Project Management – Page 8 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

Han Solo’s Secrets to Informal Leadership

December 23, 2015/1 Comment/in Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Han Solo never wanted to be in the spotlight as THE hero but he always got the job done. He can teach you how to be direct, take risks, and act decisively.

I can’t help myself. I’ve been a Star Wars fan since first seeing A New Hope in 1977 at a drive in theater. Sitting atop my dad’s Buick Riviera, I was mesmerized by the characters. The one who really impressed me was Han Solo. No super powers – just raw badassery.

I’ll confess – I’m pulling this post out of the archives for a few reasons. First, the new Star Wars is out! How could I not get on that bandwagon? Also, Han Solo kicks ass and more people need to understand his leadership skills. Plus, I’m on vacation and could use a break from writing since I’m in the middle of writing another book and my carpal tunnel is acting up. So here’s what you can learn from Han about leadership…

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.

6 Reasons Your Offsites are Terrible

October 21, 2015/1 Comment/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Leadership, Project Management, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

Your offsites and training programs aren’t effective because of a few typical planning mistakes. With a few tweaks and openness to changing your approach, you can run a great offsite.

Offsites are a great way to share focused content, build relationships, spend time away from the office discussing key issues, and re-energize your team. More often than not they turn into rushed, mind-numbing wastes of time filled with forced fun. Why do they devolve to this so often?

Planning. Plain and simple. Poor planning.

I’ve seen and run my fair share of offsites. Sometimes I’ve been a participant. Others I’ve been in charge. Still others I’ve been the content being delivered. After over a decade of doing this, I’ve identified a few common issues that make for terrible offsites. I’d like to share those issues and more importantly offer some thoughts on how to rectify them.

Issue 1: You Put Ten Pounds of Crap in a Five Pound Sack

“Hey we’ve got 8 hours of offsite time. Let’s have eight one-hour sessions.” Fail. People see offsites as a rare opportunity to get everyone together and as a great way to share a ton of content with that group. Unfortunately we try to share too much information during the offsite.

Let’s talk planning math. If you have an 8 hour offsite, you can have 5.5 hours of content. No more. Why? 1 hour for lunch, 30 minutes for breaks (one morning and one afternoon), 30 minutes of “meeting friction” in the morning as people arrive late and 30 minutes of “meeting friction” in the afternoon as folks leave early because they have a flight to catch. 5.5 hours. Period. And if your offsite is more than 50 people, take off another 30 minutes because the breaks will take that much longer because you only have two restrooms. Stop jamming too much content into the allotted time. You won’t get to it all and if you do, it’ll be rushed and won’t stick.

Issue 2: You Rely on Time Warps

How well do you balance the workload across your team?

July 2, 2015/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Entrepreneur, Leadership, Poll, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How well do you balance the workload among the members of your team?

– Very well — work is allocated fairly and effectively: 28.57%
– Well — work allocations are fair for the most part: 61.9%
– Not well — work allocations are often unfair and ineffective: 7.79%
– Poorly — I have a great deal of difficulty allocating work: 1.73%

5 Considerations for Work Allocation. Balancing workload across your team is tricky business. As you do so, you need to consider 5 major aspects of workload distribution before you dole out assignments: priority, skill, availability, professional development, and personal interest. In considering all five of those elements you’ll not only allocate work more efficiently and effectively but you’ll also be building the skills of the members of your team in the process.

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!

Overcoming the E-Mail as a Default Mindset

May 18, 2015/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

There are many fantastic collaboration tools that are much better than email. To get your organization to use them effectively, you need to lead that cultural change for how you communicate.

Today’s post is by Phil Simon, author of Message Not Received (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

Peter Drucker once famously said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

Truer words have never been spoken. Before I started writing and speaking for a living, I spent nearly a decade as a consultant implementing enterprise systems. More often than not, I would see Drucker’s very statement play out firsthand. A CEO’s grand vision would quickly go awry because of thorny personnel issues, cultural impediments, and just plain bad management. You know, the “soft stuff.”

Let me put this as bluntly as I can: In most organizations today, the biggest challenge is not technology. It’s people.

It’s Easy to Blame Technology; It Can’t Blame Us Back

Of course, many people fail to recognize this. Case in point: A while back, I attended an interactive one-day event with 40 other industry thought leaders. The agenda was fairly loose: The group participated in a wide array of discussions on tech-related topics.

