Jo Ann Sweeney, a communications consultant based in London, wrote an article about one of the essential communication skills for project managers, namely Active Listening.
Active Listening
I was one of the project managers in March that was interviewed by Jo Ann Sweeney. She did research about the top five communication skillsproject managers need to lead their teams.
“Active listening is the most important leadership skill for any project,” said South African Linky Van Der Merwe PMP. “We need to listen so we can understand requirements and needs, especially with regard to stakeholders.This should happen throughout the project, not just at the beginning.”
Learning from project experience is an essential function that the project manager needs to facilitate during project management closure.
The philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
This is sometimes referred to as Santayana’s Law of Repetitive Consequences; and is nowhere more evident than in project based work. The increasing pace of change in the workplace often makes it difficult to learn from experience as processes and personnel are constantly changing.
I have experienced this fast paced phenomenon while doing project management work for a corporate client recently. Following standard best practice in project management closure, I always schedule a proper project closure workshop at the end of projects. For many of my project teams this was their first experience of doing project reviews of any kind. Yet they derived so much value from revisiting the original project goal and objectives, the scope, milestones and deliverables that were achieved. By the time we discussed Lessons Learned, all team members were actively participating.
Project Reviews
I enjoy these project reviews as it confirms a sense of achievement, pride and satisfaction from project completion for all team members. The lessons learned are then logged and archived with other project documentation for future reference. I usually distribute the project close-out reports with the lessons learned to the wider departmental teams in recognition of the project team’s efforts and to make their colleagues aware of their project achievements.
In my opinion, to successfully learn from project experience requires a regular and consistent approach that can be incorporated into any project management methodology. Here are a few suggestions to help any project team learn from experience:
Establish a venue for sharing lessons-learned: It doesn’t matter whether you call it a post-mortem, a project review, or a project closure workshop, most organizations don’t do them—but they should.
Share what has been learned: Although most organizations don’t bother with a project review, those that do don’t always create an environment that encourages real learning—and even fewer share what was learned.
Don’t make learning the next corporate initiative: It’s natural for organizations to try to formalize the learning process into the next corporate project. The natural learning process should be encouraged and lessons learned can and should even be part of project progress discussions.
Don’t make learning from projects a one-time activity or something to be done when time permits: Project learning should be ongoing and interactive—with all project team members actively participating.
Every organization has different needs. Some rely on their project software and methodology to help facilitate the learning process. I think that’s good, but even organizations that don’t use any specific project management tools need to create an environment where project learning can regularly take place.
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About the author:Linky Van Der Merwe is a Microsoft Project Management Consultant and an IT Project Manager with 15 years IT industry experience and 12 years Project Management experience. She consults with small-medium business owners and service professionals about project management processes and tools, best practices and successful delivery through projects. She can be reached at linky@virtualprojectconsulting.com
The time has arrived for the 2010 FIFA World Cup to start in South Africa. Visitors have arrived from all over the world. There is big excitement among South Africans, even with those who are not soccer fans, because the South Africans like to unite behind their national sport teams!
How will South Africa benefit from hosting the World Cup?
With the FIFA World Cup being hosted in Africa for the first time, the question has always come up everywhere. How will South Africa, and the African continent benefit from hosting the soccer World Cup? To me it seems that the 3 main benefits are:
Job creation: It has been estimated that the 2010 Fifa World Cup will sustain an estimated 695 000 jobs.
Economy boost: An estimated gross impact of R93-billion on South Africa’s economy.
Tourism: A projected 373 000 foreign tourists will visit South Africa during the World Cup, each spending an estimated R30 200 on average per trip.
However, the indirect benefits from improved perceptions abroad could have an even greater, longer-lasting impact, not only on South Africa and its development but on the continent as a whole. A successful soccer World Cup will help change the perceptions that a large number of foreign investors hold of Africa. South Africa will prove once again that it can live up to its commitments and create a better future for all South Africans.
If you are also excited by the soccer World Cup 2010, please visit Total Soccer Fitness for a step-by-step guide to creating your own custom made, soccer conditioning program aimed at players and coaches.
