Lonnie Pacelli's Blog, page 74

Surviving a Failed Project

Just about every seasoned project manager has experienced at least one failure in his or her career. I am always skeptical of the experienced PM who says "I've never failed".  They're either lying or don't have experience. Some of my best (and most painful) growth as a professional occurred because of a failed project. Project managers can redeem themselves and maintain credibility by doing the following:
Readily admit any mistakes made - execs hate whining and finger-pointing. As the PM, admit where things went wrong. Make sure the admitted mistakes are thoughtful and realistic, not an "I killed Lincoln" attitude of taking blame for anything.
Publicize the lessons learned - develop a lessons learned document with input from the team which outlines what you've learned from the situation and how you might help other project managers avoid the same failure.
Amazon.com Widgets    3.   Show that you learned your lesson - Don't make the same mistake twice; execs will be much less sympathetic          with a project manager who hasn't learned his or her lesson the first time around.

Don't Be a "Squeaky Wheel" Leader

Several years back I managed a group of very high-energy, spirited, vocal managers.  One of the managers was particularly vocal on just about every issue.  This manager, who I'll call "Vox", frequently complained to me about other managers, about how Vox's organization wasn't being rewarded appropriately, and how Vox's organization needed more people than Vox's peers.  I did a lot of discussing with Vox about the issues that Vox faced but found that I would frequently give in to Vox's demands.  Vox's peers became very frustrated not only with Vox but also with me because I was showing preferential treatment to Vox.  Vox was the squeaky wheel, and I would grease it just to stop it from squeaking. Bad on me. 
As leaders we've all had that one employee who was overly vocal about any number of issues and saw to it that you were going to hear every detail about his plight. Many times, just as with a crying baby, the tendency is to give the employee what he wants just to stop his whining.  While this may bring some short-term relief, it only re-inforces the whining behavior. The employee now knows that the next time he wants something all he has to do is be the squeaky wheel and he'll get what he wants.
Amazon.com Widgets The answer is clear:  don't grease the squeakly wheel.  As leaders it is important that we listen to our employees but that we don't show favoritism or preference toward a particular employee simply because he whines the most.  Listen to the squeaky wheel's concerns, make rational decisions regarding his concerns, and explain not only the "what" behind your decision but also the "why" behind the decision to the squeaky wheel.  Most importantly, don't just give in.  If you reward the squeaky wheel, you'll not only reinforce his behavior but you'll create other squeaky wheels in your organization because they will see that you grease squeaky wheels. 

Put the oil can away.  Don't oil the squeaky wheel. 

Move Fast, but don't Leave the Team at the Train Station

When I was a kid in Connecticut I went with my Father to bring my sister and her infant son to the train station.  My sister had a lot of bags so my Father helped her carry her things on to the train.  I was standing on the platform waiting for my Father to get off the train so we could go home.  Then all of a sudden the train started moving with my Father still on the train!  Here I am, an 8-year-old boy standing on the train platform all by myself while my Father is on the train heading to Washington DC.  It was one of the scariest times of my entire childhood, being left on the train platform all by myself. 
There is a real correlation here to leading teams.  If the leader is moving too fast and doesn't have the team's buy-in and support, it is as if the team is being left at the train station wide-eyed and panicked while the leader drives the train full-steam-ahead.  The end result is a team that isn't truly behind its leader and is not going to perform at its fullest potential.

Leaders, take note:  Your job in leading a team is to ensure that the team understands what needs to be done, understands why it is important, and understands how he or she fits into getting the work done. When any one of these factors are left off it is as if you are leaving your team at the train station while you are taking a trip on a runaway train.
Amazon.com Widgets Take time to understand if your team is on the train or if they are standing at the station.  If they're at the station, go back and pick them up by securing their buy-in through helping them understand what, why, and how.

