People with diverse professional experiences and background have totally unique perspective on any issue. When a new team is assembled for any project, its vital for the success of that project that all team member are aware of the ground-rules for the project; similar to any sport. You may have to read it to team and give a copy for reference.
Here is an example list that I have used for a project to keep team aligned. Such ground-rules certainly eliminate unnecessary confusion and your business customer and team members like it defined beforehand. Make sure, you also follow it and implement it.
Project manager is the primary contact for any project related communication.
All team members maintain their contact info on the team contact list with contact preference.
All members attend required meetings and conference calls; if unable to attend, meeting organizer to be notified. If key contributor is unable to attend, request to reschedule the meeting.
Any planned day off or vacation must be communicated in advance to project manager so that project plan can be updated and impact to work, if any, can be analyzed.
All project team members have access to project plan and project logs (in a standard document format) and are aware of the assigned tasks and due dates.
All team members are to be consulted about the reasonableness of the plan prior to management approval.
All team members are required to validate their assignments and time allocated prior to the plan is baselined.
All project team members have the responsibility to proactively notify the project manager about tasks, duration or dependencies they believe are missing (or any other needed changes to the plan) and confront issues directly and promptly.
Project team members have the responsibility to notify any potential difficulties in meeting the schedule for any assigned tasks as soon as it is known by the team member.
Each project team member is responsible for ensuring anticipated workload conflicts with other assignments are brought to the attention of the project manager. Team members should ask for help if feeling “stuck” or falling behind the schedule instead of waiting for miracle.
All team members are responsible to own, follow-up and provide updates on the assigned task (including but not limited to any identified risks, issues, changes, approvals, clarification from customer). If any delay is observed, escalate to project manager.
All meeting minutes, key decisions, assumptions and business rules must be documented and all action items must be followed up and assigned to a resource with expected completion date. These items are usually mentioned in casual conversation.
All project team members understand the scope of work. Any work performed must be in the project plan and is in the project scope. Anything that is absolutely needed but not part of the project plan, must be brought into project manager’s attention.
All project team members confront issues directly and promptly.
Only project manager submits all final deliverables to business customer for sign-off or approval.
What are other key things that you have found useful and we can add to this list?
You might have heard that someone got very bad customer service one day and no one would resolve the complaint at this company. This person gets upset by the treatment received and decides to write a complaint letter to the president of the company. In few weeks he receives a note and the issue is resolved by president’s interference. Everyone gets back to business and few people in the town heard of the story and thats it.
Now go to Web 2.0, someone got bad customer service and received no reasonable response to the complaint. This consumer feels mis-treated as his complaint is not treated fairly. This person sings a complaint song, and shares it on YouTube. Word about this customer service story circulates the internet through the song shared on YouTube, people in millions watch it and it hurts the organization’s bottom line (over $100 millions) and the brand. And then this individual gets an apology from the company and complain finally gets resolved.
This is the power of social media if used correctly. It works both ways.
Here is the complete story about singer Dave Carroll incident and whose guitar was broken by United Airlines (Link to Huffington Post story) . Watch the song.
Here are some key points (and some Customer Service/Help Desk experts can add more) -
Consumer expects good service all the time, although doesn’t give reward or recognize it publically, but indirectly rewards by doing business again and again.
Consumer is generally prepared to handle good and bad customer service; in case of bad service, do not expect more business.
Consumer is wowed by exceptional service only and you can find 5-star reviews online and strong brand following is built/maintained. Facebook Fan page and twitter following of brand can tell something.
Consumer is offended by horrible customer service. You can find 1-star reviews online and some dedicated websites to complain about product, brand or service can be found. Some may get creative like David Carroll and make a dent on your brand.
If not sure how to handle the complaint or issue, do not just say No. Let your boss help you.
If you face customers, genuine attitude determines consumer behaviour to a bigger extent.
I have noticed that consumer tolerance to bad service is inversely proportional to size of brand or organization. Bigger the brand or name of the organization, higher the expectation of consumer in terms of service.
I came across 11 leadership principles of Marine Corps in Guide Book for Marines on the Internet and here is my interpretation of 11 principles. I am interested in hearing from Marines about their leadership experience.