I wish all the visitors to our beautiful country, and especially to Cape Town, a wonderful and memorable stay. Enjoy watching the games and come back to visit us again.
About the author: Linky van der Merwe is a Project Management Consultant and an IT Project Manager with more than 11 years Project Management experience.
She consults with business owners and service professionals about project management tools and processes, best practices and successful delivery through projects. She can be reached at linky@virtualprojectconsulting.com
For an interesting soccer world cup overview, visit South Africa Info.
Today I want to share about the success of a FIFA World Cup ‘Green’ Project that was undertaken by the City of Cape Town. If you are a ‘green’ supporter, this would make for an interesting read, even if a bit long. As part of the preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ a greening programme was implemented to make the soccer world cup as environmentally responsible as possible.
The programme, called Green Goal 2010, is supported by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT), Norway, Germany and the United Nationals Environment Programme (UNEP) and was arranged by FIFA’s Organising Committee in collaboration with local government.
What is the Green Project all about?
It incorporated measurable, sustainable development principles into every aspect of the event, including energy, waste, water, transport and hospitality.
An action was developed to implement the programme, with indicators, milestones, budgets, potential partners, timelines and targets for 43 projects that formed part of the event.
This was developed after a series of German sponsored workshops and discussion forums with experts, stakeholders and interested parties, and is a collaborative output between the Western Cape Provincial Government and the City.
The action plan focuses on stadium and city-wide greening initiatives, biodiversity awareness raising, landscaping issues, green procurement processes and ratings for the hospitality industry, carbon offset targets, integrated waste management, the new urban park and communication.
Why the Green Project?
The aim was to make 2010 the greenest world cup yet, not only to offset the impact that the event itself will have on the environment (such as greenhouse gas emissions), but to set the standard for future events of this kind.
The Green Goal 2010 action plan identified nine areas with projects for implementation. These are:
Energy conservation and climate change – Minimise the carbon footprint of the 2010 event
Determine the carbon footprint of the 2010 event
Identify and implement carbon offset project(s) in Cape Town/Western Cape
Install energy efficient technologies in stadia and training venues, and at fan parks and Public Viewing Areas (PVAs)
Water – Minimise the use of potable water and promote conservation of water resources
Identify alternative sources of water for irrigation of the Green Point Common
Install water saving devices in the stadium and at the training venues
Some of the biggest projects that were launched in preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup were the projects in Cape Town.
Cape Town, the city with a vista of mountains, the ocean and scenic beauty, is committed and excited to be one of the host cities for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. As Cape Town prepares for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, large infrastructure projects within the city included:
demolition and reconstruction of the Green Point Stadium,
expenditures on roads and other transport infrastructure such as rail and airport services.
With the official FIFA slogan in mind: “Using Football to Touch the World”, a business plan was drawn up in preparation for a number of projects. The business plan is based on three strategic pillars:
compliance with FIFA requirements for hosting the games;
optimizing the developmental impact and leaving a legacy, and
maximizing the promotional and positioning opportunities: leverage what the Western Cape has to offer, visually, and in terms of history, arts, culture, music, cuisine, entertainment and activities.
Project: The Green Point Soccer Stadium
Construction of the breathtaking new Cape Town Stadium, located on the Green Point Common between the twin icons of Table Mountain and Robben Island, began in March 2007.
In just 33 months, joint contractors Murray and Roberts and WBHO completed the massive project at a cost of R4.4-billion or approximately US$600-million. The project architects were an association between GMP Architects of Germany and two local firms, Louis Karol and Associates and Point Architects.
Some quick facts about this project:
96,000 cubic metres of concrete were used
The roof has a total weight of 4,700 tons
Some 9,000 glass panels were used to cover 37,000 square metres of roof
500 toilets and 360 urinals
115 entry turnstiles
16 lifts
More than 2,500 workers were employed on site during construction, and almost 1,200 artisans received training from the contractors
All systems of the 68 000-seater have been tested and the brand new stadium is now ready to welcome the world to “the greatest show on earth”.
