Project Management – Page 14 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

How to Eliminate the Word No from Your Vocabulary

December 26, 2011/4 Comments/in Communications, Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

I hate the word “no.” I hate saying it. I hate hearing it. It’s very unproductive.

Believe it or not, you can eliminate it from your vocabulary and replace it with two simple words that can make all the difference in how you’re perceived and how much people want to work with you.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Kevin Eikenberry (author of From Bud to Boss) for over an hour on this topic. Today I’ll provide an excerpt of that conversation and at the end of the post I’ll provide you with a link for the actual audio file of our conversation.

Here’s the discussion Kevin and I had around two of the most powerful words you can use to replace “no” in your vocabulary. It’s another excerpt from my conversation with Kevin (previously Kevin and I discussed a leader’s role in process improvement – you can read that post here and we also covered how you can avoid scope creep – read that one here).

Kevin Eikenberry: Let’s talk about us as leaders. We have got a lot of stuff going on. How do we as leaders stay focused on what we are trying to achieve and not be the source of the problem? How can we stay focused and be the best support to process improvement efforts?

Mike Figliuolo: One of the most important things that I have learned is the ability to say no. I am not saying I am good at it, I just know that it’s important. That said, we as leaders can be much more effective in that regard.

How You Can Prevent the Dreaded Scope Creep from Attacking

December 19, 2011/0 Comments/in Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

We’ve all dealt with the unpleasant dynamic of scope creep at some point in our careers. As leaders, our job is to manage scope effectively so our teams can get their work done without running themselves ragged.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Kevin Eikenberry (author of From Bud to Boss) for over an hour on this topic. Today I’ll provide an excerpt of that conversation and at the end of the post I’ll provide you with a link for the actual audio file of our conversation.

So, here are a few thoughts on how leadership plays a critical role in controlling scope. It’s another excerpt from my conversation with Kevin (previously Kevin and I discussed a leader’s role in process improvement – you can read that post here).

Kevin Eikenberry: The thing I think is really important is this idea of giving people a clear scope and letting them know where they can play and where they can’t. This idea of a clear scope is so important. How have you seen leaders successfully deal with what I am sure we have all experienced, which is scope creep? How can we help teams work through that challenge?

Mike Figliuolo: I think there are two kinds of scope creep. There is the one where the team wants to expand the area on which they are going to have an impact. The second is where you have all those wonderful external parties, like senior executives and other stakeholders, trying to expand the scope of what your team works on. Let me focus on that first area.

Best of thoughtLEADERS 2011: The Awesomest Posts Ever

December 12, 2011/0 Comments/in Balanced Lifestyle, Books, Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Customer Service, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Innovation, Leadership, Project Management, Sales, Social Media, Strategy, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

This year is almost over so it’s time for the year in review list of the BEST posts we’ve published in 2011. It’s time for the 2011 edition of The Figgies (here are the 2010 and 2009 editions).

This is an annual event here at the thoughtLEADERS Blog. Here’s how it goes: this list is comprised of our most viewed, most forwarded, quirkiest, most provocative work as judged by you the readers. There’s also a kicker bonus post on the list just for good measure (it’s a “wayback” – and speaking of wayback, check out the photo on the trophy… yes… that’s me ’80’s style baby!).

Enjoy. Share. We’ve loved writing them. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading them. I don’t ask a lot of you folks so I have two small requests as your holiday gift to me (you are getting me something, right?):

1. Invite all your coworkers, friends, and family to come check out the blog and become readers. The only way we get better is by raising everyone’s game. I’m not asking a lot here. If you found this blog helpful at all this year, here’s your chance to return the favor for all our hard work. Just email folks and tell ’em to come take a look.

2. Pick up a copy of One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful Personal Leadership. Yes – I know I talk a lot about the book but it’s not for the money (I would have made more money if I worked in a sweat shop in Asia making sneakers). I talk a lot about it because I’m evangelical about the topic. Buy it. Read it. In the words of Roland Smith (CEO of Wendy’s) “It could change your life.”

Thanks for your incredible support in ’11 and best wishes for ’12! We hope to be a part of your future success!

Enough preamble. Here’s the best stuff we’ve written all year:

Leadership’s Role in Process Improvement

December 5, 2011/4 Comments/in Innovation, Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Those of you who know me well know I am not a process guy. The notion of process can make me physically ill. That said, there’s a huge role for leadership in process improvement. I’d argue that without good leadership, any process you try to improve will fail.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Kevin Eikenberry (author of From Bud to Boss) for over an hour on this topic. Today I’ll provide an excerpt of that conversation and at the end of the post I’ll provide you with a link for the actual audio file of our conversation.

