It has always been difficult to calculate the Return on Investment (ROI) of investing in corporate training. Through the Infographic below corporate business leaders will see the various training fields where they can invest their money. Look how ROI has been categorized for different training areas. This will help business leaders take training decisions wisely.
The Infographic is supplied by Protential Human Capital Development, a leading provider of world class employee development training. Protential have over a decade of experience in training and consultancy in the United Kingdom, and other regions like Europe, Asia and North Africa.
The 5th of December 2013 was a tragic day for South Africa, the passing of Nelson Mandela at the age of 95. He has changed the course of modern history because of his fight against apartheid, the 27 years spent in prison and serving as our nation’s first black president of a democratic elected government.
As a leader he will always be remembered for his passion to fight for his vision, his willingness to forgive, freedom for all and reconciliation.
Nelson Mandela was born the son of a tribal chief in Transkei, a Xhosa homeland. Many South Africans of all races call him by his clan name, Madiba, which means “reconciler,” as a token of affection and respect.
Imprisonment
A statement made during the sabotage trial in 1964 by Mandela showed his ideal:
“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
He was sentenced to life in prison, which he spent mostly at Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town.
In his autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom,” he would write about his life after prison:
“As I finally walked through those gates … I felt — even at the age of seventy-one — that my life was beginning anew.”
President of first democratic elected government
South African President Nelson Mandela takes the oath
When Mandela became President in 1994, he closed his inauguration speech with:
“Let freedom reign. The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement! God bless Africa!”
Mandela celebrated holidays and hosted friends among the huts of rural Qunu in a replica of the prison guard’s home where he lived during his final days of confinement. Qunu is also where he was buried on 15 December 2013. About 5,000 people attended the state funeral, and millions more watched it on television.
Father of the Nation
Nelson Mandela is known as the father of the nation. This is evident when looking at new banknotes, released by the central bank in 2012, showing his face. Mandela statues are in front of buildings and squares; places are named after him. South African Airways even emblazoned his silhouetted image on planes.
There are some famous projects associated with the Nelson Mandela Foundation. From the Centre of Memory a $1.25 million project to digitally preserve a record of Mandela’s life, went online last year. The project by Google and Mandela’s archivists gives researchers access to hundreds of documents, photographs and videos.
The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund (NMCF) is a charitable organization founded by Nelson Mandela. Its mission is to help individuals from birth to age 22, and particularly orphans of the AIDS crisis. The fund currently has offices in Johannesburg, South Africa (Head Office) and in London, United Kingdom, which focuses on fundraising.
The ‘Nelson Mandela Day’ project is to inspire individuals to take action to help change the world for the better, and in doing so build a global movement for good. Ultimately it seeks to empower communities everywhere.
Mandela’s last public appearance was in 2010. It was during the Soccer World Cup 2010, hosted by South Africa at the Soccer City stadium when he smiled broadly and waved to the crowd during the closing ceremony of the World Cup.
The other unforgettable appearance during a sport event was during the 1995 Rugby World Cup, hosted by South Africa, when he appeared at the final in Johannesburg, wearing a Springbok jersey to congratulate the victorious home team.
Visionary leader
He will be remembered as a visionary leader who managed to unite South Africa and who set an excellent example to leaders. As stated by Joyce Banda, the president of Malawi: “Leadership is about loving the people you serve and the people you serve falling in love with you. It is about serving the people with selflessness, with sacrifice and with the need to put the common good ahead of personal interests.”
That is what Nelson Mandela stood for and how he has won the hearts and minds of many people not only in South Africa, but all over the world. He was truly inspirational as captured in many of his quotes:
“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination”.
“When people are determined they can overcome anything”.
Thanks Madiba for the legacy that you are leaving behind…
Business conferences are one of the best ways to expand your business and bring new life to your company. At Convergence, you will find everything you need to rock your industry, including exciting new Microsoft products, hundreds of sponsors, and potential connections with thousands of other companies.
Convergence is designed to help businesses in the following ways:
#1 Meeting Profitable Connections
Convergence is all about getting to know other top industry leaders from around the world. You will see a wealth of sponsors and even top Microsoft professionals that can partner with your company for a profitable relationship between both companies. Hundreds of businesses are attending the conference and are looking to make connections just like you. The person you meet in the elevator may be your next big client.
#2 Finding New Uses for Microsoft Tools
Participants will learn how to unlock the true potential of all Microsoft products. The tracks in the conference are designed to make your company better. You will find information covering new products like new apps for specific industries, new mobile capabilities, and the best cash management functions.