Project: Western Cape’s Public Transport System
As part of preparations for 2010, a plan has been implemented for a fully integrated transport solution for Cape Town and the Provincial Government of the Western Cape. The multimillion dollar restructuring will integrate rail, bus and minibus taxi transport. The project involves an intelligent transport system (ITS) encompassing route monitoring, fleet management and passenger information and an integrated fare management system, including an integrated ticketing system.
Cape Town International Airport
Approximately $186 million was invested in the facelift of Cape Town International Airport by 2009. Upgrades included a new terminal, an elevated road, a plaza for public transport, air bridges and a multi-story parking structure.
Project: Tourism
The 2010 FIFA World Cup presented a number of good tourism development opportunities in Cape Town and the surrounding area. These included: A $2.7 million destination tourism marketing strategy, which aims to market Cape Town and the Western Cape as the preferred destination for 2010 Soccer World Cup spectators and participating teams. A $1.4 million Film Strategic Plan involving media workshops and the development of visual archives and information, and development of Cape Town & Western Cape Film Festival. There will also be Customer Service Training for front-office staff, with the development of a Call Centre for information management and customer relations.
If you are also excited by the soccer World Cup 2010, please visit Total Soccer Fitness for a step-by-step guide to creating your own custom made, soccer conditioning program.
The next article is about the Green Project for the City of Cape Town. Not to miss any future posts about the 2010 FIFA World Cup projects, please subscribe and read with Google Reader.
About the author: Linky van der Merwe is a Microsoft Project Management Consultant and an IT Project Manager with more than 11 years Project Management experience.
She consults with business owners and service professionals about project management and project processes, best practices and successful delivery through projects. She can be reached at linky@virtualprojectconsulting.com
The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be the 19thsoccer World Cup. It is scheduled to take place between 11 June and 11 July 2010 in South Africa. This will be the first time that the tournament is hosted by an African nation.
When the soccer bid was awarded to South Africa on 15 May 2004, it triggered a whole range of projects and programs in preparation for the World Cup 2010. This is the 1st of a series of articles about the projects leading up to the big event, but first some background.
The 30-day count-down to the start of one of the biggest sport events in the world, the 2010 FIFA World Cup has officially started!
Participating Teams
Source: Wikipedia
The following 32 teams qualified for the final tournament.
There are 10 venues to be used for the World Cup, but 9 host cities, namely:
Cape Town
Durban
Bloemfontein
Nelspruit
Port Elizabeth
Pretoria
Johannesburg
Rustenberg
Polokwane
World Cup 2010 Stadiums
The final 10 World Cup 2010 Stadiums to be used for the World Cup are:
Green Point Stadium, Cape Town
Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban
Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit
Nelson Mandela Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria
Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg
Soccer City, Johannesburg
Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg
Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane
About the World Cup 2010 Stadiums
Cape Town Stadium: Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.: A 70.000 seater soccer stadium in Greenpoint.
Durban 2010 Stadium: In Durban, South Africa’s busiest port, the temperatures seldom drop below 16 degrees Celsius. Moses Mabhiba Stadium, a 60 000 seater soccer stadium
2010 Stadium Johannesburg (‘Joburg’): The capital of the Gauteng province is the economical heart of the region and of South Africa. Johannesburg will also be the epicentre of the World Cup Soccer, home to Soccer City, a 94.000 + seater stadium will host the opening and the final of the World Cup Soccer in 2010.
Johannesburg also boasts the 60.000 seater stadium of Ellis Park, renovated for the event.
2010 Stadium in Bloemfontein: Bloemfontein is situated in the Free State province of South Africa, and is home to the constitutional court. The Free State Stadium 40 000 seater for soccer fans.
Nelspruit: Nelspruit is the capital city of South Africa’s Mpumalanga province. From Nelspruit, the Kruger National Park is a stone throw away. A new stadium, the Mbombela Stadium – 40.000 seater
2010 Stadium Polokwane: Polokwane, the capital city of South Africa’s Limpopo province. Peter Mokaba Stadium.
2010 Stadium Port Elizabeth (‘PE’):Port Elizabeth, surrounded by nature and beautiful coastlines, has a lot to offer, from Addo Elephant Park and several game reserves. Brand new soccer stadium is the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
2010 Stadium Pretoria: Pretoria is situated 60 kilometres outside of Johannesburg, and is South Africa’s administrative capital. The 50.000 seater Loftus Versveld stadium is in the heart of the city of Tshwane.
