Project Management, initiative, leadership

I have been in a nicely called training, entitled "Strategic Thinking". I must admit I was a little bit disappointed that it was a "back-to-basics" of management, i.e. Mission (or Statement of Purpose), Vision, Strategies (Initiatives), and Action Plan (I would rather call it an "actionable plan"). But it's a great refresh actually, as we are always so much dragged into the day-to-day operational business, that we hardly remember that we have to set time aside for thinking about the business, and not only performing it. Of course, you cannot afford to lose the focus on the operational part, as this is core - but you DO have to stop from doing at some points in time, and start THINKING. And this was the main idea behind the whole training: STRATEGIC THINKING means THINKING. Something that we don't always do, but the biggest strategists and the biggest achievers do often. In your busy calendar, find half a day when you plan to regularly think abo...

I've talked some while ago about communication styles in different cultures - but diversity is still on top of my mind even if I speak about people grown in the same culture, working together to a common goal. Looking at the big picture, you see a team performing at the highest levels . But when drilling down, even in the small teams you can find so many different personalities, so many views about the world or how things should go/be done which is still amazing. You will have a star, or at least someone believing to be a star, or going into that direction. You will have the quiet do-er, sometimes called the silent hero. You can also find the "always complaining", and hopefully you will have an always happy guy (annoying everybody else with a positive attitude). It's a nice mix, and it's also a great challenge to have. But how do you get to have such a team? Would you like one? How would you manage it? Well - getting it is really easy: you just hire good ...

Incremental development is one technique used in Project Management to progressively develop your project scope and work, while the project is running. So rather than spending a lot of time and effort in the beginning of the project to discover all the requirements, and do all the estimates, and uncover all unknowns, you decide to start with something that allows you to begin working, and then - as project details uncover - you update your project plans accordingly. Well, here is the great idea: why not use the same technique when developing yourself? Why not use it when coaching and developing your people? Rather than saying you need to become somebody else in one year, or two years, or more - you can start the transformation today with one first step. You cannot expect that the transformation happens over night - you have to gradually work on you in order to change one thing, then another, and then another... and while experimenting a new style, or applying a new lesson, yo...

This was the first lesson in my most recent management training, done under the umbrella of the Gustav Kaser Training International (GKTI): ask yourself every morning why are you enjoying yourself (WAIEM). It might sound like a dumb question, but... think a little bit: if you had at least one reason to be happy that day, wouldn't you feel better? It could be anything: your baby saying the first word, winning the lottery, one award that one of your employees received, or just because it's a late summer day, with some bright warm sun in the sky. And... if you can't find a reason to enjoy yourself... just make up one ! Think about the challenges of that day, and how you plan to attack them, and the results you expect - you might already feel better just because of that! So... WAIEM every day, every morning, and during the day. Be happy and smile - and the people around you will also feel the joy. Why? Because happy people are contagious (well, when they are not stepping...