Take responsibility – we need to seek and take responsibilities if we need to grow; never shy away, whatever seems challenging will help you expand your perspective.
Know yourself – reflect upon your strengths and weaknesses; seek improvement and understand that you can achieve only those goals that you set.
Set an example- conduct your business in a professional manner; do not loose temper – small minds are bothered by small problems; not only work in your job but also work on your job as well. Be a brand that people want to associate with.
Develop your subordinates- consider this as part of your job; learn to delegate; as Zig Ziglar said “You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want“; give them opportunities to learn & grow; guide them if they fit somewhere else.
Be available – in every respect; be available to listen to problems and challenges people are facing; to motivate, to lead and to show right direction; to hear criticism; to take decisions and to act on time.
Look after the welfare of your employees- the way you want your boss to look after your welfare; develop emotional intelligence; connect with people and find out what motivates them; do something that touches their lives; help them when they are in need. Arrogance and ignorance will not take you to the top or won’t keep you there for long.
Keep everyone well informed – right communication is the key; make sure that the tasks are understood, supervised and accomplished on time and tell why you need all this done; do no assume - aks and tell.
Set goals that are achievable – always set the goals – people need to know what they are expected to deliver and by when; let people figure out how; goals should motivate teams to act; measure the results and reward people.
Make sound and timely decisions- that are aligned with the core principles of your organization and with your job descriptions; there will always be more than one right answer – choose the one that benefits the most and not only you; take decisions like a servant leader.
Know your job – be technically and tactically proficient in your job; know your people; know the processes and challenges; know how can you add value to the organization or your department.
Build teamwork- not all people can perform equally but they should complement each other while working towards a common goal; promote team work and diversity; shield your team from external pressure; be flexible with team.
“Leadership is intangible, hard to measure, and difficult to describe. It’s quality would seem to stem from many factors. But certainly they must include a measure of inherent ability to control and direct, self-confidence based on expert knowledge, initiative, loyalty, pride and sense of responsibility. Inherent ability cannot be instilled, but that which is latent or dormant can be developed. Other ingredients can be acquired. They are not easily learned. But leaders can be and are made.” – General C. B. Cates, 19th Commandant of the Marine Corps
Thanks for reading and welcome your input. Have a great day.
Everywhere we turn our focus to, we hear something negative and how leadership should come forward. Leadership at every level is already faced with some difficult choices. It is of paramount importance that when leaders make decisions to change the course, decisions should not have been plagued by personal ego and due to insecurity.
As John C Maxwell says that Ego and Insecurity are the two greatest landmines of leadership; think about any world leader and if he stepped on these landmines or not. Do you want to? After a long time when we reflect on the decisions we make today should be matter of proud.
As a leader, we get a chance to serve our people, I mean serve genuinely. In these times how we act will shape our organizations and societies. Lets take the right actions while we overcome the short-term issues, we keep long term objectives in our minds.
Your boss approaches you and tells that workplan is very good but customer wants to know how can we deliver the project sooner than promised? Now you have to come up with a new workplan or make some adjustments based on new findings. You put your thoughts together and go on to make changes/update and deliver the final document with required changes.
And then your boss asks, why this task is due this particular day and why are we taking this long to complete, etc., etc…
You might have answers for most of the questions your boss has asked but it is of prime importance that you document all the assumptions you made while planning, does not matter how small or evident those assumptions are.
I would capture following -
why are you making these changes or what is the objective and if these objectives are aligned with customer expectations;
what are high-level or global assumptions for the plan being put in place (standardized assumptions);
why making change to time/scope/cost;
what are risks that can derail the work;
what are the opportunities that you are counting on;
who are the critical resources you have based your work on;
what exceptions from standard process did you make;
what compromises are built into the plan;
what is the impact on existing process (if any);
for budget tail of it : dollars spent per month; and
what are the key milestones.
I hope these are the basic questions that we should be able to answer from a Project Management perspective when talking about assumptions. Let me know what your thoughts are and what else could be added to the list?
“People acting together as a group can accomplish things that no individual acting alone could ever hope to bring about.” – FD Roosevelt
Each team members has unique work style, personal goals, skills, background and experience. Each team member’s unique qualities and different attributes make a team complex unit where conflict, confusion, criticism will grow and finally bring the project to failure if team is not led the proper way.
