A well crafted, agreed upon charter document, scope statement, and change management plan (to handle those inevitable redirects) are critical tools in your PM toolbox. They won’t solve every question related to changing scope, but they definitely help keep the troops aligned and focused on the goal. Your role as the PM is to educate the stakeholders on the importance of documenting deliverables and keeping them updated on progress. When those changes to scope come along, and they will, the stakeholders or sponsors are responsible for weighing the costs and benefits of a change at this point in the project, and deciding whether the team should be redirected. You, of course, have provided the costs and benefits, and informed them of the level of effort needed for the project team to change direction at this point in the project.

In the real world, you may have done all of these things and are still getting misdirects from your illustrious leaders. Here’s one of the tactics I use in that situation. I tell them a story.  I think people easily relate to stories, especially when it closely matches the situation at hand. I tell them about something I’ve witnessed  first hand, or something I make up, that helps drive home the point. Here’s a true situation that I came across just the other day that could help explain to the stakeholders what’s going on with this project.

I live in Denver and like other major cities I’ve visited, we have a cadre of panhandlers, street entertainers, and vendors. I wasn’t too far on my lunch time walk the other day, just past Court Pl., soaking up the teaser spring day, when I came upon a three-piece band. They were comprised of a singer, a female holding a stick with a black foam ball glued to the top to simulate a microphone; the drummer, equipped with over turned buckets; and the guitar player whose instrument looked like it had survived a war and sacrificed a couple of strings. The guitar case lay open on the sidewalk in front of the group in the hopes of winning over some loose change from the passers-by.

Here’s the funny thing about this mismatched group, they weren’t playing the same song. The singer was singing something that was wholly different than what the guitarist was strumming and the drummer was beating away to the tune in his own head. It was a pitiful sight and sound. No coordination, no melody, no end goal in mind. And there were very few coins in the case.

Do you see how this relates to our project? Most everyone can imagine three people playing a different piece of music at the same time. It’s chaos. Carefully bring your stakeholders back from this example and lead them into connecting the story to what is happening on the project. Let them know that the redirection your team is experiencing coupled with unclear expectations lead to poor results. Your team members are all working hard and producing deliverables, just like each of the musicians in the story, but they aren’t working on the same goal. Hopefully your stakeholders will have that ah-ha moment and ask you how to get them back on track. And you will be prepared with the plan for how to do that, right?

I’ve been wondering, why isn’t there a certification test for leaders like there is for project managers? The project management certifications are rigorous and assure that at least you understand the principles, terminology, and processes regarding sound project management. I’m proposing a leadership certification test that will help assure our leaders have a heart, have a conscious, and care about their customers and employees. It seems every day I hear about poor leadership, the leadership void, and laments on how our leaders are not leaders at all but dictators. They pay lip service to the “open door policy” and “share your ideas for innovation and efficiencies” and never enact a single suggestion nor really listen when an employee has an idea or an issue to resolve. I think the certification test for leadership positions should go something like this:

1.   Do you believe employees are guilty until proven innocent? 

2.   Do you often steal ideas from employees and all the while tell them the idea is not worth implementing and then implement it anyway and tell your boss it was your idea?

3.   Do you take credit for other people’s work? 

4.   Do you have a lack of concern for customer service and go out of your way to avoid getting their input on our services?

5.   Do you take credit for the good your work team has accomplished and punish the team when it doesn’t go so well? 

6.   Do you ridicule and demean your employees in front of others? 

7.   Do you strip your employees of all ability and authority to resolve problems and make decisions on their own? 

8.   Do you laugh when employees ask you a genuine question they don’t know the answer to? 

9.   Do you dance around the answers to difficult questions, particularly questions employees ask about their future in the organization? 

10. Do you actively avoid showing appreciation to your employees? 

11. Do you believe employees are your greatest liability? 

12. Do you believe your company would have a great reputation if it weren’t for your employees?

What happens when you work in an environment where leaders not only answer, but act in a way that’s opposite of what these questions suggest? You get employees who feel appreciated and valued, you get meaningful suggestions regarding work processes and customer interactions, and you gain loyalty and dedication to your mission. Being a leader isn’t difficult. But it does take discipline and dedication in putting your employees and customers first. Take the leadership certification test and see how you score. What are your team members and employees saying about you?

