Project Management – Page 10 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

Motivating, Inspiring, and Developing People

October 27, 2021/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Leadership, Project Management, Training /by Trevor Jones

It’s easy to neglect your core responsibilities as a leader when it involves having uncomfortable conversations. Learn how to develop a maxim to overcome uncomfortable situations.

As a leader, one of your chief responsibilities is developing the members of your team. Great leaders build more leaders. You have to commit to their growth and create new opportunities for them to expand and learn new skills. That’s hard to do because for somebody to learn a new skill, you’re going to have to create an opportunity for them to do something they may not have done before. In doing that, you create risk because that individual might fail. And if they fail, that failure reflects on you. So a lot of times we’re afraid to take those risks on people to create growth opportunities.

That’s why you need a maxim to remind yourself that one of your chief responsibilities is doing that development work for the members of your team. My maxim to remind me that my chief responsibility is to develop people is, “It’s easier to correct course 100 yards into the journey than 100 miles.” I had a member of my team who was having some problems. One day he gave me some numbers and a report, and the numbers were off. I said, “Well, it doesn’t seem like a big deal. I’ll figure it out tomorrow.” I did this because I knew it was going to be a slightly uncomfortable conversation to have with him. A few days later, I heard about an interaction between this individual and a member of his team that hadn’t gone very well. I said, “I’m gonna need to talk to him about that. I’m not happy with what I’m hearing, but I’m not gonna do it today. Maybe I’ll do it next week.” The following week, I went past his office and he was berating a member of his team. He was speaking to them in a very condescending tone. I said, “I’m really gonna have to talk to him about this, but I’m not gonna do it today because he’s not in a good mood. The feedback won’t be well received.” I put off that more difficult conversation. I kept avoiding times when I should have given this individual some feedback.

Well, one day he came to me and said he was resigning. He had found another job and he was going to go work elsewhere. I was so excited because my problem was now gone. On the way home, I called one of my colleagues and I was relaying the good news, saying, “Hey, he quit—the guy who’s been giving me all the trouble. I don’t have to deliver the feedback now. He’s leaving the organization.” My colleague called me on it. He said, “Mike, you failed.” And I said, “What do you mean? How did I fail? He left. The problem is gone.” And my colleague said, “You failed every member of his team because your job as a leader isn’t just leading that individual. It’s leading the entire organization. Those people were getting beaten up on a regular basis. He was hurting their morale. And they were probably looking to you to solve that issue. You failed every member of that team. You have to remember that correcting course is easier 100 yards into the journey than 100 miles. You should have had the difficult conversation sooner because you could have either corrected performance or taken appropriate disciplinary action if he didn’t change the way he was operating.”

My colleague was right. I had failed the members of that team. So this maxim reminds me that when development conversations need to happen, I need to get over the fact that it’s going to be an uncomfortable conversation. I need to just have the discussion. It’s hard to do, but this maxim has changed my behavior on several occasions. There have been times when other members of my team since then have done something that I wasn’t exactly happy with. And my initial instinct was, “Well, I’ll just wait. It’ll fix itself.” And I said, “No. My maxim says I need to go have that conversation right now.” When I’ve done that, I’ve been very happy with the result because we correct behavior, get people pointed in the right direction, and do so before the problem gets bigger.

As you think about your team and about your responsibility to build leaders, to develop and challenge people, how are you going to remind yourself to take those kinds of risks? How are you going to remind yourself to have those difficult conversations when they need to happen? Has there been a time in your past where you created a growth opportunity for somebody and they succeeded well beyond your wildest dreams? Or a time where you avoided giving some tough feedback and there were bad consequences that occurred because you didn’t step up to the plate as a leader? Within those situations is where you’re going to find your maxims. Find that trigger. Find those words that were used in that conversation or the name of the project where the person succeeded. That phrase, that trigger, is what’s going to bring you back to that situation. It’s what is going to remind you of those feelings and get you to behave in a different way.

I know my maxim does that for me. When I have that difficult situation and I think of my maxim, I remember how uncomfortable that conversation was with my colleague when he told me I had failed. I remember how embarrassed I was of my failure as a leader. Those feelings drive me to change my behavior now because I never want to be that disappointed in myself again or that embarrassed. So you know what? I’m going to take action today. That’s how having a maxim based on something in the past can drive your performance in the future.

