Month: January 2010

Linky

Maslow Theory of Motivation as the basis for Change Management

By Stephen Warrilow Maslow theory of motivation

The Maslow Theory of Motivation also known as “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs” model was developed in 1954. Starting from the premise that each human being is motivated by needs that are inborn, presumably as a result of evolution, here is the hierarchy in ascending order:

(1) Physiological needs

These are the very basic needs such as air, water, food, sleep, sex, etc. When these are not satisfied we may feel sickness, irritation, pain, discomfort, etc. These feelings motivate us to alleviate them as soon as possible to establish homeostasis. Once they are alleviated, we may think about other things.

(2) Safety needs

These have to do with establishing stability and consistency in a chaotic world. These needs are mostly psychological in nature. We need the security of a home and family.

(3) Love and needs of belonging

Humans have (in varying degrees of intensity) a strong desire to affiliate by joining groups such as societies, clubs, professional associations, churches and religious groups etc. There is a universal need to feel love and acceptance by others.

(4) Self-Esteem needs

There are essentially two types of esteem needs: self-esteem resulting from competence or mastery of a task; and the esteem and good opinion of other people.

(5) The need for self-actualisation

Maslow theory of motivation proposes that people who have all their “lower order” needs met progress towards the fulfilment their potential. Typically this can include the pursuit of knowledge, peace, aesthetic experiences, self-fulfilment, oneness with God, etc. So ultimately this is all to do with the desire for self transcendence.

A paradigm shift that forms the basis for good leadership and successful change management

The Maslow theory of motivation brought a new face to the study of human behaviour. Maslow was inspired by greatness in the minds of others, and his own special contribution to the field of motivational psychology led to the creation of the concept of Humanistic Psychology. This is based on belief that humans are not simply blindly reacting to situations, but trying to accomplish something greater.

It also forms the basis of much current understanding of what constitutes good leadership and forms a major foundation of prevailing models and theories of successful change management. Maslow theory of motivation emphasise and remind those of us involved in leading and managing change of the complexity and multi-faceted nature of human needs and motivational drives. Aligned with that is people’s transcendent needs and aspirations as well as the more prosaic needs of survival and love.

About the author:

Stephen Warrilow, based in Bristol, England, works with companies across the UK providing specialist support to directors delivery significant change initiatives. Stephen has 25 years cross sector experience with 100+ companies in mid range corporate, larger SME and corporate environments. Take advantage of his 7 FREE “How to Do It” downloads that will take you through all of the key stages of “How to manage change” – and show you how to manage change successfully.

NOTE: I was fortunate to discover the work and writings of Stephen Warrilow at end of 2009. It was apparent that his extensive Change Management knowledge and experience would add value to my project management blog. It will equip readers with knowledge and skills to manage change successfully.

Enjoy the Change Management articles that Stephen Warrilow has given permission to share with you. I trust that you will find great value and I encourage you to download Stephen’s free material to implement in your own change projects.
Linky

How to achieve Customer Satisfaction with Project Communications Management

Project Communications Management Case Study

While I was an IT project manager at a corporate insurance company, we were approached for a printing solution that would provide:   Project Communications best practices for Project Delivery

  • improved network printing performance,
  • 100% uptime and
  • failover (setup of 2 servers, if one server fails, the other server takes over) in order for the printing service to be always available.

The solution that we proposed was too expensive. It would involve procurement of expensive hardware and software and the customer didn’t have enough budget provision.

Accepted printing solution

We then proposed a scaled down customized solution, using existing hardware and software with some upgrade to RAM and disc space and a different architecture design. This proposal was accepted by the customer and the project could start.

Initially it was estimated to be a 3-month project, but it took 5 months to complete due to many unforeseen problems. Even though this was one of my troubled projects, I managed to have a satisfied customer who was happy with the end result.

How did we achieve stakeholder satisfaction?

In all honesty, I would attribute the success of the project to following project communications management best practices. We had a communications plan which attributed to building a very committed project team, as well as a supportive customer.

