Even if “project manager” isn’t part of your title or job description, you likely will have to oversee a project at some point in your career. After all, projects occur at every level of all organizations, industries and professions.
Maybe you’ve been asked to organize a day-long staff retreat or a special anniversary celebration. Or maybe you’ve been asked to coordinate art and text for a marketing campaign. For projects both complex and simple, a practical and solid plan can make everything flow more smoothly – AND make you look brilliant. (And who doesn’t want that?) In short, everyone can benefit from a few project management skills. Whether you’re new to project management or are looking for a few tools to effectively run your own projects, we recommend starting with these five tips. 1. Identify the project objectives. Every project begins with two questions: What is your understanding of the task? and What will the deliverable look like? Don’t even think about starting a project until you answer those. Jot the answers into a document. This is the start of your project charter, a go-to document that lists the project basics from goals and scope to budget and timeline. This helps you communicate with stakeholders and measure progress. Use it! 2. Develop action steps. “Begin at the beginning," advised the King as he prompted Alice in Wonderland to tell about her adventures. That’s good advice for managing a project too. Start by listing the first three steps. Categorize each task. Continue this process until you’ve listed every action step needed to get the work done. This work breakdown structure is basically a glorified (and very detailed!) to-do list. It will help you identify where team members and other resources are needed. 3. Get organized. Maybe you've never won any “most organized” awards. Now is the time to do better. Capture ideas, requests and actions using one notebook, sticky notes, or an Excel document. Experiment using digital tools like Trello to keep you and resources in one place. The type of tool you use is less important than being confident that you know what is required, the action steps needed, and most important, how to communicate them to the team. What tools work for you? 4. Identify risks. For project managers, a risk is anything that she doesn't have control over. For example, could less funding come through than estimated? Might a timeline be crunched because of a scheduled vacation? What if an event sells out quickly or a new product is so popular that supply can't keep up with demand? Take a few minutes to list all of the risks that may affect your project. (Go ahead – put them in the project charter.) Think about both positive and negative events that you can't control. Once you've identified the risks, you can work on finding solutions or contingency actions to mitigate them. Trust us. You will never regret taking the time to think through potential risks and brainstorming ways to turn them into opportunities. 5. Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. As your project moves forward, be sure to track and communicate project progress. Be sure you know who your team and stakeholders are. Think about what information they need and how frequently they need it – and the best way to reach them. Tools for sharing your progress include communication plans, meeting agendas and project reports. Communicate frequently road blocks, successes, failures, resource needs, meetings, and action steps. You can never over-communicate. These five steps will get any project heading in the right direction. And you’ll know you’ve done everything you can to make it successful. - Rachel
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Few things make people in a group setting more uncomfortable than silence.
People look awkwardly at their phones or notebooks while the lack of speech weighs heavily in the air. Nobody makes eye contact until someone breaks the tension with nervous laughter. But, shhhh . . . There’s power in that silence. Musicians know this. A few (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Claude Debussy, as a start) have been credited with variations on the sentiment that “the music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.” Or as the jazz musician Miles Davis put it: “It’s not the notes you play, it’s the notes you don’t play.” Silence gives noise meaning. In many situations, it is a golden ticket to stronger communication and building trust. After all, when we have a message to deliver, we want people to listen. Silence may signal that someone is actively paying attention and they need a moment to collect their thoughts before responding. Silence, in this case, suggests they’ve actually listened to the conversation before forming their own commentary. Posing a good question to the group also may result in quiet space. People are thinking, figuring out how to frame their responses. Consider the communication styles of those around you. While some people work through their ideas verbally, others need a few minutes of quiet time to collect their thoughts and courage. If a group is brainstorming or sharing ideas, you can expect that conversation will ebb and flow. For a few minutes, ideas may come very quickly and then the pace slows down. Just as a piece of music may contain different time signatures, this rhythm may change multiple times throughout the conversation. If you don’t allow space between the noise, ideas could be left out. There are times, of course, that silence signals a problem. For example, phone conversations or conference calls are difficult to monitor when it comes to silence. Because you can’t read non-verbal cues, it’s challenging to know whether silence means a person is thinking (perfect!), walked away in frustration (not perfect!), or got disconnected (oops!). If you are gathering in person, silence could signal that everyone isn’t prepared for the meeting. Just because you created a thorough agenda doesn’t mean everyone has read it. Watch body language to determine whether people need a moment to compose their thoughts or they haven’t completed their homework. The most difficult part about silence may not be interpreting it, but in allowing it to happen. Handling a bit of silence may be more challenging than you think. We’re so used to filling quiet with sound that true silence may feel like eternity even if it’s only a few seconds or more. If you’re tempted to jump in with a comment, stop. Count silently in your head or watch the second hand of a clock. Don’t fall into the trap of rescuing anybody. Let the awkward silence achieve its superpower. You won’t have to wait long. In my experience someone will start talking in 10 seconds or less. Someone almost always does. Shhh . . . wait for it. – Anita Think about the last time you showed up for a meeting.