Want to learn more about developing your leadership philosophy? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to develop your leadership philosophy. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

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Stay Connected to Your Team’s Reality

October 20, 2021/3 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Project Management /by Trevor Jones

Staying in touch with your team’s day-to-day challenges is important. It shows you’re willing to get out there, get dirty, and understand their jobs.

One of the worst types of leaders to work for is the one who’s checked out—the one who has no basis in reality or understanding of what their team does. These individuals don’t always appreciate the hard work that the team does. They also don’t understand the challenges and constraints that the team faces, which can lead that leader to put unreasonable expectations on the team. You need a reminder to stay in touch with your team’s reality. To get out there, get dirty, and understand their jobs. Getting dirty can also get you respect.

My reminder and my maxim for staying in touch with my team’s reality is a very simple statement: “He’s under the tank, sir.” When I was in the army as a young platoon leader, there was a field problem. We were out in the field, and we were pulling maintenance on the vehicles. The colonel, who was a very senior officer, came looking for me, probably to yell at me. He was always yelling at me for one reason or another. He came up to my tank and walked up to my driver who was an 18-year-old buck private. My driver saluted and the colonel saluted him. The colonel asked my driver, “Where’s Lieutenant Figliolo?” My driver pointed to a pair of boots sticking out from under the tank. The colonel looked at my driver quizzically and replied, “No, where’s Lieutenant Figliolo?” I was an officer, and in the colonel’s mind, officers are not under tanks. So my driver again pointed to the pair of boots sticking out from under the tank. He said, “He’s under the tank, sir.”

The colonel bent over and yelled my name. I sat up under the tank, smacked my head, and crawled out from under the vehicle. The colonel said, “What are you doing under the tank?” I said, “I’m fixing the track, sir.” He looked confused and asked me why I was fixing the track. Again, the colonel had a view that officers don’t fix track. Officers give orders and read maps. He said, “Why are you fixing the track?” I said, “‘Cause it’s broken.” He got very confused and stormed off. He forgot why he was even there to talk to me.

Well, the reason I was under that tank and my driver wasn’t was because my driver had been at it all night. He was exhausted. I saw he needed a break, so I told him, “You know what? My work is done, I’m done with the map, and I’m done with the orders. Give me the wrench and let me go work on it for a little bit.” I crawled under that tank and I turned a wrench. That story got around the unit before lunch time. I had soldiers from other units coming to me and saying, “Hey sir, do you have any room in your platoon? I think I’d like to come work for you.”

I did it because it was the right thing. I had a member of my team who was tired. I went in and did the same work that they did. But that choice, that decision to crawl in the mud and turn a wrench, sent a very strong and clear message to the members of the entire unit. It said, “I’m not above any work that I ask you to do.” It built a great deal of respect for me. It also helped me understand the challenges that the members of my organization face on a daily basis. I learned that you bang your knuckles up a lot under that tank, that it gets cold under there. I had a better appreciation for all the hard work that they do for me.

So as you think about staying in touch with your team’s reality, how are you going to remind yourself to step away from the computer, to get out of your office, and get out there to see what your team does? How are you going to demonstrate that you can do their job just as well as they can and that you’re not above anything you ask them to do? Has there been a leader in your past who rolled up their sleeves and got dirty side by side with you? Think about how you felt about that leader. Think about how much respect you gave them after that.

Conversely, have there been leaders that you worked with who tended to sit in their office? Have there been leaders who weren’t willing to get dirty and believed that the rest of the organization should work hard while they do something else? Think about how little respect you had for that individual. These stories are the basis for your maxim. Think about the trigger, whether it’s something somebody said, the name of the project that you were on, or the particular piece of work that was being done. Use that trigger to transport you back to that story so you can feel those feelings again, whether they’re good ones or they’re frustrated ones.

That trigger becomes your maxim. You can share the maxim and the entire story with the members of your team, and say, “He’s under the tank, sir.” Here’s the story behind it and here’s what you can expect from me as your leader. That maxim will be your reminder to make sure you stay connected to your team’s reality, build respect, and understand the challenges that your team faces.

