Forward Momentum: Delivering Results

By Kathy Martucci, PMP

You’d swear that you and your team are doing everything possible to create buy-in, communicate to and assist your stakeholders.  Your stakeholders think you ignore them, hide things and hinder their progress. What is going here? Is this a matter of perspective or fact?

Good stakeholder management may be in the eye of the beholder, but it’s a critical success factor in any project large or small. So, if your customers perceive (and their perception is reality!) that you and your team are doing a less than stellar job of communicating, what can a conscientious PM do?

Stakeholder identification is key. All stakeholders, even those deemed “observers” and not active participants, should be included in any stakeholder involvement plan. Granted, the observers may not have as much influence on the project, but they are part of your community nevertheless. They must be considered.

So who does exert the most influence? That person is not necessarily highest in the organization chart. Maybe it’s the person who is most vocal and will stop at nothing to get their point across and make a statement regardless of your project objectives, schedule or budget. You know who I’m talking about – you all have THAT person’s face in your mind right now!  Analyze your stakeholders and understand how each general grouping (executives, supporters, killers, PITA’s…etc.) learns, communicates and can contribute to the success of the project.

And now the question every stakeholder has on their mind: “What’s in it for ME?”  Project politics at its best uncovers and understands the concerns of the stakeholders and does not attribute every negative or seemingly obstructive statement to a bad attitude.  Does the project provide real benefits whether they are of a personal or corporate nature?  If so, what are they in terms the stakeholder can understand and fully embrace?

While addressing those concerns based on fact, there are stakeholders that whine, complain and otherwise make your life miserable without a sound basis for their complaints.  When pressed, they cannot articulate anything you can do to assist them or allay their fears.  Many times I have been tempted to just ignore “bad” stakeholders.  Perhaps they should get less attention, but they are stakeholders no matter what and it’s our job to handle them.  Even acting as a sounding board (if you can stand it) may be helpful.

One critical factor in stakeholder management that is often overlooked is periodic review and evaluation of stakeholder identification, classification and methodologies to engage as the project evolves. Especially important in longer projects with significantly shifting scope, a re-evaluation may be a sound foundation to continuing success of the project.  Getting to Know You is an iterative process!

What have you done to make project stakeholder management work for you?

by Vicki Wrona, PMP

In the book, The Steve Jobs Way: iLeadership for a New Generation, we gain insights on Steve Jobs’ management style from Jay Elliot, a senior executive who was with Jobs from the beginning. This book provided an interesting history of Apple and of Jobs’ evolution as a leader, including the years he was away from Apple. I will admit that I had not read much about Apple or Jobs before, and I found the book fascinating.

What intrigued me most was the insight into Steve Jobs’ leadership style. Arguably, many people would not be able to work for and with him, given his high expectations, perfectionist style and stubbornness. Yet, there are many admirable qualities we can all learn from. My respect for Jobs has increased from reading this book as well as has provided me with ideas and directions in running my own company and in managing my various teams.

Even in the early days of Apple, Steve Jobs was able to find people who worked hard for the sake of doing good work. These people wanted to develop new, exciting things and be part of something larger than themselves. That is how he convinced several key players to come to Apple before Apple was dominant, including his hand-picked CEO. Before Apple was a large player in the market, Jobs used his influential style to ask the question whether that person wanted to continue doing what they did (selling soda, for example) or whether they wanted to be part of something great. He could paint a clear and compelling picture of the future he saw, one that excited people and convinced them to join his cause. His vision directed the company.

However, that vision did not always hold everyone together, especially in the early years. If he disagreed with the direction or emphasis of Apple and could not convince other senior management (especially the CEO) to see things his way, he would continue to act in what he was convinced was the best interest of the company, thus creating  factions within the work force. He was not always a binding element.

Steve Jobs was also a workaholic. He was passionate about the mission and extremely driven. He worked continuously. As one of his senior staff put it, “If you are not going to come in on Saturday, don’t even bother coming in on Sunday.” Jobs was also very hands-on and involved in the details. He would stop in and check out the work of each team member, constantly pushing and questioning the staff. This constant checking and micromanagement is a difficult style for some employees to accept.

