Synopsis - Effective 'leaders' know what quality is and feel a sense of responsibility for achieving quality. If a person waffles, waivers or avoids discussing quality, chances are they will not make an effective leader.
It's pretty clear that project success rates are higher where projects have effective leadership and lower where there was either no leader, or where those in the leadership roles didn't discharge their duties effectively. Effective leaders align people, focus people a...
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People
Agile’s Achilles heel
From its birth in the software development community, the idea of ‘agility’ has risen in prominence to the point where organizations of all shapes and forms are now leveraging agile principles (or at least trying to). Since being conceptually formalized in the 2001 ‘agile manifesto’ the ideas have matured to the point where agile practices have worked their way into the mainstream of the Project Management Institute’s PMBoK® Guide.
As I’ve written about a number of times, agile concepts are ...
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Yes we can!
Synopsis: People can be productive! What most often holds them back is management's failure to take ownership of the concept of "efficiency"...
It is amazing how fast humans can respond to a situation when they need to! A recent story from Japan helps illustrate the point. When a 30M wide sinkhole destroyed a road in Fukuoka, Japan, the problem was resolved and the road fully repaired in just 7 days. As the video below illustrates this was no minor pothole. This was a 15M deep crater that cu...
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RIP Ideas
An organization’s future prosperity is of course directly correlated to its ability to remain relevant in the market place. As we all know, to remain competitive organizations need to both innovate and invest. They need to stay in tune with their customers, be aware of shifting trends or disruptions and maintain a level of situational awareness that supports effective decision-making. Most organizations are aware of those basics and CEO’s make efforts to stay on top of them. The “value” creati...
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Culture’s Cogs – Feedback
Synopsis: Feedback is the mechanism that keeps a culture alive...
This post is part 4 in the Cultures Cog’s series of posts. Click here for – Part 1
In the two prior parts of this blog series we looked at the role "imperatives" and "expectations" play in giving rise to a culture. In this final post we'll look at how feedback is the link that keeps a culture alive.
Feedback is the interaction between people that tells them whether or not expectations are being achieved. Feedback can eit...
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What’s your employability score?
Featured Article - Synopsis
Link to article - What’s your “Employability Score”?
For many, job stability is becoming a thing of the past. Mergers, restructuring, out-sourcing, changing technologies, shifting markets or simply a new boss with a different vision, are all sources of churn affecting today's job market. Old roles are being swept aside and transformations in the economy usher in constant changes in the way work is done and who it is done by. For the individual worker the shiftin...
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I, We, You, Me – Observations on Team Dynamics
As with most Project Managers, I've worked directly with a lot of people and a lot of teams. As an instructor I've observed and coached even more. I've seen good teams and I've seen dysfunctional teams and over the years I've tried to understand what makes some teams work while others don't. Why do some teams gel so quickly while others never click? Why do some teams transcend individual efforts to perform as a whole, while others remain ineffectual? Why do some teams become lifelong friends and...
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Culture’s Cogs – Expectations
Synopsis: Expectations are the medium through which a culture propagates. Expectations can be set through words, use of benchmarks and through actions.
This post is part 3 in the Cultures Cog's series of posts. Click here for - Part 1
If a culture is to propagate it needs a medium through which to flow. As suggested in the culture's cog diagram shown in part 1 of this series, expectations are a vehicle through which cultural norms are transferred from leader to team and peer to peer. In th...
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Culture’s Cogs – Imperatives
Synopsis: Imperatives are the core values of the management team and the foundation stones of corporate culture. To influence corporate culture, leaders need to bring clarity and consistency to their imperatives.
This post is part 2 in the Cultures Cog’s series of posts. Click here for – Part 1
As a follow up to my discussion on the topic of "culture's cogs" I thought I would dive a bit deeper into each of the cogs. In this post I'll explore the issue of imperatives. As noted in my origina...
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You’re hired!
Synopsis: It's simple logic. If you want to thrive in today's job market you have to have the skills employers are looking for.
Perhaps one of the biggest shifts in employment trends in past 20 years has been a growing emphasis on candidates having a "portfolio of skills". While technical knowledge alone was once king, employers are now looking for people with a broader set of skills. A willingness to take ownership of work, the ability to get things organized and the capacity to get things ...
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