What I Have Learned About Peak Work Performance

By Linky van der Merwe

We all want to become healthier, happier and more productive, but we seldom address these desires consciously on a day to day basis. Recently I was so fortunate to attend the Peak Work Performance Summit hosted by Dr Ron Friedman. Ron Friedman, PhD, is an award-winning social psychologist who specializes in human motivation and he’s author of the book: “The Best Place to Work”.

Since I’ve learnt so much from each interview that Ron so masterfully conducted, I have decided to share a few takeaways with you. By simply applying some of these principles, I believe it has the potential to transform your life!

Find a 2nd article on Peak Work Performance here.

Pre-mortem instead of post-mortems

I loved this idea from Dan Pienk, an idea I have come across before, but I’m now more motivated to apply it at work as well as for personal growth.

He recommends doing a pre-mortem every six months asking:

What do I want to learn?
What do I want to achieve?
What are the pitfalls?

Like you can imagine, this can lead to much better goals that will be easier to achieve, since you are already addressing anticipated challenges even before they appear.

As for starting a new project, it’s a good idea to start with a pre-mortem so that the project can be setup for success, because it helps to think through what success will mean and it will identify possible risks or obstacles that may be blockers to successful delivery. Then a project manager and team can purposefully go ahead with the intention of solving possible problems even before they occur and continue to follow the markers identified for success.

Find out more in Dan Pink’s book: Drive by clicking on the image.

Reduce your focus to achieve better results

What Jay Papasan shared about the one thing that high performers do differently, is that it helps to reduce your focus to achieve better results. What does he mean by that?

It means that you focus on your one thing – the 20% that give 80% output. By doing one thing only, it could throw other things off and it may seem like the balance can go off, but in reality you are focusing on the one thing that will yield the biggest results. This can be applied at work, but also to your health, finances and family life.

Another interesting point he made, was to put being a husband or wife first, before being a parent, because you want to role model being good in marriage. Where else will our children learn to stay committed in marriage?

Find out more in Jay’s book: The one thing by clicking on the image.

For good fruit to grow, you need to be pruning

Todd Henry, who writes about creativity, productivity, and how to find passion for your work, shared an important principle. For good fruit to grow, you need to be pruning, like for a vineyard.

According to Todd, it’s important to learn to say NO to things. Build good practices around the domains you need to excel in. For example, establish blocks of time for study, reading or for writing, whatever it may be that you are doing.

Innovation happens in the gaps, in the quiet times. Create space in your life to bring the best of who you are to what you do. Personally, I loved this statement and as a working mom of 3 children, I constantly have to remind myself to carve out space in my life in order to be my best self.

Read Todd Henry’s books to find out more.

“The accidental creative – How to be brilliant at a moment’s notice”
“Herding Tigers – Be the leader that creative people need”
“Louder than words – Harness the power of your authentic voice”

Pillars of Success

Craig Ballantyne, coach to high-performing entrepreneurs and executives to get more done, have massive impact, grow their influence, and have a personal life, shared ideas to help you ‘own the day and control your life’. He shared five pillars of success:

Do better planning and preparation than ever before
Have a measureable outcome; have action points at the end
Positive social support – engage with people around you for support
Meaningful incentive that will motivate you
Self-imposed deadline and the power this has to help you stick to what you’re doing

Read his book: “The Perfect Day Formula” for more ideas on how to have the perfect day.

If you like the Peak Performance ideas that I shared in this article, I have good news for you.

You can get Lifetime access to the ‘Peak Work Performance Summit’. You will have unlimited access to interviews with people who are sharing valuable information based on years of research for books and based on their real life experience.

Click here for the Peak Work Performance Summit Lifetime Pass.

August 1, 2018August 2, 2023 Linky

5 Tech Tools for Agile Project Management

By Brian Thomas

Agile is taking the project management world by storm, and for good reason. Traditional methods of project management that rely on rigid timelines tend to break down when things change. On the other hand you have the Agile project management system that’s actually designed to handle change. With Agile, teams can easily adjust to any issues, setbacks, or new priorities that might arise throughout the process. Change happens all the time, even within Agile itself, so it’s best to make sure your team is prepared for it.

Using the Agile framework and being prepared for when things go awry is great, but you’re going to need to leverage technology to keep everyone on your team in the loop. Check out the top tech tools to keep your agile project on the right track!