In many I.T. projects, Project Manager (PM) has a team leader who assists him or her in coordination of work, driving the team effort, listening and resolving team issues, guiding in making the appropriate tactical decisions, and above all providing expert advice on subject matter, among others. Synergy and cooperation among team members are the key things for success of the project and for that, a good team lead should be in place. If you got a weak team leader, team will not perform and you will be spending all of energy in team issue management. As a PM, you need to understand that your team leader should -
understand the whole project along with project objectives and goals;
be expert of the overall process who can guide team members;
be able to handle pressure and conflict situations;
understands the team dynamics and works to promote productive working conditions;
be a good team player and can get status of work from team members;
be capable of resolving minor issues without your involvement;
be able to negotiate and communicate with technical as well non-technical people involved;
be proactive with qualities of a mentor and a coach and
able to provide realistic and accurate feedback on time.
Hope this helps in making you decide whom to choose to lead your team. Let me know what else can be added to the list. Thanks for reading and have a good day.
2008 is nearing the completion of business work days and it was one of the eventful year. We have seen all from US election to Canadian elections, Wall-street meltdown to Automotive bailout, Saturday Night Live comedy to economic worries. All the stuff, never thought of.
But when it comes to our professional life, one needs to make sure there are no unexpected surprises. I have mentored and provided guidance to few people over the year and have also asked for advice from my peers. Some people either make small issues into big problems or do not even have clue what is wrong. Here are some of the points to consider-
Get feedback from your boss; have 1 on 1 regularly (weekly or monthly) to align objectives.
Grow your professional network by volunteering at work, in community or join any organization.
Understand that everyone is different; workplaces are diverse.
Totally messed up? If you are honest, you’ll get another chance. Life is bigger than that!
Do not just focus on getting credit of everything you do or say. Give credit where deserved.
Be careful about sarcastic sense of humor. It may be wise to stay quiet.
If you do extraordinary job you get promotion as a result. Its not the other way.
Help others grow and learn. Don’t be afraid that someone will steal your idea.
Take vacation or take time out. Its must to revitalize your energies and focus.
Try to listen. Pay attention to your superiors and peers.
Dress according to your job profile, at least.
Do not make ‘difference of opinions’ at work your personal issue.
I firmly believe if we are serious to improve ourselves, we can start afresh anytime. Its never too late and Life is bigger than that!
Thanks for reading and let me know what you think.
I was looking into posts on Mr. Barak Obama’s communication style and how it contributed towards Obama’s victory. Did Obama address people in all 4 categories of DiSC Model? These categories are Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness.
Each person in his/her category wants to hear in a specific manner. Some people need direct answer while others need some encouragement and hope and so on. Please see the table at the end of the post and read more about DiSC Model.
While doing so, I found very interesting Wall Street Journal video on the topic titled ”Learning From Obama’s Effective Communication Skills“.
To summarize, what project manager can do -
giving good positive message
clear and compelling tone
giving substance along with style
speaking with confidence and authority
not in hurry to speak- patience
pause between sentences: at least 3-4 seconds
stress the right words
relate to people and places
make it simple to comprehend
identify what is not right with other approach
Here is the table what people mainly like to hear/communicate around-
Major Category
Like to hear words and actions around
Dominance
challenge, power, direct answer, authority, assertive, active
Influence
empathetic, people focused, receptiveness, accepting
I got this humorous email today from one of my friend with subject “Newton’s Unpublished Laws” and found it quite funny, I thought of sharing with you all to kick-off the weekend on a lighter note.
I have ready many laws (including Murphy’s law) but these are quite unique someone came up with. And credit goes to whoever wrote it…
LAW OF QUEUE: If you change queues, the one you have left will start to move faster than the one you are in now.
LAW OF TELEPHONE: When you dial a wrong number, you never get an engaged tone.
LAW OF MECHANICAL REPAIR: After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch.
LAW OF THE WORKSHOP: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.
LAW OF THE ATTRACTION: If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the next morning you will have a flat tire.
BATH THEOREM: When the body is immersed in water, the telephone rings.
