04-Managing a project team, 05-Creating & constructing good solutions, creativity methods, feedback, team dynamics, team roles

Yes, Work Can Be Fun

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The phrase “work can be fun” may seem like an oxymoron. But it doesn’t have to be! Now it doesn’t mean we all should start coming to work in Hawaiian shirts and drinking mai tais at the office (as fun as that may sound).  But we all can certainly make work less monotonous in a few easy ways — and help motivate your team as well.

One simple way to boost morale is to throw a potluck. We frequently do this at my work to celebrate promotions, new babies, weddings, etc. Everyone on the team contributes, so it’s a nice way to celebrate relatively inexpensively. We usually set it up in the office so people can stop whenever they get a moment. This way, people can take a quick break from the normal workday, but it doesn’t cut into productivity.  Plus, it’s just a nice way to make your co-workers feel appreciated!

I also love Barbara Corcoran’s idea of “surprising” your office or team with something fun. Corcoran is a successful businesswoman and judge on the show “Shark Tank”.  In her article below, she described how she got some of her best ideas while “playing” outside the office. Of course, she has the resources to rent hot air balloons or camels to ride at the company picnic.  But I don’t think the surprises have to be grand. It could simply be letting everyone wear costumes to work for Halloween, or buying the first round of drinks at the company happy hour.

One thing I would not recommend is cutting “fun things” from the budget, especially when times are tough.  I know it may seem like an easy way to save money, but it can really affect morale in the office. A few years ago, management decided to cut out the annual holiday party. When they made the announcement, it was like someone had let the air out of the office. People complained for days about how unappreciated they felt. I also remember the level of animosity toward the management. Luckily, a few astute supervisors saved the day by putting together an “unofficial” party at a nearby restaurant. But it really affected the mood of the office for weeks.

So the next time your team needs a little motivation, take some advice from Barbara — and go have fun.

04-Managing a project team, feedback

A Few Lessons on Managing Teams From Dale Carnegie

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I’ve recently been listening to Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. This classic book, published originally in 1936, tops many top 10 lists of most influential business books ever published. Since it is so frequently included in such lists, I figured there might be a few things to learn from Carnegie’s words.

The first section of the books covers a few basic concepts of handling people. As a manager I am always interested in ways that I can more effectively motivate my team and give them feedback. Carnegie mentions three fundamentals of handling people.

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People
1. Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain
2. Give honest and sincere appreciation
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want

The basics of these idea are that it is easy to criticize, condemn and complain but doing so won’t gain you the respect of your team mates or direct reports and certainly doesn’t help you motivate them to continue to improve. Instead, Carnegie suggests approaching team mates with an open mind and a genuine level of respect for their decision making process.

Additionally, Carnegie suggests making a concerted effort to personally acknowledge the ways that your team mates contribute positively to the team and the company as a whole.  When your direct reports feel that you respect them and that you see and acknowledge the ways they are positively contributing, it is much easier to offer suggestions for continued growth and improvement.

Personally I’ve found this advice to be very helpful as I work with my team. I noticed that I wasn’t always making sure to stop and acknowledge my team for their successes, both big and small. I now make a point to voice my appreciation for what they’re doing in person. I also make sure that I share successes our team has accomplished with the rest of the company as well as sharing individual team member’s successes. I’ve found that while my team does gain fulfillment from our group successes, it goes a long way for me to acknowledge their individual contributions as well.

03-Planning the work of a team, 04-Managing a project team, team roles, work plans

Six Views of Project Management Software

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When it comes to planning and managing a project, there have been many fantastic blog posts about the big picture. There have been posts about listing the work, breaking down the work, delegating the work, and everything in between. However, I thought it might be a good time to look at some more specific, nitty-gritty details within the topic. More specifically, I wanted to delve into project management software and similar tools because our office is researching what is currently available and ultimately deciding on the best option to use.

There are hundreds of project management tools out there. There are so many, each with its own strengths and weaknesses, it can feel overwhelming when asked to vet and decide on the right software for your organization. Over at Idealware (a consulting company for nonprofits), they asked nine project managers what project management software meant to them. Although the answers varied, they all had six overlapping, underlying themes.