The Shift from a Process to a Project Focus

I’ve noticed an interesting trend in working with my clients.  There is an increased focus on companies assembling project teams comprised of cross-organizational team members to solve problems. This is increasingly being done in favor of single organizations trying to produce results on their own.  More and more project teams are taking on "virtual" characteristics where teams are temporarily assembled and could be located anywhere in the country or the world.
For project managers, being able to manage virtual teams with team members that may not have a direct reporting relationship to the project manager will continue to be more the norm than the exception in project management. This will require project managers to place greater focus on establishing and maintaining credibility with team members. No credibility means the team will not follow the project manager.

Project managers can effectively navigate the shift by keeping these few points in mind: Amazon.com Widgets Act in the line manager's best interests. The PM needs to demonstrate that he or she understands the line manager's business and is thinking like the line manager.
Learn quickly. If the subject matter is new to the PM the PM needs to double-time-it to learn the functional area and demonstrate to the project team that he or she has strong command of the subject matter. Be transparently diligent. The PM needs to address problems head-on and not try to sweep issues under the carpet and definitely not try to hide problems from his or her business partners.

Keeping the Trains Running isn't Good Enough

When I was a kid one Christmas I got a Lionel train set from my parents.  It was really cool.  The locomotive had a smoke stack that actually "smoked" when you put a drop of oil into it.  The transformer which governed the speed of the train went all the way up to "90" (I still believe it was in "miles per hour!") and had three rail cars and a caboose.  The train set also came with enough track to form a figure-8.  Imagine that! 
As I played with this train, I found that I could only do three track configurations; that of a figure-8, an oval, and a circle.  The first time I assembled the track in a circle and tried out the train, I realized that the only excitement I would get would be when I pegged the transformer at "90" and ran the train off the tracks.  Got pretty boring as I realized the futility of watching a train go round and round in circles.
Amazon.com Widgets As I think about my train set in the context of business, I can't help but ponder how many of us take a "keep the trains running" approach to our jobs.  The focus of the job isn't about doing something better, faster, or cheaper, it is just about doing the job the same way as it has been done before.  Allowing this level of complacency to creep into your job is a dangerous thing.  Without a burning desire to improve, get better, and be more competitive you run the risk of becoming obsolete.  Go through the phone book today and look for "horse and buggy repair". You won't find it because innovation ensued to create the automobile.  Yet many leaders treat their jobs and careers as if they will be there forever and their value will never diminish.

If you're in the mode of "keeping the trains running" with your job then do some serious introspection about how you're going to shake yourself loose of the grip of complacency.  If you don't you just may find that your career has just passed you by and you've gone the way of the Do-Do Bird.