Want to learn more about developing your leadership philosophy? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to develop your leadership philosophy. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

How to Become an A+ Manager Today

September 27, 2021/0 Comments/in Books, Career, Communications, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy /by Trevor Jones

Learn how to improve your managerial skills by studying the eight attributes of the employee-centric manager.

Today’s guest post is by Dr. Jack Wiley, author of The Employee-Centric Manager (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

Over the past two decades, the practice of gathering employee feedback on the performance of their managers has grown. And why not? Subordinates have the most knowledge about their manager’s performance, and they are the ones most affected by their behavior. Leading organizational scientists argue that the ratings of managers provided by employees are the most valid. Indeed, research shows that subordinate ratings of a manager’s performance correlate with ratings provided by the manager’s own boss.

So, as a manager, what does it take to achieve great performance reviews from your employees? I asked a representative and systematically selected sample of 10,000 workers in the United States to rate the overall performance of their manager. I also asked these employees to rate their managers on the eight attributes of the employee-centric manager (or ECM), which are: (1) show support and understanding; (2) provide recognition; (3) treat employees with dignity and respect; (4) communicate clear performance expectations; (5) reward performance contributions with fair compensation and development opportunities; (6) demonstrate skill in decision-making and problem-solving; (7) be fair and just; and (8) be honest and trustworthy.

I learned that 67% of a manager’s overall performance rating is explained by their ratings on the attributes that define the employee-centric manager. This means that how employees rate their manager on these eight attributes determines two-thirds of their overall effectiveness rating. There is still another 33% of a manager’s rating that is accounted for by other factors, but the implication is clear: if you rate highly on the ECM attributes, you will also rate highly on overall performance. The reverse is also true – if you rate poorly on the ECM attributes, you will also rate poorly on overall performance.

Let’s dig a little deeper. Which of the eight attributes are most impactful? Statistical regression analysis reveals that these three attributes most influence employees’ views of their manager’s overall performance:

LISTEN: As in, “My manager is an effective listener.”

MAKE GOOD DECISIONS: As in, “My manager displays competence in making day-to-day work decisions.”

RECOGNIZE: As in, “My manager provides me with praise or recognition for doing good work.”

So, what do employees really want when it comes to listening (a subset of the support and understanding attribute)? They want their manager to be available and accessible. They want them to listen to their concerns with the energy and attention needed to genuinely identify with where they are coming from. They want their manager to follow through on concerns brought to their attention and seek employee input on important decisions affecting their work or how to solve a work-related problem. And they want their manager to get to know them – sufficiently well so that they understand their current capabilities, training and development needs, and goals, including their career goals.

This example of effective listening comes from an employee in the healthcare industry.

“I brought a problem to my manager’s attention, and she let me explain what I think would work best moving forward. She understood that I was the one out there doing the job, and I would have the best understanding of the situation. She got back to me quickly and trusted me to make the decision.”

When it comes to making good decisions, what do employees really want? They want their manager to make decisions in a timely way and not drag their feet. They want their manager to make decisions based on a rational, data-based approach. They want their manager to involve them in decision-making and problem-solving. They also want their manager to think through the implications of their decisions so that the team doesn’t end up dealing with blow-back. And finally, they want their manager to be flexible and learn from experience.

Here is an example of a manager being skilled in problem-solving and decision-making from the experience of a financial services employee.

“My manager had to clean up a project that a former employee had messed up before leaving the company, and it was very stressful; she needed our help. She was very helpful in trying to get us all to understand what the project was and what it needed to look like in the end. She didn’t rush or get us overwhelmed. This made me see she is a great leader and that I can count on her to help me remain calm in stressful situations.”

Finally, when it comes to recognition, what do employees really want from their manager? They want an honest and sincere “thank you” for working hard, staying late, busting through obstacles, or going the extra mile to get the job done. They want real-time recognition when their performance is worthy of praise – employees want to receive it in the here-and-now. They also want recognition that fits them, their style, and their personality. And they want recognition that is specific to the behavior or performance under consideration; this helps employees understand how the boss defines good performance.

An employee in the retail sales industry provides this example of a boss effective at providing recognition.