Trello

Trello is a good option for getting your whole Agile team on the same page. One of the great things about Agile is that it encourages face-to-face team engagement, which often leads to the use of physical whiteboards. Since Trello functions similar to a classic whiteboard, it makes keeping your physical documentation up with your project management tool simple and effective. Once in Trello, you’re able to set up boards for you and your team. Within each board you can create lists, and then nest individual tasks underneath those lists. The flexibility Trello provides for users makes it perfect for Agile.

Asana

If you’re looking for a project management solution that’s simple and to-the-point, then check out Asana. Asana is an easy-to-use task management system to track progress on all of your team’s projects. Similar to Trello, you can set up task sections for your backlog, current sprint, complete, and any other grouping you might need.

Proggio

Instead of centering your Agile team around the tasks that need to be done, Proggio puts the focus on the actual team members themselves. Proggio makes it easy to visualize workflows to see what tasks need to be done, when they need to be done, and most importantly, who’s responsible for doing them.

Proggio’s ability to visualize how the team is functioning as a whole helps the team members understand why the work they’re doing is important and help the team build momentum to operate efficiently.

Proofhub

ProofHub is a comprehensive project management and collaboration tool designed to streamline workflows and improve team productivity. It offers a wide range of features, including task management, document sharing, team collaboration, time tracking, and more. It has been trusted by thousands of businesses and teams worldwide.

Binfire

Binfire is another Agile project management software tool that allows teams to seamlessly collaborate on projects and tasks in a simple and concise manner. Much like Trello and Poggio, within Binfire you and your team can use visualization tools such as a digital whiteboard to map out your systems and processes. However, with Binfire you can also utilize additional types of charts, markup PDFs, and chat on your team message board among other features.

Drag

Last but not least is Drag. Drag is a free chrome extension that lets you turn your gmail inbox into projects and their accompanying lists of tasks. If your team works within a single email account, such as the company’s “info@company.com” email, it’s perfect for organizing your gmail inbox into its own Agile system. Or if you’re just a big Agile fan and you want to turn your own personal inbox into an Agile workspace, you can do that as well!

There are many more great tools out there to help Agile teams maximize the efficiency of their workflows.

Find a great resource of curated and reviewed project management tools that is best to use for different industries such as creative, design, marketing, developers and other areas! Click here.

*****************************************************************

About the Author:

Brian Thomas is from Enlightened Digital, a digital magazine dedicated to the top tech and business news, updates and analyses from around the web – your guide to everything at the cutting edge of technology.

July 26, 2018 Linky

Is your company striving to break the glass ceiling?

Companies striving to break the glass ceiling can deploy several tactics to promote transparency in hiring and retaining women and minority employees. Large public companies including Facebook, Microsoft, and Google have led the way in this promotion by revealing internal data concerning the racial makeup of their workforce.

One of the key ways that corporations can remove the glass ceiling is by demonstrating behaviors that value diversity. This can be accomplished in three steps.

To respect cultural, religious, gender, and racial differences.
To manage and work with individuals from different racial or cultural backgrounds.
To promote overall demographic balance within an organization; one that relates to the demographic makeup of a company’s broader geographic area.

Being a diverse company has several tangible benefits. Ethnically diverse companies are 35 percent more likely to outperform non-ethnically diverse companies, and gender diverse companies are 15 percent more likely to outperform their non-gender diverse counterparts. Studies also indicate that a company’s earnings rise 0.8 percent for every 10 percent increase in racial and ethnic diversity they deploy.

The University of Ohio in the United States has produced an interesting Infographic about The Glass Ceiling frustrating Women and Minorities in Business. Although statistics pertain to the US only, it’s very insightful, especially the reference made to the Success Stories of the Tory Burch and Sheryl Sandberg Foundations. Sandberg’s book, Lean In, made a big impression on me when I read it a few years ago and it’s a book I would recommend to all young professional women.

The Glass Ceiling

July 18, 2018July 18, 2018 Linky

Top 10 Checkpoints for a Business Case

Are you facing the challenge of writing a business case? A business case explains why your organisation will invest time and resources into a project. Without a rock-solid business case your project is unlikely to get a return on investment.