So, here are a few thoughts on how leadership plays a critical role in process improvement as an excerpt from my conversation with Kevin.

Kevin Eikenberry: So let’s start by talking about why process improvement is so critical for leaders from your perspective with a variety of experiences that you have got. So let’s talk about process improvement from your perspective.

Mike Figliuolo: Yeah. You know, as leaders you can go in and you can manage, and we have got to parse management and leadership, and you manage things and you lead people.

So when you are new to a role as a leader or even if you have been doing it for a while inherently you have got certain processes that you are responsible for making sure run smoothly. The thing that ends up differentiating people is whether you sort of take that process at face and just make sure it doesn’t blow up, or if you question everything about it and seek to make it better, make it faster, make it cheaper, make the quality higher.

1 Simple Way to Boost Productivity by 50%

October 18, 2010/7 Comments/in Communications, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Do you want to hear a sickening statistic? I write the SmartPulse poll for SmartBrief on Leadership (if you don’t read SmartBrief you’re missing out and should sign up here). Last week I asked how much time people spend in recurring meetings. The answer was shocking.

30% of respondents are spending 25%-75% of their time in recurring meetings. Oh my goodness. How can you possibly spend more time in meetings than you spend at your desk working? Unbelievable.

Clearly there’s a very simple way to boost productivity – kill some meetings. Imagine if you could take all that time you spend in meetings and turn it either into productive time getting stuff done or into time away from the office doing things you enjoy ding. The good news is, it’s reasonably easy to kill a meeting even if it isn’t “yours” to run.

First, let’s acknowledge meetings do have a place in our lives. They’re great tools for quickly and efficiently sharing information. Recurring meetings also have a place. They’re a good forcing mechanism to bring groups together around a certain topic and by having them recur on the calendar, you can efficiently circumvent crazy calendar synchronization challenges.

Unfortunately, once a meeting achieves “recurring” status it takes on a life of its own. That’s where the trouble begins. Fortunately there are four simple steps you can follow to eliminate wasteful meetings.

If You Want Project Success, Build a PMO That Won’t Fail (Part 2)

July 5, 2010/0 Comments/in Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

This posts follows up on Part 1 of this PMO post:

Continuing on the topic of building a successful PMO, we’ve already covered the tone from the top, your PMO process, and staffing the PMO team. Now I’ll discuss how to properly utilize the PMO to deliver on projects, measure success, and communicate its value to the organization.

Delivering the Goods

Ultimately your PMO exists for one reason: to ensure your highest priority projects are delivered to the highest standards possible. Execution is key.

The role the PMO plays in execution should be focused on getting the right resources to the team when needed and keeping an eye out for danger signs of a project going off the rails. The sooner you know your ERP implementation is heading toward a crash and burn, the better you’re able to avoid that catastrophe. The PMO should be your early warning system for such problems.

The PMO also plays a longer-term role in execution success buy strengthening the talent pool. The PMO can help train your PMs, identify new rising stars, and help recruit the best talent available. When it comes to execution, bringing the A-Team to the game makes a huge difference (although don’t waste your time hiring high performers if you’re not going to properly invest in them).

Now that you’ve delivered on the project, let’s discuss measuring and communicating success.

If You Want Project Success, Build a PMO That Won’t Fail (Part 1)

June 21, 2010/2 Comments/in Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

A PMO can be the razor sharp point of your Project management spear or one of those medieval weapons no one knows how to use and you just hurt yourself trying. The difference is entirely up to you.

In any project management environment, installing a Project Management Office to oversee all projects is a popular approach (and a good idea to boot). Before we discuss how you set up a PMO, we need to talk about why they exist.

A PMO’s core responsibility is to ensure your project resources (cash, people, etc.) are adding the most value they possibly can. More practically, a PMO is a function that monitors new and existing projects and makes “Go” vs. “No-Go” decisions on them.

Now that you know what it’s really for, allow me to offer six critical aspects of a successful PMO. I’ll cover three of the steps today and three in the next post.

I acknowledge I’m just scratching the surface here – that’s why we at thoughtLEADERS go much deeper into this topic in our Project Management Reality program.

Anyway, let’s get started with the first three steps to PMO success:

12 Things My Son Would Say In Your Stupid Meeting

May 5, 2010/2 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Admit it – you can’t stand meetings. Me either. I’d rather shove a rusty plastic spork in my eye (think about it…).

Why do we loathe meetings so much? Most likely because they’re venues where we can witness atrocious and moronic behaviors while wasting minutes of our lives that we’ll never get back.

Guess what? The meetings you hold are terrible too. Seriously. Fess up. By the way, my meetings are awful as well.