An Easy Trick for Getting the Resources You Need

April 1, 2015/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Resources are tough to come by. By using a simple, logical approach, you can get your stakeholders to cough up those additional resources you need. If they’re not willing to do so, at least they’ll understand why you can’t get everything they want done.

One of your greatest responsibilities as the leader of a high-performing team is making sure your people have the resources they need to execute against all the projects and initiatives you’ve put on the prioritization list. I’d like to offer you some techniques for getting those resources because resources are scarce. Just because you ask doesn’t mean people are going to give you more cash, more people, or more time.

You have to make a clear and compelling business case to get those resources allocated to you versus them being allocated to other parts of the organization. Just asking isn’t a viable strategy. First, take the list of your priorities with initiatives laid out from highest to lowest priority. Add to that list the “business-as-usual resources” you need to run the engine every single day and perform the tasks that are required of your team operationally.

Once you have that list, you’re ready to go to your stakeholders and ask for resources. It could be your boss. It could be a steering committee. It could be a monthly prioritization meeting. You’re going to go in and say, “Here’s the list of initiatives. Do you agree that this is the priority that we should pursue these in?” You want to get that explicit agreement from those stakeholders that “Yes, we want you to do this one first, and then this one, and then this one.” You also want their agreement that the business-as-usual work is work that they demand you do.

7 Steps to Implementing Analytics Programs

February 11, 2015/0 Comments/in Books, Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Today’s post is by thoughtLEADERS instructor Maureen Metcalf and James Brenza, co-author of the Innovative Leaders Workbook to Implementing Analytics Programs. (CLICK HERE to get your copy)

According to Thornton A. May, renowned futurist, “Change is accelerating (relative to data growth and computing capacity to harness it), and you need to take action at the inflection points. Former Intel Chairman Andy Grove said, that an inflection point ‘occurs where the old strategic picture dissolves and gives way to the new.’ Organizations must look for new methods to harness this opportunity. They must truly transform their thinking to embrace more responsive strategies, align teams more dynamically and creatively solve resource shortages. Big data paired with analytics is one solution to harness these opportunities.”

How are you using analytics to differentiate your organization? Are you creating strategic advantage? Are you creating strong financial returns?

We use the same seven step process to implement analytics programs as other large scale implementations yet within each step, analytics projects have significant nuances not seen in other programs.

Create a vision. The success of analytic initiatives hinges on starting with a strong vision and realistic assessment of the organization’s ability to structure the effort. It also hinges on the leader’s ability to prepare the stakeholders for a journey, rather than just a traditionally structured implementation project. The transformation vision needs to focus on using data and analytics to provide a business outcome that is not currently available. That outcome is best described in financial terms or customer-centric metrics.

Managing Teams More Effectively Using the Rule of 3

December 29, 2014/2 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Today’s post is by Külli Koort of Weekdone.

Have you ever wondered why the number 3 is so magical?

I am not talking about magical in terms of its unnatural abilities. I am talking about the importance of the Rule of 3 from a business perspective, from marketing people to development geeks. For example:

– in business overall, the Rule of 3 is a rule of thumb suggesting that there are always three major competitors in any free market situation;

– in computer programming, the Rule of 3 is a code refactoring rule of thumb to decide when a replicated piece of code should be replaced by a new procedure;

– in your brand communications, the Rule of 3 suggests the number of messages you should use, since your target market is most probably able to remember only 3 key things.

According to Carmine Gallo, a popular keynote speaker and bestselling author, Steve Jobs applied the Rule of 3 in every presentation and product launch he ever made. For example, when he first introduced the iPad, he told the audience it would come in three models. A year later, he introduced the second version as “thinner, lighter, and faster” – the three adjectives that soon after ended up in thousands of blogs and newspaper headlines.

The Rule of 3 is often used in diverse areas of life and business. It’s about time we bring it to team leadership and team collaboration. Here’s how…

As a leader, how much of a project’s success can you influence?

November 20, 2014/0 Comments/in Leadership, Poll, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: As a leader, how much of a project’s success or failure can you influence?