Did the group leader take a moment and review why the group was gathered? Did she summarize what had been agreed upon at the last meeting and what needed to be accomplished at this one? No? How did that meeting go? When a group meets, it pays to devote two to three minutes at the start of every meeting to recap previous efforts and share a vision for the future. This does not mean you revisit the previous meeting’s entire agenda. Projects would never move forward if you did that. But taking a few minutes to share where things are at or what has happened since the last meeting can be beneficial. To be clear, a recap is different than sending out meeting notes or minutes (which should be distributed after each gathering). But if you assume that everyone in the meeting has read the previous meeting notes, you are likely to be disappointed. (No judgment here. It’s reality.) Even if everyone reads the notes and were at the last meeting, they will appreciate a reminder of what is going on, where things are headed, and what needs to be done. After all, people make better decisions when they have context for the questions, needs, or purpose. Start your recap with a statement of purpose, declare why you are meeting. Dignify past efforts by briefly providing the facts: the who, what, when, why. Let them know what needs attention and action today. This statement can be part of each agenda and read by someone at the start of each meeting. The brief summary allows everyone to move as a team and step into the role of decision maker. It serves as a friendly reminder of why the group has gathered and keeps everyone focused on what is important at the moment. There’s another way to look at it is like this. To move forward as a team, you should: Identify purpose + Summarize steps taken + Identify desired outcome If you want to make progress, it’s always worth taking a step or two backwards to recap. – Anita There are few things worse in business than showing up for a meeting that has been poorly planned. You don’t know why you’re there or what needs to be accomplished. The organizer either hasn’t taken time to plan the purpose or – perhaps – hasn’t bothered to share the purpose with those around the table.
The solution to this problem is easy, people: Write an agenda. Send an agenda ahead of time. Print an agenda. (And, yes, you should do all three). It may seem like a lot of pre-work, but every time you write and appropriately share an agenda, you’ll thank yourself. Here’s why: Provides Direction An agenda is a mini-plan. It’s a small step in a larger plan that provides structure and direction. And, frankly, it also keeps teams focused on priorities. Without an agenda, you’ll be less productive. You’ll have co-workers who get off topic and spend 20 minutes rehashing what happened over the weekend. Then you’ll spend 30 minutes agonizing over the color of flowers in a centerpiece when you really needed to decide the lunch menu. The weekly staff meetings at Reach Partners have a set agenda. I think of agenda topics more like buckets. The specific items under each bucket change weekly, but we are always focused on our three major priorities: financials, marketing, and workload. Without a clear agenda, it is too easy to discuss things that don’t matter. Saves Time (and Resources) Nobody wants to meet for the purpose of meeting. A good agenda saves time and respects stakeholders’ time commitment. Since there’s a purpose and people know what it is, they are less likely to regret coming. In addition, a good agenda lists a start time and an end time, so people know what they are committing to beforehand. Time is money and meetings are expensive. If you have 10 people attending a meeting and each person’s wage is $25 an hour, it costs $250 for every hour that group meets. An agenda helps make the most of that time. I’ve been part of meetings where the project lead dismissed people after agenda items that pertained to them were done. At first it felt harsh and abrupt, but I’ve changed my mind. This person was giving people the gift of time. If the rest of the meeting didn’t pertain to them, they could be doing something more productive. Encourages Engagement The general purpose of any meeting is to get a group of people together for some focused reason. The underlying premise is that each person invited has expertise to share or important opinions to be expressed. An agenda sent ahead of time (no later than three days before the meeting) gives each stakeholder an opportunity to review, think, research and prepare. You want people to be engaged during the meeting, and there is a better chance of that if attendees know what to expect. Without an agenda, attendees may be asked questions that they didn’t prepare for. Or the group isn’t prepared for the discussion you wanted to have or didn’t bring the data needed to support meaningful conversation. An agenda sent ahead of time is more useful than one provided when you walk in the door. However, neglecting to send an agenda