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Friday, August 17, 2018
Radio Show - The Work/Life Balance Friday at 2 PM Pacific August 17th 2018:Mike Ganino - Communication at Work
Thursday, August 16, 2018
Framing and Context
I have been working on a Ted Talk about framing and
context. So much of the information that
we receive has been framed to the context in which the speaker intends. Gone are the days of true fact reporting. The news now is always slanted to the left or
right depending on what station you watch.
Our social media uses echo chambers to deliver information based on what
we have liked or seen before. No matter
which political party you follow, there is a steady stream of information to
bolster the belief of divisive issues.
For instance, I watched a report on Fox News recently that
stated the left was trying to remove the word “man” from our vocabulary. Would they force Manchester or Goldman Sachs
to change their names? I thought, that
can’t be true. I did my own research and
found the report they were referencing.
It was a study out of a college that stated you should try to not use
man-made or man-days and offered alternatives.
Whether you think that is a good idea or not, they certainly were not
doing what Fox News had said. The same
can be said of many reports regardless of what network. It made me reflect on what I had just
done. How many people sought out the
truth to form their own opinion versus believing what the broadcaster had
said. I found the election coverage
comical on both sides as pundits would ask, “Why do you want to vote for this
person?” The responses were the steady
stream of talking points provided. When
really pressed, the person could not come up with a personal reason.
I read something in the USA Today yesterday that hit me
squarely. There has been a recent feud
between what one person said over the other.
Penn Jilette, a famous magician, had announced that he was in the room
for some of those moments. When the
reporter asked him what was said in the room, Jilette responded, “..the stakes
are now high, and I am an unreliable narrator.
I’m a storyteller and storytellers are liars. So I can emotionally tell you things that
happened….that showed stupidity and lack of compassion when I was in the room…and
I guarantee you that I will get the details wrong.”
I felt that it was a profound statement of responsibility
and leadership. He knew personally of
details but didn’t feel comfortable releasing them because he knew it would be
slanted and possibly misleading. In this
day and age of jumping to conclusions, social justice determining fate before all
of the facts are known, and the emerging new society we live in, that was one of
the best statements I had read.
Internalize this to your team, project, and
organization. How often do we express
ideas and thoughts that are slanted to the context of what we feel? John Maxwell said, “do I want the opportunity
to correct someone, or the opportunity to connect with someone.” I teach my kids that every interaction is a
transaction and someone is buying. What
I mean by that is that your either giving value or receiving value in the
interaction. Make sure to add value to
the person you are talking to.
All of this is to say, words matter. Opinions matter. You can either divide or heal. I appreciate Mr. Jiette’s answer because he
knew the responsibility of words.
Labels:
cnn,
conversation,
divisive,
fox,
framing,
leadership,
msnbc,
penn jilette,
people,
politics,
value
Friday, June 8, 2018
The Plague of Training....
This post is dedicated to personal development and a commitment to training. In my experience, I watch organization after organization remove or shorten the length of their projects by two categories: Testing and Training. Why? They are generally at the end of the project and get squeezed in between a date that is arbitrary and project overruns.
For example, after purchasing a system, a company finds out that managing a long project plan can be harder because they do not understand the new system. It was rolled out hastily and to save costs, they did one training for the user group and expected them to understand a complex tool. Learning properly would take roughly 8-10 hours of reinforced teaching and changing the way that they think currently. The company will claim that there is not enough time or money to invest in this level of training and reduce it. As the users start to use the new system, they become frustrated and begin to create workarounds. They store high level plans in the new system and create longer plans outside the system that fits the way they used to perform this task. This then creates 4-6 hours of rework depending on the number of project they are running because most of the information is outside of the new system and they have to enter data twice for reporting. The chore becomes keeping everything in sync. Assuming each resource takes 2 weeks of vacation, this turns into 200-300 additional hours of work without value because it is "easier."
What if we invested this time to learning the new system properly? Those hours could be invested in value generation versus rework.
This is also true of personal training. The almighty PDU. I am constantly being bombarded with quick and easy training opportunities that give me a PDU to hold my certification. I often wonder if the PDU is adding value or just taking score? I watch so many people waste time looking for the easy or cheap PDU versus finding something that will enhance and grow their career.
John Maxwell states, "Everything worthwhile in life is uphill, but many people have downhill habits." This is very evident in how people pursue or grow their knowledge. Personal development and training should force you out of your comfort zone and help you understand new skills and habits. This is not an easy undertaking, but nothing worthwhile is!
No Day But Today,
Rick
Labels:
certification,
john maxwell,
learning,
pdu,
project management,
training
Radio Show - June 08th 2018:Melissa Agnes - Building an Invincible Brand
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Wednesday, May 30, 2018
I am fired up!
In my daily reading, two articles peaked my attention today. The first was called The Blair Witch Project Manager. It talked of a horrible project and a horrible experience the person had with a project manager. He then went on to say:
"I get, though, why awful PMs enthral senior leaders. The PM ‘Body of Knowledge’ features lots of complex tools and techniques that make ‘planning’ seem like rocket science. There are equations for calculating work and projecting trends that look absolutely stunning on a dazzling ‘status tracking dashboard.’ Clever PMs give their bosses the illusion of being totally in control. They’re strut about like business auteurs, so scientifically and artistically advanced that mortals can’t appreciate their genius.
In reality, I can put a couple of Eagle Scouts or infantry sergeants into a PM role and almost always get a much better product. Real PM is just careful planning, clear communication, and some advanced what-if preparedness. It’s supposed to be operational oversight that supports the delivery of work. It’s not what the Bobs of the business world would have you believe; an indulgent exercise in self-promoting cleverness that diverts effort away from real work for entertainment’s sake."
This is the exact message that I am fighting. You can't put unqualified people in the role and then question the value that the role provides. He clearly stated in the article that the project manager was trained by their company and that the project manager was not following the process. Yet, the profession catches the blame.
The other article is titled Phoenix an ‘incomprehensible failure’ of project management: Ferguson. In this article, it was clear that executives had mandated a date, did not heed warnings to delay the implementation, and did not establish proper controls. Again, the failure is placed on project management and not poor leadership. In fact, what is the impression if you only read the title?
These are two shining examples of the exact reason that I speak, blog, do the radio show, and these e-mails. The profession continues to be devalued. These are perfect examples of wanting to have the results that project management can promise while not allowing the process to exist.
I was told recently that sometimes I write from a standpoint of assuming that we as project managers have more power than we do. I feel it is exactly the opposite. I recognize that most project managers are assigned the impossible and expected to deliver the unreasonable. It is the power of influence that we can wield. If we can push a date off or negotiate better terms for our people, then we are doing our job. The PMBOK and all of the training is to arm us with the proper information. What I feel the profession lacks the most is the application of those skills to turn cultures around. This is why I put together the Project Management That Works Masterclass. It is fueled with techniques, tips, and standards that can influence an organization no matter where you sit on the organizational chart.
In any case, these articles continue to prove that we have a long way to go to teaching organizations the value of the profession.
No Day But Today,
Rick
Labels:
blair witch,
failure,
ferguson,
horror stories,
leadership,
pmi,
pmot,
pmp,
project management
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