Project Management Training Isn’t Just for Project Managers!

As a corporate trainer and keynote speaker, I’m amazed by how often I’m asked to provide project management training or present project management focused talks for non project management audiences.  I really shouldn’t be though because my decades of experience as a project management practitioner and instructor has certainly taught me that EVERYONE needs project management skills because virtually everyone is a project manager.  No, you may not have ever held the title, but you’ve certainly managed many projects in your personal and processional life.  If you’ve planned a kid’s birthday party or a family event, you’ve managed a project!

So here are a few of my favorite project management skills/tips that virtually everyone can use to enhance their effectiveness.

• Conduct kickoff meetings to start new projects.  Although it doesn’t have to be terribly formal, it’s so helpful to begin new projects by bringing key participants together to discuss key elements, define goals and scope, and clarify any areas of confusion.  This video provides tips for designing an effective project kickoff meeting.

• Manage the project with a project schedule.  Again, it doesn’t have to be the most sophisticated MS Office Gantt Chart.  I managed complex projected using a spreadsheet just fine so the tool isn’t what’s important.  Instead, the focus should be on identifying chronological phases, key tasks, milestones, time estimates and owners.  Once those are documented, use that single document to serve as a focal point to help manage subsequent project related meetings and discussions.  Track actual timing against estimates to keep track of whether you project is behind/on/ahead of schedule.
• Periodically check in with the team to debrief what’s working/what’s not.  Don’t make the classic mistake of waiting until the project is over and conducting a 5 minute drive by debrief.  Take the time periodically to check in to ask key questions:
  • What’s working?
  • What should we do differently?
  • Are we behind/ahead of schedule? Why?
  • Are we having any resource issues?
  • Are our meetings effective?  If not, what do we need to change?
  • Are any processes broken? What can we do to fix them?

More important than asking the questions is taking action to               continuously improve the project.

For more information watch 5 Common Project Management Mistakes…

https://www.linkedin.com/in/danabrownlee/

 

Leading a Project Kickoff Meeting

The Problem:

Most (if not all) projects begin with the famous “kickoff meeting”.  In many ways this meeting (for better or worse) sets the tone for the rest of the project.  As such, it’s important that the project leader conduct a very effective and efficient kickoff session for the team.  But, oftentimes team leaders don’t really understand the kickoff meeting.  What should really be accomplished during a kickoff meeting?  What is the purpose?  What can the team leader do to avoid common pitfalls?  The team leader must have a firm grasp on these answers prior to facilitating this critical meeting.  Here are some tips to help you as you plan for your next kickoff meeting.

Consider these suggestions….

• Make sure you have a basic understanding of the key project elements (e.g. scope, goals, stakeholders, deliverables, etc.) before the meeting.
• Conduct pre-meetings with the project sponsor or client to clarify his/her expectations on scope, time, cost, and quality.
• Ensure that the project sponsor attends the session to emphasize the importance of the effort
• Document and clearly post the project objective(s) to ensure they’re clearly understood by all.
• Conduct detailed introductions including some personal information to ensure that all roles are fully understood and team members begin to make connections.
• Communicate key background information to the team and work with them to develop more detail around key elements (e.g. scope (in/out), schedule, key tasks, milestones, costs, risks, etc.).
• Address key process issues with the team (e.g. how will meeting notes be captured, decisions on meeting logistics, etc.).
• Ask the team to develop meeting ground rules – utilize best practice input from previous projects.
• Define success criteria for the project (with input from sponsor/client) – How will the team know if the project is successful?
• If the project tasks aren’t clear, post a flip chart page on the wall for each phase of the project and ask team members to brainstorm tasks on post its. Then, organize the post its chronologically.
• Allow task owners to provide timing estimates for tasks.
• Ensure all task areas/phases have a single defined owner.
• Ask each participant to share a potential risk (make it anonymous if needed).
• Document all action items with an owner, task, and due date
• Have food and make it fun!

