Archive for the 'coaching' Category

Seth Godin has a knack for making new distinctions for every-day occurrences in life. His latest is "sheepwalking". Seth defines sheepwalking as, "…hiring people who have been raised to be obedient and giving them a braindead job and enough fear to keep them in line." Some might say that is cynical. Others might see themselves in the description. Seth goes on to say, "…sheepwalking is actually on the rise."

Could sheepwalking lead to malicious compliance?

Seth has me wondering. Where are sheepwalkers working? How might they find their way to our projects? What might happen? Is sheepwalking reversible? Is there really such a thing as sheepwalking? Read the rest of this entry ¶

I do a lot of business reading along with other non-fiction reading. People regularly ask how I read so much. While I did learn speed reading, I got better advice from a teacher that maps nicely with these two articles How to Read a Business Book, by Slacker Manager and How to Read Fast, by Roman's miles. Both courtesy of Lifehack. Enjoy!

No, this isn't another ruse to sell greeting cards. The idea of an International Project Management Day was conceived to bring recognition and appreciation to project managers. The stated purpose is

"Increase the awareness of the value of project management within the large business, government, small business, and social communities and promote project management as a true profession and key business strategy. This includes, but is not limited to: construction, information technology, entertainment, government, aeronautics, health care, ecology, social, disaster recovery, community improvement, and quality of life projects."

Take the time to acknowledge or appreciate someone on your project, in your organization, or your circle of family and friends.

Showing appreciation and acknowledgement is a good thing…a really good thing. It keeps us going both on the giving and receiving end. Let's take the time, not just on November 2nd, to let project managers, project teams, clients, and contractors know that we sincerely appreciate working with them. The Gallup Organization research indicates without appreciation and acknowledgement at least once every 7 days individuals and teams won't sustain high performance.¹

In addition to the IPM-day events you'll be attending, how about you begin building a habit in your organization for acknowledging and appreciating each other? Last year I invited readers to Try this with Me: Acknowledge and Appreciate. I followed it with my Field Report: Acknowledge and Appreciate. I have to admit I need to do more work. It takes my attention to engage with others in ways that they know I appreciate them. So, I'll be doing the exercise again for the next two weeks. Here's the exercise: Read the rest of this entry ¶

1. As reported in First, Break All the Rules, by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, published in 1999. [ ⇑ back ]

I've been travelling extensively for the last week. Somehow, client work took a priority over blogging. (Imagine that!) I'll fill you in.

Greg Howell and I offer a project leadership program we call the Project Leaders' Studio. This is a program for people who are project managers who want to develop leadership skills. We conduct the program primarily by teleconference. However, during the first part of the program we conduct an in-person 3-day intensive. We just finished an intensive that was quite instructive for Greg and me.

During the intensive we cover a series of topics that we claim collectively represent a shift in the foundation of project management. We start with the issue of uncertainty. While every project manager knows the future is uncertain, most PMs plan for their project as if the plan can be followed. When times get tough, more detail is added to the plan. This only makes the plan more difficult to follow. Our conversation at the intensive centered around the organizations' demand for more detailed planning and an insistence on measuring the PM to a baseline schedule. The PMs concurred producing a detailed schedule helped them manage the project, however in candid moments they lamented being measured on a baseline plan. While Greg and I urge people to improvise with their team, they are officially measured and rewarded on their ability to follow the plan.

We explored many topics: listening, Theory of Constraints, lean principles, DNA of the Toyota Production System, capacity-delay curve, and autonomic control. The most impacting topic was trust. We've explored this topic on many occasions, but none as clear as this one.

Most PMs know their team is only as strong as the trust that exists among the team members. We continually hear PMs say that the team is temporary, therefore there's no good reason or not enough time to invest the long hours in building trust. (We really think that this is a cop out. People don't know how to build trust.) Patrick Lencioni describes trust as the foundation of all functioning teams. As we explored the basis for trust, it looked more like a small investment that would yield a big return.

We have two favorite books on trust. Building Trust in Business, Politics, Relationships, and Life, by Rober C. Solomon and Fernando Flores and The Trusted Leader, by Robert Galford and Anne Seibold Drapeau. From the two books we have created a set of exercises that a PM can follow to develop skills at swiftly establishing trust on a team. Have a look at one of the four sessions on trust from our series: Granting Trust. There are three other studio notes on the subject of trust: cultivating commitment-making, producing trust, and repairing trust.

We learned two lessons during the intensive: first, people only hope that trust develops on their projects, and second, trust is too often the happy accident of an early breakdown in trust. Our conversation during the intensive dwelled on the seeming inaccessibility we have as PMs to the underlying sources of trust. Thankfully, by the end of the conversation the PMs could see practical actions they could take.

