Change – A Different Perspective

When Robert invited me to write a guest post about Change for Kelly’s Contemplations of course I immediately said yes. Who wouldn’t? His brief was simple “Change… Top 3 to ensure success or Top 3 issues to overcome.” Great I thought, easy peasy lemon squeezy. Then I started to think about the underlying message I wanted to give. I could plunge right in with course correction once a project is full steam ahead and the change necessary for tomorrow’s business is in chaos, or, I could start somewhere different. In the end I decided to start somewhere different. Slice what we already know with a different perspective.

Even when people purport to embrace change, experience shows us that uttering the word ‘change’ in an organisation triggers odd reactions. Those normally solid stable employees become disruptive, anxious and angry, lose trust and belief. Others become excited, motivated and energised by what is to come. Reasons for the negative reactions are well documented: top down approach, issuance of edicts, poor communication, too much too soon, a gap so wide between the organisational drivers for change and operational reality you could drive a MAC truck through it, etc. Experience has also shown us these negative reactions always occur regardless of the change strategy and deployment approach used. They repeat because all humans experience a standard process of transition during times of change. However, these reactions can be exacerbated by a company’s culture. A culture where once a decision has been made and sent down the line everyone will of course be delighted and the business will magically transform. And it’s here we can begin to explore what I think are serious contenders for the award of “Top 3 issues to overcome” during change:

Give Back This Holiday

If you are a project manager, in course of time you have been helped- by your team, your mentor, your family, someone who believed in you and took a risk with you.

Project Management is a great profession and I have written over and over how beautiful and warm the project management community over the web is. When I started out, I’d have really great people stopping by to comment and encourage to keep on writing and learning. I have learnt more in trying to keep the blog going which meant I had to know something today to write for tomorrow. I am ever grateful for all the happiness and encouragement received through the web and some of them who have over the years become close friends and mentors.

This holiday season is your time to give back to the project management community and be thankful for the blessings, recognitions, testimonials and great projects that you have done.

• Volunteer your time- Volunteer where your time matters

Six Ways to Be the Project Leader that Doesn’t Suck

Have you ever had a manager, director, or other form of boss to whom you just wanted to say, “Listen man, you’re ego is really getting in my way”? Okay, maybe those weren’t your exact thoughts. Maybe they were something like, “Hey, stop taking credit for my ideas and my work!” or similar. I believe we have all known or worked with the egotistical “leader” and we can probably all attest to the fact that working for him/her sucks.

My message today is simply this: You know that working for the egotistical leader sucks. So, don’t be an egotistical project leader; be a humble project leader. That way, people don’t think working with you sucks.

Unfortunately, there seem to be some common misconceptions about humility. The dictionary describes being “humble” as “not proud or arrogant; modest”. It also lists the antonyms of humble as “proud, noble, exalted, rude, insolent, elevated”. But for some reason, many equate humility with weakness when the opposite is true.

Dan Rockwell, the Leadership Freak, wrote a post on his leadership blog listing 5 ways to spot a humble leader.  The first on his list is, “Do they focus on others?” This, to me, is the key. So here are six attributes of the humble leader that take the focus off the self and still show true strength and leadership:

1. The humble project leader DOES