Delivering Constructive Criticism

Over the years I have been on both ends of constructive (and not so constructive) criticism.  Quite frankly, I still struggle with doing this flawlessly every time, but I've put together some guiding principles that I try to work under and thought might be helpful to you:
Be timely – Providing feedback as close to the event as possible is always the best approach, because the event is fresh in minds and can be related to more easily.  However, make sure you’re not providing feedback out of emotion and positioning yourself for an emotional argument.  Go out for a walk or sleep on it first then give the feedback.  Try not to wait longer than a day or so as the effectiveness of the feedback will go down the longer you wait.
Amazon.com Widgets Get some coaching if necessary before giving feedback – Consider running your feedback by a trusted colleague, friend, or spouse before giving it to the recipient.  Ensure that you don’t make it a griping session or an attempt to get support for your position.  Heed your coach’s feedback and incorporate it into your feedback for your recipient.  Another benefit of using a coach is it helps build your confidence in delivering the feedback and enforces some accountability on you to do it. 
Don’t offer feedback if your emotions aren’t in check – If you can’t seem to get over any anger or frustration don’t offer the feedback, even if a couple of days have passed.  If you can’t be factual and unemotional about your feedback it won’t come across as feedback; it will sound more like you’re picking on the recipient.  Get over your emotions then give the feedback.
Talk face to face if at all possible – You’re likely to get better results if you are able to discuss face to face and not only hear the verbal but see the non-verbal reactions, such as crossed arms (signifies an unwillingness to cooperate) or facial expressions.  I’ve tried to give feedback through e-mail or over the phone and have not been nearly as successful as giving it face-to-face.  If you can talk face to face, do it.   
Jot down the behaviors you want to give feedback on ahead of time – Know the specific situation and behaviors that raised your eyebrows and write them out ahead of time.  Ensure the behaviors are factual and easily understandable and not laden with emotion.  If you feel you may not be able to judge the emotional content of the feedback, ask a colleague to review whether your feedback is factually driven and not emotionally-charged.
If something was done well, say so – If your recipient did something well, start your feedback session off with the things that were done well.   Don’t worry that you may be dampening the effect of the constructive feedback because you also gave positive feedback.  Mixing positive and constructive feedback tells the recipient you are being objective and balanced and will make your feedback more effective.
Avoid emotional attacks – Statements like “You idiot!” or “Your ideas are stupid!” are very general, have no constructive value and don’t belong in a feedback session (or anywhere else for that matter).  Your feedback should focus on fact and some unemotional assessment, such as “The joke you told in the meeting today could have been offensive to some of the attendees.” 
Let them know how the behavior affected you or others – For example, let’s say you are giving feedback to your recipient on his inability to meet deadlines.  The feedback could be, “You have not met the last three deadlines assigned to you.  Your colleagues need to take on additional work that was to be assigned to you because you are not meeting assigned deadlines.”  Helping the recipient understand the impact of the behavior assists in helping to understand the need to change the behavior.
Establish an understanding on desired behavior – Clearly outline for the recipient what behavior is desired.  Using our deadline example above, the desired behavior would be as follows: “The team needs you to meet each deadline given to you to keep the project on schedule.”  Even though this may seem unnecessary at times, you’re better off to ensure that desired behavior is clear with the recipient, and that he agrees to the desired behavior.

Regaining Trust

A couple of years ago I did an interview on what a manager can do to regain trust when he or she has screwed up royally.  I thought the points were particularly pertinent to many of my subscribers so I thought I'd print excerpts from the interview here in my One-Nugget Report:


What types of events cause loss of trust?
Any event where your actions don’t match your words. You do one thing and say another.
Any event where self-interest takes precedence over the interest of others or of an organization
Any event where an individual confides in you and you breach the confidentiality.
What steps can you take to regain it?
Admit the mistake – take ownership for the breach of trust and apologize.
Don’t make excuses – whether you were drunk, tired, or whatever else, don’t skirt responsibility by presuming you were out of control of your actions.
Demonstrate through actions that you won't do it again. Amazon.com Widgets Is what you do different with employees, peers, superiors?
In my view the answer is no. You breached trust regardless of the person or level of the person. You need to do the same thing regardless of the level of the recipient.

Can you give me an example of a situation where a manager breached the trust of an employee?
There was a manager who had an employee with a medical situation. In a meeting the manager told other meeting attendees of the medical condition in a condescending manner. The comment made it back to the employee who confronted the manager. The manager admitted the mistake to the employee, informed his HR department of the infraction, and told the employee that he was willing to accept whatever disciplinary action necessary because of the infraction. The manager and the employee eventually repaired their relationship and the employee regained trust in the manager, but only after the manager demonstrated that he had changed his ways.

Three Tips to Prepare Yourself for Entrepreneurship

Some years back I did an interview on how a person can prepare themselves for being an entrepreneur.  Having been an entrepreneur for a number of years, I was able to look back and highlight three of the most important nuggets that helped me better prepare for starting up a business of my own while working at both Accenture and Microsoft.  Give these a look and see if they resonate with you: 
Get some experience in managing finances – at the end of the day your business needs to make money.  Make sure you get experience developing and managing to a budget.  This is particularly important if you aren't disciplined with money.  If you're not sure about whether you're disciplined, then chances are you're not. :-)
Do different jobs within a company – don’t limit yourself to doing just one job in a company.  Bounce around and do tours of duties in sales, operations, product development, or other areas which will better round your skill-sets.  This was one of my most valuable things I did to prepare myself for entrepreneurship.  I find that I use a lot of different experiences from different jobs in my current entrepreneurial journey. Amazon.com Widgets Get a coach who has successfully managed a small business – glean as much benefit as possible from someone who has managed a small business and experienced both success and failures along the way.  You’ll get some great pragmatic advice that will help you prepare for your life as an entrepreneur.  If you don't think you need a coach, then be even more diligent about finding one.  You need a coach, end of sentence.



