steve taylor navigating the grey - kcpmichapter.org1. self awareness –knowing what we’re feeling...

Observations of

EffectiveProject

Managers

Quality

Schedule CostNavigating the Grey

• Goes beyond just the mechanics and project management knowledge to execute projects successfully

• Why are some PM’s so knowledgeable yet ineffective, and yet others are successful?

Observations of Effective Project Managers

� Sun Life Financial – Senior Project Manager

� Data Systems International – Project Manager - Global Projects

� Hallmark – Project Manager / PMO Manager

� Zurich/UUG – Senior Project Manager / PMO Manager

� PVI - Director of Project Management

� PMI – Past Board Member / Charter Member PMO SIG / Speaker

� Instructor in PM Graduate Programs at Webster and Baker Universities

Project Management Background

Project Management

Project Management – The Science

Project Management Tools

Project Management – The Art

Art is creating order out of chaos –Peggy Hadden

The Art of Inspiration

Science provides some of the technical tools we use to bring order to chaos

80%

20%

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free” - Michelangelo

• Impact Analysis

• Decision Trees

• Work Breakdown Structures

• Methodology / Life Cycle

• Earned Value Analysis

• Estimating Techniques

• Communication

• Decision Making

• Problem solving • Conflict Management

• Corporate Politics

• Behavioral Psychology

• Judgement • Perspective

Typical Subject Areas for PM Art

Typical Subject Areas for PM Science

80%

20%

Project Management Tools





DictionaryClasses / EducationTools

Personality studies / tests

Literature

Sources of information for the Science of Project Management

80%

20%

Communication

Relationship Building

Intuition

Interpersonal Skills

Tact

Writing Skills

Verbal Skills

Timing

Tact is the art of making a point, without making an enemy

Intrapersonal Skills

Typical skillsets for the Art of Project Management



Being familiar with a dictionary, doesn’t mean I have good command of a language.

But taking an English literature class doesn’t mean I can write a best selling novel

For projects - just because I understand that things need to be organized, Doesn’t mean I have good organizational skills.

Dictionary – Inventory of words, definitions…..

Classes – Techniques, Theories, Concepts… Tools

80%

20%

What is the value of The Scienceof Project Management?

• Gives you a framework – Not starting from scratch• Allows sharing of best practices• Reduces Risk and Learning Curves• Allows repeatable successes• Gives you a common terminology as PM’s

Pros:

Cons:

• Can be a crutch• Some will try to make all decisions black and white• Can be cumbersome – has to match the type of project• Can be overly administrative

Going Beyond The Science of Project Management

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“Our ancestors named the things they saw, and the need for language evolved when at least two of them tried to communicate with each other.”

The Artists Quest For Inspiration

– Peggy Hadden

80%

20%

Communication

(Written Status, verbal status, phone calls, texts, meetings, conflicts, etc)

Working with Emotional Intelligence – Daniel Goleman

‘Emotional Intelligence’ - the capacity for recognizing our own feelings, those of others, and managing emotions in ourselves and in our relationships.

A total score derived from one of several standardized tests designed to assess human intelligence.

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

Describes abilities that are distinct from, but complementary to, academic intelligence.

IQ

20%

EI

80%

Other Factors

Indicators of Success


Emotional Intelligence becomes one of the filtering competencies that best predicts who among the group of smart people become the leaders.

Indicators of IQ and technical ability drop to the bottom of the indicators for high level positions unless the job is technical.

The ‘Floor Effect’

Everyone at the top echelons of a given profession, or at the top levels of large organizations have already been sifted for intellect and expertise. At these levels, high IQ becomes a threshold ability – one needed just to get in the door and stay in the game.

IQ

20%

EI

80%

INDICATORS OF

SUCCESS

Other Factors

Often people who have high IQ’s, but who have less emotional intelligence, work for people who have lower IQ’s but who are stronger in emotional intelligence skills.

The ability to understand other people: what motivates them, how they work, how to work cooperatively with them.

Successful people are likely to be individuals with high degrees of interpersonal intelligence.

Interpersonal Intelligence

IQ

20%

EI

80%

INDICATORS

OF SUCCESS

Other Factors

It is a capacity to form an accurate, model of oneself and

to be able to use that model to operate effectively in life.

Intrapersonal Intelligence

A correlative ability turned inward.