#3 Learning Out-of-the-box Ideas
All of the speakers at the Convergence conference are top leaders of Microsoft products. The speakers will communicate the new vision of Microsoft and talk about their own experiences with the product. You will find sessions that offer value to the following industries:
Government, education, and healthcare
Professional services
Financial services
Retail
Manufacturing
If you want to take your business to the next level with the help of Microsoft, then you will want to make sure you are able to attend the Convergence conference. Make sure you book your spot early to ensure you can attend and really get the value you need. Click the infographic to learn more about the conference and how you can prepare.
Good project managers always look for ways to improve their leadership skills. Excellent project managers will apply these skills to become better leaders. One such tool to improve your skills, is the book: “The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering Organizations by Encouraging People” by Gary Chapman and Paul White.
While being familiar with the “5 Love Languages” I was curious to know how the love language concept is applied to the workplace. Then more specifically I wanted to understand how words of appreciation can help a project manager become better at leading his/her project teams.
The book is aimed at helping managers effectively communicate appreciation and encouragement to their employees, resulting in higher levels of job satisfaction, healthier relationships between managers and employees, and decreased cases of burnout.
It helps to identify an individuals’ preference in the languages of appreciation. Understanding an individual’s primary and secondary languages of appreciation can assist managers in communicating effectively to their team members. It also relates to the power of acknowledgement – see “The Power of Grateful Leadership” for more.
Languages of Appreciation
According to the “5 Languages of Appreciation” there are five ways to show your appreciation in the work-place:
Words of affirmation
Acts of service
Tangible gifts
Quality time
Touch (language of touch is less important in the workplace than in personal relationships)
Benefits
The languages of appreciation in the workplace have shown to significantly improve relationships among co-workers (team members) and to make workplace environments more positive for all who work there.
Motivating through action
For each language of appreciation, there are specific actions that could be taken. Here are some good examples: (focusing on the first 4 languages only) 1
Words of Affirmation
Write me an email and acknowledge when I have done a good job.
Acknowledge my effort of a project, in the presence of my teammates.
Tell me “thank you” or give me a specific compliment.
Give our team a group compliment when we have done well.
Send me a text message after I have completed a task well.
Let me know when others have commented positively on my work.
Quality Time
Go to lunch together and not talk about business issues.
Invite me to go to lunch with project team members.
Stop by, sit down or have a weekly “check in” meeting to see how things are going.
Debrief a recently completed project with me.
Acts of Service
Help me get my computer to work correctly/more efficiently.
Assign someone to answer the phones so that I can complete reports tasks that require undivided attention.
When working on a time-sensitive project, protect my time from additional requests.
Tangible Gifts
Movie tickets.
Gift certificate for a bookstore or outdoor / sporting store.
Allow me to come in early and leave early that day.
Provide a special luncheon to celebrate an accomplishment by our team.
In addition to the book, you will find on the website: www.appreciationatwork.com more resources to use. One such resource is the “Motivating by Appreciation (MBA) Inventory” tool to assess your team members in order to understand how to express appreciation that resonates with each individual. Each book purchased also comes with a code inside for one free MBA inventory.
If you take the time to discover your language of appreciation, as well as that of your team members you can create a group profile showing the team members’ primary and secondary language. See example below: 2
Then you create Action Items for the Group serving as a reminder of what to do to make your team members feel appreciated for their hard work and efforts.
There are some signs that will tell you when team members need a message of appreciation or encouragement: 3
Discouragement
Irritability and resistance
Increased absenteeism
Apathy
Social withdrawal.
Problems with Language of Appreciation and how to overcome them
There are some problems with appreciation like when you genuinely appreciate some-one, but they don’t believe you are sincere. To get past a perceived inauthenticity, it is important to only communicate it when it’s true and to state your desire to be viewed as genuine. An example: “In spite of not saying this enough in the past, I wanted to let you know that I appreciate ….”.
You also need to be communicating appreciation consistently over time. When you team members feel valued and appreciated, good things will happen. There will be loyalty and commitment to the project, to the stakeholders, and to a successful outcome.
One of the most common challenges in today’s work-place, is to find the time to improve on communication and conflict resolution skills.
Leaders complain about people being lazy or not doing their jobs right, or people complain about the leaders being so busy that they don’t have time to spend with their people. The workforce complains their leaders don’t set expectations, don’t ask for feedback and don’t really care about them. Then we wonder why companies have a gap between their vision and the results they are achieving. Everything in life and business revolves not just around communication but the “right kind of communication.”
