A note on the power of positive feedback

I'm working at the moment on a large Salesforce.com implementation with a client. This client has been enjoyable to work with and they do everything very well in terms of vendor engagement.

I'm working in a complex environment where I'm managing the project, but I have resources from a number of locations who I'm responsible for and am tracking tasks in each. On top of this I have my own deliverables in the project so I've been busy recently to say the least.

One of my deliverables has been a detailed project schedule which I spent a number of days putting together, with the input of several technical and business resources. The finished product had 216 lines. This schedule is detailed enough to show the project timeline and also budget (or cost if you're the client).

I scheduled an hour one day to present the plan to my client and after the initial shock of the budget, they were calm and thanked me for my efforts. They asked for a a copy of the plan so they could go and review it. The budget news in particular was not something that they were expecting and they could have been forgiven for acting a little withdrawn or even "shirty". But they were very professional and friendly, and although they hadn't had a lot of time to look at the plan in detail their initial comment was "looks like the amount of detail is good, so we'll review and get back to you." This initial feedback made me feel relaxed with the work I'd done, and it had a mini motivational effect on me.

The following week I was called to a meeting with my client to discuss the plan further following a detailed review that they'd completed. The team had a series of questions for me, which were more "what if" scenarios than anything else. At one stage during this meeting they said to me "this plan is very good Warwick. We've been through it and it's solid". I walked out of the room that day floating. It had been quite some time since I'd been given such postive feedback on any of my work. Maybe I haven't done anything great lately. But for the client to take time and say something directly to me like that was fantastic.

As the project I'm working on has such high visibility within the client organisation, the budget issue has been escalated internally to CIO level. I was invited to a meeting with the CIO to discuss the plan further, with another series of "what ifs".

Again we had a very cordial discussion, and at one point the CIO said "we've got a project plan here that's pretty fricken good, all we need to do move things around to fit our budgets and internal timelines". Bingo! The fact that my work had been reviewed by such a senior person, and he liked it, AND he took the time to say so had a huge effect on me. It has added to my motivation to to keep working hard and make this project a success for my client.

I don't think that any of the clients who have given me this feedback have any idea how positive an effect it's had on me. I'm going to make a point to tell them.

What can we learn from this?

If such simple comments and praise can have such a huge effect, why do we so seldom dish out positive feedback? Next time one of your team members does something good, make a point to tell them. Make sure that their efforts are noticed and appreciated. It doesn't take much, but you can't underestimate the uplifting effect it will have on your team.

One final point, the book Bringing Out the Best in People: How to Apply the Astonishing Power of Positive Reinforcement by Aubrey C. Daniels has a lot more information on this topic. It's worth a read for anyone who's responsible for a team of people.

A tip to improve your Project Management presentations

I'm reading a book at the moment by John Medina called Brain Rules. I encourage everyone to pick up a copy and have a read as it contains some fascinating facts about the brain, and things you can do to improve the use of your brain. Medina has a great style of writing which keeps you interested in the topic, and he also has a dry sense of humour which has caused me some embarrassment on the train while laughing out loud.

There is lots of information about the book at www.brainrules.net, and a simple youtube search for "John Medina" will find you hours of recorded lectures which are delivered in a manner similar to his writing style.

This morning I was reading a chapter in the book about attention span in presentation / class room / learning environments and a startling fact came to light. On average, where the subject matter is not too boring, not too exciting, people usually lose interest after 10 minutes.

This one fact got my mind racing back to all the presentations that I have given in the past. Demonstrations of software that have lasted 2 hours. The 40 odd training courses I've presented which have taken up a full day. It shocked me to think that all of the people I was presenting to had started to tune out of what I was saying not long after I'd instructed them on where the toilets are, and what we're having for lunch.

I was stunned by this thought. I've always strived to be a good public speaker. Whenever I'm speaking to an audience, I diligently prepare my material so that all the facts are covered. Each presentation has an agenda to follow which achieves a certain objective.