2010 Stadium Rustenburg: Host City Rustenburg lies 100 km north west from Johannesburg, on the foot of the Magaliesberg. The Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace has space for 40.000 soccer fans.
If you are also inspired by the soccer World Cup 2010, please visit Total Soccer Fitness for a step-by-step guide to creating your own custom made, soccer conditioning program.
Writing a project proposal is certainly one of the key competent areas for a service professional. The project proposal is your sales piece that will ultimately “sell” your services to the prospective client.
Gibbon
To be successful, your project proposal should perform the following:
show that you understand what the client is looking for
prove that you are the best person for the tasks at hand
convince the prospect that either they can afford you or they cannot afford not to hire you
To accomplish all this, your project proposal should have the following key elements:
1. Client’s Requirements and Goals
The summary of the client’s requirements and goals is a critical part of your project proposal. Take the time to really understand what your prospect is looking for to ensure a better outcome. Furthermore, by showing how well you’ve paid attention to your prospect’s needs, you’ll set yourself apart from your competitors.
2. Tasks Involved and Your Fee for Each
List down the main tasks you’re going to do, along with the fee you will charge for each. Provide enough detail that anybody will be able to say when you have delivered or completed the task.
For example, if I’m going to write a sales page for a client, I’ll say that it will be at least 1,000 words long, will include graphics, and will be submitted in a HTML file.
3. Breakdown of Each Task with Costs
Lemur
It’s not enough to simply say what big tasks you will do. Break them down so your prospect appreciates how much work and skill it takes to complete each one.
In my sales page example above, I could specify that writing the sales page includes:
doing market research to better understand my client’s target market and what his competitors are doing
choosing appropriate photographs
design and layout of the sales page into a HTML file
4. Delivery Schedule
Make it clear how long it will take you to complete each task and how milestones should be approved by the client.
5. Work Process
Describe how you usually work with clients. Will you have a meeting after the client approves your proposal? Describe how you will to track all client communication. Be specific now so you and your client won’t be in for surprises later on.
6. Mode of Payment
In this part, specify how you want to get paid. Do you require a deposit or full payment before starting on a project? Describe means of payment for example, electronic bank transfer.
7. Samples or Proof That You Can Do the Job
Gibbon
Make it easy for prospects to decide that you’re suitable for this project. Attach samples of work, or links to samples that show how you’ve completed similar projects in the past.
8. Clear Indication of the Next Steps
Tell your prospect clearly what he should do if he either wants to proceed with the project, or if he has further questions before he can make a decision.
Say something like, “If you need clarification on my proposal, please email your questions to me.”
9. Invoice for First Payment
Obviously, you should include this only if you require a deposit before you start a project.
10. Contact Information
Ring Tail Lemur
Make sure your project proposals include your name and contact details–including your email address even if you are emailing your proposal. Don’t assume your prospect will simply hit the “reply” button, or take the time to find your contact information if he doesn’t see it right away.
Always ensure that your project will deliver as per client requirements and outline that clearly in your project proposal.
These beautiful photos were taken at Monkey Land in Plettenberg Bay, about 450km from Cape Town, South Africa.
By Linky Van Der Merwe
Click below to download a basic project template and tips for Writing a Winning Project Proposal
Want to know how to become a 5-star project manager?
By Jason Westland
A Project Manager needs to manage people, budget, suppliers, equipment—the list is never ending. The trick is to be focused. Set yourself 5 personal goals to achieve. If you can meet these simple goals for each project, then you will achieve total success. So read on, to learn…
The 5 Goals of a Project Manager
These goals are generic to all industries and all types of projects. Regardless of your level of experience in project management, set these 5 goals for every project you manage.
Goal 1: To finish on time
This is the oldest but trickiest goal in the book. It’s the most difficult because the requirements often change during the project and the schedule was probably optimistic in the first place.
To succeed, you need to manage your scope very carefully. Implement a change control process so that any changes to the scope are properly managed.
Always keep your plan up to date, recording actual vs. planned progress. Identify any deviations from plan and fix them quickly.