Communication is the # 1 problem in almost all businesses
Why is communication considered as the main problem in many businesses?
It keeps the people and the organization from reaching their potential.
It’s not because people aren’t talking, but in most cases, it’s the “wrong kind” of communication or a “lack of the right kind.”
People are talking at each other, but not getting through.
Servant Leaders and communication
What Servant Leaders have learned about great communication is:
Setting Goals
Helping people understand what is expected and why?
What they will be measured by?
Performance reviews—how they are doing, what are they doing well and the areas they need to improve on.
Asking people for their ideas and suggestions.
Providing, inspiration, encouragement and motivation.
Discipline
Conflict Resolution
I’m your “coach not your boss.” I’m here for you.
Servant leaders know it’s their goal to “help both the people and the bottom line grow.”
It’s not an either or. You need both for a business and its people to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
Communication and Conflict Resolution
Servant Leaders need to realize about communication and conflict resolution:
As part of a series of articles about Leadership Styles, today’s post is about the vision of a Servant Leader.
The best strategy to achieve organizational goals and create competitive advantage is by developing an environment of caring, mutual trust, and respect between the leaders and the people by focusing their efforts and strategy on developing the full potential of all associates and the business, therefore creating a winning partnership.
Servant Leaders Live Their Vision By:
Treating people as the most important asset in the company
Seeing people not as they are today but their potential
Realizing people are more important than tasks
Measuring their own success by the success of those they lead
Knowing leadership is about building relationships throughout the company
Impacting people’s lives by mentoring and coaching
Setting goals, objectives, actions, and measurements, with accountability for the results
Leading not just with their words but with their actions and modeling the behavior
Believing it is the responsibility of leaders to make a difference in people’s lives
Encouraging, inspiring, and motivating their people
When you see the definition and vision of a servant leader, it seems it should be something every leader and every company would want to embrace. It’s hard to argue with developing leaders who exhibit such skills, abilities, vision, and philosophy for leading others. But for many, it’s hard for them to understand the importance and make servant leadership a way of life.
Often when companies have tried to start new initiatives to improve relationships with their people, it has failed, because there is no real strategy or plan for developing and implementing a process. Real change takes time, patience and perseverance to make the needed people and culture improvements.
They look at it as a program and not as an on-going process. Programs are usually looked at as something short term, while process-building is for the long term. If servant leadership is going to be successful, leadership must be committed to the journey and the changes that everyone in the company will need to make in the way they lead, interact, and think about the people they lead.
Success Factors for Servant Leadership
Some of those changes will require a commitment that causes leaders to learn how to:
Balance the leadership of the people with the stewardship of the company.
Establish the expectations with their leadership for this new servant leadership style.
Obtain support by all senior leadership (from the top), or it will not work
Ensure leaders, supervisors, and middle -managers who won’t support it or cannot change leave the company.
Realize it is a journey and not a quick fix.
Communicate the process and the strategy to the total workforce, so they know what is happening and will hold you accountable for making it happen.
Expect scepticism from some associates.
Remove the barriers that keep people and the company from reaching their goals.
Empower your people.
Dramatically improve communication up and down the chain; communication will be the glue that makes it work.
Build real relationships with those they lead.
Make resolving conflict “job one,” because there will be plenty of conflicts as you implement this strategy.
Move your company from reactive to proactive in its personality.
Position people as problems solvers, not problems in the mind of all the leaders.
Develop an atmosphere of innovation and imagination.
Make motivating, encouraging, inspiring, and energizing your people the new normal.
Train and teach to build your associates into a team of champions.
See problems as opportunities.
Concentrate on developing the potential of your people.
Set goals, objectives, actions, and measurements, with accountability for the results. Build a sense of community, where everyone is pulling together to build your competitive advantage.
Train, teach, and learn over and over.
Remember there will sometimes be pain in the journey, but it will be worth it.
When we look at the state of our economic climate, politics, and the decline in trust people around the world have for their leaders, it becomes obvious that there needs to be a new direction and emphasis on the right kind of leadership.
Almost every night on TV, we see the despair people feel around the world because leadership isn’tworking. In countries where leaders have used the power of the “big stick and control” leadership model to try and control their people, we see individuals willing to die in the streets to bring about change.
What is the answer to this leadership crisis?
Servant leadership is about working to eliminate conflict through good communication, listening to other people’s ideas, and being civil in the way we treat those with ideas we don’t agree with, so we can reach agreement for the good of the people we lead. This leadership style could be the answer.