Below is a short video giving you a checklist of questions to ask before you submit your business case for approval.

Here’s the checklist of 10 questions to ask yourself before you submit your business case to your sponsor for approval.

Have the reasons for the project been specified and are they consistent with any corporate strategies?
Has the preferred business option been stated?
Has it been explained why the preferred business option was recommended?
Are the benefits clearly identified and justified?
Have both the project timescales and the benefits realization timescales been identified?
Is it clear how and when the benefits will be realized?
Have both the project costs and the ongoing operational and maintenance costs been specified?
Have the funding arrangements been specified?
Has the investment appraisal used the organisation’s recommended standard?
Have the major project risks been stated, together with any proposed responses?

A good business case helps you or your organisation take sensible decisions about committing time and resources to a project or activity – make sure you get it right.

Click here for more details on how to write a Business Case and to download a simple, but comprehensive business case template with compliments from Knowledge Train, a Project Management Training Company.

July 11, 2018 Linky

Are you Facing these Agile Challenges?

It’s only in recent years that I started working on Agile projects following the Scrum approach. And what a journey it has been so far! Challenging that traditional way of working mindset of being a PMP (Project Management Professional) for 14 years working mostly on ‘waterfall’ type projects.

You find yourself facing common struggles while going through the motions of changing your mindset which really is essential for successfully adoption an agile approach.

Companies who provide consultation and training around Agile, realise that teams are faced with many challenges when making the transition to Agile. At Knowledge Train they have published an e-book with stories from Industry experts who shared about their challenges with Agile and the solutions they use to overcome it.

Below is an Infographic with some of the most common challenges!

Please click on the Infographic to reach the article where you may download the e-book: “The Challenges with Agile”.

July 5, 2018 Linky

Social Media as a Customer Service Tool

Social Media on projects

On the Virtual Project Consulting blog we have discussed various topics around social media and it’s uses for project management. Lately, we looked at use cases and research about shaping social media for better collaboration on projects and using it to make project management more future fit.

However, social media have multiple purposes in the business world, especially as a means for customer service that will serve companies well.

Customer Service Channel

Social media is a unique customer service channel because it allows you to engage with consumers in a way that was previously impossible, and despite this marked advantage, the technology is easy and cost-effective to implement. Moreover, leveraging social media for customer service allows you to build a strong relationship with your audience and discover previously unnoticed market opportunities.

As more people take to social media platforms, enterprise customer service activities will become increasingly transparent. As a result, it’s important to make sure that you get it right so that you don’t lose brand credibly or alienate your customers.

Social Media Customer Service in Practice

When using social media as a customer service channel, it’s important to make sure that your staff members are well-versed in using designated platforms as well as your product or service offerings and company policies. You should start your social media customer service initiative by clearly defining what services your organization will provide and estimating how much traffic volume your employees will manage. By establishing initial parameters, you’ll have a foundation to measure the performance of your new initiative. Furthermore, if your team meets their assigned goals, you’ll have quantifiable proof of your return-on-investment.

To learn more, view this Social Media Infographic, created by USC’s Online Master of Science in Applied Psychology program.

It covers different use cases for social media as a customer service channel, reasons for using it and the benefits you can expect.

June 18, 2018April 19, 2020 Linky

5 Project Management Trends shaping 2018

By Ashley Lipman

Project Management isn’t an industry that stays the same for a long period of time. It’s unpredictable, versatile, and subject to various trends at any given time.

Some of the trends influencing Project Management in 2018 may be old; others may have just emerged. However, the ones to look out for are those that are the most influential.

Want to know what these trends are?

Knowing about the emerging trends will help you manage your projects and get things done more efficiently in 2018:

1. Artificial intelligence is here to stay

AI, short for Artificial Intelligence, is no longer a concept dreamt of in science fiction. Technology like Siri, Echo, and Home are the most popular kinds, but AI is also the base of several PM applications.

Repetitive tasks have been automated and AI software has been applied to PM management more and more over the months.

Project managers are now making use of AI programs to enhance the efficiency of their projects. This includes dealing with resources, streamlining workflow, and giving valuable insights into future plans.

It’s also used in centralising data that could immensely help your team work together even from remote locations. Application performance management and server monitoring | AppOptics is just another example of how AI is becoming entrenched in this industry.

