A Successful Person

A few weeks ago while I was visiting my mother in Newfoundland, she received a letter in the mail. It was a note from a doctor’s office saying she had an appointment for an urgent blood test. She had told me about the appointment, but it wasn't till I saw the letter that I realized it was urgent.

When I mentioned to my mother about the urgency, she shrugged and said, “I’ll deal with it when it comes.” I was impressed.

A lot of people become obsessed when they think they might have a problem, especially with their health. Not my mother. I would guess she did a quick rundown in her head about the options and alternatives, and decided her plan of action - which was to take it as it came.

I was going to write about how my mother’s situation is a perfect example of risk analysis - identify the risk events, figure out the probability and impact, and determine your response. And then I saw this article, and thought, “Hey, my Mom is one of those “successful” people.” (Of course, I already knew that!) She did exactly what the article said. So, whether the success is making money or achieving a happy life, here’s some research: How Successful People Stay Calm.

Managing Summer Interns

During the summer, organizations often take on students for intern positions. I have hired a few students over the years and find that it's important to have a plan for what they are going to do. No plan means it takes a lot more of my time.

Here's an article with helpful tips for employing summer interns:

3 Tips for Successfully Managing Summer Interns

I hope your summer is off to a great start!

Project Managers - Focusing to Get Results

“A recent story about the use of transcendental meditation by top Wall Street traders was given a lot of attention, but I just see it as more evidence of what our research has shown for years,” says Hannah Shaw Grove, an authority on the behaviours and characteristics of the high-net-worth markets and the executive editor of Private Wealth magazine. “The professionals who are the very best at what they do and have monetized their skills always find ways to stay focused on the most important tasks and forget about the trivialities.”

(excerpt from: To Become Wealthier Do What You Do Best, Forbes Magazine)

When I read this article in Forbes Magazine, I thought - that’s what project managers do: focus on the important tasks.

We have a few tools to help with this, not the least of which is the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). In defining a WBS, we are looking at what the end result/product/service is to be, and breaking that down into manageable groups. We then define the steps to get there and follow these steps to achieve the outcome. What could be more focused?

How about those diversions along the way? Project management is largely based on having a good plan, being prepared for what could lead the project astray, and having a change control system. Whether the changes are related to the roles and responsibilities of the project, budget, scope, etc., following the plan and using the system will help keep us on track.

And, like the article said, meditation is an excellent input to keeping focused. I started meditating about a year ago after a few nudges. I can attest that meditation has changed my outlook on life and work - more positive and calmer. If making the big bucks is what motivates someone to start meditating, I say go for it. The results will enhance focus and much more.

There are a few more project management tools and techniques that help us stay on goal. If you'd like to discuss, send me an email at brenda@brendaniel.com.

Project Management: How to Implement Trust

The basis for a good team is trust.

Team members who trust each other have positive expectations of each other. This is a great underpinning for resolving conflicts and discussing problems.

Simon Sinek talks about trust and leadership in his TED talk Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe.

So, how do we create a culture of trust? The basis is not that difficult: make the decision yourself to trust. Model and share this with your team. When making decisions yourself and with your team, reflect on whether those decisions agree with your value of trust.

So, as Simon says:

What I learned was that it's the environment, and if you get the environment right, every single one of us has the capacity to do these remarkable things, and more importantly, others have that capacity, too. 

You see, if the conditions are wrong, we are forced to expend our own time and energy to protect ourselves from each other, and that inherently weakens the organization. When we feel safe inside the organization, we will naturally combine our talents and our strengths and work tirelessly to face the dangers outside and seize the opportunities.

A Great Team

“My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other's kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That's how I see business: great things in business are never done by one person, they're done by a team of people.”

- Steve Jobs

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

- Margaret Mead

This week I'm writing about a tremendous team that I am proud to have worked with. It was the Steering Committee for the PDSummit (Professional Development Summit) in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The PDSummit was the grand finale of eight months of planning and preparation by a team of about ten people. Our team met every week (except Christmas) on the phone for half an hour to plan, come rain or shine.

