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Oh no! It’s Uncle Fred! (How to talk to him at the family Christmas party)

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It’s Christmas time and we all are anticipating some experiences which will fall somewhere between It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

While I am blessed with a wonderful family and am looking forward to celebrations of Christmas with them, I think that we all are reminded of a few family members who can make this time of year a little more stressful.

The author of Crucial Conversations offers some tips on managing family conversations, and I wanted to share them with you.

Talking to Unruly Relatives
Follow these four recommendations for talking to unruly relatives about their bad behavior so you can strengthen relationships and enjoy spending time with your family this holiday season.
– Work on me first. To soften judgments, ask yourself, “Why would a reasonable, rational and decent person do what they’re doing?”
– Make it safe. When confronting bad behavior, first help the other person know you care about his or her interests.
– Just the facts. Start with the facts and strip out accusatory, judgmental, and inflammatory language.
– Tentatively share concerns. Having laid out the facts, tell the person why you’re concerned, but don’t do it as an accusation—share it as an opinion.
– Invite dialogue. After sharing your concerns, encourage the other person to share his or hers—even if he or she disagrees with you. One of the best ways to persuade others is to listen to them.

Of course, these principles apply to work relationships as well as family relationships.

During the next ten hectic days, make some “me time” to unwind a little bit, and some time to reflect on the successes, challenges and failures of the last year and what you have learned or can still learn from what went wrong.

Life is filled with relationships, and keeping track of family, work, and social commitments is a part of raising your game.  (And no, I don’t have an uncle Fred – but I do have a cousin who saw these tips and commented “Surely none of your relatives could ever be described as unruly!”  Nope – not you, Tim.)

Merry Christmas to you all!

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Radar O'Reilly project management techniques

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I know I’m dating myself when I say that I’m reminded of M*A*S*H’s Radar O’Reilly when I think about horse trading to get what you want.  Radar was the 4077th MASH company clerk and over time mastered the art of horse trading.  In one show he ended up trading a barbecue for a much needed incubator.

This was an entertaining episode, but what does that have to do with business success?  I remember learning from watching a master IT project manager as she worked her magic to get her project done.

I was working for a Fortune 500 company in the IT department.  There was a significant business transformation project going on and the implementation involved at least a dozen groups within the IT department.

Jean was the project manager, and she had called a project status meeting in a huge conference room filled with IT team leaders.

Jean (Project Manager): “In order to hit the date on the schedule, we need the server set up by the 15th.  Server OPS team – can you hit that date?”

Server OPS team: “We can’t do that.”
Jean: “Why?  What do you need?”
Server OPS team: “We don’t know how many U’s of rack space are needed, or what power configuration you need.”
Jean: “Server engineering team – can you give that to the OPS team?”
Server Engineering team: “Well, we could, but the guy on my team who can do it is tied up on project Mongoose”
Jean: “I know the PM for Mongoose.  Let me see if I can get him freed up.”

And so it went.  She masterfully worked her way around the table, clearing issues one person at a time, horsetrading her way to project success.

What did she do?

  1. She asked specifically for what she needed
  2. When she hit a roadblock, she asked “What do you need?”
  3. She worked to get that team what they needed so they would be free.

1. She asked specifically for what she needed.
This implies that she *knew* what she she needed, and by when.  She had the right people around the table.  Her plan was well thought out and included the right level of detail.  She was equipped to know, and was bold enough to ask directly and ask for a specific commitment from the team doing the delivery.

2. When she hit a roadblock, she asked “What do you need?”
Note that she didn’t complain.  She didn’t talk about her needs or what would go badly for her if they didn’t cooperate with her plan.  She didn’t threaten them with escalating to their management.

She simply and clearly asked what it would take to clear the roadblock.

She asked specifically how she could satisfy them.

Incidentally, this is an excellent skill to develop in all of your relationships – ask what the other party needs and work to help them get exactly that.

3. She worked to get that team what they needed so they would be free.
Jean was pretty transparent about “giving you what you want so I can get what I want.”   She used her relationship skills, communication skills, and leadership skills.  She went directly to the person with the authority to satisfy the dependency.

When they raised an objection, she did it all over again – all the way around the room until she reached the end of the chain.

The details of this technique are outlined in a readable and entertaining way in the “business novel” Critical Chain by Goldratt.

In all the years since then I have rarely seen a project executed as elegantly or efficiently as that one.

Negotiating well is a key part of Raising Your Game.

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Am I coachable?

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What does it meant to be coachable?