ahead of time doesn’t give you permission to not have one at all. A late agenda is better than no agenda at all. Defines Next Steps At the end of a recent meeting, I reached the last item on the agenda: review responsibilities. “John,” I said. “You are doing _______.” John quickly responded: “Oh, yes. I’m going to write that down.” Include a quick “review” item at the end of every agenda. That plus a brief recap of the previous meeting at the beginning of every meeting put everyone on the same page quickly. We are more successful when we all know what’s going on, where things are headed, and what needs to be done. In summary, I’ve never seen a meeting without an agenda go well. If I don’t know how to prepare or who will be attending, it feels like a waste of time. Of course, an agenda doesn’t mean that the meeting has to be stuffy or formal. You can still have fun and share a story or two. Flexibility is allowed. Just keep your meeting purposeful and focused. Everyone will thank you. –Anita “Hi, Sean. It’s Tom, Tom Brokaw. Just checking in to see if I can start my newscast on time. Are you still on schedule up there in Fargo?”
During 25 years in television . . . and thousands of daily newscasts . . . I never received that phone call from Tom Brokaw. Still, every day my team started and ended its newscasts on time, right down to the second. So did Tom and his team. If there’s any enduring lesson I carry from those days, it is to be on time. Always. Truth be told, being on time means more than starting on time (never underestimate the value of ending on time), but let’s start at the beginning. It’s tempting to be flexible with start times. After all, who doesn’t feel obligated to wait for a latecomer or open to letting a crowd socialize a few more minutes. And yet, the effort it takes to be prompt pays off every single time. As project managers, we call and lead meetings because there is a project or process underway. We need everyone around the table engaged. For a meeting to have value, everyone in the room needs to feel empowered to give advice, insight, direction, feedback, criticism. As event managers, we may be in charge of the flow for the day. Whether someone’s in a meeting or at an event, they need to feel valued. By starting promptly, you immediately send a message that the gathering is worthwhile and that you value the people who are attending. By starting on time, you immediately tell everyone in the room: “You are important. Let’s not waste your time.” The single most consistent way I know to demonstrate how I value someone is to pay attention to her. When a meeting or event starts on time, you can see how a person’s body language responds. You will observe satisfied nods, eye contact, and a more energetic posture. This stands in stark contrast to the body language shown during meetings or events that don’t start on time. In these scenarios, people drift in and settle into a chair before getting up again to refill their water or coffee. As the appointed start time slides by, they look at their phones (or watches) and start to engage in something else. It’s like watching a balloon deflate. Pfffffftttttt. Flat. Uninspired. Unworthy. Starting on time is the ultimate strong opening move. It sets the tone that you are in control and have expectations. It’s a rah-rah step: “Let’s go, team! You are here because this is work or a topic we care about together.” Starting a meeting on time has the additional benefit of assuring those around you that you are a good steward of resources. After all, if you value time, more than likely you also are careful steward of financial and human resources. At Reach Partners, we often stand side-by-side with volunteers or client staff as they gather to take that next meaningful step. When people walk into a room and immediately sense direction and purpose, they engage. When they engage right away, the process is more efficient and smoother; the experience is more joyful, the final outcome better. Think about it in these terms. If your office has motion-sensitive lighting, the lights turn off when there’s no noticeable activity in the conference room. The same thing happens in a meeting. If there’s no momentum, if nothing has started, attendees shut down. Trust me, once someone in a meeting shuts down, it takes more than an arm wave in the air to get their attention again. It might even take more than doughnuts. Leave people sitting too long and they will inevitably do the thing we feared the most in television: they will tune you out . . . and it’s awfully hard to get them to tune back in. —Sean Every great project and event starts with great strategy. This is why we carefully guide our clients to identify their intent: What do they want to accomplish? How will success be defined? Once goals are determined, we identify constraints, such as time, financial resources, human resources. We think through possible risks and barriers. We expect that good strategy will save time, money and mental energy. And, of