The team met for progress meetings weekly and minutes and progress reports were distributed afterwards.  The customer was well informed throughout the project and we had 2-weekly feedback sessions with the customer as planned in the communications plan. Consistency with information distribution and performance reporting was key.

Through my regular verbal and written communications, I built trust with the customer who accepted the problems (risks that became issues) and delays that we experienced as we kept it totally transparent. Change requests were submitted to obtain approval for changes and the consequent impact on the timeline. The engineers who were part of the project team persevered and kept going while having to resolve many issues, as they were clear about the end goal of the project. The project team members acquired good skills while working on the project, which they, as well as the project manager, could reference in their future careers.

Project communications management as a best practice

As you can see from this case study example, it is sticking to simple best practices in project communications management that will enhance your chances for successful projects significantly. In this instance we delivered the project to budget and with quality, but in spite of being ‘late’, we managed the stakeholder’s expectations and achieved customer satisfaction at the end. This is why I think this case study is a good example of the difference that project communications management best practices can make.

Please join my virtual project management community

You are welcome to share examples from your own experience so that we can all learn from one another. For more BEST PRACTICES project management articles, please subscribe to my RSS feed.

NEW to project management? Have little project management experience and want to know more?  Build or sharpen your skills to manage your own business projects or to deliver specific services to your customers more efficiently through projects!

Have a look at my Solid-as-a-Rock Project Management toolkit with a practical process, templates and tools that will show you how best to employ project management techniques to improve project delivery.

Make Projects Work For You

Linky

Project Communications Management Best Practices

Project Communications Management – Main Piece of the Puzzle?

Project Communications Management Best Practice audio

project communications management

As part of the project management best practices posts, project communications management is a topic that is close to my heart. Project communications management is probably the main piece of the puzzle when it comes to best practices for running successful projects. I know that it has been one of the best reasons for my track record of successful projects.

It is an accepted fact that communications will take up about 90% of a project manager’s time. This is the reason why I start with project communications management as a best practice and excellent communication skills are at the top of the list for a skilled project manager.

What is project communications management?

In theory project communications management is about appropriate generation, collection, storage and distribution of project information. During the project planning it requires determining the information and communications needs of stakeholders, during execution it is about distributing the information in a timely manner, doing status reporting and progress measurement, during closure it is about gathering information to formalize project completion.  How is all of this applied in practice?

This is where you must pay special attention…

When is project communications management a best practice? project communications management

For project communications management to be used as a best practice, it needs to be applied in a regular, consistent manner throughout the life cycle of a project, from initiation, to planning, during execution, controlling and closing. Project communications management must be done to the point where it becomes a routine task on the project. It keeps all stakeholders well informed and gives them the re-assurance that the project is in good hands. (That is what project managers are paid for, not true?)

Project communications management in 4 simple steps

1. Project communications management needs to be planned for:

  • Who needs what project information?
  • When do they need it?
  • How will the information be given?
  • By whom?

Document in your communications management plan which information will be written, which will be oral (progress meetings, presentations), whether it is formal or informal. How will information be stored and distributed. The communications management plan is part of the overall project plan and can be as simple as a one-page communications matrix to a detailed communications plan depending on the size and complexity of the project.

2. How will information be distributed?

Information distribution is about making information available to project stakeholders in a timely manner. It deals with how the information will be stored, shared and exchanged (written, oral, internal, external, formal and informal, etc)

3. Report on performance

Performance reporting is to provide stakeholders with information about project status, progress and forecasting. It generally provides information on scope, schedule, cost and quality, as well as on risk and procurement where applicable.

4. Project is done and how do you communicate that?

Project administrative closure is a neglected aspect of Project communications management, but this is where project results are reviewed and documented. This is where project success is analyzed, lessons learned are discussed and archived. communications management skills

Make project communications management your strong point

Following this project communications management best practice, will lead to a well structured project and a consistent performance by the project manager. If you practice your project communications management skills, you will be well on your way to be an efficient project management professional.

