Things are getting back to… normal? New normal? Sort of normal, but still work from home sometimes? With no masks… some masks … We Don’t Need No Stink’en Masks, usually… well, if you have a cold… ok not back to normal-normal!

Let’s face it, our teams have been scattered for quite a while now and we can look forward to getting back to the office unless of course we’ve decided not to work that way anymore. Whatever the business decides, I’m thinking we need to take steps to Get This Band Back Together!

A great way to get people to reconnect (virtually or on site) is to get them calibrated to the structure of how we are doing business now.  We can find a couple of great tools for this in the Wiley Products I offer as an Authorized Partner. That means I can facilitate or set your organization up to do your own facilitations. Here are my favorites for 2021.

Cohesive Teams as a Self-Development Tool

This one is for individuals working on various teams. It could be given to an intact team, or a group of project managers working on different projects or a combination. It’s for people who work on teams as a project leader, SME, general team member and even our beloved extended team members. It even works for a functional team like, Stability Ops or, Regulatory Affairs or the Cross Functional Management Team, or an executive team. Ok, you get it right?

It operates on the Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team pyramid that originated in Patrick Lencioni’s best seller the Five Dysfunctions of a Team. A best seller for over 17 years now. Attendees tune into the 5 behaviors, shown here:

 

Team Application of Emotional Intelligence

Another valuable option is the new Everything DiSC Agile EQ. It gives attendees the opportunity to calibrate to the same definitions of the 8 instinctual responses known as mind-sets. Attendees learn what their own go-to mindset style is, and then they learn how apply the other mindsets that may be better suited to a given situation. This role playing is great for learning and bonding. Again, perfectly suited for intact teams or complete strangers at any level in the organization.

Over the next few months I’ll be sharing more information on these tools through Facebook Live recordings and perhaps a webinar or two. Stay up-to-date by following me on LikedIn and Facebook.

 

Watch for news on upcoming webinars and book signing events – post COVID-19! Sign up for the newsletter!

 Next Month: Types of Trust for Teams

Poof You're A Project Manager And Other Delusions of Grandeur

C'mon Let's Play! Living, Playing and Moving Forward

The post Let’s Get This Band Back Together! appeared first on Suberla Consulting.

If I had two equally qualified candidates and the only difference was that one had a PMP, I’d probably select that one. I never ran into that situation, but if I did, that’s how I would have handled it. More often than not, final selection criteria are based on leadership capability, the ability to move between details and the demonstrated ability to meet expectations, demonstrated capabilities and other skills and experience.
While working with PMinLS, my project management membership organization, I heard a lot of opinions on the necessity of holding a PMP.  Managers vary on how important it is, I heard everything from it is mandated, it’s not required and even, “I wouldn’t even hire a PMP!” That comment turned every head in the room? What the heck – there were at least 20 PMPs in the room.

When I pursued the PMP in 2000, I was already a project manager and wasn’t thinking about a new job, or what others thought about me having a PMP. I took the PMP Test in 2000 because… well… it was there! Years later, as a hiring manager, my analogy was that the PMP certification is like a driver’s license. If I’m looking for someone to drive me to town to meet my friends for dinner – any licensed driver will do. If I’m looking for a driver to take my family cross country through mountains, deserts and treacherous roads, I’ll find a well-seasoned driver possessing that experience with an excellent record. Both have a driver’s licenses, but only one will get the job.

By the way, a certification will not stop a leader from driving a team and project over the proverbial cliff, it just means they have a thorough understanding of the material and will be able to provide a clear picture of what happened.

Bottom line: You are the only person to know if you should have a PMP or not. So, if you’re thinking, “Yeah, I do need that Stink’n PMP!” check out the example on line prep classes below or click on the website menu for Classes & Certifications.

EXAMPLE CERTIFICATION PREP PACKAGES

CAPM® Exam Prep Course

PMP® Exam Prep Course

Project Management for Information Technology

EXAMPLE INDIVIDUAL COURSES

Effectively Managing Project Stakeholders

Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers

Ethics for Project Manager

The post I Don’t Need No Stink’n PMP… (Or Do I?) appeared first on Suberla Consulting.

Here’s what to do …

A lot of very successful project managers started their careers by being thrown into the role just as everything falls apart on the project.  Usually, projects falling apart is the first observable sign, to the casual observer, that a project manager is needed to lead a project. It means your first foray into project management begins with project recovery.  Oh… how nice it would be to have been to be there at the beginning.  Too bad, so sad, maybe next time.  Let’s wipe that look of being a deer in the headlights off your face.  Here are some first steps for taking on this new role.

Educate Yourself: 

Find at least three project management books that are short or very easy to flip through to find guidance on Work Breakdown Structures (WBS), creating plans, and risk management.  There are hundreds of project management books, the mother of all of them is the PMI’s PMBOK® (A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge).  It won’t be much help at this very moment but if you’re going to be doing this for a while it’s a must have reference book.  Join online project management groups and ask questions.

Define the Basics:

• The Team: There will be a team of some sort identified. Establish who is either doing, or directly managing those who are doing, the work. This is your core team. The others are there for status updates; they are a kind of extended team for now. Immediately split this group up or you may never get anything done. Nothing personal, just two different objectives. My first team on one large scale project recovery had 27 members. NIGHTMARE!!!! Publish a schedule of the core team meetings and if necessary the extended team updates. With luck you can eliminate the second team with a reliable status report.
• The Problem: This is a bit trickier. The problem sometimes appears to be that the project is late, because it’s not meeting milestones. This is a symptom, not the problem. Find the document outlining the plan, if there isn’t one, that’s a problem. Determine if the right resources are accountable for what needs to be done, it’s a part of the plan, again, if there isn’t a link to the resources needed, that’s a problem. Ok, you get it, most often the problem is that there isn’t an integrated plan outlining what the product of the project is, the work that has to be done, and the resources (the team members, the budget, and any facilities) needed to get the project done.
• The Constraints and Requirements: What has to be done and by when. Now, as a PM you must ask “Why?” You have to understand the purpose of the project and its alignment to the final product (or service or process). Sometimes deadlines exist for very important reasons, sometimes they are targets. Understand what is negotiable, and what absolutely is not – know why.

Work with an expert:  Find a PM mentor in your company, one that will facilitate some initial meetings for you so that you can hit the ground running. If there isn’t a real expert in project management, go find one. Here is a quick test.  Ask them what is in a project plan.  If the answer describes a schedule, they’re not an expert.  It is part of it, but it certainly isn’t all of it. You will need to have planning sessions to understand the work to be done by the people who do that work. This is a larger group than your core team. You will identify and create response strategies to the risks they identify and differentiate them from the issues you are currently dealing with. Know the difference. For a small project these meeting might take around three to four hours.  For larger programs it could be up to four days.  There’s no time to develop the expertise – get an experienced project manager to facilitate, then learn as you go for next time…. Yes, I’m afraid there will be a next time… and another…

There are a lot more things to be done, of course, this is just a start – good luck.

The post Oh No! They just made me a project manager! appeared first on Suberla Consulting.