IQ

20%

EI

80%

INDICATORS OF

SUCCESS

Other Factors

Five Basic Emotional and Social Competencies

1. Self Awareness – Knowing what we’re feeling in the moment and using them to guide our decision making

2. Self-regulation – Handling our emotions so that they facilitate rather than interfere with the task at hand

3. Motivation – using our preferences to move us to our goals

4. Empathy – Sensing what people are feeling and take in their perspective

5. Social skills - Handling emotions in relationships well. Accurately reading social situations

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*****IQ

20%

EI

80%

INDICATORS OF

SUCCESS

Other Factors

Personality Preferences

There are many tools to measure personality preferences

Be careful that you use them to understand traits of someone’s personality…..

Not to limit your perception of someone’s abilities!!

• Hermann Brain Dominance• Personalysis• Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator• Others

Examples:

Caution!!!IQ

20%

EI

80%

INDICATORS OF

SUCCESS

Other Factors

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Hermann Brain Dominance

How you perceive the right decision, may depend on your personal preferences

Personalysis

Indirect

The Right Way

Direct, Intense

Different way on different days

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

The transmission of mood is very powerful. This ‘emotional economy’ or exchange of emotions can have immense benefits for your team or company.

It’s a primal fact. We influence each other’s moods.

IQ

20%

EI

80%

INDICATORS OF

SUCCESS

Other Factors


People change what they do less because they are given analysis that shifts their thinking - than because they are shown a truth that influences their feelings

- The Heart of Change John P Kotter

Be aware of the mood you establish. It can set the tone for a highly functional or dysfunctional team

We can make each other feel better or worse based on our interaction.

• Developing communication skills is an on-going process – Keep an open mind

• Understand personality types and what it takes to communicate to different people

• Listen for feedback of any kind and adjust your behavior as needed

• Be aware of how you affect the emotional economy of the meeting

• Choose your words carefully for meaning and intent

IQ

20%

EI

80%

INDICATORS OF

SUCCESS

Other Factors

Communication

• Summarize what you want to communicate

• Go around the room / ask for questions

• Put it in writing – on the whiteboard or email

• Notice when people respond to only part of what you’ve said

Words are the facial expressions of your mind. They communicate your attitude, personality, and perspective – Guy Kawasaki Enchantment

Crucial Conversations

“The void created by the failure to communicate is soon filled with poison, drivel, and misrepresentation.”

- C. N. Parkinson

It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities…..

― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Project Management Science

80%

20%

Decision Making

Communication


Risk / Issue ManagementDecision Tree

Define the problem

Document the Risk / Issue

Assess the Risk/Impact

Brainstorm Solutions

Communicate:• Issue• Actions• Impact

H

M

L

The Standard Approach

Success or failure often turns on miniscule differences in problem definitions – Gerald Weinberg Becoming A Technical Leader

Good Decision Making

80%

20%


• Understand how your core values and paradigms affect your

decisions

If Decision Making is a Science, Judgment is an Art

– Harvard Leadership Initiative

• It is more than situational – it transcends that

• It’s more than knowledge of the subject matter area

• It shares many of the elements of problem solving

• It includes the elements of EI and IQ

Life Experiences and Decision Making

New Cultures

Core Values


Perspective

Family

Personal Experience

Professional Experience

Judgment

You first have to experience what you’d like to express. - Vincent van Gogh

Emotional Intelligence

Life Experiences and Decision Making

New Cultures

Core Values


Perspective

Family

Personal Experience

Professional Experience

Judgment

Small Projects

Certifications / Degrees

Critical Thinking

Emotional Competence

Understanding Personality Types

Large Projects

You first have to experience what you’d like to express. - Vincent van Gogh

• Seek counsel from people who you think make good decisions

Evaluate the sources of information. Be careful who you ask…

• Know the legal, financial, and emotional impacts of your decision


• Careful asking advice from those who are ‘in the whirlpool’

• Understand that people have their own agendas, paradigms, and motivations.

Don’t assume they’re objective, fair, and have your best interest in mind

• Understand that some people have only one problem solving tool for every situation.

• Understand that some personality types are naturally negative, some overly positive.

Weigh all input against your core values and beliefs

Working Memory – the mind’s capacity for attention to hold the facts essential for completing a given task or problem.

• Strong emotion – anxiety, anger, and the like, can create neural static.