In my next post I will share a case study to illustrate that applying project communications management as a best practice, will inevitably lead to a successful project.  Please subscribe to my RSS if you don’t want to miss the project management best practices future blog posts.
Please click HERE to listen to a recording of this article. If you wish to download a free copy of this audio file, please right click on the link and select “save link as” to save to your desired location.

Make Projects Work for You

Linky

Leadership Characteristics as Key Success Factor For Change

Leadership Characteristics – The 5 Practices of Excellent Leadership

By Stephen Warrilow Change Management

Leadership characteristics are extremely relevant as a key success factor in change management. They have been extensively researched by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner. Their groundbreaking studies, commenced in 1983 with the driver to identify the characteristics of good leadership.

They devised a leadership characteristics survey consisting of thirty-eight open-ended questions designed to capture “Personal Best” stories of peak leadership experience.

The leadership characteristics research was conducted over 15 years with 75,000 people, on a worldwide basis and included middle and senior level managers in private and public sector organisations, community leaders, student leaders, church leaders, government leaders, and hundreds of others in non-managerial positions.

The last study was conducted in 2002 and the prioritized list of leadership characteristics is as follows:

1. Honest 88% Ghandi
2. Forward-Looking 71%
3. Competent 65%
4. Inspiring 66%
5. Intelligent 35%
6. Fair-minded 47%
7. Broad-minded 40%
8. Supportive 42%
9. Straightforward 34%
10. Dependable 33%
11. Co-operative 24%
12. Determined 20%
13. Imaginative 23%
14. Ambitious 17%
15. Courageous 28%
16. Caring 21%
17. Mature 20%
18. Loyalty 14%
19. Self-Controlled 8%
20. Independent 6%

It is interesting to note that these figures have remained largely consistent over the full 15 years of research. The results of this research and subsequent analysis of leadership characteristics has led them to the defining of the 5 practices of excellent leadership and which are crucial in change management.

In summary they found that despite differences in the circumstances and details of people’s individual stories, their “personal-best” leadership experiences revealed recurring and similar patterns of behaviour in their descriptions of the characteristics of good leadership. Leadership showing the way

1.        Showing the Way

Leaders define and establish principles about the way people should be treated and the way goals should be pursued. Leaders set the benchmark by creating standards of excellence and then demonstrate these standards in their own behaviour and thus establishing an example for others to follow.  They create the environment in which people can succeed.

2.        Creating a Shared Vision

Leaders have a clear and passionately held vision of what the changed organisation can become. They have the skills and energy to enthuse and inspire people to share that vision, and get excited about the future possibilities. Challenging the way things are

3.        Challenging the Way Things Are

Leaders are challenging and seek out opportunities to challenge and change the status quo. They seek innovation and improvement in the organisation, are prepared to experiment, to take risks and to accept the inevitable failures as part of the learning experience.

4.        Empowering and Encouraging People to Act

Leaders are enablers and empower people by involving them and believing in them. They engender mutual respect and trust and in so doing motivate their people to extraordinary effort and achievement.

5.        Addressing the Emotional Dimension

Leaders know that extraordinary achievement in an organisation is very hard work. They also know that emotional dimension is extremely important. So they regularly acknowledge their people’s achievements and celebrate team and individual accomplishments, and is so doing they make their people feel good about themselves. Leaders empower and encourage toward achievement

All of these are qualities and practises that make up the leadership characteristics for successful change management initiatives.

About the author:Stephen Warrilow, based in Bristol, England, works with companies across the UK providing specialist support to directors delivery significant change initiatives. Stephen has 25 years cross sector experience with 100+ companies in mid range corporate, larger SME and corporate environments. Take advantage of his 7 FREE “How to Do It” downloads that will take you through all of the key stages of “How to manage change” – and show you how to manage change successfully.