I've been approaching it all wrong......

It's that old communication conundrum. I've created the message. I've delivered it. There are people in the room so I'm pretty sure that it's been received. But I haven't ensured that the message was understood. It may seem a little dramatic, but I've now drawn a line through every presentation I've ever given as being completely in-effective.

My job as a project manager calls for me to present to people all the time. Customers. Managers. Team Members. I need a new approach.

Enter John Medina and his book.

John talks about how he decided to break up all the university lectures he was giving in to 10 minute blocks. Each block would have cover a broad topic which he would define in the first minute, then add detail to explain the concept in the remaining 9 minutes.

The challenge is at 9 mins and 59 seconds to move to topic 2 without losing the interest of your delegate. John talks about hooks. Bait to keep people interested in the next 10 minutes. John says that hooks should:

• trigger some emotion with your audience
• be relevant to the objective of your presentation
• provide a smooth transition between the topics

As John Medina is a teacher, he talks about lectures of 50 mins in length. Therefore you'd expect to have 5 blocks of 10 mins in a lecture, and 4 hooks. Interestingly John has found that once he's deployed 2 or 3 hooks in a session, no more are required. He manages to keep everyone's attention.

What can the Project Manager learn from this?

Like many professions, project managers are constantly on a stage in front of people. Most of the time, we need to be on that stage for longer than 10 minutes. We now know that we're most likely going to lose the attention of our audience after 10 mins.

To effectively get our message across and achieve our objectives, we need to maintain the attention span of our audience.

This 10 minute concept is new to me so I'm going to start experimenting. For each presentation that I do from now on, rather than devise my own agenda which I think will achieve my objectives, I'm going to break my show up in to 10 minute blocks. Each block will have a broad topic which I'll describe in more detail right up to 9 mins and 59 seconds. At this point I'll have defined a hook to move in to the next 10 mins.

I'll let you know how I go.

Discussion with Steve Godbee, CIO of IBM Australia and New Zealand

Tonight I had the opportunity to attend a presentation at the Australian Computer Society Young IT SIG by Steve Godbee. Steve is the CIO for IBM in Australia and New Zealand, and tonight he was discussing the current economic climate and how young IT professionals can survive and thrive in these uncertain times.

Steve has worked at IBM for over 23 years so has been through many ups and downs in the world’s economy so I’d certainly consider him an authority on what’s happening at the moment.

The main message from Steve was that all IT consultants should be practicing and improving their soft skills; communication, people management and negotiation. Technical skills are important, but gone are the days where developers can sit in a room and write code off a spec. Some food for thought for all those who have their head buried in technical text books at the moment.

So now's the time to practice your soft skills. Volunteer to give a speech. Take on a mentoring role in your job. Anything that gives you the opportunity to develop these skills. Skills which don't necessarily have a text book, or a definite right way to be done.

Steve also is of the opinion that the current economic climate is not as bad for IT as it was during the dot com bust. Hopefully that’s a positive for those like myself who have been hit hard by the recent economic woes.

My Project Management Coach

Some time ago, I was fortunate enough to attend a seminar hosted by Verne Harnish - The Growth Guru.

It was a full day seminar that provided information on how businesses can grow, and strategies for increasing turn over.

As a student of public speaking, I was astounded by the manner in which Verne gave his presentation; his ability to hold the attention of the room for 8 hours was like nothing I had seen before. Despite being 1 in a room of 100 people, Verne made it feel like a personal experience.

There was a point where Verne spoke about the need for executives to have a coach; someone to mentor them and ensure that they are on the right track. To illustrate this, he used the example of Tiger Woods. Tiger, the greatest golfer ever, was at one stage in his career without a coach. This was a personal choice of his as he thought his abilities had come to a point where he could go on improving on his own with no outside help.