It’s not a reflection of intelligence, capacity, or talent.  Brilliant players frequently run into difficulty because they are not open to being coached.

According to Ruben Guzman, there are four stages of coachability.

  1. Not Coachable
  2. Selectively Coachable
  3. Reluctantly Coachable
  4. Completely Coachable

1. Not Coachable:

Someone who is not coachable is not interested in listening to a coach. 

When I think of “not coachable” I think of Winston Churchill who was quoted as saying  “I am always ready to learn although I am not always ready to be taught”

No one would question that Churchill had an amazing grasp of the English language and a compelling way of influencing people through seemingly impossible situations.  Yet with all of his talent and capacity he was unwilling to listen to others, unless it was his idea.

If you’re not coachable, hiring a coach would be like teaching a pig to sing.

 
2. Selectively Coachable

If you’re “Selectively Coachable,” you will listen to the coach when the coach agrees with you.

When I think about someone being selectively coachable, I think of  Randy Moss or  Terrell Owens 

Even if you’re not a big sports fan, you have probably heard of these phenomenally talented players who seem to run into trouble over and over again.  You might think they are “not coachable” but they must be coachable at some level.  There’s no way they would have made it to the NFL, and to that level of success without some willingness to be coached. If you’re “Selectively Coachable” I would suggest you wait before looking for a coach.  (Randy Moss has played for 3 teams so far during the 2010 NFL season.)

  3. Reluctantly Coachable

Someone who is “Reluctantly Coachable” is willing to listen to a coach, and do what the coach says even when he or she disagrees with what the coach has to say.  This person is uncertain of the wisdom of the coaches’ recommendations but is willing to follow their guidance.  To the extent that they trust the coach, they begin to see improvement. 

4. Completely Coachable

Someone who is completely coachable entrusts their success to the wisdom of the coach.  This is rare, but it can be seen in the lives of Olympic Champions. It is the foundation of transformational achievement and opens the doorway to possibilities which were previously unimagined.

 The question you have to ask yourself is “Where am I today in the levels of coachability?”

Even if you’re a 2 today, but are committed to moving to a 3, I’d think seriously about starting a coaching relationship. If you’re a 3 today and want to move to a 4, what are you waiting for? Give me a call for a free initial coaching session!
240–668-4799 
tom@brighthillgroup.com
 

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Business Intelligence usually isn't!

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I’ve been talking with a number of clients lately who are struggling to understand what’s happening in their business. 
The business folks tend to say “I need some help seeing  what’s going on.” 
The technical folks say “If we build a data warehouse the business people can see *everything.*  It will be great!”

The biggest problem with business intelligence is that while it’s possible to see the information that matters, people rarely can see what matters.

This has nothing to do with which database platform you pick.  It doesn’t matter which BI Toolkit you choose, either.

The hardest part of business intelligence is connecting the dots. 
This includes:

  • Finding the data elements that matter to your business problem – you have to know what to collect and make sure that you’re accurately collecting it
  • Defining how they

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Meeting Management: How to run a "Project Status" meeting

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In today’s post, we will cover the basics of how to run a meeting where the goal is to share information.

Overview

As we have covered previously, doing this well really requires only a few things:

  • Before the meeting: Make your plan
  • During the meeting: Follow your plan
  • After the meeting: Complete the plan 






Before the meeting
  • What do you want to tell them?  
    • Make a list of the key points you want to communicate.
  • Make sure you have invited the right people
    • Getting this right assures your message gets out efficiently.
  • Make sure that you have the right place for the meeting – 
    • Will the room/teleconference be big enough for the number of participants you expect?
  • Who needs to do something as a result of the new information you’re giving them? 
    • Make a list of anticipated action items for your reference.
  • Publish an agenda.  
    • This tells people that you have a plan.  This can be a simple list of bulleted items in the email invitation.
  • When do you need to follow up?  
    • How long after this meeting do you need to meet again?
  • Review your plan 
    • Take a look at the agenda – does it contain your key points?
    • Practice running through the agenda.  Yes, this is awkward and seems uncomfortable, but you’d rather find what’s missing before you’re in front of all those people, right?
    • Check your handouts for errors.  If possible, have someone else proofread your work.  It’s easy to overlook mistakes.