Goal 2: To finish under budget
To make sure that your project costs don’t spiral, you need to set a project budget at the start to compare against. Include in this budget, all of the types of project costs that will accrue, whether they are to do with people, equipment, suppliers or materials. Then work out how much each task in your plan is going to cost to complete and track any deviations from this plan.
Make sure that if you over-spend on some tasks, that you under-spend on others. In this way, you can control your spend and deliver under budget.
Goal 3: To meet the requirements
The goal here is to meet the requirements that were set for the project at the start. Whether the requirements were to install a new IT system, build a bridge or implement new processes, your project needs to produce solutions which meet these requirements 100%.
Ensure that you have a detailed enough set of requirements at the beginning. If they are ambiguous in any way, then what was initially seen as a small piece of work could become huge, taking up valuable time and resources to complete.
Goal 4: To keep customers happy
You could finish your project on time, under budget and have met 100% of the requirements—but still have unhappy customers. This is usually because their expectations have changed since the project started and have not been properly managed.
To ensure that your project sponsor, customer and other stakeholders are happy at the end of your project, you need to manage their expectations carefully. Make sure you always keep them properly informed of progress. “Keep it real” by giving them a crystal clear view of progress to date. Let them voice their concerns or ideas regularly. Tell them upfront when you can’t deliver on time, or when a change needs to be made. Openness and honesty are always the best tools for setting customer expectations.
Goal 5: To ensure a happy team
If you can do all of this with a happy team, then you’ll be more than willing to do it all again for the next project. And that’s how your staff will feel also. Staff satisfaction is critical to your project’s success.
So keep your team happy by rewarding and recognizing them for their successes. Assign them work that complements their strengths and conduct team building exercises to boost morale. With a happy motivated team, you can achieve anything!
And there you have it. The 5 goals you need to set yourself for every project and you will become a 5-star professional project manager.
Jason Westland has 15 years experience in the project management industry. From his experience he has created software to help speed up the management process. If you would like to find out more information about Jason’s online project management software visit ProjectManager.com.
Fulfilling the role of project manager for any length of time will call upon your leadership skills. Especially in today’s complex world, the project management function is no longer a controlling function, but rather a function of leadership and facilitation.
Project Leadership Skills
It has been said that the true measure as to whether someone is a leader is whether they have followers. Building a following as a leader is a vital component in your success and getting the results that you want. For a project manager your leadership reach is usually the project/program teams that you work with. This means that you don’t have the luxury of earning respect as a leader over time, but you need to establish your credibility as a leader up front at the beginning of project.
So what are the 7 KEY leadership actions you can take to establish credibility as a leader?
Action 1: Demonstrate Competence
As the leader, people need to have confidence that you are a competent project manager. Being competent is not about being the expert in every area but having enough skill and experience to make effective decisions.
Action 2: Show Your Commitment
Project managers move between different organisational departments, different functional teams and sometimes they move between different companies (like contractors). While working with a particular organisation and functional team, it is of vital importance to demonstrate you commitment by working hard on a day to day basis. This will also set an example of the commitment you expect from your project team members.
Action 3: Be Consistent and Only Promise What You Can Deliver
Consistency is by far one of the key actions to establish yourself as a respected leader to be trusted. Consistent leadership requires you to be consistent with how you treat all people. Closely related to this is to only promise what you can deliver (agreed scope) and then to deliver as per requirements (satisfied stakeholders).
Action 4: Be an Active Listener
Most leaders are excellent at getting their points across verbally and in writing. Exceptional leaders are also exceptional listeners. Leadership requires you to pay attention to active listening.
Action 5: Prepare For Meetings and Presentations
You might have heard the statement, “Failing to plan is planning to fail”. Running a meeting or making the presentation is the easy bit. The key action is to always be prepared and have specific objectives or an agenda for every meeting.
Action 6: Take Responsibility
You get the rewards of being a leader and at the same time it comes with responsibility. When issues arise (as they always do), make a point of taking responsibility. You are ultimately accountable for the success of the project.
Action 7: Act with Integrity
A golden rule for all project managers in leadership positions is to make sure your behaviours or actions will be authentic and based on integrity.