So I had writer’s block and asked my twitter followers to pick a blog topic. Here it is: 12 things my son would say in a meeting. This post will be sort of like my April Foolish Office Behaviors to Kill post (go read it – you’ll love it).

For those of you who haven’t read about my son before, he’s hysterical. Acerbic wit. Moronic ideas. Biting sarcasm. Silly concepts. I guess he has a career in blogging ahead of him.

A little about my son: He’s 13. He never stops eating. His nickname is “Galactus” so named after a Fantastic Four villain who is commonly known as “The Devourer of Worlds.” Trust me – you don’t envy my food bill.

Anyway… in this post I’ll tee up 12 common meeting situations and offer you his take on that behavior. Hopefully you’ll see the wisdom inherent in his perspectives. I’ll simply give an example of the typical meeting behavior. Galactus will supply the commentary.

You should be smart enough to walk away with the implied lesson and the “to do” of changing the behaviors on this list.

What Han Solo Can Teach You About Informal Leadership

May 3, 2010/4 Comments/in Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

You have to admit, Han Solo could definitely pull off that leather vest. On top of that, he can teach all of us a thing or three about informal leadership.

We’ve all been in a role one time or another where we weren’t the “formal” leader of the team. We were just another team member trying to contribute to the greater good. Unfortunately, just when the project was going fine, a bunch of imperial stormtroopers and bounty hunters came along and changed the project charter.

The crisis clearly demands leadership. The “formal” leader likely has her hands full trying to get things back on track. If the team sits back and lets the leader lead alone, there’s a chance everything will fall apart (there are a *lot* of stormtroopers involved here).

It’s time for you to step up and lend a hand. Even though you’re not the “formal” leader in this situation, you can have a disproportionately positive impact on the outcome as an informal leader. To do so, you can tear a few pages out of Han Solo’s leadership playbook.

Three Keys to Getting CASH for Your Project or Business

July 13, 2009/3 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Entrepreneur, Project Management, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Money is tight these days. Whether you’re an entrepreneur seeking capital to grow your business or you work at a major corporation and you’re looking for capital to fund your project, you have a big challenge in front of you: how do you get someone to give you their money?

Yes, it’s their money. For entrepreneurs, you’re trying to pry it away from banks, angel investors, and venture capitalists. For corporate types, you’re asking for it from shareholders, senior executives, and profit-generating business units (for the purposes of this post, I’ll refer to all of these groups as “investors” for the balance of the article).

But gone are the days of easy money based on loosey goosey “business plans.” In this environment it’s much harder to get that check written.

So how can you pry open the pocketbook, get the capital you need, and grow your business or fund your project? You have to be sure to tell the people with the cash three key things before they’ll even consider giving you a dime.

How “This Will Only Take a Minute” Destroys Your Projects

June 29, 2009/1 Comment/in Business Toolkit, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

I’m sure you’ve said it as often as I have: “This will only take a minute…” Five hours later, you’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Humans are notoriously bad at estimating how long something will take. On top of that, we try to make our problem solving too complex when things go wrong. When these two dynamics combine, our projects go flying off the rails like the first ever run of the Jamaican bobsled team. The result is projects that are late, overbudget, and full of errors. The good news is there are a couple of simple rules to keep in mind that can prevent these issues.

By way of an example, I needed a new keg of beer for my kegerator. It had been a while since I replaced the empty. “This won’t take long – I’ll just go buy a new keg and lickety split I’ll be sipping a cold one.” You see where this is going, right?

My initial estimate was said “project” would cost me about $130 for a new keg plus gas. I figured it would take me about an hour all-in (drive time plus installation). In case you’re wondering why today’s blog post is about 12 hours late, you can blame my beer. Things didn’t go exactly as planned…

Time for a Little Spring Cleaning for Your Work Life

May 26, 2009/3 Comments/in Balanced Lifestyle, Business Toolkit, Career, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

It’s a great time of year. Beautiful weather, flowers blooming, and 110 bags of mulch to be spread tell you it’s spring. Now is when we traditionally clean our homes and yards. It’s also a great time to clean up your work and professional life.

Face it – we’re creatures of habit and averse to change. Over time though those habits and that aversion can lead to cluttered and less-than-fully productive work lives. I encourage you to take this week to do some spring cleaning on your career and your professional life.

To save you the effort of thinking about how to do so, I’ll offer a few thoughts on things I’ve found helpful in doing my own cleaning. Grab your mop, your cleaning supplies, and your yard tools. It’s time to get to work. Hey! Where are you going? Get back here… you’ll be happier and more efficient after this cleaning. I promise.