Project Manager’s Happy New Year Message

“Happy new year 2012! May all your projects finish on time without any cost or schedule variance.  May all team members stay healthy, happy;and meet all milestone dates.  May the executive sponsor stay happy as it is and does not change mind.”

Happy Project Manager

Learning from 2011 ( #3lessons )

When reflecting on 2011, as most of us do each year, I find the year very successful and I find myself fortunate enought to have made significant improvements in personal and professional lives. It made me interested what others are thinking.  Twitter was good source and here is compilation of 3 lessons hash tag on twitter. I have tried my best to provide credit to all contributors as I noted in tweets.

• @CJamesCatStrat
  • trust your heart then head;
  • know you can change the world;
  • connect with depth and meaning.
• @nowaffle
  • make a difference;
  • lover yourself;
  • respect others.
• @mariemilligan
  • open-hearted risk taking;
  • belief & action in greater good;
  • laugh & love like its your last day on earth.
• @kevindaugh_herty
  • don’t take anyone for granted;
  • enjoy the moment;
  • have a great haircut.
• @umairh
  • ignore the haters;
  • listen to what matters;
  • create the future.
• @ohheygreat
  • be okay saying “I don’t know, can you teach me?”;
  • to what scares you and learn from it;
  • love like crazy.
• @letuboy
  • go big;
  • embrace failure;
  • be better.
• @mosharrafzaidi
  • put yourself in others’ shoes;
  • give everyone more than once chance;
  • avoid unproductive negative energy.
• @kulveervirk
  • add value to whatever you do;
  • life if good if you work for greater good;
  • quality of questions determines what you get as an answer.

10 Early Indicators of Problems & Framework To Solve

We all strive for higher productivity, quality and efficiency.  We implement processes in place to achieve great results but with time, we got to review and renew so that our organization continue to deliver good value to customer.

Early indicators of unhealthy organization requiring a thorough check of processes -

1. Increase in employee overtime
2. Over budget and late delivery of products
3. Higher help-desk call volume due to various issues
4. Higher employee turnover or absenteeism
5. Frequent customer complaints or low customer satisfaction
6. No feedback from employees for improvement or disengaged employees
7. Low worker morale due to work environment conditions
8. Poo or declining sales
9. Negative buzz on social media
10. Direction-less employees due to lack of leadership

The moment you see these symptoms of productivity drain, you got to spring into action.  What actions you take mainly depends largely on your unique situation which may include feedback surveys, quality training, leadership training, communication training, team building activities, and developing new / refining processes, empowering employees. Never go the route of micro-managing.

Here is framework I follow to find solution -

1. Assess the situation with the help of subject matter experts
2. Frame the problem in broad terms and why it need to be addressed now
3. Describe the desired outcome if problem is solved to the satisfaction
4. List three best options to solve the problem
5. List pros and cons of each option
6. Get consensus on the single option from the team
7. Explain why this chosen option will work and what are its constraints/risks
8. Implement or empower the implementation

I would be interested to know from your experience what other indicators can be added to this list and how do you solve the problems.  Thanks in advance for sharing your valuable thoughts and stopping by.

This list is based on my personal experience and is not through any scientific study.

The Best Advice I’ve Ever Been Given..

1. Don’t ask for what you don’t want.
2. You carry five balls in the air; all but one is made of glass. Glass is health, family, friends, spirituality. Rubber is career. Juggle well.
3. Be passionate but not emotional.
4. Master hard skills early in your career. Master soft skills to get ahead later in your career.
5. Know when to ask questions - sometimes in a group, sometimes one-on-one.  There is big difference in perception and outcome in these two situations.
6. Always do what you say you will do.
7. Take lunch – you are not that important.
8. Read the cover of sports page every day (no joke!).

I was reading Canadian Business magazine‘s The Next Power Elite cover story and found these gems at the bottom of the page.  I could not resist sharing with my readers. Credit for the content goes to August-September issue of Canadian Business.

How to Become a Trusted Advisor?

How to build trust with the Boss or Customer? What do you think of your boss or customer? 

I guess more important question for your success is - what does your boss (or customer) think of you? Does your boss (or customer) trust you? Trust is invisible currency of faith. Once you have earned it,  you become trusted advisor. It takes time to develop trust, but can be lost in a flash.  Trust makes work life more enjoyable, gives satisfaction and makes one more productive.   I believe that if someone genuinely applies below given 7 pointers, sure will gain trust. 