Leaders are forgetting that leadership is always about thepeople. Thatdoesn’t mean people will always get what they want, but even medicine that doesn’t taste well can make you feel better. We need leaders who really care about us, who will be honest, explain what needs to be done, and tell us the pain and the sacrifices we must go through and the actions needed to make things better. We need leaders who can develop a three-year strategy, instead of throwing abandon to the wind and coming up with a new program all the time to satisfy special interests and try to give us false hope.
How will Servant Leadership be an answer to the problems?
What kind of leadership is needed to bring about the changes we desperately need?
Who are Servant Leaders in Business?
Men and women who bring their purpose, passion, and character, and when combined with their God-given skills and abilities for leadership, bring out the best in people, helping a business develop and implement a sustainable process for success.
To Develop This Type Of Business Environment Requires Several Things
Following a recent article about Grateful Leadership, I want to look at another leadership style that will help you become a better leader.
Recently I came across an article by Darrell Andrews, who is a sport enthusiast, stating that he came across two types of leaders in sport. Some leaders enjoy the adoration that comes with success and clamor the spotlight when all is going well. They love giving interviews and communicating with the media during good times.
Unfortunately when things start to become challenging, these leaders don’t do so well. They begin to blame weakness in their organization for the failure. They start to pressure the people they are leading and make life miserable for everyone else, for in their mind, the problems in no way can be their fault. Although they love success, they are poor examples of leadership.
The second type of leader enjoys success too but they do something a little different. They give credit to the people within their organizations or businesses. This type of leader is a leader of people and they recognize that success in any organization starts with the people who work within it.
Servant Leadership
Lute Olsen, the former University of Arizona basketball coach put it this way: When the team wins, I give them the credit, when play is mediocre, we both need to improve, but when the team loses, it is my fault. What a great example of leadership!
We need more leaders like this today – leaders with an attitude of service. Thisleadership style is also calledServant Leadership.
Wikipedia defines it as follows:
“Servant leadership is both a leadership philosophy and a set of leadership practices. Traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the top. By comparison, the servant leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible”.
“Acknowledgment is a heartfelt and authentic communication that lets a person know their value to the organization and the importance of the contribution that they make.” From ‘The Power of Acknowledgment’ by Judith W. Umlas.
Good leadership skills are what make a good project manager great. This article will explore the attributes that would make the project manager a great leader.
Inspire a Shared Team Vision
For a project to work, everybody needs to share the same vision for the project. Great project managers help all team members feel like they have an equal stake in a project, and empower everyone to share and experience the group’s vision. When team members share a similar vision, they are committed to deliver their best.
Integrity
Good leadership requires commitment and adherence to ethical practices. Good project managers abide by ethical standards and reward those team members who follow suit is part of the responsibility of the job.
Great Communication Skills
Project managersneed to clearly communicate goals, performance and expectations; and they need to manage feedback coming at them from all directions. Being accessible, open, and direct is critical for being a good communicator. Further, having the ability to persuade team members to do certain tasks a bit differently, or work overtime when necessary, is equally as important. Overall, a project manager’s overall effectiveness is often realized by the ability to communicate effectively.
Competency in the Subject Matter of the Project
Team members need to feel like their project manager has some degree of expertise in the project’s subject matter. As such, project leaders should have the ability to lead their team with technical expertise if the project so requires it. Leaders who are seen as competent by their peers have the ability to inspire, enable and encourage.
Promote Team Building
A project manager must understand team building dynamics. He or she must go through each phase of team development – even when conflict arises – and get the team to focus on the common goal. Great project managers foster a sense of unity on the team, across personal dynamics.
Good with Task Delegation
Assigning the right tasks to the right people and trusting them to leverage the best of their abilities is a key characteristic of a great project manager.
Good Problem Solving Abilities
Great project managers solve problems by sharing the responsibility with the experts on their team. This means leveraging the knowledge of those team members and stakeholders who have the expert knowledge to assist; and setting a plan to solve tough problems by harnessing that team experience.
Stay Cool Under Pressure
In a perfect world, every project would complete on time, on budget, and on scope. Unfortunately, when the going gets tough, good project managers remain calm. Warrant Bennis stated: “Out of the uncertainty and chaos of change, leaders rise up and articulate a new image of the future that pulls the project together.” Great project managers stay cool under pressure.
