ProjectWorld and World Congress for Business Analysts blog seeks to bring together all levels of project management and business analysis expertise, from diverse industries and perspectives, across business groups and information technology. Our goal is build successful collaboration and share content, best practices, techniques, and networking.
Earlier this week, guest blogger Peter Sloane commented here about communication challenges, and particularly the challenges that can arise as schedules and attitudes become more casual for summer.
Here in the PW&WCBA headquarters we recently missed a project team scrum meeting as so many members of the team were out on various July-4th-related holidays. Luckily it's a slower season, but what if an important deadline was missed or something slipped through the cracks as the scrum meeting went by the wayside? Part of our problem is, the team is just too big, if we kept the main meeting as a "scrum of scrums" and had smaller project teams meet separately scheduling issues wouldn't be quite so difficult.
Appropriately, PW&WCBA favorite Joseph Flahiff tweeted this illustrative video this morning:
How do you deal with large project teams?
Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com
One of our most popular sessions in 2011 was with Terri Dickson, PMP, Program Manager, External Mandates & Compliance Implementation, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield on "Soft Skills in a Virtual Team Environment."
Inspired by this, we're including "Elevating the Role: From Manager to Leader" as one of our focus areas this year, with break-out sessions in this topic every day. We've been focusing on leadership for years, as evidenced by this video on attributes of great leaders from ProjectWorld & WCBA 2008:
But how does a manager develop those all important leadership skills, especially in today's world of increasingly virtual work?
This piece in Public Service notes the challenge, saying "I had met many project and programme managers, too many of whom enjoyed the title but lacked the capability." One key takeaway from that article? "A professional may take an economically deterministic view, whereas a true leader takes the people view first."
Forbes joined the conversation as well, with a piece by Stephanie Lischke and Joel Wright which stated that "overlooked leaders are the people who are working on project teams, influencing others and taking on ever-larger and more complex assignments." The post suggested four messages that organizations should give to growing leaders in order to facilitate their development from manager to leader:
1. Think “process,” not “position.”
2. Understand your leadership brand.
3. Take control.
4. You are seen, heard and valued
Project Times focused on the "softer side" of the equation naming Enthusiasm, Empathy and Integrity as some of the key skills a leader should develop. Indeed, in Terri Dickson's PW&WCBA session last year maintaining these qualities even over video and phone conferencing was the suggested role of a virtual team leader.
Important to note: as does this post "PMI's PMP®—has little to do with leadership." OK, Leadership might not show up in the PMBoK, but we feel it's one of the skills that will truly elevate your career and your level of project success. Do you agree? Tweet at us or comment below to join in the conversation.
To elevate your leadership skills, join the "From Manager to Leader" track at PW&WCBA this September. Download the brochure to see all the sessions in this track and learn more. As a reader of our blog we'd like to offer you an exclusive 15% discount off the standard registration rate with code PW12BLOG.
Carlos Dominguez is a Senior Vice President in Cisco’s Office of the Chairman of the Board and CEO and a technology evangelist, speaking to and motivating audiences worldwide about how technology is changing how we communicate, collaborate, and especially how we work.
He describes himself not as a "futurist," but as a "Tech Nowist," which is to say someone who is interested in understanding what technology is available today and then using it to it's best advantage.
Dominguez will be presenting the keynote presentation "Becoming a Change Maker: What Technology Can Do to Bring You into the Future" on Wednesday, November 16th, 2011 at Project World and the World Congress for Business Analysts. In this session you'll gain insights on how to become a change-maker and create a culture that’s adaptable, agile and understanding of the virtual and global work environment and how you can leverage technology to advance your projects, portfolios and value to your organization.
Check out this video for a sneak peek of his presentation style:
To get started on improving your collaboration technique now, try these seven tips from a post on his blog:
Experiment – Many large enterprises have very strict processes and guidelines on the adoption of new company-wide technology deployments. I suggest adopting an approach of experimentation. Without experimentation you may miss a game changing technology.
Start Small – Engage in three to four small technology deployments and see what works.
Measure / Learn – At the onset of these experiments make sure you figure out a way to capture and measure the impact of these technologies. The data/results are key in gaining support from the executive team.
Executive Sponsor – Find an executive sponsor who is interested in technology or can gain the most from it. Keep them informed on a regular basis.
Expect Failure - Not everything will work. Keep documentation on what failed and why.
Trust – This is one of the key things to understand. Nothing replaces face-to-face meetings. The key human characteristic that enables or hinders collaboration is trust. Technologies like high definition video will have a significant impact on trust since facial expressions and body language are recognized. That makes HD video a valuable tool if the teams have never met or if their personal relationships are limited. Inversely, audio conferencing has very little impact on building trust. Use the right tool for the job!
Inside/Outside Company – To maximize the potential of any collaboration effort, consider how to get people outside your company to participate. Consider suppliers, partners and customers as potential participants and contributors. Some great things may happen!
This week I came across a number of interesting videos on the Project World twitter account. Here they are in case you missed it.
First, I found this video about the program that Disney Institute offers.
Disney Institute will be presenting "The "Magic" Behind Great Teamwork: Disney's Approach to People Management" on Monday, November 14th at Project World.
Next, check out this new program "RedCritter Tracker."
We've been discussing the influence of social media on project management software recently and this software takes that to a new level with Foursquare-style badges and a rewards store. What do you think, would you ever use a program like this? (If so, check out our track on "The New Era of Social Communication, Leadership & Collaboration.")
I also came across this video of PW&WCBA keynote speaker Carlos Dominguez, Senior Vice-President, Office of the Chairman and CEO, Cisco discussing collaboration tools and Cisco technology.