He who does not trust enough, Will not be trusted. – Lao Tzu

Lets imagine customer is also a boss.  Getting a good boss is mostly in our hands.  I say mostly, because there might be some bosses with whom you can not connect at all because their wavelength is quite different from yours.  In spite of it, I think one must take initiative to build trust and get connected with boss instead of waiting for boss to realize how invaluable and resourceful one is for the team and organization. 

So how to become trusted advisor?  Answer is – by cultivating trust.  My understanding is “Giving trust leads to earning trust“. You got to understand the uniqueness of every individual in terms of how one thinks and operates.

Here are 7 key pointers to build trust over time with your boss and work on addressing the questions -

1. Be reliable and competent: can your boss count on you? can you get things done you are supposed to do?
2. Be accountable: are you ready to own your mistakes? are you concerned about success of your organization?
3. Learn to anticipate: do you know what questions will be asked on the subject? are you strategic thinker?
4. Be solution oriented: are you just posing questions or problems? do you strive to help resolve issues?
5. Seek feedback and be candid: are you engaging your boss? are you holding back something from your boss? 
6. Be professional: are you delivering value to your boss/organization? are you respectful to your boss on his/her back?
7. Be a good communicator: do you understand how your boss wants to know things? do you connect with your boss?

And what you do if you and your boss are on totally different wavelengths? Keep doing good job and move on when opportunity arises, simple is that.  Its nothing wrong with anyone, we all are unique and bring different perspectives to life and its ok to be on different wavelengths.

Hope you like the post, if you think there is any other valuable point to add, share it.  Thanks for reading and feedback.

Tweets of Wisdom

Here are some of the tweets from the people I follow on Twitter.  These tweets are incredible pearls of wisdom that we can use to direct our thoughts, actions and reflections.

1.  Mediocrity asks “Is it profitable?“. First, try asking: “Is it worthwhile? Will it matter? Is it meaningfully better?” @umairh

Profound questions one can ask! Questions we ask ourself are the key to our success. If we change the questions we ask, we can change our life.  Recently watched HBR video called Wise Leadership [video] on similar topic. This interview asks – Is profitablity the  result or ulimate goal of our business?  Check out keyword Phronesis.

2.  Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think. @Billy_Cox

Our actions are guided by our thoughts (as well as profound questions) and eventually we become what our mind dwells upon most of the time. Isn’t it questions posed by @umairh in (1) a perfect fit to initiate great thoughts?

3.  All the wisdom in the world isn’t worth a dime if it doesn’t produce results. @BrianTracy

My favorite Brian Tracy has influenced millions & millions with his wisdom. As managers, we enjoy some nice talking  to us but all talking won’t do it. We got to get results.  Wisdom does mean action or inspiring others to take action and manifest quality products that add value.

4.  A person’s character is best judged when he is in power & how he uses this power in the daily walk of #life @rlalita

This is very timely thought, we all are given authority/power in our life and work. See this quote with the perspective of 1, 2 & 3

5. Try & try again is a great philosophy so long as you use a different plan for every try. @LeadToday

This quote tells about perseverence and keeping mind open to new ways of doing things to get to the desired results.  It might be pushing the particular item to back for some time. You know some times we got to inentionaly delay the things because environment is not ready to thrive.  Remember planning also includes if things do not work out the way we expect what are our options and how would we pursue them.

6. Enlightenment is not an escape from pain but an understanding of pain & in spite of it -living with a never-ending feeling of love for life. @tonyrobbins

Its all how we define pain (or problem). Its our paradigm. Not there yet, but whatever I have grasped from reading – at a certain juncture in life, a time comes in life when one realizes that pain is medicine while comfort leads to suffering. And again, its all how one defines pain and comfort and what are thresholds per our paradigms.

7. You weren’t put here to polish up PowerPoint decks, sell disposable junk, or glad-hand. You were put here to matter, serve, and love. Start. @umairh

Finding purpose or discovering our ‘Ture North’ is what we need. We are put here to matter (do significant things that make world a better place – even for one individual), serve (without any strings attached or expectations – otherwise its business not serving) and love (without ego and selfishness). Last word is even more powerful that is  START!