“My manager hired me at the seasonal time, and not everyone hired then gets to stay on and become a regular employee. But she watched me, gave me pointers, and did my reviews. She’s so great and has helped me in all kinds of situations; she saw the determination in me to strive to just keep going. She nominated me as employee of the month in front of everyone.”

Becoming an A+ Manager is relatively straightforward: think seriously about how you like to be treated by your manager and consistently do the same toward your employees. Be especially good at listening, making good decisions, and recognizing worthy performance.

DR. JACK WILEY has more than 30 years of experience studying what employees most want and what organizational design factors best promote employee engagement, performance confidence and business success. He is the president & CEO of Jack Wiley Consulting, LLC, and Employee Centricity LLC. In addition to his business ventures, he’s the chief scientific officer at Engage2Excel. He is the author of The Employee Centric Manager and RESPECT: Delivering Results by Giving Employees What They Really Want. In 2014, Dr. Wiley was awarded the prestigious Professional Practice award by the Society of Industrial-Organizational Psychology, a lifetime achievement award for outstanding contributions to the practice of industrial-organizational psychology. In addition to being elected to Fellow status in SIOP, he is also a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science.

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Building High Performing Teams: Empower Your People

August 11, 2021/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

To build and foster a high performing team, sometimes you have to step back and let your people do their thing.

For you to get the most out of the members of your high performing team, you need to empower them. Remember, on a high performing team, those team members are typically very self-motivated, and they like being self-directed. You need to understand how letting go of your agenda, creating space for them to flourish, and then accepting that there are different ways of doing things is going to bring out the best in your people. Read more

Breaking Free from Analysis Paralysis

July 8, 2021/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Innovation, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Do you struggle to get things done because you overthink your work? Try these three tips to overcome “analysis paralysis.”

Many times I’ve heard it said that perfect is the enemy of done. A big barrier to executing initiatives is analysis paralysis. The team gets bogged down on proving their case is 100% accurate and risk-free before they act. That slows down execution and leads to missed opportunities. By understanding the risks you face and making appropriate trade-offs between timeliness and accuracy effects, you can speed up execution and break through analysis paralysis. Read more

5 Criteria for Distributing Your Team’s Work

June 30, 2021/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy /by Trevor Jones

Keep these five things in mind when you’re splitting up the work for your team.

A key task as the leader of a high performing team is how you distribute work across the members of your team. It needs to be done fairly. Note, I didn’t say equally. Work allocation needs to be done fairly because you want perceptions of equality. You want people to work on things they’re good at but also that they’re excited by. There are five criteria to think about when distributing work.

1. Priority

First, consider the priority of the work in terms of the team’s goals and the organization’s goals. Priority needs to drive everything. If a project is a top priority and somebody’s available to do that work, they get that work. And you need to allocate it appropriately.

2. Skill Sets

Second, consider the skill set of the person who you’re thinking about distributing the work to. If they have the right skill set, you’re going to get a high-quality result. This also prevents people from failing. You’re giving them something they can be successful with.

3. Availability

Next, consider availability. All things being equal in terms of priority and skill sets, who is free to do the work? Who has the bandwidth? You shouldn’t be shifting resources from one project to another when you have available resources to pick up that new project. If you start shifting resources around between projects when you have available resources elsewhere, you’re going to lose momentum on that first project and that project might fail.

4. Development Opportunity

Next, you have to think about the development opportunity this project might present for that person because that’s how you’re going to take your team to the next level of performance.

5. Interest

The last consideration is, “Does somebody have an interest in it?” If someone is really interested and passionate about a project, you should let them take it on. They’re going to be really motivated, excited to do it, and hopefully their performance will follow. Now one caveat here: Make sure people don’t just gravitate to the work they enjoy doing and stay away from things that they’re not comfortable with. They’re going to end up getting pigeon-holed and they’ll be very narrow in their focus.

If you think about all these considerations as you distribute work across your team, it’s going to ensure that you tackle the highest priority projects with the people who have the right skills to do them. You’ll be able to successfully execute the project while also developing your team’s skills.

Want to learn more about building high-performing teams? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to build high-performing teams. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

Manage to Meet Your Customers’ Needs

May 10, 2021/0 Comments/in Books, Career, Guest Blogger, Innovation, Leadership, Project Management /by Trevor Jones

As customers’ needs become more diverse, the managers of the future must adapt to meet their demands.