Overall, the interviewees said the project management software should allow the user to plan projects (I certainly hope so), manage tasks, share and collaborate on documents, share calendars and contact lists, manage issues, and track time. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a single software package that can do it all. There are many programs that do one or two of these six topics really well but may not include any other feature. The author stresses that one should not overlook these standalone tools either. These tools include Manymoon, Remember the Milk, Zoho, and Google Docs (aka Google Drive). Not to mention, many of these options are free.

There are many different programs mentioned in the article that it’s not feasible to research them all. However the author of the article specifically calls out a couple programs that seem to be the most useful, Microsoft Project and Basecamp. For any of these programs, it’s important to understand its strengths and weaknesses in order to get the most out of the program or suite of programs eventually used to manage projects. So for about the next month, I’ll be vetting a few of these programs for our office.

I would love to hear about others’ experiences. What do you and/or your office use to manage projects? What’s great about the software and what makes you want to take a bat to your computer in true Office Space-style?

07a-Crafting an effective formal presentation, 07b-Using good information design, 07d-Delivering a presentation, Uncategorized

Takeaways from being an MP judge

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Last night, I volunteered to judge the Delta presentations of the 2015 one-year MBA students. It felt good not being the presenter and  really good being the judge 🙂 Below are some key takeaways of mine.

Need for Visuals : I’m completely convinced of the need for more visuals and less text. It was very difficult to take in anything when the presentations are loaded with text. Some of the one’s were really really text heavy and it wasn’t easy to concentrate.  So you may ask, how much text is appropriate ? I felt one to two sentences per slide mixed with visuals to be more appealing.  Anything beyond that, I had difficulty moving back and forth between the screen and the presenter.

Need for Simplicity : Teams with simplicity in their slide-crafting kept me more engaged and more interested. Slides with just one data image helped me absorb the content. Whenever there was too much data on one slide, I checked out of the presentation for few minutes.  The problem with that is, even if the listener wants to check-in again it won’t be easy for him to follow. This is my take on the need for simplicity. This is an essential ingredient if you want your audience engaged totally.

Need for laughter : It’s very easy to get bored when you are just watching presentation after presentation.  If you know you will be in situations like that, it helps to have a slide that can make the audience laugh so that they can get back into the presentation

Need for honesty : When someone asks you a question at the end, it’s ok to say “yeah, we didn’t consider that issue”  instead of saying something to cover up. This helps building trust which, I believe, is the foundation for any business relationship

It was a great learning experience to be on the other side. My long trip from John Creek was well worth it. Thank You, Prof. Noonan for giving us this opportunity

 

Uncategorized

Bad Presentation? Maybe not…

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Ever feel like you totally bombed a presentation? Here are a few things to consider because odds are it didn’t go as bad as you think.

 

And the most important piece of advice I can offer: don’t get distracted during a presentation because you think it isn’t going the way you hoped. “Reading” your audience is important, but don’t “over-read” a situation. Stick to the basic game plan and you will execute just fine.

Olivia Mitchell shares a few words of wisdom:

1. You can’t tell how a presentation went just by looking at people

Emma didn’t get much positive nonverbal feedback from her audience. She felt like they were just starting at her blankly and she was like a deer caught in the headlights. And she made the worst possible assumptions about what the audience were thinking. Like:

“…maybe people hated the presentation.”

“…she was boring.”

Here’s the thing: you can’t tell what an audience member is thinking by the way that they look. A person can look totally blank and yet be intensely interested in what you’re saying. If you went to the front of a movie theater and looked back at the audience you’d probably be looking out on a sea of slack-jawed blank faces.

I’ve been constantly surprised by people in my audience who looked totally bored and disinterested or even cynical and then I’ve talked to them later and found that they enjoyed it and found it interesting and valuable.

When I see a person who looks bored I still have a little voice in my head that pipes up  “Oh you’re bombing, they’re bored.” I fight back against that voice by saying “No, that’s not true. You don’t know that they’re bored. Plenty of times people look bored but are in fact getting lots of value.”  The voice shuts up. That allows me to just get on with delivering my presentation and engaging with people.