If you like these tweets, please follow them on Twitter.  If you are new to Twitter, then start here http://twitter.com/ and watch this video for more info http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0xbjIE8cPM

My twitter handle is @KulveerVirk

SWOT Analysis – A Tool Anyone Can Use

Do not begin any major task without this analysis tool!  This tool will generate the list of valuable ideas and strategic direction to achieve your goals. We can say SWOT Analysis is a tool that helps our project, business objective, venture or organization in 4 ways:

1. Evaluate the Strengths so that you can capitalize on them,
2. Identify the Weaknesses so that you can address them,
3. Discover Opportunities so that you can invest accordingly, and
4. Analyze Threats so that you can plan to mitigate them.

SWOT comes from Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat.  It is 2×2 matix which we use to gather the data on 4 areas by asking questions.  You can do it through brainstorming session and use required data from customer feedback, surveys, industry research, market trands, etc.

I stumbled upon this great 5 min video by Erica Olson and thought of sharing it with you along with other resources.

Strengths and Weaknesses are internal while Opportunities and Threats are external to the business objective or the task for which SWOT analysis is being done. It is as simple as asking good questions!

 This video will explain a lot and referresources for mastery -

Excellent Resources:

1. Basics  – http://erc.msh.org/quality/ittools/itswot.cfm
2. Process – http://www.andyeklund.com/creativestreak/2009/05/swot-analysis.html
3. Small Business Startup SWOT Questions -http://www.selfemployedcafe.com/swot-analysis-template/
4. Template and Practical Example – http://farm-risk-plans.usda.gov/pdf/swot_brochure_web.pdf
5. http://www.rob-berman.com/questions-to-ask-during-swot-analysis/

Fountain of Wisdom

Rose & Robert Skillman Library in Detroit has engraving “The Fountain of Wisdom Flows Through the Books“. To drink from this fountain, I continue to read books and here are some that I have completed recently and would like to share with my subscribers and visitors.  I have more detail posted here.

These 3 books are totally unique but fit in for a balanced approach towards any leadership or managerial role that you play in your life.

1. Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down - John P. Kotter, Harvard Business Press, 2010
2. Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t - Jeffrey Pfeffer, HarperBusiness, 2010
3. It’s Not Just Who You Know: Transform Your Life (and Your Organization) by Turning Colleagues and Contacts into Lasting, Genuine Relationships - Tommy Spaulding, Crown Business, 2010

Why Should You Read These 3 Books?

Buy-In:  A leader or manager has to sell the idea, proposal or get an agreement.  Getting people buy-into is the critical task.  You will learn two things – first, how to protect your good ideas from being shot down and second, how to win the support of stakeholders when it really matters.  Naysayers will use 4 strategies of fear mongering, delay tactics, confusion and/or ridicule to derail the idea.

As we all know that good idea alone will not survive. This book offers 24 major attacks or objections (that people use time and time again) and how to handle them properly. Link provides 24 responses to these attacks.

Skillman Library in Detroit Courtesy: Wikimedia

Power:  For a leader or manager, being power less is not an option. If you can influence any decision, you got some power. Projects and initiatives of people who are associated with people of authority gets their way in any organization.  Some might have the different opinion of the use of power (i.e. Machiavellian style), but lets use the perspective that if you have power, you can do more good to your cause, organization and society. I will add quote from Baltasar Gracian:

The sole advantage of power is that you can do more good.  The Art of Worldly Wisdom, 1647

This book contains excellent advice and analysis about gaining power in corporations and politics.  You may not agree with all that is said like perception is reality (but for how long?), but its a good read and use what you feel appropriate with good intentions.

It’s Not Just Who You Know: Leaders and managers accomplish a lot by building rapport at all the levels, they are resourceful and get the work done for greater good.  This book fits right where both other left.  If you believe that great relationship in life make all the difference, you will enjoy it. Author does not give out any specific formula but shares his own experiences and then elaborates on how one should apply them in life. I used this book to learn from someone’s life how genuine interaction helps build great relationships.

This book is not you scratch my back and I scratch you back type but follows Carnegie’s classic How to Win Friends…

Author shares many inspiring stories and all underscore that relationship building begins with your genuine and sincere attention on the others and it’s not about you. Do not push for the things that you want, figure out what they need.  Also, author stresses that exploiting relationships for quick personal gains or favors will eventually ruin the foundation and it soon becomes transactional business relationship.

As a leader, you do not want to accomplish a lot in business but also would like to have strong relationships similar to great balance sheet or super annual report.  If you miss out building genuine and sincere relationships at all sectors of life, work and business included, you will be alone at top.

