italian immigrants during the ‘60s in Switzerland, actually.  I was born in Switzerland.  However, my parents had always the dream to go back to Italy.  So when I was five years old we moved back to Italy.  I started my school there, did part of my education in Italy before returning to Switzerland and staying here.  So I think I have both cultural backgrounds now. Interest in Team Alignment BILL YATES:  One of the fun things that we were talking about ah...