course, everything will proceed smoothly. Except sometimes it doesn’t. Surprisingly, one of the biggest threats to a successful project isn’t poor strategy or poor planning: it’s the seemingly harmless fuzzy bunny. Fuzzy bunnies are well-meaning distractions that keep you from focusing on what needs to be addressed. Speaking of fuzzy bunnies, when I hear the phrase I picture a small rabbit that my dad found in a field nest and brought to our house one Easter. My cousin Maggie, at age 3 or 4, was visiting. She wore a red print dress with a white overlay and she carefully cuddled that little bunny in her tiny hands. So cute. So adorable. And so off on a tangent. See? The point is that fuzzy bunnies are cute and good and cuddly. The latest, new idea is pretty darn cute, too (or at least some individual or group you are working with will think so). That is a problem when the great idea derails a project or doesn’t align with the strategy. Fuzzy bunnies come from anywhere. Sometimes it’s the visionary folks who thrive on the big picture who can’t help themselves. They enjoy coming up with lots and lots of ideas and they’re pretty good at it, too. Sometimes it’s the more detail-oriented members of a group who fixate on ideas that won’t actually move the project forward. We’ve worked with clients who wanted to spend precious meeting time discussing menu items that were too expensive for the budget. We’ve guided teams who kept contributing “great ideas” for programs well beyond the time they could be implemented. Yes, when managing a project you need to be flexible and nimble. But there’s a difference between changing plans because there isn’t a staff member available and changing plans because a new idea popped up. Bad ideas, of course, are easy to dismiss. But the good ones? That’s when we turn to the strategy document. If good strategy work has been done, it is relatively easy to determine whether an idea should be explored or set aside. A strategy document can be simple or complex, but it can’t be placed on a shelf. Its true value appears when it is kept close at hand throughout the entire project. It can be used to review all new ideas, all new solutions to determine whether the idea is helpful or a fuzzy bunny. Should you entertain the idea of serving lobster on the lunch buffet? Check the budget in your strategy document. Should you rent a billboard because it’s a good deal? Review your strategy document. It’s powerful and rewarding to see real and tangible experiences rise up from strong strategy. Even more so, it’s exciting to see strategy used to combat the fuzzy bunnies that rear their crazy heads in midst of shaping a project or event. Let’s keep the fuzzy bunnies where they belong. -- Anita EDITOR'S NOTE: Blog adapted from 12/2/14 post. As organizations and businesses seek to market their brand, they often consider hosting events. Both On the Minds of Moms, a parenting magazine, and Onsharp, a digital marketing agency, asked Reach Partners to help them determine what resources they needed to successfully host an event and to help imagine what the event would look like.
The two organizations had different missions and goals, but Reach Partners used the same process to help each business determine the best route forward. Reach began by asking each business to identify the stakeholders, the people who needed to be involved in the initial discussions. We then facilitated meetings with the stakeholders. “It was about asking questions and a lot of listening,” Anita says. Among other details, Reach Partners asked both businesses to consider five W’s and one H: Who would be involved? Who would attend? What did the event look like? When did they want the event held? Where might it be held? Why did they want an event? How would it look and feel? Reach Partners then developed a strategic guide and preliminary budget for an event that matched the organization’s needs. “We didn’t tell them what they should do, but helped them determine their goals and objectives,” Anita says. After receiving recommendations from Reach Partners, Minds of Moms decided to move forward with the event plan and brought its magazine to life with a one-day gathering. After Onsharp received its recommendations, it decided to not host a full-fledged event. That said, the process was a success. “Choosing Reach Partners to help us plan our event strategy was a great decision. They guided us through a process that helped us define success, articulate goals, define a budget and identify a venue. It was exactly the information we needed to make a decision about our next steps. We completed the process much more quickly and effectively than we could have done on our own. And, we had fun along the way,” says Kirsten Jensen, who was Onsharp’s director of marketing at the time. We all know that projects take time and effort. Whether planning an event, constructing a building, or installing public art, we expect to spend hours on the project timeline, project budget, and project deliverables.