LAW OF ENCOUNTERS: The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are with someone you don’t want to be seen with.
LAW OF THE RESULT: When you try to prove to someone that a machine won’t work, it will!
LAW OF BIO-MECHANICS: The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.
THEATRE RULE: People with the seats at the farthest from the aisle arrive last.
LAW OF COFFEE: As soon as you sit down for a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.
Don’t you find some of these actually true? Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend!
Can’t pick any two? You also need all three – fast, cheap and good?
It has been very commonly used set of options in I.T. when offering an alternative or usually when dealing with issues from outsourced service. Someone will come and say – “Pick any two!”
Sometime ago I was involved in a project where we had to pick any two options and it was very hard to leave out the third one. Many times we had to leave ‘cheap’ and other times ‘fast’, for us ’good’ was essential and paid the price accordingly. We had to compensate for third left out option through continuous improvement. I kind of thought that this is the dilemma every one will be facing. But it is not the case as I am finding out. Things are getting better.
I would recommend to listen to this audio book to refresh 7 habits and learn how managers can apply these habits. If this is new to you, here are classic 7 habits and start with reading ’The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’
Habit 1 – Be proactive
Habit 2 – Begin with the end in mind
Habit 3 – Put first things first
Habit 4 – Think win-win
Habit 5 – Seek first to understand, then to be understood
Habit 6 – Synergize
Habit 7 – Sharpen the saw
These habits are to be used as pointers for our actions. We got to make sure that our employees understand the value of these habits and learn from these.
I completed DiSC (stands for Dominance, influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness) training last week and fount it interesting. DiSC confirms one thing, different strokes for different folks.
DiSC is a system to help you find out similar and unique characteristics among people. It also shows person’s behavioural preferences and helps to identify different management styles that can lead to obtain better results through interaction.
According to the DiSC model, there are four management styles – by Dominance, by influence, by Steadiness, and by Conscientiousness.
Series of questions lead to a specific DiSC profile, that tells you what is your score and what is you dominant style of management and what are your supportive styles.
D – Dominant : these people are active and questioning; these are direct and competitive in nature. These people want to ‘get it done’.
i - Influence : these people are active and accepting; motivated, enthusiastic, sociable and lively.
S - Steadiness : these people are thoughtful and accepting; patient and even tempered, accommodating.
C- Conscientiousness : these people are thoughtful and questioning; kind of private with analytical abilities and task oriented. Main objective is to ‘get it right’.
As we know everyone is unique and all have different ways of interacting. Imagine, I interact with a person who has dominant style of ‘Conscientiousness‘ (private and task oriented). I pretend to be of ‘influence‘ (sociable and enthusiastic) dominant style; my interaction with that person can not be productive as I may not be providing the specific instructions that other person needs.
Why is that? Because people with dominant ‘infulence’ style mix personal talk with business discussions, becoming informal and emotionally expressive leaving the ‘Conscientiousness’ style person unclear or confuse as Max requires specific task oriented info and does not express himself emotionally.
How it will help me? It lists what are key strengths, what things are overused, what could be the limitations and what changes should be made in management style that make one more effective.
Have you ever taken DiSC and Meyers-Briggs assessment? What are your thoughts? Did you benefit from it? Please share your thoughts. Thank you for reading.
When a team outgrows individual performance and learns team confidence, excellence becomes a reality. – Joe Paterno.
Who else can say better than JoePa? He is absolutely correct, but key thing is outgrowing individualism. When a team is motivated to work together, everything seems possible and there is quite a different feeling. I have been blessed to work with some of the best people who knew how to empower team and have experienced how team’s common goals produce stunning results.
Very first thing is to cultivate the trust in the team. If there is no professional trust among group members, team will never perform at par.
We have to be little bit open to our team members (my own perspective). if we become totally professional by delegating tasks and demand results with ‘paid for the work done’ attitude, team will not work. You got to use some emotional intelligence, you got to connect with the employee.
Next, you being the boss, have to guide and empower the team. Every team member comes with unique skills, personality, objectives, understanding. You got to know who needs direction, and who needs nod; who needs to be left alone and who should be slowing down. Check Situational Leadership II post on my blog. You are the one who will make things happen through this dynamic team.