2. Embedded technology leads to faster project delivery

Source: Pixabay

We know that technology has become highly portable, even to the point where you can wear a smartwatch to replace your phone, computer, and tablet to some extent. As a project manager, wearable technology enables you to track and enhance your productivity at all levels.

Using smart glasses, head-mounted displays, and smartwatches can enhance the efficiency, safety, and the accuracy of any team. What’s more, the data from such wearable devices can help managers learn what makes team members tick.

Once project managers start paying more attention to what their team members need, they will better know how to motivate them and to create a culture that encourages and rewards high performance.

3. Remote workers are expanding the workforce

Source: Pixabay

Project managers don’t require the whole team to be co-located, in fact virtual teams and outsourcing specialist skills has become quite the norm.

With team members working from home or from remote locations, more flexible work hours make for a higher productivity level. Hence, project managers need to be aware of this and improve their skills around managing virtual teams.

4. Hybrid management is the next big thing

Project managers now have to embrace the fact that cookie-cutter solutions (read methodologies) are out of date. They may have followed a traditional waterfall type methodology in the past, but now, it’s time to tweak this according to their clients’ project requirements.

There are certain processes that can help with this kind of project management. One example of these is following an Agile approach, giving companies the ability for faster time to market.

Hence, a project manager who is comfortable with following a hybrid approach is definitely in order. You need to consider several methodologies for approaching different projects. This sort of personalisation and customisation continue to grow more important as time goes on.

5. Project managers with emotional intelligence are preferred

Gone are the days when solid, technical skills were adequate for a project manager. Soft skills and a high level of emotional intelligence are now highly valued in the PM industry, and with several good reasons.

In 2018, business owners are increasingly looking for managers who can keep their teams happy, satisfied, and motivated. This combination is one of the best ones for making up a highly productive workforce.

Find some more insights from the “Pulse of the Profession” PMI report here.

These 5 trends are by no means a comprehensive list, but certainly trends to acknowledge and consider for a project professional in 2018.

June 12, 2018June 12, 2018 Linky

8 Key Elements of the Scrum Master Role

Watch this video to learn about 8 key elements of the Scrum Master role.

When you fulfill the important role of Scrum Master on a Scrum Agile team, here are valuable aspects to focus on.

Servant Leader whose focus is on the needs of the team members and those they serve (the customer), with the goal of achieving results in line with the organization’s values, principles, and business objectives.
Facilitator by setting the stage and providing clear boundaries in which the team can collaborate.
Coach coaching the individual with a focus on mindset and behaviour, the team in continuous improvement and the organization in truly collaborating with the Scrum Team.
Manager responsible for managing impediments, eliminating waste, manaing the process, managing the team’s health, managing the boundaries of self-organization, and managing the culture.
Mentor that transfers Agile knowledge and experience to the team.
Teacher to ensure Scrum and other relevant methods are understood and enacted.
Impediment Remover solving blocking issues to the team’s progress taking into account the self-organizing capabilities of the Development Team.
Change Agent to enable a culture in which Scrum Teams can flourish.

For more details on the Scrum Master role to help you gain a better understanding, read the White Paper:

The 8 Stances of a Scrum Master by Barry Overeem

June 6, 2018February 14, 2022 Linky

Ongoing Value of the PMO

In light of the upcoming PMO Conference in London, UK, in June, I wanted to share some exciting information on PMO awards.

The PMO Global Awards is the PMO Global Alliance’s annual award for the most outstanding Project Management Offices in the world.

It intends to inspire organizations around the world to evolve their Project Management Offices and project management practices to achieve the best results.

Click here to find out more about PMO Global Alliance.

PMSA PMO Award

Locally, the Project Management South Africa or PMSA would like to introduce a PMO category as part of its Exceptional Project Management Awards programme. It will result in local recognition as well as nominations towards the Africa Region leg of the Global PMO Alliance Awards.

This programme will build on the requirements for the Global PMO Alliance Awards which examine the following components:

PMO’s journey
Client service
Best Practices
Innovation
Community
Value generation

The winners will be announced in November at the PMSA National Conference taking place from 14-16 November in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Renewing your PMO

Lastly, I want to refer you to a very insightful, researched article about improving the value of your PMO by Louise Worsley.