You may recognize this title from the old Gilligan’s Island TV series. If you haven’t seen it, the show was about seven people who set out on what was supposed to be a three hour tour of some islands. They ended up getting lost and they shipwrecked the boat and never made it back to civilization.

“A Three Hour Tour” tune was going through my head as I sat through my fourth, three-hour meeting this week. OMG, is there ever a need for a three hour meeting? To add insult to injury, when you work for state government, it’s against the rules to provide water or coffee to state employees at these meetings (because you’re using taxpayer money and that’s not an appropriate use of their dollars). So if you forget to bring your own nourishment, it can be a mighty long three hours.

But I digress, so back to my original question. Three hours, oh my. Most meetings, IMHO, can be conducted efficiently and relay the info needed in much less time than you think. You and I, as meeting facilitators, just need to follow a few simple rules to prevent shipwrecking our next meeting.

1. Always publish an agenda. Ideally, you should ask for input to the agenda a few days prior to the meeting and then you decide what makes the cut. Publish the agenda the day before the meeting.

2. Put time limits on each agenda and item and stick to them. If it’s apparent the topic being discussed needs further discussion, you have a couple of options. First, choose to postpone additional agenda items from this meeting to the next, or, table the issue that’s running over time and add it to the next meeting’s agenda. Or, you could set up a separate meeting to discuss this topic if needed. That seems to defeat the purpose of limiting meetings, but sometimes due to the nature of the issue, you’ll have to use this tactic.

3. Curtail rabbit trails. Keep attendees on track and if new topics come up that need addressing, add them to the agenda for the next meeting.

These three easy steps will help you get control and keep control of your meetings going forward and,hopefully, return you all to civilization in short order.

Dead projects aren’t the only reason to dismount. How often as leaders do we hold onto ideas, processes, and structures declaring them good, only because we thought them up and want others to be impressed? We refuse to let the ideas go and don’t want anyone reporting problems to us about how bad the processes or ideas are because, after all, we know what we’re doing and don’t need input from anyone. (Hmm, that’s rather arrogant isn’t it?)

When leaders push their ideas onto their team members without getting input from the ground up, they can often create fear in the organization. Instead of gaining momentum and synergy, they create exhaustion. For example, let’s say our company has decided they need to make some cuts. The proclamation comes down from the ivory tower that 200 people will now do the work that 350 used to do. They don’t ask the 250 for any ideas on how to make this work, the ivory tower just expects that all work will continue as usual. We all know it’s not physically possible for 200 people to do the work of 350, nor can those 200 create the synergy that 350 people created. But wait, I take that back. It is possible–for a while. And here’s what happens. Team members start operating in fear, perhaps thinking they’ll lose their jobs if they don’t pick up the extra work. So they hold the horse up from underneath while their co-workers push the horse from behind and pull it from the front to give the illusion that the horse is alive and well. All the while, productivity decreases, personal lives are impacted because of the increased work loads and stress, and momentum and synergy slowly erode.

Surely a good leader would be able to read the exhaustion and dismay on their faces! But wait, leaders who push ideas down from the top and don’t bother with input from the ground up don’t know their workers are exhausted. So they keep enforcing the processes and keep ignoring the recommendations the weary workers are making.

Don’t let this happen to your teams! If you’re under the horse, speak up. If you’re the one riding, dismount and talk to the people holding up the horse and scooping up the poop. You might find some seeds of inspiration and solid ideas to carry your project, or organization, to the next level without killing your staff (and the horse).

Leaders are watched. Their employees, their peers, and others watch them much of the time. Good leaders are imitated, and I mean that in a good way. Much like subconsciously trying to make your zit disappear by picking at their own cheek, your followers will copy your behaviors. If you regularly thank people for a job well done, or keep a smile on your face most of the time, or go out of your way to provide outstanding customer service, your followers will start doing the same. You’ll notice them thanking each other and making sure they go above and beyond in helping customers. But make no mistake; if you happen to be a not-so-good leader, they’ll copy those behaviors too. Flying off the handle, accusing people without knowing the facts, dragging others through mud, you name it. 

So the next time you have a prominent zit that others can’t help noticing (or maybe start now), make sure you’re demonstrating qualities and behaviors that you’d like to see your team member’s display. 