If you're considering starting your own business, take a look at my mini e-books to help you dip a toe into the small business pool with your eyes wide open.  Taking this step uninformed is a sure-fire way to get on the road to failure.  Be armed and aware.

Practical Pillars of Success

Secrets of success?  Oh puh-leeze.  There aren't any secrets of success in my opinion.   Success is achieved through things that we've been taught to do for years and years.  Good old-fashioned hard work is one of your strongest foundations to ensure meeting your life goals.  In addition, building the following pillars on the foundation of hard work will increase the likelihood that you can meet those goals and achieve your dreams.  Check out these four pillars and see if any resonate with you:
Define a stretch goal, but make it believable - By all means, push yourself beyond what you think you can achieve, but if you set a goal of "shed 30 pounds in two weeks" and you don't in all honesty believe you can attain the goal, then don't set it. You'll just say "I told you so" when you don't meet the goal. Keep it real, but make it challenging. Perseverance pays - Not every day is going to be sunny. There will be days where you feel as if the dragon has won. Stick to it and keep trying. Don't let one cloudy day cause you to quit. Amazon.com Widgets Don't rely on shortcuts - So, if you want to be a millionaire, unless you hit a huge lottery or aunt Nelda leaves you a bucket of cash in her will, you're going to have to work for it. Looking for an easy way out will just lessen the likelihood of success and will frustrate you when things don't go as you think they should. Work smart, not just hard - Working 90 hours a week doesn't provide any more assurance of achieving a dream career or making a million. Put together a clear goal, define a plan to meet the goal, and follow the plan. Don't spend lots of time on things that don't contribute to your goal, and don't do things yourself that someone else can do for you more effectively.

They Actually Pay Me To Do This?

Many people hate their jobs, but see it as a necessary evil if the mortgage is going to get paid and Junior is going to go to med school.  While paying the bills is of utmost importance, it doesn't mean you have to hate your job at the same time. If you're contemplating a career change (or if the current job environment is forcing you into an unplanned career change), give these few tips a look to help you find a new career you'll actually love:
Look to your hobbies - Love computers? How about a career as a developer or computer repair technician. Video games your bag? Look at a career designing and developing video games. It's magic when someone will pay you to do your hobby. Get feedback from friends, family and colleagues on passions that they see - Sit down with a few people you trust and ask them to give you some feedback on what they see as your passion areas. If you hear from several people that you have a passion, say, for working on automobiles, look at careers that involve cars. Amazon.com Widgets Do mini-internships - If you think you might be interested in a career but aren't sure, volunteer to do a four-week internship with someone already doing the job. There's dual benefit to doing this; you'll have a clearer idea of whether the career is for you and you'll do some great networking with someone who may be interested in hiring you after the internship. Talk to lots of people in different career areas - Find people in career areas, buy them a cup of coffee, and interview them. What do they love about their job? What do they dislike? If they had it to do all over again, would they choose the same career? Aside from learning a lot about different careers, you'll also build up your networking base. Do the "Up All Night" Test - Think about things that you love to do so much that you'd stay up all night either doing or talking about it. Maybe you'd talk into the wee hours about politics, or maybe you'd burn the midnight oil helping a friend with a problem. List out the things you'd stay up all night doing then look at jobs where someone will pay you to do it. Don't let someone project their passion on you - Just because Dad is a surgeon or Mom is a lawyer doesn't mean you have to follow suit. Your career is for you, not someone else, so don't be intimidated into a career because someone else says it's a good career.