Tiger’s results during this period showed he was wrong. With no one to point out irregularities in his swing or to assist with his mental focus, Tiger experienced his greatest form slump. Then as if by magic, when he hired his next coach he regained his stranglehold over world golf.

I thought that this was a brilliant illustration of the need for an outside perspective. When things are going well and we feel on top of the world, there is always a tendency to think we can go it alone. But with no one “checking our swing”, things can easily go off the rails.

With this inspiring example in the back of my mind for a while, I enthusiastically took advantage of the opportunity to have my very own Project Management mentor to “check my swing”. Starting in November last year we have been meeting fortnightly for an hour to discuss areas for improvement and any recent issues.

This experience has enriched my knowledge in my craft no end as I now have someone who’s not involved in my organization to bounce ideas off (always obeying client confidentiality requirements of course). I’m feeling a lot more confident in my career and increasingly less daunted by tasks I previously would have thought beyond my abilities.

Is there someone that you can engage with as your Project Management coach or mentor?

Don't let the sun go down on your Friday problems

I have a dream in my Project Managment career: to work hard and achieve a lot during my working hours, but live stress free when I'm not at work.

I'm sure we all share this dream.

Recently I've had a couple of weekends where things at work have been troubling me, and I've had to sit through 2 days of non action before roaring in to the office on Monday morning to do something about my problems. These weekends have been no fun for myself or my family, and I'm sure I have a few grey hairs (what's left of it anyway) due to my worrying.

A guy I worked with in the UK (who was a lot more experienced in the ways of the world than I am) once said to me, "Don't ever let the sun set on an argument with your partner. Always make sure that you both go to sleep with no animosity towards each other".

Wise words.

In thinking about this, the attitude detailed here is one that my wife and I subscribe to without any effort or intention. We're a normal couple: we cherish our time together but occassionally we have the odd argument. Normally over something stupid.

I can't recall a time though that we've ended the day without saying sorry and sorting out our differences. This leads to a stress free sleep, and a clean slate to start the next day on.

Going back to my Friday problems, I have now made a pact with myself to do everything within my power to ensure that no problems are left hanging on a Friday afternoon. I'm doing this to stop having stressful weekends and to get a better focus in my job.

This is going to be hard for a variety of reasons. Not all problems can be solved within a set time frame. Friday afternoons are generally when people start to wind down, so getting things done may be difficult.

I'm sure that with a concerted effort though, I will no longer come in to the office on a Monday morning and expect a raft of emails demanding my head. Formulating an action plan for the next week on a Friday afternoon will mean that I can hit the ground running for the new week. Dumping all these ideas on a Friday afternoon means that I don't need to think about them on the weekend.

It may just be a case of putting in a phone call to Mr. Client saying "Hello sir, I know that you're still waiting on X from me. I'm still working on it and you will have it on Monday. Is that OK?". Sure, the problem is still there. But with the client informed of the current status, and an action plan in place to getting it done, there is no need to ruin my weekend stressing about work.

I'm interested in your thoughts on this topic........

Leadership in the Project Management Function

What is the role of the Project Manager? It’s simple really, to “lead” the project to a successful outcome. In any project, the buck stops with the Project Manager. They get the praise when things go right, and their reputation is on the line when things don’t go well.

Part of leading the project is doing the hard yards; creating plans, monitoring risks, status updates, spreadsheets, documents, specifications. Doing this will get you part of the way towards a successful project.

But what about the soft skills? The team building. The motivation. The education. Surely these are essential inputs to any successful delivery? And if so, why do so many Project Managers abandon these soft skills by building a façade of processes and procedures to hide behind?

I’d like to take this opportunity to discuss why I think it’s important as a Project Manager to develop your leadership skills. By doing so, I believe that you will extend yourself as a Project Manager and more often than not, reach your goal effectively.