Each meeting had an agenda put together by the Chair. The Chair also distributed minutes right after each meeting. Some members of this team had been together for a few years, and other members were brand new.

Why did this team work? I think a large part was the great leadership, including the roles being allocated and processes defined and followed. Another large part was the attitudes of the team members, which contributed to the collaborative culture.

I did some research on great teams (thanks Internet!) and here are some links about strong teams. I believe this team met all the criteria stated in the following articles:

• Characteristics of Effective Teams
• Top 10 Qualities to Build a Successful Work Team

The Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification is the Certification Most Likely to Get You a Job

Research was done by Toni Bowers, Managing Editor of TechRepublic, and award-winning blogger of the Career Management blog. She found that the PMP is the most frequently desired certification according to Dice.

So, if you are wondering if PMP is something worthwhile – many people think so!

Happiness is... being a Project Manager

There is a lot of research on happiness these days. One of the latest books to come out on the subject is by Shawn Achor - Before Happiness. Mr. Achor gives five strategies for being happy. I found these strategies to be similar to those required for being a successful project manager:

1. Use success accelerants - signals that tell your brain success is possible. I would liken this to collecting metrics in a project; with measurement, we have guidance on what to do to achieve success.
2. Set meaningful goals. What is a project if not a goal to be reached?
3. Eliminate as much as possible the negative emotions of fear, pessimism and doubt. This sounds like providing the vision and leadership that any project needs to be successful. When pessimism starts to abound, find ways to cut it short and turn it around.
4. Share your good feelings of happiness with others. Hopefully that would happen in any team environment. I have certainly been in environments where one person's happiness inspired and buoyed a whole group (and cases where the opposite was true, as well).
5. Focus on the positives rather than the negatives. I don’t think I have seen any successful team where there was a focus on the negative!

So, a happy person can be likened to a successful project team. How does your team line up?

Being Brave (and Project Management)

This is my year to be brave. Sara Bareilles’ song “Brave” totally captures my intent:

Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

I have a feeling it’s not just me who is valuing bravery these days. I read a newsletter that touched on this thought. Lea Brovedani wrote, “Although agreeableness is positively correlated with teamwork, it is negatively correlated with leadership success.” Isn’t disagreeing sometimes a brave thing to do?

Project Managers are required to be brave. I think it should be written into every Project Manager’s job description:

• Be willing to stand up for what you think is right (without totally alienating the customer)
• Be prepared to let your team and executives know when things are not on track
• Be willing to make decisions without too much grief!

All of these are acts of bravery. So, if you need inspiration for bravery as a PM or in any other role, take Ms. Bareilles’ advice:

Everybody’s been there, everybody’s been stared down by the enemy
Fallen for the fear and done some disappearing
Bow down to the mighty
Don’t run, stop holding your tongue
Maybe there’s a way out of the cage where you live
Maybe one of these days you can let the light in
Show me how big your brave is

Lag, Lead or Laugh

Last week I was in Newfoundland and Labrador giving a project management course.

I asked the class, “Does anyone know what a lag or lead is?”

One guy piped up, “Yes, a lag is what you stand on.”

Took me awhile...

(Thanks Jeremy, I have been laughing all week.)

Inspired

On April 3, my company is starting up a program where senior executives will tell their stories. These leaders have inspired me by their generosity of spirit.

The executives giving these sessions are all busy people. They travel, they manage good-sized companies. All of them, when asked, agreed to share how they got to where they are.

Just considering this inspires me. That these individuals would be willing to take the time and present their tips, tools and advice. This isn’t about making more money or getting publicity - they already have enough of those.

So thank you, Halifax Executive Mentoring Series presenters!

If you are in the Halifax area and are interested in learning more about this series, please see halifaxleadership.com.