Thereby sabotaging the ability of the brain to maintain working memory

• Sometimes very intelligent people (high IQ), can have trouble making good

decisions when their stress level is high and their mind gets cluttered

• Emotional Intelligence is a key to balanced decision making


• When emotions start cranking up, the mind gets cluttered. Clear

thinking, good decision making, and problem solving skills diminish

We have two minds with two different kinds of intelligence – rational and emotional. Both are required for good decision making

• This is why when we’re emotionally distressed we say we ‘just can’t

think straight’


80%

20%

Decision Making

Communication

“A great many people think that they are thinking, when they are merely re-arranging their prejudices.”

– American psychologist William James

Most techniques for the Science of problem solving involve some version of steps such as:

• Identifying the problem • Collecting information • Determining solutions • Selecting solutions • Implementing solutions

Creative Problem Solving

“Most solutions come from discovering a new way to use what you already know to solve a problem.”

Think Like A Genius – T. Siler


• EQ, IQ , Personality Types are still very important in Problem Solving

• Maintain your perspective

• Prioritization is a function of context

• If we always react to everything as if it’s a big deal, eventually everything really is a big deal

• They affect the interpretation of the input you’ll receive

• Without perspective, everything is reactionary

I have lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened – Mark Twain

• When the mind gets cluttered, clear thinking, good decision making, and problem solving skills diminish

• Once you understand the problem, focus on solutions – not blame

- You’ll get much better cooperation in solving the problem


• Where possible, break the problem down into smaller pieces

• Know your discipline, methodology, or business.

- This makes solving black and white decisions easier

• Understand the difference between Open or Closed Ended Problems


Closed Ended Problems

• The problem and solution are more clearly defined

• Uses techniques such as Kepner-Tregoe approach to solve

• More analytical in nature

• Analytical or logical thinking includes skills such as ordering, comparing, contrasting, evaluating and selecting.

• Solutions often become evident simply by knowing the rules and processes around the problem (i.e. methodology, policy rules, etc)


Open Ended ProblemsThe problem and solution are more difficult to define

• Defining the problem statement in terms of a 'How to ……. 'How can I finance this expansion?

• Focuses attention on the problem area and provides a basis for suggesting solutions

Solutions for open-ended problems are often best defined in terms of goals:

• What do you want to achieve by solving the problem. And;• What you don’t want to achieve

• May require an Incubation Period. The period between stopping conscious work on a problem and the time when we become aware of a solution or part solution

Analytical or logical thinking includes skills such as ordering, comparing, contrasting, evaluating and selecting.

Most techniques for the science of problem solving involve some version of steps such as – identifying the problem, collecting information, determining solutions, selecting solutions, and implementing solutions.

• Uses imagination to generate a larger list of ideas

• Focus on options and solutions. Like a constant series of brainstorming

• Look beyond the obvious – see the possible in the impossible

• More Intuitive – allow conclusions based on impressions and feelings rather than just hard facts


80%

20%

Decision Making

Communication


“Its not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.”

- Hans Selye

Stress Management / Coping

You have to keep things in perspective


Managing projects is like watching the stock market…

Some cause happiness wherever they go, some, whenever they go- Oscar Wilde


Decision Making

Communication



Conflict Management

• It is inevitable in a project. It’s all in how you handle it

Any situation where there are incompatible goals, thoughts,or emotions within or between individuals or groups

• You are dealing with intricate social issues. The rules are complicated

Conflict Management

• Learn your style under stress

• Learn the personality styles of others in a conflict situation

• Closure isn’t always total agreement. Sometimes it’s coming to an understanding of your differences and then agreeing to disagree

• Know which issues are important – Avoid brush fires

• Pick your battles. Don’t get involved in political battles that can’t be won. There’s always someone better at that. (Avoid Phyricc Victories!)

• Know when to walk away – Kenny Rogers

Conflict Management

• Speak persuasively, not abrasively.

- Tact is the art of making a point, without making an enemy

- A Pyrrhic victory is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat.

• Make sure people feel safe in talking. Nothing kills a good dialogue like fear

Navigating the Grey

Summary

It’s how you achieve those results that will greatly influence your long term success.

Ultimately, results are the most important thing.

In the long run……..

IQ

20%

EI

80%

INDICATORS OF

SUCCESS

Other Factors

Questions?

steve taylor navigating the grey - kcpmichapter.org1. self awareness –knowing what we’re feeling...

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