Thanks for reading and I welcome your comments how you made your team perform above expectations and what factors were important to you.
What points we emphasize make a big difference in our communications.
How do we do that? We got to know the expectation of the audience and what we want to convey. Over emphasizing something or emphasizing meager issues may dilute the effect of conversation. We develop this skill with experience, paying attention to the audience and listening how others do it.
Certainly there are key things that you want to emphasize. Make sure what you want to emphasize is really relevant and audience has some clue about what you are talking.
Notice how you emphasize? Do you find yourself keep repeating what you want to communicate in different phrases or you cleverly divert every topic discussed and then associate to what you have in mind?
Observe if you are getting your point across. Use some relevant example to explain your point. Do not give frustrated look. You may have to do more work to refine your point.
Thank you for reading. Any suggestions or feedback?
I volunteer at my PMI (Project Management Institute) local chapter called Great Lakes Chapter (www.pmiglc.org). I enjoy the benefits of PMI membership in form of monthly magazine called PM Network and accompanied paper called PMI Today. Both are informative and I have gained a lot by reading both publications.
Many people join organizations enthusiastically and then with very little involvement and different priorities, fail to renew annual membership and later claim that they did find not much benefit of membership. Becoming member in your professional organization and participating actively gives you opportunity to network with best people in your trade and increase your domain knowledge.
I found couple of interesting benefits while reading PMI Today paper and thought of sharing it with you. Here are the benefits-
Attend PMI meetings/events at discounted price;
Networking opportunities with professionals in management;
Read PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge);
Read business books on-line;
Download a global standard;
View the results of PM research projects;
See articles from PMI publications for the last 7 years;
Search for jobs, consult with a career coach and have your resume critiqued;
Request a custom research;
Order books and other materials at a discounted price;
Use a career framework to help guide your career; and
Get PM Network and PMI Today publications.
I would suggest that if you are in project management, get involved with www.PMI.org, join your local chapter and participate in making project management indispensable for business results.
We, as a professional, are hired by organizations to deliver results and perform. As time passes, our daily job becomes our universe. We spend our energies resolving problems, improving processes, saving money and many other good things. Sometimes we are ignorant and sometimes we are so busy handling all the situations at the job, we do not realize that whole world has changed and we are still there. We find that new technologies, processes, ideologies, concepts and trends have taken over what we used to do. And when we realize, then blame our employer for not guiding us, showing us the right path, etc. Remember, we are professionals and professionals know all about their field of expertise.
When I see clueless people in the situations when their cheese (i.e. work) is moved (or gone), I tell them to stop complaining but learn the lesson from it and take action.
Here are 11 points I tell (and remind) people to avoid becoming obsolete -
Subscribe to professional/trade magazines and journals and read ( or go to library, but stay up-to-date on what is happening).
Bookmark and frequently checkout websites dealing with news & views related to your field of expertise.
Read some good books on the subject. Check Amazon.com’s ratings and views before buying.
Become member & get involved in professional organizations in your chosen field.
Volunteer your time & services in your chosen field or for any good cause.
Mentor and guide other people, help people grow, offer help selflessly.
Attend seminars or conferences; it does not matter if you got to spend few hundreds from your own pocket and on yourself.
Read some good self-help books on personal development and personal finance.
Grow your network, if good people can not find you; you go out and find for your networking. Interaction is the key.
Always keep learning new things in your chosen field, and
Change with time.
You will find out many successful people are already doing these above mentioned things to grow their professional network and knowledge base.
I am certainly interested in what you got to say on this subject. Everyone has unique experience and lets share our thoughts and learn from each other.
Thank you for visiting and reading the post. I appreciate it. Have a good time.