Tips to Improve Your Project Status Meeting

Dear Dana,

I’m a new project manager and I’ve been having sporadic project status meetings with my team, but they’re NOT WORKING.  Every project status meeting turns into a big vent session, and I’m not really getting the information that I need.  Most people seem to just call in to say “everything is fine” while others insist they have a schedule conflict and can’t participate.  Please share tips I can use to improve our next project status meeting!

Julie in Lexington

Dear Julie,

In a word, YES!  There is help.  Let’s explore a few things you can begin doing immediately to enhance the effectiveness of your status meetings.

• Get the team to agree to a regularly scheduled time for your status meetings (e.g. Mondays 9:00 – 10:00, every other Tuesday 2:00 – 4:00, etc.). Don’t try to schedule them sporadically.
• Emphasize the importance of attending status meetings and discuss the procedures around missing a meeting (e.g. submitting status information to you prior to the meeting, sending a substitute, etc.)
• Clarify EXACTLY what information you want each team member to provide during the status meeting. One of the easiest ways to do this is by developing a brief project status update form (typically includes schedule/budget/quality variance, potential risks, and issues).  Insist that team members complete the form prior to the meeting.
• Let the team know that vague terms like “soon, asap, costly” are not sufficient for status updates. Instead, each team member should quantify/specify as much as possible (e.g. within 3 days, 2 defects, $50,000, etc.)
• Develop a ground rule that anyone who voices a complaint must also suggest a solution. Develop a habit of asking the “venter” to take an action to identify potential solutions or next steps for the issue and provide an update during a future meeting.
• Don’t allow team members to just report “everything is fine”. Press them for specific feedback on tasks, schedule, budget, quality levels, customer interactions, technology performance, etc.
• Insist on having team members update the status of their action items or tasks in the appropriate spreadsheet/database before the action item/task due date.
• Post a Risk List in the project war room (or on a Powerpoint slide if meeting virtually). Ask each person to document any potential risks on a bright pink post it and post it on the Risk List prior to the start of the meeting.

This video provides additional tips to improve project status meetings.  For more information on project management or facilitation skills training, contact us.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/danabrownlee/

Project Management Skills for Leaders

Years ago I decided to completely revamp my standard project management skills training workshop to develop a second version for non project managers because I’d been getting so many requests from non project manager types who had no intention of entering the project management field but just needed the skills on a day to day basis.  Looking back it makes complete sense.  After all, we’re all managing projects weekly, monthly, etc. whether it’s developing a marketing plan, launching a new product, hiring a new team, documenting a process, organizing a team event, completing appraisals – the list goes on and on! As a corporate trainer and team consultant, I’ve found that the most effective leaders are often those who have also mastered these critical project management skills:

1. Managing Various Stakeholders (particularly difficult ones)

Project managers are the proverbial hub in the center of the wheel constantly being pulled on by various different stakeholders with different personalities and interests.  They must become masters at managing these different stakeholders and their associated expectations. What an amazing skill that all leaders could benefit from!

Tips for enhancing this project management skill:

• Learn to listen: really understand your stakeholders and what makes them tick (or what keeps them up at night).
• When working on a major task/project, don’t just consider the team most closely associated with it. Early on identify all potential stakeholders (anyone with a stake in the project).  Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by not initially considering outside groups like Legal or Finance (or even an outside agency like the FDA) for example because they don’t seem to be directly associated with it.  If you’ve been asked to lead product development for a new caffeine laced cereal, trust me you want to engage Legal BEFORE there is a problem, not AFTER.
• Customize communications to different stakeholder preferences. Project managers are masters at determining what level of detail/type/format of communication each stakeholder prefers and to the extent possible customizing to each.  Figure out early on whether the client/vendor/executive prefers to receive a monthly email summary or be invited to weekly team meetings to obtain status and try to customize to those preferences as much as possible.