Today’s post is by Jonathan Byrnes, author of CHOOSE YOUR CUSTOMER: How to Compete Against the Digital Giants and Thrive (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

Managing at the right level is the most important element in effective management in the Age of Diverse Markets. This is a huge change. In the prior mass markets era, companies had homogeneous markets, so they needed to plan and coordinate only at the executive level, with the rest of the company’s managers focusing on their respective functional specialties. Today’s markets are rapidly becoming highly fragmented, reflecting diverse customer needs. This requires a much more decentralized set of management structures and processes, which strongly affects managers at all levels of a company’s organization. Read more

How to Prioritize Your Team’s Work and Improve Focus

March 24, 2021/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Innovation, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

It’s easy for your team to get sidetracked if your strategy has a lot of moving parts. Learn how to prioritize your most meaningful work.

A consistent and regularly-scheduled prioritization process helps eliminate distractions and focus your efforts on the most meaningful projects. Some processes are formal while others are simply frequent conversations about priorities. Choose a process that’s appropriate for the size of your organization.

I’ve worked for two very different organizations. One was large and one was a small business unit. In the large one we had a very formal prioritization process. All departments were involved, and you had to have a very rigorous business case to get your idea on the list. In the small business unit it was an informal process. We achieved prioritization by allocating budget to different budget owners.

We then gave them discretion to choose their own priorities. In the large organization it was very rigorous, but sometimes we lacked agility. It kept us focused, but at the cost of innovating every once in a while. In the small organization it enabled a lot of distractions to happen. People pursued some pet projects. Pet projects and distractions should not be worked on if they haven’t been prioritized. They had a huge impact.

In the small business unit I was in we got a lot of small things done, but a lot of times they were disjointed, they lacked impact, and some of them weren’t even on strategy. Build a prioritization process that is appropriate for the size and complexity of your organization, and make sure that process is in charge of allocating resources accordingly.

Embedding prioritization

Prioritization processes work great for larger projects that require resource allocation. They don’t necessarily change behaviors related to more day-to-day activities. Embedding a prioritization mindset in your team will help everyone focus on the most meaningful work. When you talk about projects, refer back to the prioritization criteria so people know how you make decisions and that you expect them to do the same.

I had a great boss at one point who would meet with me every week to ask me what I was working on. If he saw I was working on something that was off-strategy, he’d ask for justification. He’d say, “Mike, how does this tie to the strategy?” He forced me to think through how the work I was doing tied to the overall strategy. If the work didn’t, he asked what I thought we should do about the project. Usually, I decided to kill it. I then modeled that behavior for my team. Prioritization became a way of life for us.

Ask people on your team what they’re working on. Have them explain how that work ties to the overall strategy. Ask them to make choices based on the strategy versus just telling them, “No, stop that project.” When they come up with the rationale on their own, they’re much more likely to stop doing non-strategic work and focus on the things that matter the most.

Stopping off-track work

When you come across work that isn’t high priority or is a distraction, it’s important to stop it quickly. Before stopping that work though, understand why people are working on it and why they thought it should be a focus. There may be a good reason they’re pursuing that project. It could be related to safety, regulations, or company policy. If there’s not a strong reason for the work and it’s clear that it’s a distraction, stop it immediately. Explain your rationale and refocus efforts on high-priority items that require additional resources.

I worked with one CEO who was very excited about making an acquisition. He had a lot of activity going on. He had people looking at the market and evaluating the target company. He was spinning up a lot of work. We went through a strategic planning session, and he realized this work was off strategy. It was a distraction. He immediately stopped all work on it. That sent a strong message to the organization that it’s okay to stop work in progress once you realize it’s off strategy.

When you stop off-track work, be sure to replace it with something more meaningful. You don’t want that individual feeling discouraged or unimportant because you stopped their project. Let them know, “Hey it’s about the project, it’s not about you. And by the way, now that you’re free, I want you to go work on this really high-priority strategic project.” Stopping off-track work is a key to achieving focus for your organization.

Want to learn more about strategic focus? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to improve your strategic focus. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

Do You Have a 2021 Business Vision?