Because he was actively involved in the details and chose to work all the time, Jobs would come up with ideas at all hours of the day and night. He would often call a team member after hours to discuss ideas he had or a solution he was thinking about. He was respectful of the team member’s time and would ask up front, “Is this a good time?” but the impression I got from the book is that your answer didn’t matter; you would make it a good time. Then Jobs would launch into the technical details of what he was thinking about. If he called in the middle of the night, be ready to take notes because this wasn’t going to be a light-hearted discussion.

One interesting aspect of Jobs’ leadership style was his approach to finding, recruiting and then keeping the best talent inside and outside of his organization. As referenced before, there are good descriptions in the book of how he identified talent with the right attitude and on the leading edge of technology, even if, and especially when, they worked for a competitor. The book describes how he would recruit this talent away from their current positions to work for Apple, which was certainly trickier in the early days of Apple. At the same time, he made sure his talent was not lured away by closely guarding the names of those working on new products or development.

I recommend this book. Steve Jobs is impressive, although admittedly not a person that everyone could work for.

By Rob Zell

Note: This is Part 2 of 3. Read Part 1 here.

How do we increase the longevity of a learning solution? In Part 1 of this series, I challenged the learning organization to examine some basics in their processes and create more effective solutions. However, an effective learning intervention relies on three elements: the solution, the learners and the environment to which the learners will return.

In this post, part 2 of 3, I’m going to challenge all of us to rethink how we as learners should prepare for the learning and apply what we take from our learning experiences. I’m going to challenge you to think about your own behavior and re-invent yourself as a learner.

Prepare Yourself

As learners we have an obligation to show that the investment of time and resources has a payoff. That’s right, I said obligation. We also have to own our development plan and look for ways to incorporate what we learn into our daily activities.

1. One critical element is knowing how we best learn and apply information. Are you a visual learner? Be prepared to create mind maps and take notes as images of what you see. Learn best by listening? Maybe you want to record the session to listen to later. If you are a kinesthetic learner, keep a small squishy ball handy to fiddle with and be an active note taker. Armed with some basic knowledge regarding how you best process new information can help you plan ways to apply new information and get the most from the experience.
2. Learning is not an event, so quit thinking about it that way. As learners we owe some due diligence to the process. In your favorite journaling tool (notebook, binder, Outlook) jot down some thoughts on why you have enrolled in the learning experience, what you hope to gain, how it benefits your current work, and how it might improve your performance. What knowledge or experience do you have that relates to the topic? When you enter the learning with your own point of view you engage in the content as an active participant rather than a passive one.

Enjoy the Experience

Think about the learning experience as a chance to reinvent yourself. How often do you have the chance to try and fail without repercussions (not a good example if you are engaged in food or workplace safety training mind you)? A quality learning experience should give you the opportunity to explore the content, roll it around your mind and apply it to build skills in a safe environment.

Close the Loop on the Experience

Once the session is over, it’s time to start applying and sharing what you learned. Here are some things you can do to add permanence to your new knowledge.

1. Take your new knowledge and skills and purposefully apply them to the work. One basic tenet of adult learning is that we learn by applying our prior experiences to new information.
2. Blog about your experience or share it with the team over lunch.
3. Build a new process map and post it in your work space as a visual reminder.
4. Involve your manager or peer group.
5. Ask others for input. Ask others to respond to what you have learned and give them a chance to weigh in. When we broaden the experience pool by involving others we come to a more robust understanding of the content.
6. Plan your own follow-up. Most of use some type of software that allows us to plan to-do items and create checklists. Create some personal items and schedule them 30, 60 and 90 days out. Schedule time with yourself to check in on your progress. Think about what you recall and what you have used.
7. Consider previous challenges and obstacles. How could you have used your new found knowledge and skills to overcome them?

The learning activity itself is rarely the magic bullet that fixes everything. It can be a very powerful experience that adds to your productivity and effectiveness if you participate in the right activities and take an active role in your own experience.

What do you think? How are you owning your learning experiences and making them practical and powerful?