Leadership is key
Leadership competence is not an optional project management skill, but a key part of being a successful, professional and efficient project manager. Make these 7 leadership actions part of your regular project manager make-up. Credibility will come naturally as a result of applying these actions in your day-to-day management of projects. Your leadership skills will continue to grow stronger with experience; remember to enjoy the ride….
For future project management articles, please subscribe here, as well as to the blog (to the right).
About the author: Linky van der Merwe is a Microsoft Project Management Consultant and an IT Project Manager with more than 11 years Project Management experience.
She consults with 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
1. Recognize the components of the Jungian Indicator types
As a project manager you need to recognize the 8 components of the Myers Briggs Personality Types. Based on Jung’s observations, the starting point is that when people’s minds are active they are involved in one of two mental activities:
Perceiving: Taking information in
Judging: Processing information to reach to conclusions
He identified two ways in which people take in information, based on:
Sensing: Real time tangible data
Intuition: Holistic,”big picture”, pattern/connection data
He identified two ways in which people process information, based on:
Finally, Jung observed that people use these different functions in a form of hierarchy of preference, described by Jung as functions, namely: Dominant, Auxiliary, Tertiary and Inferior. The Myers Briggs model brings these components together into 16 very different personality types.
2. Accept that fewer than 1 in 50 people think like you do
The practical ramifications of all this are considerable, and especially in a project management situation. Given that the typical Myers Briggs type of a business leader, ENTJ (it is short for Extrovert; Intuition; Thinking; Judging) is only shared by approximately 1.8% of the population, then chances are that less than 1 in 50 of your team members will think in the same way you do. Yet as a project manager, you face the difficult challenge of getting your project team to deliver the project objectives and achieve the business benefits that you anticipate.
But the reality is that people process information in very different ways. They also interpret life in different ways and are motivated by different things. Although they will hear what you say when you outline your vision and strategy, and will probably agree with you, most of them are not able to translate all that into productive purposeful action.
3. Communicate your project vision and goals into actionable steps
This means that during the early stages of a project, the project team needs detailed management in the attempt to improve their commitment and working towards the same goal and objectives. As the project manager it is your responsibility to make no assumptions, and to communicate those actionable steps.
By taking account of team member’s individual differences, you need to spell out the actionable steps you wish them to take. By doing this you will stand a far higher chance of building a strong committed team who is motivated to achieve the project goal.
4. Achieve Leadership Success
An integral aspect of successful leadership in project management lies in understanding:
The drivers of human motivation
The difference in individual motivational drivers
Individual differences in mental processing functions
And also, in realizing that not only are their motivational drivers different to yours – their thought processes are different as well. Subscribe to my RSS and blog (to the right) not to miss future project management articles and tips!
If you are based in South Africa, and you would like to have your team assessed with the MBTI instrument, please contact Willem Conradie & Associates – Assessment, Learning and Development Consultants, for a professional service at willem@willemconradie.co.za.
Thanks to Stephen Warrilow for permission to use information from his Meyers Briggs article. Stephen, based in Bristol, England, works with companies across the UK providing specialist support to directors delivery significant change initiatives. 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.
Human Resource Management is one of the key knowledge areas that project managers need to be efficient in. When you are leading and managing people on projects and you want to make the most effective use of people involved with the project, an understanding of the Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBTI) tool is essential.
The purpose of this article is to educate and equip project managers with a thorough understanding and appreciation of the Myers Briggs personality type indicators. It will explain how people process information in very different ways. They also interpret life in different ways and are motivated by different things. By recognising the differences in people, the project manager is empowered to be a more effective leader who in turn will have a more motivated team.
What is Myers Briggs Type Indicator?
The Myers Briggs [personality or psychological] Type Indicators are based on the theories of Carl Jung, which he developed to attempt to explain the differences between normal healthy people. Based on observations, Jung came to the view that differences in behaviour are the result of innate tendencies of people to use their minds in different ways.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. Source: Wikipedia. The MBTI instrument is called “the best-known and most trusted personality assessment tool available today. The publisher, CPP (formerly Consulting Psychologists Press) calls the MBTI tool “the world’s most widely used personality assessment”.