Leadership defined

There are millions of definitions out there on the internet about what leadership is. In the Web 2.0 world that we live in, here’s a link to Wikipedia’s definition: Wikipedia Leadership

It’s not the intention of this article to turn to psychology and discuss the different types of leaders that exist. Nor are we going to argue about whether leadership is either a trait that people are born with, or is something that can be taught. These are all topics that require more research than I have time for at present.

The message I wish to convey here is that leadership in Project Management is important. Being an effective leader will ensure that your team acts like a well oiled machine; delivering on time every time and to a standard that will make your peers envious.

Why do Project Managers need to be leaders?

In my opening I mentioned that when a Project Manager delivers anything, it has their name all over it. A Project Manager is conscious of this and therefore their workload tends to balloon out when they try to be the one who monitors quality, delivery to the specification and customer expectations. Something has to give.

Imagine a utopia where all you have to do is allocate a task and ask the delegate to report back when it is complete, knowing that it has been done 100% correctly. Does this situation exist? I’m sure it does, and I’m sure that the Project Managers in these situations are effective leaders.

Think about the airline industry for a moment. What comes to mind? Travel? Engineering? Service? Cost? I’m sure all these are things that we can associate with the airlines. But the term that sticks out for me is “safety”.

The life of an aircraft involves many periods of maintenance and checks to ensure your safety when flying. Airlines are mandated to adhere to set safety standards. Their brand depends on it. To this point, all aircraft after a certain amount of flying hours are required to undergo a D Check. A D Check is where the aircraft is stripped back to its frame and every single piece is inspected to ensure that it is still safe and the aircraft is airworthy. Parts that need to be replaced, are replaced, and the aircraft re-assembled ready for service. D Checks can take up to 4 weeks to complete.

You can think of a D Check as a project. It has a mandate, a goal, a plan, and a team. And of course, a Project Manager.

Going back to my point again about responsibility for delivering an objective, it’s the Project Manager that is judged on the outcome, not the team. If the aircraft carries on to its next D Check (after it has completed an A, B and C check – these do exist, feel free to look them up), the Project Manager has done their job. The plane falls out of the sky and questions will be asked.

Do you think that the Project Manager of a D Check is out on the hanger floor checking every single washer, seal and rivet for compliance? Unlikely. Managers of these projects have stringent procedures and checklists that their team follow. In the end, all the PM does is tick the boxes.

Where am I going with this? Does this not go against my point earlier that Project Managers need to get out of the habit of hiding behind paperwork?

No it doesn’t. In most projects, the conditions are not rigid enough to allow us to come up with some checklist to ensure that things are being properly. There is too much of a human element involved that must be controlled.

Leadership – developing the “Human” checklist

Becoming an effective leader will mean that your team will almost become you. They will approach every task with the attitude that it’s THEIR reputation on the line if things don’t go well, not yours.

Team members will become autonomous and will know what is expected of them. This will mean that you won’t need to spend as much time briefing them on their tasks, and you’ll be comfortable knowing that they have a full understanding of the job ahead of them.

New standards for excellence will be defined, and then exceeded by your team. You won’t feel that every piece of work that has been completed will need to be thoroughly checked before being presented to a client.

There will also be long term benefits. Your reputation as a manager and leader will precede you. You will begin to attract the best staff from within your given industry, and therefore develop the best team.

Your ability to network will also be enhanced, allowing amongst other things, the opportunity for you to keep abreast of developments in your industry through your contacts.

You will be in a position to reap all these benefits because you spent the time to develop your leadership skills.

Blog Update

After my initial resolve to blog on a regular basis failing, I’ve decided that I need to wait for inspiration instead. By putting myself under pressure to come up with something meaningful and earth shattering on a regular basis, I instead ignored my blog and in turn the self-inflicted pressure.

So, new approach.

I’m not going to keep a diary style commentary on my working life as a Project Manager, gently exaggerating each day to avoid monotony, but rather I’ll save posts to comment on things that have caught my attention and made me stop and think how it applies to me and my job. This may mean weeks or months in between posts, or only days in between. Quality not quantity!

No pressure!