References:

1. http://www.kotterinternational.com/KotterPrinciples/BuyIn/AttacksAndResponses.aspx

Press Release : Kulveer Elected to Lead Michigan’s Largest Project Management Chapter

Have you ever created a press release before?  As I began my role in the chapter as President Elect on Jan 01, 2011, I thought of creating a press release and see how it looks.  First attempt, let me know what you think. (Note – my personal opinion and does not reflect of any organization or enterprise).

---

Detroit, MI. (2 January 2011) — Board of Directors of Great Lakes Chapter of Project Management Institute (PMI – GLC), the largest project management member association in Michigan, elected Kulveer S. Virk as its new president for 2012.

The Board chose Kulveer Virk for his keen strategic insights regarding building member and organization value, formulating and leading operational vision, strategy and direction. “Kulveer is a very hardworking, committed and inspiring volunteer leader. He brought great ideas to the chapter in the communication area including social media strategy, made improvements that resulted in cost savings” said Arun Das, PMP, Past-President for the chapter. “He also shaped other initiatives that originated from the ideation of strategic items identified during the last couple of years.”

Kulveer said he will build on the Board’s overall strategic direction and provide executive leadership to advance PMI-GLC as one of the largest and most influential project management chapter in the region.

Kulveer has been vice president of communications for PMI-GLC since 2008. Kulveer has nearly 15 years of experience in project management, strategic planning, and business process reengineering, operations and software development. During his tenure, Kulveer has been instrumental in implementing solutions to cut cost, redesign services, and embracing social media.

Apart from serving the PMI-GLC board, Kulveer manages a global project at Ford Motor Company in Michigan. His previous experience includes consulting, medical, engineering, city government sectors.

“I am extremely pleased that PMI-GLC’s Board has expressed the confidence in me to take PMI-GLC to next levels of volunteer and stakeholder engagement, increase in member value, positioning to meet the challenges of next decade.” said Kulveer. “I look forward to enhancing our strategic relationships with organization and businesses leaders to highlight the importance and benefits of Project Management and role PMI-GLC plays in the region.”

About Project Management Institute (PMI) & Great Lakes Chapter (PMI-GLC)

PMI (www.pmi.org) is the world’s largest project management member association, representing more than half a million practitioners in over 185 countries. As a global thought leader and knowledge resource, PMI advances the profession through its global standards and credentials, collaborative chapters and communities of practice and academic research.

PMI-GLC (www.pmiglc.org) is Metro Detroit chapter of PMI established in 1979 and serving around 2000 members across Michigan and Ontario, Canada. PMI-GLC offers annual symposium, dinner meetings and forums on project and program management topics apart from various other events for networking and membership orientation.

How to Publish Project Manager’s Daily Newspaper?

Have you dreamed about publishing your own newspaper? Here is quick way to publish one.

Some days ago I got a link on twitter to an online newspaper about social media content.  I was impressed and thought its lot of work put in by the author to compile so many sources and presenting in an attractive layout.

Last week I tried it and published my own daily e-paper for project managers.  Click here to see what I came up with http://paper.li/kulveervirk/projectgurus 

Isn’t it impressive?  This is quite easy to produce and took less than 2 minutes, thanks to www.paper.li for this services.

Most of us use either Twitter or Facebook (or both in many cases). This tool organizes links shared on Twitter into an easy to read newspaper-style format. Newspapers can be created for any Twitter user, list or #tag  to read and share. It assumes that you have account setup on either of the service.

This service can be used with Twitter or Facebook, since I use Twitter, I utilized my Twitter lists. All I did was setup an account, entered values to read stream of my Twitter account’s list that has many project management resources subscribed.

Step by Step:

1. Go to www.paper.li and sign in using your Twitter account.
2. Click on ‘create a newspaper’ link
3. Click on ‘create a custom newspaper’ button
4. Enter Title for your newspaper
5. Select the people on Twitter that can contribute to the paper, I used Twitter List @projectgurus that I have created. I also use #PMOT (hash-tag).
6. Click on ‘Publish Paper’ to complete and that’s it.
7. You can automate it to be sent each day on a set time.

How does it make your life easier as a project manager? 
This tool scan the Twitter list/hash-tag or user list each day based on your preferences and gives you a readable format newspaper – most relevant. 
Does it replace the following of your twitter feeds?
No, it provides selected content and mainly where links are embedded in tweets to the other websites.