NOTE: I was fortunate to discover the work and writings of Stephen Warrilow at end of 2009. It was apparent that his extensive Change Management knowledge and experience would add value to my project management blog. It will equip readers with knowledge and skills to manage change successfully.

Enjoy the Change Management articles from Stephen Warrilow.

I trust that you will find great value and I encourage you to download Stephen’s free material to implement in your own change projects.
Linky

What is Project Management Best Practices?

Are you following project management best practices?

Project Management Best Practice audio

Best Practice

When I started out as a project manager, I always tried to apply project management methodologies and practices in a technically correct way. In that sense, I had a natural tendency to find and use best practices in project management before I even knew that such a term existed or what the proper meaning of project management best practices is.

According to Wikipedia, a best practice is a technique, method, process, activity, incentive, or reward tWikipediahat is believed to be more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method, process, etc. when applied to a particular condition or circumstance.

Best practice can also be defined as the most efficient (least amount of effort) and effective (best results) way of accomplishing a task, based on repeatable procedures that have proven themselves over time for large numbers of people.

Project management best practices can and should evolve to become better as improvements are discovered. It is about developing and following a standard way of doing things!

I would summarize it to say that project management best practice is a standard approach to follow that has been proven to work within a business industry or environment and then gets adopted by most people within that specific context.

Some consulting firms specialize in the area of project management best practices. A key strategic talent is required to provide good “best practice” consulting to organizations: the ability to balance the uniqueness of an organization with practices it has in common with other organizations.

Make-Up of a Project Manager

The make-up of a typical project manager consists of a person’s natural abilities or talents, learned skills and project management knowledge.

In the Project Management Paper: ‘Still more Art than Science’ by Kate Belzer, it has been stated that project management is both an art and a science. Understanding processes, tools, and techniques are the hard skills, also referred to as the science of project management.

For successful project delivery, project managers also need soft skills, referred to as the art of project management. Soft skills help to define the business value, clarify the vision, determine requirements, provide direction, build teams, resolve issues, and mitigate risk. Communication is quite simply the most important soft skill. The ability to apply soft skills effectively throughout the life cycle of a project will enhance the success of a project exponentially! Often projects fail because of a project manager’s inability to communicate effectively, work within the organization’s culture, motivate the project team, manage stakeholder expectations, understand the business objectives, solve problems effectively, and make clear and knowledgeable decisions. These are the skills that take time to acquire through experience, coaching, and mentoring.

To me the art and science of project management requires the intuitive application of your talents, your hard and soft skills, your knowledge and experience in the right combination that is applicable to a specific project situation. To find that kind of balance is a project management best practice in itself.

Does project management best practices work? does project management best practice work

My work experienced has exposed me to working in organizations with too few specialist resources, lack of sufficient time for projects and inadequate project budget planning or allocation. I have also worked in highly controlled, standardized approach organizations with expert resources where everything in a project is set up to succeed. This means that planning is based on previous similar projects and expert judgement estimates, resources are dedicated to the project for periods when needed, adequate budget is allocated, proper scope and quality management is applied. Of course, all of this was based on project management best practice.

Even though normal risks and issues were experienced in both type of organization’s projects, the organisations where project management best practices were applied consistently, have shown more successful projects and satisfied customers, meaning that these projects always had a better chance of being on time, to budget and with the desired quality.

If you liked this article, please subscribe to my blog (to the right) and receive more project management tips and articles.

Please click HERE to listen to a recording of this article. If you wish to download a free copy of this audio file, please right click on the link and select “save link as” to save to your desired location.

About the author: Linky van der Merwe is an IT Project Manager with 15 years IT industry experience and 12 years Project Management experience. She is currently at Microsoft Consulting Services, South Africa.

She consults with small-medium business owners and service professionals about project management and project processes, best practices and successful delivery through projects. She is most experienced in corporate infrastructure projects (upgrades, migration, deployment etc) and process optimisation. She can be reached at linky@virtualprojectconsulting.com

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