– I can affect every aspect of a project, and I’m a big factor in its success or failure: 17.28%

– I can affect many aspects of a project’s success, but some are out of my control: 62.3%

– I can affect some aspects of a project’s success, but many are out of my control: 16.58%

– I can’t affect most aspects of a project’s success or failure: 3.84%

We own our project results. Eighty percent of you know and believe that you, as a leader, have a big impact on project outcomes. For you, the challenge is stepping up to greater challenges and letting your team grow into bigger roles. If you have things under control, why not take a risk on someone and give them a chance to further develop? Hopefully you’re also having an impact outside the project scope by being a project leader rather than just a project manager. For those of you who lack control over aspects of your projects, see how you can expand your impact. Ask to take on more responsibility or simply take action where you see action is required. Initiative is almost always universally rewarded.

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

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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How prevalent is scope creep in your organization?

October 30, 2014/0 Comments/in Poll, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How prevalent is scope creep in your organization?

– Not at all. We manage scope very tightly and effectively: 4.27%
– A little. We occasionally face scope creep but it’s not too bad: 20.22%
– Moderate. We get scope right about half the time: 28.54%
– A lot. More often than not we increase scope: 32.51%
– Rampant. Scope has little meaning or rigor for us: 14.16%

Scope is out of control: More than 45% are reporting a pretty big problem where there’s either a lot of creep or that creep is rampant. Your job as a leader isn’t to manage the project itself — your job is to keep it under control. I’ve previously discussed managing scope in this post, and it includes guidance on setting clear boundaries, expanding scope in controlled steps and rigorously managing priorities. If you do so, you have a much better chance of keeping your project on track and meeting its objectives.

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

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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How big a part of your role as a leader is process improvement?

October 16, 2014/0 Comments/in Leadership, Poll, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How big a part of your role as a leader is process improvement?

– It’s huge. Process improvement is the majority of my role: 15.45%
– It’s large. A big part of my role is process improvement: 47.54%
– It’s moderate. I do some process improvement but not a lot: 28.35%
– It’s small. I spend very little time on process improvement: 8.66%

Process consumes our time: The vast majority of you are focused on process improvement as a large part of your role. While that’s great and our processes need improved, much of that work is focused on your management skills. As leaders, don’t forget the substantial amount of your time and effort that needs to be dedicated to helping your people grow and develop. If you have a choice between spending your time on improving a process or spending it on building the skills of your team members, I encourage you to choose the latter. As I discuss in this article, doing so strengthens your team, your organization, and enables you to get more done because you use your team’s talents to the fullest.

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

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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5 Keys to Successfully Allocating Work Across Your Team

September 17, 2014/3 Comments/in Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

As the leader of a high-performing team, how you distribute and balance work across the members of that team is a critical success factor. It needs to be done fairly. Note, I didn’t say equally. Work allocation needs to be done fairly because you want your team to operate on the basis 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 as you think about distributing work.

1. Priority

Consider the work’s priority. Priority needs to drive everything. If you’ve been rigorous in your prioritization process, start at the top of the list and begin allocating work from there. That list should be based on the team’s and the organization’s goals. This has to be the first consideration in terms of how you distribute work. If a project is a top priority and somebody is available to do that work, they should be tasked with that work.

2. Skill Sets

Evaluate the skill set of the people 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. The end product will be something that meets your customer’s needs. This also reduces the likelihood of people failing because you’re not giving them work that they don’t have the skill set to perform. You’re giving them something they can be successful with.

How rigorous is your prioritization process?

June 19, 2014/1 Comment/in Innovation, Poll, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How rigorous is your organization’s prioritization process?

– We do a great job of regularly prioritizing work: 21%
– We do an OK job of prioritizing: 38%
– We don’t prioritize well; we try to focus but aren’t always able to: 28%
– We prioritize poorly and pursue any opportunity presented: 13%

Saying “no” matters. Your resources are limited and two of those critical resources are time and focus. If you’re not being rigorous in prioritizing your projects, your focus is diluted and it impacts the quality of your work. Invest the time once or twice a month to stack rank all your projects, prioritize and draw the line below which you’re not going to work on. As projects above the line are completed or de-prioritized you can work on things below the line. Your execution will improve and your project success rate will increase. For the 21% who are rigorous in prioritization, just be cautious that you don’t become inflexible and that new high-priority projects have an opportunity to enter the work queue.

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!

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