If you need to find out more about it – here is link to FAQs (http://paper.li/faq.html)

How Project Starts

This is how projects usually start, do not get discouraged by it or feel overwhelmed. You will never get everything fully documented and nicely presented to proceed, you will get pointers and its your job to find who can compliment or add to your major project.

Credit : Today’s Cartoon by Randy Glasbergen

Credits: From “Today’s Cartoon by Randy Glasbergen”, displayed with special permission. For many more cartoons, please visit Randy’s site @ www.glasbergen.com

Quotes for Project Managers

1. Do not count your chickens before they are hatched. – Aesop
2. The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there is 90% probability you will get it wrong. – Andy Rooney
3. If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster. – Clint Eastwood
4. Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment. – Barry LePartner
5. Success is the sum of small efforts – repeated day in and day out. – Robert Collier
6. I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it’s been. – Wayne Gretzky
7. Before anything else, preperation is the key to success. – Alexander Graham Bell
8. If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to it. – Jonathan Winters

Project Risk Management 101

Risk is a future event that may have an impact on schedule, cost or scope.  It may happen or it may not.

Image Courtesy: Open Security Architecture

While Issue is a condition or problem already occurred (or will occur for sure) that impacts schedule, cost or scope.

When Risk is realized, it becomes an issue.  It should be handled accordingly using the money set aside called Management Reserve.  A governance process is usually established to authorize the use of Management Reserve.

Risk and Issues are recorded into Risk and Issue Logs (sometimes Excel spreadsheets).  Risks are identified prior to project startup and through out the project life-cycle.  Risks are communicated to Stakeholders.  Risks when recorded should be worded such that sentences are complete and specific identifying area of impact with its  probability. Issues are prioritized and assigned.  Assigned person develops the action plan to resolve the issue.

Risk must always be assigned to someone, with a target resolution date.  Assigned person has responsibility to provide mitigation/contingency plans on how to handle Risk, if it realizes.

Severity  determines how to react to the Risk.  It can be calculated:
Severity = Probability of occurring Risk x Impact on the Project
Probability and Impact are measured in High, Medium and Low.

Mitigation plan is proactive approach; it is focused on how to mitigate or reduce the severity.  You need mitigation plan for any risk that has severity either medium or high.

Contingency plan is relative approach; it is set of predefined/contingent actions that team will take if Risk event occurs.  For any risk with high severity, you must provide contingency plan.

Four ways to handle Risks - Watch, Accept, Transfer and Mitigate.

1. Watch – Just keep an eye (monitor regularly) the Risk but no action.
2. Accept – Accepting the full impact  and plan accordingly
3. Transfer – Divert the impact to another party
4. Mitigate – Plan on how can the impact be lessened on project

Action Plan is a plan of documented actions developed in order to resolve an issue that is adversely impacting the project.  Action steps should be clear and identify outcome and deliverables from the action.

Project Manager‘s responsibility is to review the feasibility of mitigation, contingency and action plans.  Then approval is sought for the plan from governance board and then communicated to the stakeholders.  Project work plan is updated to reflect these approved risk management related changes.

Closing Risk is little tricky, mostly when risk is realized it becomes issue and risk is appropriately closed.  You need to check if this risk could re-occur?  If yes, then keep risk open and review budget for management reserve amount.  Closing issue needs confirmation that issue is resolved.  A sign-off note from customer or impacted stakeholder is also required.

Note – These are some key points that I captured sometime ago during Risk Management Refresher, hope it will help

How to spot opportunities or future trends

An idea or application of it to improve any process or thing is innovation. To innovate is through trial and error way. As a leader and manager, you have to innovate or else wilt.

I watched on YouTube Jeremy Gutsche, an excellent speaker on innovation and future trends. “Failure is experimentation.”, says Jermy Gutsche. A decent proportion of your creativity must fail; because id you don’t fail you become the best. He gives example of Smith Corona, a typewriter company that failed to innovate with the trend and is now obsolete after staying on the top for many years.

He further clarifies that successful organizations innovate to ‘optimize’ position on their hill of opportunity, but to later discover bigger hills of opportunities that it failed to envision. According to him the real problem being good keeps you on your hill of opportunity and stops you from seeing new ones. In order to see future big hills of opportunities, one must not fear of experimentation or failure in this process.