Kick-off meeting is the first meeting of the project where you give all the team members good news that project is ‘go ahead’ from the sponsors and also set the tone of your project – is it going to be a success or a failure. Many hours and days have gone into preparation before you have kick-off meeting. You have worked very hard and now have project charter and project plan is in your hands.Primarily kick-off meeting has following goals-
energize the project team
communicate project goals and expectations
introduce team members and stake-holders
highlight opportunities plus challenges and reiterate importance of project for organization
provide information of processes, methodology, project plan, key milestones, etc.
handout team’s contact phone numbers and email addresses
present communication plan
give time to attendees to ask questions and express views
I would do following extra things to make sure kick-off meeting sets positive tone -
print the hand-out material a day before, also check for meeting room projector etc.
have some project related posters and famous positive quotes posted on the wall
invite one or two senior managment people to talk about project’s importance
have kick-off meeting around 9 AM (start of the day is better)
block enough time for this meeting (time for refreshments, presentations, questions and answers)
set date of kick-off meeting and notify all members at-least a week ago
offer light refreshments at the beginning of the kick-off meeting
do not sit and just talk, look and feel energetic
have your project plan and other documents (that you plan to hand out) reviewed well in advance by subject matter experts for accuracy
make sure meeting conveys the message and people walk out with motivation
Are there other key things? I will be interested to hear. Hope this helps and good luck with your kick-off meeting.
Workplaces have transformed a lot in last few years from people working in same office building to team members scattered over different continents. This poses some benefits and challenges. As we all know that we are all connected via communication and our communication skills and capabilities play a major role in our success.
Keeping the communication channel open and alive is the responsibility of the manager. As a manager you just can not assume that if no one is complaining, all is well. There are some employees who get chance to meet and talk to boss on performance review day. I know there might be some employees who always say “everything is good” and prefer least interference as all the routine work is being done on time.
Does not matter what kind of work you are in, keeping in touch with your direct reports does the following -
1. Boosts the employee morale (you value the employee by calling or listening).
2. Employee feels connected with the organization/department.
3. Employee is encouraged to give and receive suggestion/feedback.
4. You can coach employee in the right direction as per his objectives.
5. Your objectives and expectations are clearly communicated and aligned.
6. You, employee and organization, all benefit from this interaction.
7. You make the real difference by managing talent.
Employee is a talent. We know that when we are managing talent in this innovation age, we got to ensure that talent thrives and stays innovative.
Managers face many situations where he has to sort out two opposing actions or ideas. Situation may be very tense as people with conflicting ideas become very much involved and passionate about their stand.
As a manager, a positive and constructive conflict between team members may be a good thing (such as some team members in favor of Microsoft based technology and others for Linux based), but how you handle it matters the most. Conflict can be between individuals, teams, groups or organizations. How you approach the situation tells who you really are. Does it make you uncomfortable when you face such situation and just pretend it does not exist? Do you just avoid completely being in any conflict and do not share your insights/thoughts?
I think conflict pushes oneself to test own mental and physical boundaries. Some people get agitated and quickly loose control over thought process when someone is in conflict and try to trump the other in any way; some may feel nervous and just shut up and opt to get out; while other may listen to opposing views with cool head and try to work out some solution.
When managing a general conflict situation, try following (there might be situations where professional help is needed) -
Stay calm; listen to other views with open mind. Both sides may be right from own perspective.
Find the real reason of conflict, not the one that is perceived. Observe.
Believe that positive solution will come out at the end.
Acknowledge the concerns and fears. Find out what are the choices.
Think win-win solution. Attack the issue not the people.
Make it known what is expected out of situation resolution. Stay on the issue.
Judge your success by the degree that you’re enjoying peace, health, and love.
Understand that happiness is not based on possessions, power, or prestige, but on relationships with people you love and respect.
Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll get to enjoy it a second time.
Be charitable in your speech, actions, and judgement.
Remember that a minute of anger denies you sixty seconds of happiness.
In 2004, my sisterly friend Seema gifted me this excellent book called “The Complete Life’s Little Instruction Book”. It has 1560 instructions in it and all are gems. This book has helped me a lot in aligning/adjusting my thoughts and actions. Thanks for the gift and I would like to add one point from my side -
6. Give the gift of positive books, you never know how it will shape someone future.
I completed listening ‘The Toyota Way’ audio-book by Jeffrey Liker. The book talks about 14 priciples of Toyota Production Systems (TPS). There are many gems that I think could be of use in Information Technology Project Managment. Here are 14 TPS management principles -
1.Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term financial goals.
2.Create a continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface.