2. All audiences are different

Emma is assuming that because her audience looked blank they didn’t like the presentation. But the way an audience reacts to a presentation is often more about the audience than about the presentation. Audiences can react to the same presentation in many different ways. Because I deliver roughly the same material all the time I’m reminded of this constantly. I’ll deliver the same material and get different reactions. Some of the factors that influence their reaction are:

Confidence: an audience full of confident people will generally give you lots of nonverbal feedback – nodding, smiling etc. If they’re not confident they may not even make eye contact with you. For example, in our Introduction to Presenting course which is tailored for nervous beginners I know that some participants are unlikely to make eye contact with me during the first hour. I’m now prepared for this.

How well they know each other: an audience of friends will be very different to an audience of strangers. An audience of friends who trust each other are likely to laugh more, banter with you etc. I experience this when we run an inhouse course for a tightly-knit team compared to a public course where no-one knows each other to begin with.

My partner, Tony, does some amateur acting. The cast deliver exactly the same play night after night. But the audience reaction can be different every night.

What’s the point of this? When you’re in front of people speaking you feel vulnerable and you’re primed to take it personally. But, the audience reaction (or lack of it) is not necessarily about you.

3. Your perceptions can be very faulty

Emma felt flustered and felt that she was bombing. Just because she felt that way doesn’t mean it was true.

I have a good friend who presents regularly all over the world. One particular presentation, things went wrong for her at the start, she got rattled and she thought the whole presentation was an absolute unmitigated disaster. Luckily, on that trip she’d taken her 23 year old daughter with her. Her daughter was able to set her straight and tell her that the presentation was fine. Maybe not her best performance ever – but fine.

stakeholder analysis, team dynamics, team roles

Skills Every Leader Should Have In Their ToolBox

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Recently I made a presentation what I think every successful leader needs for management practice. It’s what I called the 4p’s of successful leadership. Those 4p’s are Performance, Perception, Personality  and Passion.

I found this article because after presenting I was interested in seeing what other people’s opinion are on what qualities should  leaders possess and I thought it would worth sharing.  This article asked 332, 860 professionals-what skills have the greatest impact on a leader’s success in a position the respondent’s currently hold?

What is interesting is number one with 38% said Inspires and motivates. That aligns right with one of my P’s, personality.

See the full article to see the rankings on characteristics of a leader.

http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/07/the-skills-leaders-need-at-every-level/

 

 

05-Creating & constructing good solutions, creativity methods

Six Effective Ways to Foster Innovation

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Innovation within a company is a key tool in developing business solutions.  The article generally highlights the fact that employees who are engaged are more likely to make innovative contributions to a company. On a personal level, I find myself being more interested in my job functions once I understand the bigger picture and what my overall role in a specified task contributes to the entire puzzle. According to the article, a summary of the six effective ways to foster innovation are as follows:

1. Maintaining open dialogue

2. Organizing brainstorming sessions

3. Engaging employees by encouraging them to share creative ideas.

4. Not forcing people to be innovative

5.  Remaining flexible and forgiving

6. Keeping track of company innovations

I believe that maintaining open dialogue is probably the most important but perhaps the most challenging way to go about fostering innovation. It definitely sounds easier than it looks and I look to emphasize on this particular way of fostering innovation. It begins with management and their willingness to interact with subordinates they may not deal with on a regular basis. There are at least three major factors that companies may have to bear in mind when trying to create an open atmosphere.

First of all in many companies, certain parts of the fiscal year are a lot busier than others. During these seasons, managers tend to feel pressurized, sometimes moody and may not be in the best mental  capacity to deal with individuals they do not interact with on a regular basis. It thus becomes a challenge to create open channels of communication during certain stretches of the fiscal year.

Secondly, in a diverse work environment, there may be cultural barriers that make it a bit more of a challenge for individuals or minorities of a particular background to interact with others. Managers and team leaders should be mindful of this and should at times go the extra mile to ensure all workers feel comfortable enough to present ideas that might have been very effective in a completely different environment but may never be considered due to underlying barriers.