More blind to this than we realise
I have a friend who I connected with instantly from the moment we met. We thought the same way about many things and we shared similar strong points that we used in our very different careers. Co-incidentally, when we both did the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator questionnaire, we discovered that we shared exactly the same personality type. This explained why we got along so well and why our friendship flourished.
At the same time, while managing many different projects, I came across team members who were typically classified (by colleagues) as difficult people. Upon taking a closer look, I discovered why! It was due to a very specific Myers-Briggspersonality type. Being aware of the person’s personality type had made me much more effective in dealing with them in such a way as to gain their full trust and commitment to the project.
If I was blind to the existence of Myers-Briggs personality types, I would probably not know how to get past the perception of dealing with a difficult team member in order to achieve the results that I as the project manager wanted and needed.
Not to miss the rest of the article: How to Use Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator as a project manager tool – where I explain the different components of the personality types and how that will help you achieve leadership success(next blog post), please subscribe to the RSSfeed.
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If you are based in South Africa, and you would like to have your team assessed with the MBTI instrument, please contact Willem Conradie & Associates – Assessment, Learning and Development Consultants, for a professional service at willem@willemconradie.co.za.
Stakeholder management requires getting commitment from stakeholders as the cornerstone of success in projects. The needs and concerns of stakeholders define the project plan. As a follow-up from the previous stakeholder management best practices article, I want to share with you a best practice communication tool as an essential skill for stakeholder management.
How to communicate
The tool that I have used successfully in projects before, is called “Conditions of Satisfaction” or COS. As soon as the project manager identifies who the key stakeholders are, he needs to have a discussion with the customer(s) to determine what their conditions for satisfaction are. It is necessary to make the COS statements specific, measureable, attainable, realistic/relevant, time bound (SMART).
These conditions are then communicated back to the project team, partners and vendors. Once the conditions are determined, they must be agreed and summarised in writing for the customer(s).
Once documented, add any agreed-upon actions to meet them, as well as the planned completion dates. Post the COS to the project repository.
Examples of conditionsof satisfaction (COS) are:
Sponsor expects external consultant to be on-site, during core hours
Action: consultant will be on-site between 9am and 4pm and log this on his time-sheet for the duration of the project
Sponsor expects skills transfer between specialist and team members who will do roll-out and support
Action: put skills transfer actions (workshop & presentations) as activities on project plan to track them before end of planning phase
Minimize extra cost
Action: Try to reduce travel costs, by developing estimates and travel schedule, by having more tele- and video-conferences during execution phase of the project
Communicate the Conditions (COS) to the entire project team and ensure that everyone on the team knows the COS and has plans for how they will help achieve / exceed the COS in the role they play on the project.
Conditions of Satisfaction
At all project meetings, both internal and with the customer, you need to address progress against the COS and identify plans to address any problems. During project closure, the COS will again be discussed to evaluate whether the customer’s conditions were met by the project. This stakeholder management communications tool leads to a satisfied customer, a happy customer and ultimately a more successful project.
Stakeholder Engagement
Stakeholder management and engagement is an essential skill that project managers need to develop. A successful project needs to satisfy the triple constraint of time, cost and quality/performance, but it must also meet requirements of functionality, reliability, maintainability, efficiency, integration and operability.
How to determine your success
To determine if the project was successful, you need to assess the following:
Did the project provide satisfactory benefit to the users?
Measure whether value has been added.
Did the project completely meet predefined objectives?
For success the project experience should have been positive and the project will have added value. The project would have satisfied the needs and concerns of the stakeholders, as well as the project team members and would have allowed the team to acquire new skills.
If you know of other stakeholder management skills or tools that you have used successfully in your projects, please share those with us in the comments section.
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 a former Microsoft Project Management Consultant and an IT Project Manager with 14 years IT industry experience and 11 years Project Management experience.
She consults with small-medium business owners and service professionals about project management and project processes, best practices and successful delivery through projects. She can be reached at linky@virtualprojectconsulting.com
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The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be the 19th soccer World Cup. It is scheduled to take place between 11 June and 11 July 2010 in South Africa. This will be the first time that the tournament is hosted by an African nation.