During the meeting


  • Start on time.  
    • If your meetings always start on time, people will learn to show up on time.
  • Show the agenda – 
    • Either give out a handout with the agenda, or 
    • Project it onto the screen.
  • STICK TO THE AGENDA! 
    • This is critical to accomplishing your goal.  If something comes up that could derail the meeting, speak to it directly – 
      • Write it down.
      • Tell the person that you’ve made a note of it, 
      • Assure the person who brought it up that you will address it either off line one on one or in a subsequent meeting.
      • Do it!  Make sure that you follow up.  This will pay big dividends.
  • Publish the key points 
    • Create a handout containing your key message points.
  • Action items:  
    • Take notes as you assign action items to team members.  
    • As the last point on the agenda, review each action item, due date and the owner
  • End on time (or early) 
    • You’ll find that having a plan and sticking to it during the meeting will let you finish on time.  Your attendees will appreciate that!

    After the meeting
    • Send a quick follow up message 
      • Thanking people for their attendance;
      • Reminding them of the key points discussed during the meeting.  You can essentially copy/paste these from your agenda; and 
      • Sending the list of action items, owners, and expected completion dates
    • Plan your next meeting






      To help you prepare, check out our toolkit

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      Is your project a "death march?"

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      The big important project you’re on is tough and it solves a critical business problem.  How do you know when it has become a “Death March”?

      Read on to see a list of criteria to help you evaluate your project, but first let me tell you the story of project “Maverick.”

      I was a part of a big organization with lots and lots of users.  Our ID provisioning process simply could not scale to meet our growing user base, and we were unable to grant and revoke access.  The toolset we had chosen to solve this problem was promising – it could scale to an appropriate level and was buzzword-compliant with our incumbent tools.

      Unfortunately we could not build a test environment with a big enough workload to fully vet the toolkit.  The only way to know whether it would work was after a big bang implementation.  Using hindsight it seems obvious that this was risky with a capital R.

      When I joined the team the project had been going on for about three years.  Each time there was a setback the project leadership earnestly believed it was simply another hurdle to be overcome.  Over time the small new investments grew to the point where quitting would have meant greater and greater losses, both financial and political.  No one wants their project to fail – especially after they’ve gone to the well over and over again to ask for more money.

      We were fortunate that after launch the initial damage was limited to about 700 user groups which were emptied – denying acces to hundreds of users.  This cost us a ton of unbudgeted overtime costs to manually clean up the mess after we backed out the new system from production.

      Eventually we concluded that the project was not merely difficult but actually was not going to succeed no matter what we did.  Now what?

      We had to find a way to:
      a) Solve the business problem that the project was intended to address, and
      b) Allow the project to gracefully shut down without the leadership losing face.

      a) Solving the business problem:

      1. New team capability – Over the course of the project we had grown our internal development teams (needed for enterprise system integration).
      2. Reuse of tools we already owned – We looked around at other enterprise-approved technologies that could attack parts of the problem so we could avoid the “big bang” aspect.  It also allowed us to “fail fast, fail cheap” by developing some prototypes before the big project was officially dead.  Quick successes in that area helped our credibility when we started to talk about letting Maverick die.
      3. New tools – We had acquired another toolkit which could act as an important front end of the alternative to Maverick.
      b) Graceful shutdown:
      Frankly this was far more difficult to address than the technology concerns. People issues are always more challenging than technology.  We had invested millions in the toolkit license and multiple more millions in labor costs for implementation.  
      Our vendor had done the same, and we had a strategic relationship with them.  We could not just cut ties.  We had to work out a plan where we could “sell” the internal leadership on the alternative and find a way for the vendor to pull back as well.  Eventually we agreed to trade the license dollars we paid for another product from the same vendor and we’d both just eat our respective losses.  Painful!
      Let’s look at the some of the indicators that your project is a Death March:
      1. Big bang – In all my years I have never seen an effective launch replacing an incumbent system where the new system required a big bang implementation.  If this is a key component of your plan – this should be a red flag, and a big one.
      2. Very complex system architecture – the solution covered a number of different areas, with little margin for failure – a crash in one subsystem would flow to many other systems.
      3. Huge initial implementation cost – It’s true that you get what you pay for, but since we would not see any results until after the new system was in place, this was a risk factor.
      4. Successive failures requiring significant unscheduled investment – none of these seemed big enough to justify killing Maverick, but the sum of the accumulated costs made the decision clear.
      5. Timeline extensions due to scope changes and failures.
      6. Multiple changes in project leadership – the factors above contributed to turnover in project leadership.
      7. Lack of faith in the solution.  The team no longer believed it would work, so why go the extra mile for something doomed to failure?
      If your project has more than three of these, it’s probably time to start planning the funeral.  For more indicators, you may want to check out this e-book “Is your product launch doomed?” 

      Knowing when to walk away is a key part of Raising Your Game.

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