3.Use “pull” systems to avoid overproduction.
4.Level out the workload (heijunka). (Work like the tortoise, not the hare.)
5.Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time.
6.Standardized tasks and processes are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment.
Sense of humor is very important in life. My friend Seema forwarded me an email with some humorous one-liners; I thought I should share it with others.
Regular naps prevent old age… especially if you take them while driving.
Having one child makes you a parent; having two makes you a referee.
Marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right and the other is the husband!
They said we should all pay our tax with a smile. I tried- but they wanted cash.
A child’s greatest period of growth is the month after you’ve purchased new school uniforms.
Don’t feel bad. A lot of people have no talent.
You can’t buy love. . But you pay heavily for it.
True friends stab you in the front.
Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.
Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.
Those who can’t laugh at themselves leave the job to others.
They call our language the mother tongue because the father seldom gets to speak.
Saving is the best thing. Especially when your parents have done it for you.
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools talk because they have to say something.
Real friends are the ones who survive transitions between address books.
It is very simple thing to do and results are excellent and enriching. Often we interpret other people’s actions or behavior negatively when we do not have enough detail about their actions or behavior. My approach is to give benefit of doubt in such case and interpret the action positively instead of taking it otherwise. It saves a lot of energy, calms the mind and also saves lots of ‘brain CPU cycles’. Leaders and managers cannot afford to spend time and energy on negative things, they always think positive and bring positive changes to the organizations and in the lives of people around them.
Whenever IT project failure is talked, people refer Denver Airport project that failed big time and costed a lot. I have also seen project that failed or cancelled or shrunk. Why is it happening when so many intelligent people are working and we know all the ingredients of project success.
Here are some commonly known factors needed for project success -
We have seen in various sports when a play or a pass is not developing the way expected or falling out of bound, timeout is called. After timeout, team regroups and turns the outcome for that instance or break the momentum of the opponent team going for score. It give opportunity to re-focus, re-think and re-group.
Execution of ideas/goals makes the real difference. Any one can set goals and objectives but when it comes to implementation, it is totally a different game. You might have seen excellent concepts being converted into highly visible projects and later the project being cancelled or product being shelved. Its all how you execute. As Will Weider said in his blog – I am surrounded by people with good ideas. I need more people that implement them well.
I just finished another audio book by Stephen R. Covey – The 4 Disciplines of Execution. This book talks about prioritized goals and how to achieve results with excellence. It is important that team is involved in the development of important goals and methodology of measuring the goals. The best ideas come not from the leaders, but from the interaction of the leaders and the front line. These are 4 disciplines -
Discipline 1 – Focus on the wildly important (goals)
Discipline 2 – Create a compelling scoreboard
Discipline 3 – Translate lofty goals into specific actions
Discipline 4 – Hold each other accountable – all of the time.
Once I was approached by a team member and enquired why she is not being given special tasks or not being involved that much in comparison with her another colleague. Since I had led both team members and knew where she is falling behind.
I suggested few points to follow, she was no longer feeling left behind and became a dynamic contributor in the team. Here are 10 points -
Leaders are not only people with heavy-weight designations like CEO, CIO, Vice President or say Senators, Member of Parliament, or something with power and authority.
We all are leading in some shape or form and making things happen by our leadership. Some people with their role and authority can have big impact and can lead a big group, or company or a nation, while on a small scale, for example a team of 4 people, or at very minimum an individual leading himself while working on a task, also help the bottom line of an organization or society by contributing at a small level; collectively these small contributions change the whole picture.
I completed Computer Based Training – “Situational Leadership II” developed by the Ninth House. I was amazed with the technique used to give lessons; it kept me involved till the end and I did not feel disconnected or bored. It is kind of movie that you watch and your decisions dictate the way story develops. Decision taken can result in getting job done or getting you fired. This training is based on Ken Blanchard’s leadership model and teaches how to increase team productive with proper leadership style by providing right amount of direction, support, or coaching.
People with diverse professional experiences and background have totally unique perspective on any issue. When a new team is assembled for any project, its vital for the success of that project that all team member are aware of the ground-rules for the project; similar to any sport. You may have to read it to team and give a copy for reference.
Posted by virk 