He also talks about how to package the message or product.  Example he uses is of Josh Bell who plays $3.5 million Stradivarius violin earning $1,000 per minute during concerts, and when performing at a railway station earns $35 only.  Jermy suggests to find out what specifically are we trying to do and describe in 7 words or less.  And  these should be simple, direct and supercharged.  You will certainly enjoy the talk and will learn from it.

How to spot opportunities or future trends?  I must say through innovation.  And innovation will happen through lots os  experimentation to improve processes, efficiency, productivity, quality, market share and human thinking.

For more info on Jermy and his work, please visit http://www.jeremygutsche.com  or http://www.trendhunter.com/

Focus on Outcome and Invest in Process

“What do you have to get in order to be happy?” is the question Dr. Srikumar asks.

I found this talk on TED where he asks to plug into our hard-wired happiness.  We spend most of our lives learning to be unhappy, even as we strive for happiness. The way we learn to be unhappy is because we buy into a mental model.  When we accept the universe as it is at that moment happiness occurs.  Listen to the talk where he answers the question that he use to open his speech. Dr. Srikumar stresses to focus on outcome and invest in process and not the vice versa which is prevalent.

Some time ago I read Dr. Srikumar S Rao’s ‘Are you ready to succeed?’.  It was one of the best book that had big impact on my thinking and living. I think you will enjoy it.

Here is the complete speech on TED : http://www.ted.com/talks/srikumar_rao_plug_into_your_hard_wired_happiness.html

Bill Clinton Says Project Managers Help Tackle Global Challenges – Voices on Project Management

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton sent out a powerful message: Project managers will play a significant role in taking on the toughest global challenges.

Bill Clinton Says Project Managers Help Tackle Global Challenges – Voices on Project Management.

U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra Says Process Continues to Trump Outcomes – Voices on Project Management

U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra Says Process Continues to Trump Outcomes – Voices on Project Management.

Elected President of the Chapter

I am extremely pleased by the confidence that Board has expressed in me to take PMI-GLC to next level of volunteer and stakeholder engagement, trusting me with opportunity to formulate and lead operational vision, strategy and direction while working on to provide higher membership. 

Last night at Skyline Club in the board meeting, I was elected president for 2012 term by Board of Directors of Great Lakes Chapter of Project Management Institute (PMI - GLC), one of the largest project management member association in Michigan.   I will serve as President Elect for 2011.  I have been involved with the chapter earlier as Direct of Webservices and then as Vice President of Communications.

I look forward to enhancing our strategic relationships with organization and businesses leaders to highlight the importance and benefits of Project Management and role PMI-GLC plays in the region.  I hope to engage more stakeholders to broaden our network of practitioners, while continuing to support a passionate and dedicated volunteer community.

I would encourage all professionals to get involved in their community or professional organizations, it benefits both, the volunteer and the community/organization.  And, if you are a professional living/working  in Michigan or Metro Detroit area, please get in touch with PMI-GLC at www.pmiglc.org.  Let find out how can we make project and program management work for your community, organization or for you.

How to motivate project teams

De-motivated teams can cause serious harm to any project easily. As you are in charge for the success of the project, its your job to create an environment to meet project objectives while offering ‘what motivates’ to a diverse group of team members.  Question is to find out what motivates whom and every one is unique due to their background, expectations, goals and fears.  You know that some team members do not require external motivations whatsoever to produce quality products while some need constant dose of motivation.

We can understand the person’s behaviour if we spend enough time studying them or sometimes DiSC profile assessment can help.  Underlying object of reading behaviour patterns and using motivating factors is to build trust.  If you fail to connect and build trust, success and motivation will last for a short while.  You, yourself, should be motivated first and then motivate other.  Emotional intelligence is the key here.  If you know how to connect with the team member, its much easier to motivate. Study the team members’ behavior (its kind of becoming judgmental).  Broadly, here are high-level steps:

1. You must be optimistic and motivated first
2. Understand the behavior pattern
3. Build trust
4. Find out what motivates the individual
   