What sometimes gets forgotten (or even lost!) in the discussion are the people involved or affected by the project, i.e. the stakeholders. Stakeholders have a degree of buy-in, ownership, or influence over the final product. They’re the people who bring their own biases and expectations to the table. They’re the people who will sing the project’s praises or complain bitterly about the outcome. In short, they’re the people who will determine the success of the project – and they might not even be involved in the daily work. So how do you keep them engaged and pleased with the final outcome? At Reach Partners, we spend a lot of energy connecting and communicating with the people whose opinions can make a project sink or soar. Also known as stakeholder management, this process takes a lot of effort. That hard work pays off as projects keep moving forward and succeed. Here are some tips we’ve found helpful:
Frequent touch points and empathetic listening are key to building trust; trust leads to happier stakeholders. Effort spent nurturing these relationships is energy well-spent. Rachel First you get the idea or the assignment. For a moment, you and your team are excited (or maybe terrified – who are we to judge?)
Then you quickly realize that for a project to be completed, you need to start it. Of course, common sense suggests that projects need to be started before they’re finished. But at Reach Partners we’ve seen projects fail to launch or stall because a successful start was an obstacle. Starting is harder than it looks. Projects fail to start for all sorts of reasons: lack of vision, misunderstanding, confusion, procrastination. “Just do it” may work for athletes who love Nike, but most organizations and teams need a clear process even before the project planning starts. Granted, as an outside vendor we bring a fresh perspective to any project. We have experience staying flexible and nimble throughout the process. Still, we focus on three stages every time we start a project: listen, investigate, and gather. LISTEN On the surface, “listen” seems straight forward: pay attention so you can hear what someone is saying. By giving someone your full attention, you understand and hear what is being said (and not just what you think someone is saying). You also build rapport and trust. Believe it or not, one of the hardest things to do in a group setting is to ask a question and then say nothing more. Silence is a powerful force – one that gives people time to think and space to talk. INVESTIGATE This is where you dig deep to discover facts and information. It’s also known as the “ask a lot of open-ended questions” stage. Use your how, what, when, why, who language to uncover the data that will later help you determine the scope of the project. Ultimately, you are trying to determine how the project fits into the goals of the business or collaboration. No questions are off-limits, which means individuals and groups need to be willing to be honest and forthcoming. (If the project has stalled in the past, why?) Expect to prompt conversation and use follow-up questions. GATHER This is where you create space and opportunity for all the stakeholders (co-workers, volunteers for a collaborative effort) to come together and share what they want to happen. It’s an opportunity to start listening for project expectations (goals, budget, timeline), as well as possible barriers or challenges. It’s also a chance to make sure everyone has the same background and foundation of information. As an outside vendor, we find often that what is obvious to some in a group isn’t always apparent to everyone in the room. Have you ever had trouble starting a project? Comment below – or drop us a personal note! I started running just before I turned 30. After realizing I had never completed a consecutive mile, I wanted to see if I could reduce the amount I sweat (my cooling system is a slick thing to be admired), and if I would ever be transformed into a long-legged, running gazelle (nope).
Still, what I have discovered after years of trotting is there are numerous similarities between running a race (like a half marathon, 13.1 miles) and the project management work I do at Reach Partners (everyday, baby). For both, success starts by committing to do what I say I’ll do.
And, of course, I never forget that the race isn’t over when I step over the finish line. Likewise, the project isn’t done at the deadline. I celebrate the success. I close with stories, a great beverage, and a yummy treat. And then, I start planning for the next race. Trot on, my friends. See you on race day! —Rachel |
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