2. Quantifying Risk

Most of us realize intuitively that there’s risk associated with a new endeavor, but all too often we methodically (and quite consciously) plod onto the Titanic, check into our stateroom, take a nap and are shocked when we soon end up scrambling for a life boat.  Many leaders have a sick feeling when they’re tasked with the impossible or are asked to make organizational changes that don’t make sense but inexplicably, they tend to nod, smile and try to figure out how to “make it work”.  Project managers are adept at quantifying risk (sometimes even before the formal planning phase) to provide opportunities to mitigate risk, redesign/rescope the effort, or even reconsider the initiative overall.

Tips for enhancing this project management skill:

• Develop a habit of gathering a broad cross section of stakeholders early on to brainstorm and quantify risks.
• Estimate severity for each risk event by multiplying probability times impact (e.g. 25% chance of rain during the company wide event * $100K impact = $25K estimated severity).
• Prioritize risks and develop mitigation strategies/back up plans for most severe risks.

3. Encouraging Critique

So many leaders make the classic mistake of getting lathered up about their latest brilliant idea and jumping to execution without actually vetting the idea objectively (no, running it by your mother or spouse doesn’t necessarily count J). Let’s face it – even the leaders who might ask for constructive feedback are unlikely to get much candor.  After all, each leader has a pet project – their baby – and no one wants to tell the boss they have an “ugly baby”.  So, instead, the project moves forward and becomes a disaster.  Project managers are taught to take all projects through the Initiating Phase.  This is the first phase of Project Management which occurs even before planning, and the goal is to objectively vet the idea/concept to determine whether it should even become a project (e.g. have resources assigned, etc.)  Leaders in general tend to get very little constructive feedback by nature and as a result are much more likely to proceed with ill-conceived ideas.

Tips for enhancing this project management skill:

• Build vetting into your standard processes for initiating new projects/work efforts. Simpler is often better so don’t strive for complexity. Possibly develop a simple one page form where the initiator documents anticipated benefits and costs for the potential effort, then the team reviews and discusses as appropriate.
• Identify someone to play “devil’s advocate” during team meetings and rotate the role alphabetically. This will help build a culture where it’s not just ok but preferred to pick at an idea a bit before rubber stamping it.
• Don’t just tell others that you want constructive feedback, show them. Actively reward those who provide constructive feedback – whether it’s a simple heartfelt thanks or $10 dropped in a special jar for each comment, find a way to provide positive affirmation.

4. Temperature Check Constantly

In many ways project managers are walking thermometers of sorts.  Any time they step on an elevator with a stakeholder, they must be prepared to provide a quick synopsis of the status of the project or the project team.  They’re often asked to compare estimates to actuals, assess status relative to quality, time, cost, (good, fast, and cheap), provide updates on team conflicts or recent problems, etc.  Similarly, the best leaders have their fingers on the pulse of the organization – not checking in mid year and at year end, but truly finding ways to keep abreast of status on various initiatives and also maintain an accurate sense of the overall morale of the organization.

Tips for enhancing this project management skill:

• Build small relationship building elements into most group gatherings. Small consistent efforts can be more impactful than a once a year team retreat.
• Develop agreed upon status elements/success criteria. Status can mean different things to different people so remove the mystery by determining up front which elements are important to define/report out on for key initiatives. If you’re most interested in getting regular feedback on defect rates, client satisfaction levels, wait times, actual vs. estimated costs, etc., clearly communicate that early on.  Better yet, develop a template for status reporting organization wide.
• Periodically poll the group anonymously to gather tangible feedback to get an authentic sense of morale levels, concerns, etc.

Dana Brownlee is an acclaimed keynote speaker, corporate trainer, and team development consultant.  She is President of Professionalism Matters, Inc. a boutique professional development corporate training firm based in Atlanta, GA.  She can be reached at danapbrownlee@professionalismmatters.com.  Connect with her on Linked In @ www.linkedin.com/in/danabrownlee and Twitter @DanaBrownlee.