In keeping with the theme from my last post on setting up a scenario and asking how you would respond, I have a new, real life scenario for you. I’ve changed the names and the specifics of the incident to protect the guilty party.

Here’s the set up. Many of the members of your executive staff don’t communicate well with each other, let alone others beneath…I’m sorry…at lower levels of the organization. Imagine that your employee has received an email from one of these executive managers that begins like this:

“Understand that I am way past pissed off on this one.”

Point number one: The employee who received this email reports to you. You are not in this executive’s chain of command, and therefore neither is this employee.

Oh, did I mention that this executive copied the entire leadership team, along with others down stream, to spread his good cheer?

Point number two: The contents of the email go on to berate this employee for their ignorance in making their request. It also does a good job of making the employee look like an idiot.

Point number three: The, dare I call him, gentlemen who sent this email, never bothered to pick up the phone and call the employee to ask any clarifying questions before sending the email. Nor did he call you, his peer, to ask about the situation.

Point number four: The facts in the email were WRONG. The executive had not bothered to communicate with other members of the team who already had the information, understood the project, and were well informed of what was happening.

Question: What would you do in this scenario?

In preparing for an upcoming presentation, I did some research on the qualities of leaders. Most qualities pop right to mind: integrity, honesty, respect, and so on. These are qualities you never want to compromise. Once you’ve crossed the bridge and your honesty has been breached or your integrity called into question, you will like never have the opportunity to gain the trust and position you once held. It’s sad, isn’t it, that we have so many leaders today that don’t display even these foundational leadership qualities. But I’ll save that topic for another blog.

One of the not so obvious qualities of great leaders I know and have worked with is intuition. There is a strange phenomenon that occurs as you progress up the corporate ladder—you have less and have less information available to make decisions. It isn’t necessarily that the information doesn’t exist, but you now have a broader range of responsibility, a much bigger portfolio of projects, and potentially hundreds or thousands of staff. It isn’t possible for one person to know everything about dozens of projects or hundreds of staff members in their span of control. Many times, decisions are needed quickly without time to perform analysis paralysis. Often, those decisions are snap decisions that are made from the gut.

Most good leaders I know and have worked with, have an innate ability to intuitively make good decisions. I have had times when intuition was the only information I had to rely on to make a decision. Practice honing your intuitive skills by thinking back on specific examples in your own life where you just knew something was right. A right answer, a correct choice, the right card to play or number to pick. Anything where you didn’t have sufficient information but you still knew the answer. Think about how you felt and how the intuitive information came about. Was it quick? Did it come from your head or your gut? Was the answer audible? (Okay, we could get into some real funny stories here about psycho leaders, but let’s save that for another day.) Try to use these same experiences when a new situation arises to bring about an intuitive response. One more experiment you can try is make random guesses in benign situations. Guess what kind of car will be in front of you when you enter the highway. Guess which parking space you’ll get before arriving at the store. Guess which commercial is coming up next on your favorite TV program. Intuition is a good skill to have. However, I do recommend using information to help with decision making when it’s available and when you have time to review it. But don’t discount that “feeling” you might have that something just isn’t adding up and learn when to go with your gut.

I’m starting a new feature in the blog to spur some discussion. It’s called “Scenario for Discussion.” I’ll set up a scenario and then ask what you would do in this situation. I hope you enjoy it.

Scenario for Discussion: Suppose you’re a new leader in a brand new organization. You don’t know anyone on staff yet. One of your employees sets a meeting with you to discuss the poor morale he’s witnessed among his fellow teammates. As you’re meeting with him, something doesn’t sit right. He’s describing scenarios that don’t make sense, and he has performed some questionable actions himself such as contacting a reporter with information about the latest project your company is working on. When you ask him if he’s met with management to discuss his concerns about this project and the poor morale issue, his response is no. He tells you that they wouldn’t listen so why should he waste his time? Since you’re brand new, he’s hoping you aren’t like “them” and will take this situation seriously. Scenario question: What would you do in this situation?

I recently watched a TEDTalks podcast titled “Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action.” It’s a fascinating talk and I encourage you to give it a listen. Simon’s main premise is, “[People] don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” Ultimately, the why is what you believe. People will sign up for projects or follow their leaders to the ends of the earth because they believe what their leaders believe. And as such, this belief becomes personal. The vision becomes their own.