   Image Courtesy of IPS Worldwide®

Common behavioral roles found in any team are -

• Optimist : is always finding good in any situation; positive about success; thinks nothing is impossible; does not see risk; inspires others.
• Pessimist : is critical of every initiative; uncertain about success; sees risk and failure everywhere; hesitant to take initiative; needs push.
• Conformist : follows the process; agrees with group decisions; silent majority.
• Intriguer : always hungry for more info; not satisfied with current process; expresses opinions to higher up is high on agenda.
• Socialite : focused on networking; first on taking responsibilities of arranging party or potluck; interaction is high on agenda.
• Commentator : has expert comments on each and every aspect of project life cycle and might have ‘predicted’ the outcome long ago.
• Activist : tries to represent the organization values and mission; takes stand for human rights; mobilizing team for any cause is high on agenda.
• Orphan : sympathy seeker; feels neglected by team members and management; stays isolated; complains about loneliness.
• Subject Matter Expert : presents as knowledgeable about everything and anything organization does; does not share knowledge; only shares high-level information.
• Irritated One : is easily irritated by any change or management action ; develops conflict easily; uses irritatedness to keep people at bay.
• Celebrity : presents that everyone knows him/her; does very little activity and behaves like big influencer; technically challenged in many areas.
• Leader : is not a leader but assumes of taking over this position; shares achievement stories; complains about lack of recognition.
• Worker Bee : works a lot; believes if he/she does not take additional responsibility project will fail; always worried; takes on many tasks; delivers but with issues
• Combination of two or more stated above.

These behavioral patterns gives a lens through which motivation needs can be seen.  Do not be a manipulator; your objective is to motivate the team members to work for success of the project while giving opportunities to team members’ to meet their personal goals and needs. This is key to maximize the team performance.

Several motivation theories are referenced by managers to understand what motivates teams, these are Maslow’s Hierarchy, Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Factors, McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y, and William Ouchi’s Theory Z.

Motivational Theories

1. Maslow’s Hierarchy – We have a large number of needs and we are motivated to work accordingly to fulfill these needs.  Maslow groups these needs into 5 broad categories. He said that the lower-level needs must be satisfied in order for the upper level needs to emerge.

1. Physiological – Food, water, warmth, shelter
2. Safety – Physical safety and economic security
3. Social - Acceptance in group, love, affection, association with team, affiliation
4. Esteem or Recognition -  Position, status, prestige, importance/significance
5. Self Actualization - Challenging projects, opportunities to work on innovative and creative assignments, self-mastery

Lower three levels of hierarchy are basic maintenance needs. The individual must have these needs met in order to experience well-being. Self-Actualization is growth need.  Once a particular need is satisfied, it no longer serves as a motivator.

2. McGregor’s Theory X (Authoritarian Management Style) - This theory is kind of cynical theory in which management completely distrusts the employees.  This theory assumes that

• workers (or employees or people) are lazy
• avoid work if possible
• managers must use coercion, close supervision, tight control and threats  to have workers perform
• employee needs money and security &  no ambitions to grow
• employees are self-centered and do no care about organization goals

Theory X will result in resentment, low productivity, disloyal employees, and high turnover rate in employees.

3. McGregor’s Theory Y (Participative Management Style) – This is opposite of theory X. This theory assumes that

• workers do not inherently dislike work
• workers will be self-directed to meet their work objectives if they are committed to them
• workers will be committed to their objectives if rewards are in place that address higher needs such as self-fulfillment
• under these conditions, workers will seek responsibility
• most employees or people can handle responsibility because creativity and ingenuity are common in the population

If theory Y is implemented properly, better productivity, satisfied employees and good work environment can be achieved.

4. Ouchi’s Theory Z – This theory by William Ouchi  is based on the Japanese approach to motivate workers, emphasizes trust, quality, collective decision-making , and cultural values. This theory recommends job rotation, broadening of skills, generalization versus specialization, and the need for continuous training of workers.

Reference material:

• http://www.businessballs.com/mcgregor.htm
• Information Technology Project Management by Kathy Schwalbe – Course Technology – 2010
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_theory_Y
• The Project Manager Question & Answer Book by Michael W Newell and Marina N Grashina – AMACOM – 2004

Quotes for Leaders

• In risk, if you perform, it produces great opportunities. - John Hammergren, CEO McKesson Corp
• You just can’t get too focused on what’s going to happen in the next quarter. You have to worry about where the business is headed long-term.  - James Sinegal, Founder & CEO Costco
• If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete. - Jack Welch, Chairman & CEO GE
• Capital isn’t scarce; vision is. - Sam Walton, Founder Wal-Mart
• Sometimes size is an asset. Sometimes, it’s a liability. - Marco Provera, Chairman & CEO Pirelli Group
• Communication is the only task you cannot delegate. - Roberto Goizueta, Chairman & CEO Coca-Cola