I like this definition of Leadership: “leading is about establishing direction and influencing others to follow that direction”. This is a good indicator of how project managers should lead their project teams.
As a project manager you lead and facilitate the team members to work towards the same goal consistently.
About Linky van der Merwe: Linky is the Founder of Virtual Project Consulting. Her mission is to provide project management best practices and to recommend resources to aspiring and existing project managers. A certified project management professional with more than 13 years project management experience and a track record of more than 30 successful projects.
This promotional article is aimed at seasoned project and programme managers in South Africa who aspire to be more successful and outstanding in how they deliver projects. The information to be presented will also apply to CEO’s, Managing/ Project/Chief Directors, Engineering Directors, Project Leaders, Operations Executives, COO’s, HOD’s, I.T. Directors, Municipal Managers, Financial Project Managers, Team Leaders, Project Planning Managers, Business Analysts, Construction Managers.
Organisations more than ever are under pressure to operate and deliver more effectively and efficiently, place greater emphasis on stream-lining internal operations, increase focus on customer needs, on superior service delivery in relation to competitors and within shorter timeframes. This is necessary to retain their existing customer base as well as to increase their market share. With the current rate that Companies are moving at globally, coupled with the pace of change, now more than ever an organisation’s ability to execute (on time, on budget, to stakeholder expectations) is not only good for business but is a necessity.
This shift in mind-set requires organisations to have the ability to manage and effectively utilize their resources to the best of their ability to derive direct tangible value through the projects they initiate.
The Project Management Leadership Master Class will provide you with the essential insights in today’s industry and project efficiencies and touch on what’s required today to initiate, manage, monitor and drive delivery through the life cycle of a project successfully. Delivery is not only measured by the fact that it was brought to existence, but the manner in which it was executed and whether it is in line with the original expectations and business benefits of what it was intending to deliver.
Key strategies to be discussed, include:
Implementation of a project lifecycle methodology
Risk Management
How to deal with shortage of project management skills in South Africa
About the Author: Kiruben Reddy is the General Manager of Solutions Bridge, a 100% Black Women Empowered company and is Level 3 B-BBBEE certified. Your organization can recognize 110% of your spend for the Leadership Master Class hosted by them.
One quality a project manager needs to have to be really successful is Emotional Intelligence.
Your Emotional Intelligence can help make or break you. Emotional Intelligence or EQ is your ability to handle yourself and others. It is all about your ability to get along with others and build relationships. This also means that you can face conflict with the people around you and keep those relationships intact.
Think about it, your EQ is a conflict resolution tool! Here are 3 ways that your EQ helps you resolve conflict.
#1 EQ prevents unproductive conflict
When you are self-aware (one of the five components of EQ) you understand your moods. Who do you think is more likely to engage in unproductive conflict: A person in a good mood or a person in a bad mood? The person who is in a bad mood right? To build on that, imagine the person who walks around completely unaware of their emotions. Who knows what is going to set them off, they certainly don’t know.
Let’s take this even further, to really avoid unproductive conflict you want to recognize your moods and then exhibit self-control (another component of EQ). Yes the person in a bad mood is more likely to engage in useless conflict; but this person needs to be able to control their behaviours while in a bad mood. This is the person who gets that they are cranky and is careful with their words and actions because they know they are easily upset.
#2 EQ helps YOU navigate productive conflict
Sometimes disagreements are a good thing. When you lead your team through issue resolution, not every team member will suggest the same solution. From that productive conflict the best and most creative solution can be designed. Only if YOU and your team can draw upon your self-awareness, self-control, motivation, empathy and social skills (all components of EQ) to work together.
As you work through the conflict you are drawing upon your awareness of your feelings during the conflict and your self-control to behave professionally. You are motivated to work things out and care about seeing the issue through until the best solution is found. You don’t care if the solution selected is your solution, you care that it is the right solution. You employ active listening (part of empathy) to guide the team through the discussion and you draw upon your social skills to seek participation from all appropriate parties.
#3 EQ helps you repair relationships
Even with your best intentions and best behaviour, not all conflict is productive conflict. Sometimes feelings get hurt. Now what are you going to do about it?
You are going to use all of your EQ skills to repair those relationships. This might involve listening to the wounded parties as they share with you why they are upset and what you can do to help. If could mean that you invite them to lunch or for coffee to show that you have no hard feelings. Whatever approach you take, the fact is that if you were not emotionally intelligent it would not even occur to you that you should work to repair the relationship. If you ignore a damaged relationship, you are inviting additional and unnecessary conflict.
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