So my question for all you leaders out there is this: are you communicating what you believe? It’s difficult for others to follow you if they don’t know what you believe. I know we all hear the “communicate, communicate, communicate,” mantra incessantly. But it’s not just the act of communicating that’s important, it’s what you communicate. You can tell me all day long that we’re going to save significant amounts of time and money by implementing project X. Great. But savings and efficiencies are a result (the “what” in Sinek’s theory), they aren’t a belief. It’s very difficult for those of us in the trenches to use savings or efficiency as a motivator for jumping on the latest project bandwagon and acting as cheerleaders for the doubters around us. Let me give you an example.

I recently attended a presentation where an executive from a multi-billion, global company discussed the recent consolidation of their information technology (IT) department.  Up until this project was undertaken, each business unit around the globe had their own IT department with their own procurement rules, governance policies, and so on. This model was inefficient and caused delayed response times, finger pointing, and downright obstinacy when headquarters wanted to implement a standardized IT policy.

The why (the belief the CIO and executive IT leaders held) was communicated to the stakeholders and IT staff many times during the course of the project. It went something like this, “We want to become a unified organization able to quickly respond to our customers needs with flexibility, agility, and resiliency while generating savings to our organization.” This company is now two years into their consolidation and it’s a huge success. I believe it was successful because the stakeholders and staff employed by the organization clearly understood the “why” of the project and they made that belief their own. The majority of employees believed that the consolidation would make them stronger, more resilient, and able to act quickly to supply solutions and resolve problems for their customers. That’s a fantastic message. It’s also a message that’s easier for people to believe and make their own than saving money and gaining efficiencies.

But what if instead, the message went something like this, “We have the potential to save millions of dollars and gain significant efficiencies so get on board with this project.” Granted, savings and efficiencies are great goals. But are they goals a help desk person or a server technician really cares about? No. Savings and efficiencies are goals executive management is concerned about. Most line staff in an IT organization are concerned about their customer. If they see that being unified will help them be flexible and give them more choices when solving their customer’s problems, they are more likely to believe and support a project that brings about those results.  

Public speakers are told that you have to tailor the message to the audience. That’s exactly what this global organization did. Now let’s flip the coin. Let’s say you’re selling this idea to executive stakeholders. The CEO, the CFO, and the COO.  I think you see the point. They DO want to hear about cost savings and efficiencies and faster response times as a result. This is exactly the message you want to use with this group in order to gain their buy-in.

The success of this global organization’s consolidation hinged on communication that was targeted to the audience. The CIO sold this major project to their executive team using savings and efficiencies as the premise. They sold it to staff and other stakeholders using a unified, flexible model for addressing problems quickly. You can see that both approaches are necessary because both of these groups are thinking about the project from the aspect of how it benefits their department or their day-to-day work on a personal level.

Believing in a mission or a project or a new venture is personal. We as leaders have to make the message personal for all of those impacted in order to win the support of the majority. So tell others what you believe about your current project and watch them catch the vision.

My dad always used to tell me that you are who you are when no one else is looking. It’s not what you do when others are watching, it’s what you do when you’re all alone and no one knows. I’ve spent my career following that advice and it’s served me well. I have had more than one instance where inappropriate opportunities presented themselves that would have benefited me—but I ran in the opposite direction.

There are two qualities I demand of all project team members who work for me—honesty and integrity. You can tell me almost anything, as long as it’s the truth. I worked with a fantastic team member one time who accidentally deleted one of our client’s database of customer records. Every customer, every record, gone. My team member did the right thing. He told me the truth, what he did, and how it happened. Thankfully, after working many long hours by his side, we were able to recover the data. Because he was truthful, we were able to right the situation for our client and he kept his job. 

What is very disheartening to me are those who are covert and sneaky about their actions but haven’t yet been caught. But I’ve been around long enough to know that most everyone involved in these escapades is eventually found out. I used to work at an unnamed government agency where an employee was caught stealing. She had spent years pilfering tax payer money. And we’re talking millions of dollars! I knew her personally and I have to admit, while I’m a pretty good judge of character, she wasn’t someone I believed could be involved in theft. She’s serving out her thirty-year sentence as we speak. I’m guessing she doesn’t think it was worth it.