Thirdly, the architecture and set up of an office environment could be prohibitive in creating open dialogue. I once worked on a project with a major imposing deadline where all the stakeholders were located in different part of the office building. The project however took a dramatic turn when all key stakeholders were placed in the same room and were able to immediately communicate ideas throughout the course of the day.

I believe that maintaining open dialogue can be a prelude to the other five ways of fostering innovation as it encourages brainstorming and offers opportunity to reward innovation as well as track innovation. The article in full can be read from the link below:

http://www.businessdictionary.com/article/510/ways-to-foster-innovation/

04-Managing a project team, feedback

Scared of receiving feedback? It’s natural!

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Stanford’s Ed Batista has written extensively on giving feedback, but this article examines the dynamics of receiving feedback which may be even more important.  He even takes time to dive into the body’s natural biological response to a perceived threat, and offers solutions on how to overcome that uncomfortable reaction.

One point that I believe is important to many of us in business school is the discussion of the “status” dynamic in receiving feedback.  Batista writes, “And when feedback comes from a peer or subordinate, you may interpret their behaviors as a temporary assumption of a higher status role.”  This is unfounded, and should be, according to Batista, interpreted as an attempt to help you improve regardless of the giver’s position or method in which they deliver the feedback.

Whether we’re personally receiving feedback or attempting to manage up through giving feedback, we should remember that the ultimate goal is professional development and most likely not an attack on a person.  If feedback is not actually threatening, then we why do we continue to fear it?

06-Building a case, 07b-Using good information design

McKinsey’s take on making cost cuts stick

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Working at a large company, I frequently read and hear about the next initiative coming down the pipe to reduce costs, but rarely do those efforts create lasting change.  We improve in the short term most likely as a result of the Hawthorne Effect, but the control measures used to lock in the change are either inadequate or not monitored to ensure compliance.

In this article, McKinsey & Company offers 5 tips to making cost cuts stick (it is also available in a podcast).  Each suggestion is backed up with data and experience demonstrating the effectiveness or lack thereof in creating lasting change.  The one that hit home for me was to “Clearly articulate the link between cost management and strategy.”  The article reads, “the goal cannot be merely to meet a bottom-line target,” but that is frequently what our company does.  I like how the article points out that it might not be wise to starve a business unit that is a shining star in need of resources for the purpose of simply meeting a savings goal.

As a business leader, I believe we should concentrate on what changes our business needs to be competitive in the market place, and not the attainment of some arbitrary savings target.

07b-Using good information design, charts & graphs, creativity methods, deliverables

Infographics on the Job

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In my earlier post on this subject, I discussed the history of information design and some best practices associated with its use today.  It’s great to consider the past and present of this art, but what about the real context for most of us on a day-to-day basis?

In my career thus far, I haven’t to do much of this type of work.  In fact, between undergrad and business school, I don’t think I touched PowerPoint more than a few times.  Well, those days are over!  I’ve been serving in my new role at Arby’s for almost a month now, and I’ve already been asked to create what we call “one pagers.”  These summaries are a brief overview of a topic, usually presented via a PowerPoint slide.  It’s important that they present only the most critical information, and are used during the numerous meetings that happen on a daily basis.

So what role do infographics play?  Let’s just say that they’re a team player and not the star.  Our one-pagers are generally mostly text, organized in a way that is very clear and easy to read.  The graphs, data, etc. typically plays a support role or is left out altogether, only to be presented in more thorough presentations.  The key here is to extract the data into bullet points or going beyond that, make your point or recommendation based on the data.  I found a good example of the general form we use on, of all places, the Citizens for Public Justice website.  I agree with their format, and it can be seen here: http://www.cpj.ca/content/how-write-one-page-brief

I still believe that I will have to create a good bit of graphs and charts, however I think the true, modern form of infographics are typically left up to the design types and corporate communications department.  Luckily, the organization is fairly flat and meeting with those people, collaboration, and learning from them is eminent.

Although I may not be presenting as much of this type of work as I had expected, I believe I will certainly know how to create meaningful visualizations of data to support my future recommendations.  I look forward to the challenge and continued learning!

MEMBA learning community, Fall 2016- Spring 2017