Forward Momentum: Delivering Results

By Vicki Wrona, PMP

Recently, a colleague made a statement that I love and thought I would explore that with you. She tells her teams, “Don’t make the same mistakes, make new ones.” This resonated with me for several reasons.

First, she gave her team members permission to explore, be creative, and make mistakes at work. If you are never wrong, never fail, or never make a mistake, then you aren’t pushing yourself and growing personally. The same goes with work. If you have never worked on a project or initiative which has had trouble or has not succeeded 100%, then you haven’t stretched yourself. Anyone who has worked on larger initiatives or more complex projects has had problems, even failures. Not everything succeeds. What we want to do is take control where possible and avoid those issues or problems which can be properly managed, minimizing the occurrences of problems or failures that are beyond our control.

Second, this statement emphasizes the rule to avoid repeating past mistakes. How do we avoid making the mistakes that have been made before? By reviewing lessons learned and familiarizing ourselves with the problems and issues that prior similar projects have had. We can also interview our SMEs (subject matter experts), those who have been involved with similar initiatives in the past. They have a wealth of information if we make the effort to talk to them and ask the right questions. I would suggest that when you initiate a discussion with a SME that you are prepared with the right questions to gather the information you need.

Another way to avoid making the same mistakes is to involve SMEs in the project or initiative. We cannot do all of our work alone; unfortunately many managers or project managers believe they are supposed to. That is not true. Involve your team, talk to SMEs inside and outside your team as well as outside your organization where possible, use all the resources you have. If at first blush you don’t think you have many resources or help, think about it some more. With some thought, you’ll probably realize you have access to more sources of information and knowledge than you think. Be proactive. I’ll bet you know of managers or project managers who are able to gather intelligence better than others. Emulate them.

In closing, keep this phrase in mind when managing your own work as well as other people. Be the role model you need to be.

How have you helped yourself or your team stretch beyond the comfortable while avoiding making the same mistakes?

By Vicki Wrona, PMP

Maybe you’ve heard the advice to “fake it ‘til you make it”. Well I’d like to expand on that saying.

Do you ever find yourself angry with something or someone and need a way to change your mood? If you are upset, sad, or experiencing a negative emotion that needs to go away, just smile. You may feel silly but your brain cannot handle the crossed signals coming into it. Your mind is clearly upset but your face is smiling. Within a few minutes, your mood will lighten, and you will find yourself able to deal with that difficult person in a rational way rather than emotionally and negatively.

I once worked for a telemarketing firm. “Smile and dial” they would tell us while we worked toward our goal of 200 calls an hour. If you smile while talking on the phone, that positive emotion comes through in your voice and the person on the other end will pick up on that. Do this especially if you are upset or dreading the conversation.

As covered in Whole Living Magazine, researchers at Northwestern University found that simply putting your body in certain positions triggers hormonal changes. Positioning your body in a posture of power to act more confidently raises levels of testosterone, a hormone which makes us take action, while also reducing cortisol, a stress hormone. This includes both sitting and standing positions, such as sitting with your hands behind your head and one ankle on the other knee or walking with your eyes focused straight ahead and head held high. Using this knowledge wisely can help you boost your performance at work and in life.

If you are working on a task or problem and just want to give up, give yourself the ability to be more persistent by crossing your arms. Your brain will pay attention to the body language more than your inner negative voices wanting you to quit.

You can also sit up straight or stand tall to boost your confidence. What I have found to work well is to sit or stand tall and talk with assuredness on what I DO know. That helps overcome nervous energy when making a big presentation or negotiating with a tough negotiator, such as your boss or customer. I’m not suggesting that we all become the cocky and annoying person who acts all-knowing and over-confident, sometimes due to lack of awareness and sometimes to cover a lack of knowledge and/or possible insecurity. I don’t want anyone acting like they know everything when they don’t.

Your mom may have used this technique when she put her hands on her hips to stand firm and make a point. At that point, you knew she was not budging.

Another interesting trick is to nod your head to increase positive feelings. Your body language reflects your inner state, so if you are feeling positive when talking, you may start to nod your head. It also turns out that if consciously nod your head while talking, you will feel more positive. It works in both directions.

If you don’t quite know what to say and want to encourage the other person to provide more information and continue to speak, you can either put your chin in your hand in a thoughtful pose or lightly stroke your chin. If you also nod your head at the same time, you encourage the other person to continue speaking and to agree.  This will help you gather more information and collect your thoughts before responding. Again, not only are you encouraging the other person to participate, you are convincing yourself to act reflectively when you need it.

I hope these tips help when you find yourself in a difficult, negative or uncomfortable situation.

How have you applied any of these body language techniques? If you have not used this trick, how can you apply it?

By Dr. Gerald Mulenburg, PMP

When I learned of an opportunity to sit in on a major NASA project review as a “fly on the wall,” I jumped at it. This seemed like a great way to learn about the new Kepler project. Kepler is a special purpose mission in the NASA Discovery Program, with an objective that the project’s principal investigator William Boruki says is to “explore the skies for terrestrial-like planetary systems around other stars, in order to answer one of the most enduring questions humans have asked throughout history: Are there others like us in the universe?”

Fly-on-the-wall was an experiment in knowledge sharing, offering project practitioners an opportunity to learn from observing good project-related meeting processes as they occurred in real time. This idea surfaced after several senior project managers commented that they had little, if any, training or experience in holding reviews, making presentations, holding team kick-off meetings, or in many other project management activities until they “had to do one.” A common refrain was, “I’d never even seen one!”