As a PMP, we all agree to abide by the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. I had a very alert reader inform me that this site: http://pmptutorial.blogspot.com/ was plagiarizing some of my material. Sure enough, pages 26 – 30 are posted on this site, word for word, including a figure that I created. I have no doubt my publisher’s attorney will issue a cease and desist order. This person is violating copyright laws and the PMI Code. Again, it’s disheartening to think that there are project managers, even would be project managers, who could engage in this behavior. It gives us all a bad name. The other saying my dad used to tell me was that if you’re faithful in the little things, you’ll be faithful in the big things. Copying some text and a drawing may seem like a little thing, but where does it stop? How about taking a bonus under the table to approve requirements we know aren’t acceptable? How about a golf trip to Vegas if we assure the vendor that we’ll award them the contract? We know the answer to those questions—just say no.

My advice is don’t even take the first step. Because little steps can lead us right over a cliff if we aren’t careful. If we begin to justify the little missteps, it’s only a matter of time before the big ones follow. The problem is, as the women who is now serving her thirty-year sentence has found, you continue to gain confidence with each misstep and eventually think you’re invincible. And that’s when it catches up with you. Say no to the little things and the big things will never be a question.

I took the redeye to Chicago this morning, which means I set the alarm for 3:30 a.m. I thought, no problem, I can catch almost two hours of shuteye on the plane. Wrong!

First, let me start out by applauding American Airlines for enforcing the two-bag carry on rule (okay, one bag and one personal item which can be pretty darn large by the looks of things.) We’ve all heard the rule and then witnessed the business person (or tourist) laden with roller bag, duffel bag, and a brief case or jumbo-sized purse just breeze right on by the attendant and board the plane. What fries me is the poor sucker who brings on one bag and there’s no space left in the overheads to hold it. It won’t fit under the seat so they’re forced to check the bag while Joe and Sally 3-bagger sit smugly in their seats and simply whisk their stuff off the plane upon landing. Yes, I’ve been the poor sucker who had to check a carry-on bag that ended up getting lost, that had my car keys in it because you’re supposed to put your car keys and medicines in your carry-on. But that’s a story for another day. Thank you, AA, for enforcing the two-bag rule.

So, picture this. You’re sitting in the airport holding coral and survey your fellow passengers. If you’re anything like me, I should say if your luck is anything like mine when it comes to flying, scan the scene and pick out the largest passenger you see or the most obnoxious one. Guaranteed, that’s the one who’ll be sitting next to me. And yup, it happened again this morning.

I’m not a big person. I don’t even hit 5’2” and I tend more toward the thinner side of the scale than the heavy side. I mean, I just don’t take up a lot of space. I can sit in the airline seat and have enough room to shove a good size purse between me and the airplane body. I don’t do this, and you’ll see why in a moment, but I could if I wanted to. Don’t get me wrong. I sincerely empathize with the tall and broad among us. My husband tops 6’5” and talk about being crammed packed into an airline seat. His knees are in his chest and he silently prays through the whole flight that the person in front of him does not put his seat back. Truly, I get it.

But for heaven’s sake, my seat is my seat—not your seat. I don’t even mind that all men, and I mean every last one I’ve ever flown next to or between, believes they have a God-given right to the arm rest. If you’re a woman, forget it. Don’t even try to claim it—it doesn’t belong to us. So I gladly relinquish the armrest upon boarding. But OMG. Can I have my seat? I would appreciate not holding your papers in my lap, or having my shoulders bumped fifteen thousand times in flight. A few times is understandable, I get the plight of big folks in a tiny airline seat but after the third or fourth bump, I’ve had enough. The guy this morning could clearly see I was trying to sleep. I crouched myself as close to the window as I could because I knew I was going to have to share my seat. And I did. With his jacket, his thigh, his shoulder, his arm, his phone, his morning paper, and the water bottle. I’m trying to sleep and perhaps out of nervousness (I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on this one) he squeezed the bottle so it made a popping, cracking sound every time he took a drink. And the guy must have taken his jacket off and put it back on at least six times over the course of two hours. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep.

I just have to resign myself to the fact that even though I can easily fit into the airline seat, I’m by golly going to be just as uncomfortable as those among us who don’t fit into the seats so easily. Sigh. I’ve adjusted my attitude now and I’m packing up the Mac for the connecting flight. I’m surveying my fellow passengers, and, oh, I spot her! She’s the one, jumbo purse and all. Happy flying!