December 28, 2020/1 Comment/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Project Management /by Ryan Shaw

A critical part of effective leadership and success means the understanding of including all stakeholders and total collaboration in your leadership model.

Today’s post is by Kim Lorenz, author of Tireless (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

It’s that time of year again – many organizations have started diving into accomplishing their strategic business goals and objectives for 2021. Do you have a 2021 business vision?

In my years of experience as an entrepreneur, business owner, partner and CEO, I have come to realize that if you can learn to see opportunity, can innovate, and look past the “obvious,” you can achieve almost anything.

To me, a critical part of effective leadership and business success means understanding the importance of including all stakeholders and total collaboration in your leadership model.

Stakeholders are both internal to your company, some in higher levels of management, and often are suited best to contribute fresh ideas and perspectives, mainly because they are often the ones in the trenches and closer to the actual issue you might be addressing.

Unfortunately, when business decisions are made due to a lack of knowledge and failure to seek understanding and input from others, millions of dollars can be wasted. Sadly, these poor decisions, whether in the non-profit or for-profit arena, are not typically discovered for many years down the road, so the losses pile up needlessly.

With this in mind, I encourage leaders in this New Year to strive to gather more information and consult with others (who might know something they don’t) in every decision they make. Remember, you must be willing to meet with the people who do the work every day – and recognize that they are significant, valuable stakeholders who can help you craft smarter business decisions.

Leading in Crisis: Four Leaders Who Did It Right

December 6, 2020/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Leadership, Project Management, Training /by Ryan Shaw

Join our free webinar about how to continue to learn and evolve and lead your organization through crisis.

As the Coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic slowdown continue, leaders need to become more deliberate students of how to lead in a prolonged crisis.

To help with that, thoughtLEADERS will be offering a free webinar called Leading in Crisis: Four Leaders Who Did It Right. We’ll be sharing case studies of four exceptional leaders as they faced significant crises and the perhaps unconventional wisdom they gained from those experiences.

The webinar is a one-hour session you can attend live or on-demand, free of charge, and will be taught by Paul Smith and Gary Ross, the thoughtLEADERS principals who developed the firm’s courses Storytelling for Leaders and Leading Through Change.

Which of the following skills is your team most in need of improving?

April 9, 2020/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Leadership, Poll, Project Management /by Ryan Shaw

Our reader poll today asks: Which of the following skills is your team most in need of improving?

Communications: 34.7%
Decision-making: 9.0%
Problem-solving: 9.7%
People leadership: 13.0%
Strategic thinking: 19.3%
Time management: 14.3%

It’s all about the communication. A significant portion of you listed communication as the most critical skill gap on your team. That makes sense. Many other skills like leadership, decision-making and problem-solving require strong communication skills at their foundation. Even skills like time management have roots in communication — how can you delegate or push back on requests if you can’t communicate clearly? Given this demand for communication skills, the question is: What are you doing about building your team’s capabilities in this arena? The ability to get recommendations approved and convey thoughts in a clear and compelling way is something that can be learned. Are you investing in building your team’s skills? Given the current environment, it seems there’s no better time than the present to start working on it.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

How to See Your Projects to Completion

April 1, 2020/0 Comments/in Books, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy /by Ryan Shaw

Most of the major initiatives we pursue are conducted as projects. What do you do when those projects go up in flames? There are seven common reasons our projects go bad and the ways to avoid them.

Today’s post is by Mike Figliuolo, Managing Director of thoughtLEADERS.

Projects go off the rails all the time. Some statistics I’ve seen say only 1 in 8 projects can truly be declared as successes. Why are we so horrible at executing projects especially when we have all these “tried and true” project management methodologies?

There are seven deadly killers of projects. Any one of them can undermine your project’s success. The good news is we teach people how to avoid these issues as part of our Project Management Reality course (CLICK HERE to learn more). For the benefit of all my readers, I’ve outlined these seven killers below along with ways to overcome them.

Team Disengagement

The team is just checked out. Low morale. Disinterest. Apathy. Their work products are late or low quality.

To mitigate: ensure your project is listed on their personal goals, get their manager to commit them to the project, and show them how the project benefits them personally/professionally.