May 31, 2018June 12, 2018 Linky

Why Agile is not a project management methodology

Whether you’re a project manager working in a traditional Project Management environment following a certain methodology to get your projects done, or whether you’re in an Agile approach organisation where both Agile approaches (like Scrum) and traditional approaches are followed or a hybrid of both, this article will be of interest to you. It was written by a fellow Project Management Practitioner and blogger, Kevin Lonergan, who has used Agile and non-Agile approaches for managing projects for two decades and is a career long project management professional.

The article discusses the difference between Agile and project management and why, when using Agile, there are times when they are both required. It also shows why Agile is not a PM framework itself and highlights many of the specific reasons why this is. It discusses the difference between product development methods (e.g. Agile based methods) and project management, and shows examples of why the two are not the same.

The article takes a frank view of the real world of projects in business and what is missing in some implementations of Agile.

Read the full article here:

https://www.pmis-consulting.com/why-agile-will-never-be-a-project-management-framework/

Please let me know in the comments what you think of it.

May 22, 2018February 14, 2022 Linky

Project Management Insights from 2018 Pulse of the Profession Report

By Linky van der Merwe

“If your organization is not good at project management, you’re putting too much at risk in terms of ultimately delivering on strategy.”

Mark A Langley, President and CEO of PMI

The PMI’s “Pulse of the Profession” is the premiere global survey of project management practitioners which then charts the major trends for project management now and in the future. Based on research across different industries, some important insights came to light.

Watch the video or continue reading below.

#1 The future of value delivery is a spectrum of approaches:

Predictive
Iterative
Incremental
Agile
Hybrid

#2 Project professionals will learn in new ways and broaden their skills like:

Strategic advisor
Big thinker
Innovator
Communicator
Versatile manager

#3 Organisations will rely on their project professionals to take advantage of disruption – not just react to it.

The impact of digital transformation on project work is massive and some things you can do are:

Become a leader and true business partner in your organization
Ask the right questions
Deliver the business benefits of the projects you manage

Soft skills have become critical for project managers even more than 5 years ago and mature organisations who have invested more in their project management talent see strategic value from it.

Current state reveal trends such as:

Only 58% of organisations fully understand the value of project management
Only 41% or organisations with an enterprise-wide PMO report that it’s highly aligned to the organisation’s strategy.
93% of organisations report using standardized project management practices which reduces risk and leads to better outcomes.
72% of PMO leaders feel certification is very relevant for mid-career project managers as it requires ongoing professional development, allowing PM’s to evolve, enhance and grow a variety of skills including technical, leadership and digital skills.
71% or organisations report greater agility over the last 5 years which is helping them to stay competitive
1 in 3 organisations report high benefits realization maturity whereby tangible and intangible benefits should be considered.

According to the Pulse of the Profession there has been an evolution from ‘best practices’ to ‘next practices’ that encompass what is likely to come in future.

May 2, 2018May 2, 2018 Linky

5 Elements for Innovation through Projects

Project management often provides the ideal environment in which to harness innovation. A project manager’s skills need to include the ability to encourage and develop creative thinking to achieve results.

Watch this video to find out what will enable innovation through projects.

What will enable innovation?

#1 Listen

Listening creates a safe space and increases trust. In the context of listening we enter in a psychological state where we are more receptive to be creative.

#2 Find your flow

In sport they talk about getting into the zone, where they describe an altered state of consciousness, an increased mental state and even a heightened state of enjoyment.

We need to be in environments that are fun and innovative. Project managers need to enable that through conversation, having fun and giving meaning to work. Let people engage all their senses, because we think with our whole body. We’ll immerse ourselves in a state of productivity that can increase our productivity by up to 60%.

#3 Social sensitivity

Diversity is a core aspect of innovation. It helps to have different perspectives, to care about each other and to have authentic leaders.

#4 Building a community

The work of Peter Block, called Social Fabric, is centered around the need to belong. Building a community gives a sense of connectedness, where collaboration is a choice and people realise that they can create more together than on their own.

#5 Culture of appreciation

Encourage a culture of appreciation. Reward and acknowledge people by their name, give empathy that will increase the feeling of connectedness.

Where projects consist of self-organising teams, project managers need to build resilience in the system to handle the uncertainty. It’s important to remember that you cannot innovate without disruption.