Have a look at the notes on Granting Trust. Try the exercises on your project. We think Pat Lencioni hit the nail on the head…the foundation of all high performing teams is trust. There is nothing more important for you to do as a project manager than to build and preserve trust among your team.

This Project e-Tip comes courtesy of a fellow blogger and close friend Joe Ely. Joe writes in the blog Learning About Lean. He shares with his readers what he is learning as he and his company adopt a lean approach to the design, fabrication, and construction of pre-engineered wood structures. As usual, Joe made some great comments to last week's e-Tip. I've used them as a basis for this. Thanks Joe. Hope you enjoy Purple Cow. It's in the mail!

The Project Reformer's e-Tip of the Week

015: Make Any New Practice a Habit

One of the challenges on every new project is getting project team members to adopt a standard set of practices. These might entail planning, reporting, preparing to start a task, and simple communication protocols among team members. Here's a way to turn your intention for a new practice into a new habit. The following example uses the contrasting intention-commitment statement pairs used in Project e-Tip 014: Shift Good Intentions Into Commitments. Make a 3×5 card with the contrasting statements on it and put the card in my pocket. Make a simple chart for the next 20 work days and put it on my desk. Each day color code it: green means I used a statement like this 4 or more times — yellow 2 or 3 times — red means 0 or 1 time. Each day assess how well I use the statements by referring to the chart. Note what I am learning, what I am getting good at, and where I will place my attention in the next day. Enlist a colleague to help me accomplish my intent. Request that person's assessment weekly on my use of such language. The intentionality and deliberateness of this exercise are what makes it work. And you might discover it is not easy to stay on a program of this sort. You will learn what it takes for you to produce a new habit. That will be great data for you when working with team members who are trying to do the same. This Project e-Tip is based on Joe Ely's comments to last week's e-tip. Joe writes Learning About Lean.

©2003 Hal Macomber | RPM | e-Tip Archive | PDF | Submit Tip

Anyone for a free book? If I publish your proposal for an e-Tip, then I'll send you Purple Cow for being remarkable.

I've spent the last three days with a group of great people led by Dave Buck. Ostensibly the weekend was about branding and being boldly oneself. It turned out to be so much more.

Of the many breakthroughs for me this weekend, I thought you might enjoy hearing about three. First, a little background. Greg Howell and I are kicking off a pilot of a coaching program for project managers/leaders this month. We call it the Project Leader Studio™. We will be working with 15 project managers for the next six months to develop their leadership skills and practices. We call it a studio because they will be learning as they lead.

1. While we have spent quite a bit of our time on designing the coaching program and creating program materials, I am now seeing that it will need to evolve if it is to serve the interests of the participants. In other words, like all good projects, the project manager needs to embrace uncertainty to produce the greatest result for the clients. In addition, we must find ways to incorporate the design talents of the participants as we go.
2. I saw that the same thing that makes leaders successful must be present to make this program successful. What's that? TRUST. This will be quite the test for us. Will we be able to do what we say each of the participants must do to have a great project? We'll see. (And I'll let you know.)
3. There are plenty of people who have something to offer and are just waiting for an invitation to help. I found a great coach Julia Stewart, Your Life Part 2, who will be working with our leadership coaches on honing their leadership coaching skills.

Phew. I'm so glad this is a pilot. I have so much to learn!

p.s. We'll be offering another Project Leader Studio™ in October.

A Few Thoughts On Coaching
Much of my time is in coaching conversations with leaders in the midst of implementing lean project practices. Lencioni's Leadership Trilogy is just one of my supporting guides. A more all-around useful support is Coachville. I encourage anyone leading change to join Coachville — it's free through the end of 2002. I have been coaching for over 12 years. I have benefited more from Coachville during the last year than from any other single source.

Why coach? Coaching is a skill I see effective leaders use. The skill is particularly important during times of rapid change and learning. People need a leader's help mostly because as human beings we are permanently blind. What do I mean? We are not just unaware of our behaviors or of improtant distinctions, but there are some things that we cannot see if we have our attention on what we should be looking at. Take golf. If one is shifting weight inappropiately during a backswing, looking at the shift in one's body while swinging as a means of correcting the situation takes one's eyes off the ball. Do that and one is sure to miss the ball. So what can we do? Get a coach who can observe us in action. As a leader you can do the same for your team. But how do you interact? What are you looking for? How do you engage with your team?

Begin by exploring the Coachville's tremendous offerings. Coachville offers training for coaches: coaching models, coaching principles, 'How to Coach Anyone' course-by-email, 'What is Coaching' by Real Audio, live conferences, certifications, an abundance of supporting resources, and the most innovative approach to learning: the telecourse — courses by teleconference. Many of these resources and courses are free. Others have nominal fees.

You've got nothing to lose. Join Coachville! And if you are looking for a coach CoachvilleReferral is the largest site for finding a coach.