Project Management and the Art of Confrontation

I have been brushing up on my negotiation skills to ensure my sanity lately, and came across a fantastic presentation deck about confrontation that I am sure every Project Manager on the planet can benefit from. I have summarized in my own words the highlights below, including some personal thoughts regarding the conclusions and comments made. If you would like to review the entire deck, please access the following link: http://www.pmipr.org/html/presentaciones/confrontation%20skills.pdf In terms of background on this “tool”, there are a few different confrontational types of behavior: Aggressive; Non-Assertive & Assertive – the “preferred” method. Assertive behavior involves face-to-face, respectful... Read More»

Are You “In the Game”?

In a recent discussion about additional costs being added to my home build project, I made a comment to our builder that “I don’t want to play that game.” He took offense at that comment. I believe he thought I was trivializing the situation and not honoring standard industry practices. The conversation did not go well. To prevent future misunderstanding, I am compelled to clarify the meaning of my statement. I argue that this thinking and use of words are valuable tools in the complete project manager’s toolkit. A context for using this terminology is selecting color for a concrete... Read More»

Has Anyone Seen Fluffy?

How many personality types do you have? If you've ever worked for a large organization, you've probably gone through at least a few different workshops, like DiSC, Enneagram, MBTI, and Keirsey, to name just a few. Depending on who you ask, there may be two, three, four, nine, or sixteen different personality types. (One wag I know likes to say there are two kinds of people: People who believe people can be classified into different types of people, and people who know better.) In my experience, these workshops are a lot like most lessons learned meetings: We attend, document the... Read More»

Be What's Missing. A Simple Way to Help Your Team Thrive

Improve project team performance and morale by figuring out what's missing and taking the accountability to bring it to the table. Read More»

A Day at the Oscars

The company is in somewhat of an uproar. The CEO has announced a new corporate strategy and organization structure. He holds a company-wide meeting where all this is presented in some detail. His candor encourages a lot of difficult questions from the audience. A key focus area is on increasing span of control but he makes sure everybody knows what he means…we have too many managers and we will be flattening the organization...many managers will lose their jobs. He also comments that sales compensation plans are going to change. Top-line revenue doesn’t drive the right behavior; everybody needs to be... Read More»

Being our Best - New Insights on Changing Sub-Optimal Habits at Work and Beyond Habits.

HABITS. Good ones and bad ones - I imagine we all have some of both. Some manifest at work; some at home; some in both settings. Our personal habits determine whether we are effective at what we do and achieve the results we want – or not. I want to recommend a great book that has given me some new tools for being my most effective self in both venues -- and also prompted some unexpected insights about dealing with certain habits (ours, and those of team members) that can cause aggravation and other issues on our projects. The book... Read More»

Knowing Your Limitations

According to fictional San Francisco police detective, Inspector Harry Callahan, in Magnum Force of the Dirty Harry film series, “A man's GOT to know his limitations.” While it is true that there comes a point where every individual eventually reaches their limitation and thus you must know your boundaries, how can organizations encourage growth for people to realize their full potential without driving them over the border? And what is the responsibility of the individual to strive to attain their full potential without overstepping the boundaries of their limitations? Below are some tips for individuals and hiring managers to aid... Read More»

A Few Tips on Hiring for your PMO

As usual, it seems that I have been doing a large amount of interviewing lately, looking for that diamond in the rough, that “perfect fit” for the team and the environment. For those of you that are also responsible for staffing your PMO, you know how vicarious the process is, and how you never really know what you’re buying until after you’ve bought it. In some ways it feels as though you’re dating on a timeline, you have two dates with each candidate before you have to make a commitment and walking down the aisle. Sure, divorce is always an... Read More»

What Do You Want?

Next time you're stuck in a meeting or conversation that seems to be going around and around (and around and around), stop and ask one simple question: "What do you want out of this?" Here's the catch: The person you're asking is you. Too often, we allow ourselves to get caught up in the adrenaline of proving our case. This is especially true in technical disciplines, where the drive to demonstrate the error -- whatever it is -- may overpower any thought of actually fixing the problem. I've been guilty of this time and again in every imaginable venue. It's... Read More»

You Are What You Integrate

I marvel at the wonders created by nature and modern chemistry. We constantly see new products emerging as a result of molecular combinations and increased miniaturization. Vitamin and drug pills are extremely potent yet come in small packages. These marvels are possible because of molecular complexity. A complex molecule can bind tightly to various targets because it can form lots of interactions. Infinite varieties appear possible due to various combinations within the molecules. Development of project, program, and portfolio managers can follow a similar path. Integrating skills from multiple disciplines allows for increased potency. Yes, individuals can be effective by... Read More»