To participate as a fly began an interesting and revealing odyssey for me, watching and listening to peer review presentations and discussions from the Kepler-Ground Segment development team to other NASA and contractor managers. These were the key players who would decide how the project would be structured and who would establish a preliminary schedule for this portion of the project.

Now operating in space, Kepler was a joint project between two NASA Centers. Mission control and overall data management were the responsibility of the Ames Research Center, and the telescope and the launch portion were to be managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The primary instrument of Kepler is a specialized one-meter diameter photometer telescope, positioned in Earth’s orbit to “stare” for four years at a small portion of the night sky, containing over 100,000 stars similar to our sun, and to capture images of Earth-like planets rotating around them. This peer review of the project’s ground segment portion emphasized that Kepler was not a large, complicated project.

I was impressed that the meetings started on time, stayed on time, and even finished a little ahead of schedule, despite a lot of active discussion about the control and management techniques to be employed in the project and who had what responsibility. No fewer than eight separate functional organizations with integral roles in the project attended the meeting, from across three continents including North America. And this was said to not be a complex mission! My hat went off to the Kepler project team for their thoroughness, professionalism and ability to stick to the purpose of the meeting. Some useful tips that I picked up as an observing fly for future use in meetings include:

1. INTRODUCTIONS: Not introducing everyone in the room; only the key players at the main table. Other important contributors, who gave parts of the presentation or contributed to the discussions when appropriate, introduced themselves. Some of these people were high-level representatives who did not seem to mind their secondary roles in the meeting.
2. PURPOSE: Clearly stating the purpose of the meeting at the beginning and, even more important, clearly stating what the meeting “was not” about. This set the stage for efficiency and minimized distracting comments. A facilitator kept the meeting moving along but never “squashed” anyone who had a relevant comment or contribution.
3. OMBUDSMAN: Assigning a key member at the table as an ombudsman with a strong enough personality to cut off discussion when it would be part of a later presentation (not relevant now), or to end comments that contributed little (those who love their own voice) or when it would be more appropriate for an off-line conversation (those who can’t let go but just-might have something important to say). This process worked well and was conducted in a polite, professional manner.
4. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: A particularly useful chart on one wall, referred to often during the meeting, showed a roles and responsibilities matrix with the key organizations involved in the project, listed across the top as column headings, and the project functional elements as role headings down the left-most column. The row-column intersections in the matrix clearly identified the organization responsible for each of the functions, removing much confusion that might otherwise have occurred.

I believe fly-on-the-wall is an extremely simple but valuable knowledge-sharing technique, easily duplicated in any organization. Tips from observers in well-run meetings can be shared with project managers and teams, and have high potential for encouraging an outcome of project success.

In what ways do you think the  fly-on-the-wall technique can help your projects?

By Rob Zell

How is learning delivered in your organization? Would you say it’s “pushed” (often used with “down” or “out”) or does it follow a “pull” model in which team members access it at will? Either way, your learning department is working hard to make sure that training is available as needed to support the business, and that’s a good thing. Furthermore, the best in class organizations are doing both, providing just in time training to meet immediate needs and optional offerings to advance knowledge and skills.

Organizations that follow a “push” only model are going to rapidly fall behind the curve and will soon find themselves lagging behind the competition. In the current business environment, companies need to have innovative, forward thinking leaders and requires a culture that fosters experimentation, exploration and critical thinking. Your organization can certainly hire for those skills but it’s an expensive model to support and you might be better served growing talent from within the organization.

Compliance often drives a “push” model of learning. In organizations with a high need for safety, security, internal accountability and regulatory compliance, training reflects the need to ensure that employees are certified for legal reasons. Historically, this follows a traditional model of education. Primary and secondary schools modeled the factory model of the industrial revolution, demanding homogenized groups and standardized levels.

Instead, I propose to maximize the effectiveness of learning in your organization you should be looking at three categories of training:

1.  Compliance Training. We’ll call this “Mission Critical”, training that meets regulatory compliance or is necessary to keep the wheels on the bus. In my experience, things like food safety, OSHA training, information security, Patriot Act and, for front line employees, training required for cash management, point of sale, and inventory management. In some organizations, ethics courses and diversity training fall into this category based on the culture. These types of courses fit well into the “push” model and are considered ticket to entry into the organization.

2.  Development Training. Let’s call this “Nuts and Bolts” training. This set of courseware advances the knowledge and skills of the organization in various functions. Content areas in this curriculum cover topics like leadership, project management, merchandising, human resources management, real estate development, logistics and customer relations. These courses can be developed in house or outsourced and may be linked to university or certification programs for transferable credits. By delivering this content you raise the knowledge and skill level of your people which increases the bench strength and long term survivability of your team. These courses fall into both “push” and “pull” categories. Learners engage the content as needed for their own development and growth in the organization but managers can always prescribe a course of learning to help move employees along or ensure accurate execution.

3.  Personal Training. This is the “Bells and Whistles” content. This is my catch all bucket for anything else that people want for their own learning plan. These courses support personal development and fill in the gaps to improve personal performance. Courses on time management, communication and organizational skills or experiences and roles that provide experience through trial and error. These should be primarily “pull” programs; employees self-identify areas of improvement and seek out learning opportunities to enhance their performance. In some cases, managers may prescribe specific courses or experiences based on need.

A solid learning program should have all three kinds of content, delivered via various modalities. Some sessions are best served through classroom sessions (in person or virtual classes) while others might be online courses, self-study documents, or peer sharing networks. Having a menu of content and delivery options provides access to the necessary training for success.

How is training structured in your organization? Is all training served up through a “push” model, a “pull model” or a combination of both? What do you find to be the most effective way to ensure employees are receiving the content they need, when they need it?