1. …your clearly understandable offer is in relevance with her needs;
2. …it translates your passion towards what you’re doing into a solution she’s seeking;
3. …your presumptions match with what sounds like her own thoughts;
4. …it’s precise, straight, short and sweet – not too much of information which is of no use for her;
5. …you don’t over-focus on terms & conditions, only to save your **s;
6. …it exhibits that you know what you’re proposing;
7. …vividly touches her emotions and inspires her to take an action!

See Also:

1. Project Manager Who Loves Chatting with the Client At Her Convenient Time
2. If You Want to Have a Great Project Team
3. How To Inaugurate Effectiveness In Your Project Team

1. Project Manager Who Loves Chatting with the Client At Her Convenient Time
2. If You Want to Have a Great Project Team
3. How To Inaugurate Effectiveness In Your Project Team

…is easy compared to delivering something that makes a difference.

Applauding your Service Delivery Manager being online at 2:00 am to handle client escalation is easy. Applauding your VP of Sales travelling to tens of new geographies to initiate new sales tie-ups is easy.

Creating and measuring KRAs to applaud any such activities is relatively very comfortable and easy.

But Business is hard. So are the projects and so is the life – it takes creating a service, a product or a result of actual value. It will be replaced by some other mediocrity, otherwise – sooner than later!

Photo Credit: johnnieb’s Flickr photostream.

Questions that make difference are:

• What did your Service Delivery Manager do to ensure that similar type of escalations is prevented in future? What did he do to ensure that his work-life balance is maintained?
• What strategies your VP of Sales executed in the past quarter that made sure that constant flow of repeat business is in the pipeline – without even filling her calendar with tons of client visits? Why does she keep visiting tens of new geographies? What is ‘Visit to Valued Relationship’ ratio?

Imagine what value your business will get if your Service Delivery Manager is able to maintain his work-life balance or your Sales VP is able to spend time to really ‘think’ about creating strategies that will take your business to newer heights, rather than fearing and doing acts of mediocrity?

Wouldn’t your business be able to deliver something that creates tri-way win-win then? For everyone: for the client, for the employees and for the organization?

See Also:

1. What Many #Sales Focused Organizations Sometimes Forget (And How Not To)
2. Mini Saga – Doing Rather Than Being
3. Handsome And Consistent Returns That Lie Hidden Somewhere In Your Mind

1. What Many #Sales Focused Organizations Sometimes Forget (And How Not To)
2. Mini Saga – Doing Rather Than Being
3. Handsome And Consistent Returns That Lie Hidden Somewhere In Your Mind

1. Your business consistently gets more leads than your current business capacity;
2. No matter with which project team your customers interact, their delight level is almost the same;
3. You take 4 week summer vacation and do not get any ‘urgent’ call from the office;
4. You have generally happy employees. Their lives are balanced, they are able to produce their best and enjoy their life at fullest;
5. ‘Department Wise Headcount’ report is topped by Operations department (not support departments such as HR, Admin or accounts);
6. You don’t think to open new geography every quarter – percentage of your repeat business is very high;
7. There’s only ONE version of mission statement across the organization;
8. Consistent Organization specific Enterprise Environment Factors – that extends sense of predictability in projects execution;
9. Even if you pay similar to what market pays, people are thriving to join your organization. Keywords here are culture and experiences;
10. People in the organization prioritize their work by ‘Importance’ not by ‘urgency’.

See Also:

1. Distinguish the Distinctions of Your Business
2. Disaster-Prone Business Organizations 30
3. Do You Manage Your Offshore Software Solutions Business This Way?
4. You Don’t Need Your Own Business to Become an Entrepreneur
5. Two Simple Yet Rarely Practiced Secrets of Managing a Service Business

1. Distinguish the Distinctions of Your Business
2. Disaster-Prone Business Organizations 30
3. Do You Manage Your Offshore Software Solutions Business This Way?
4. You Don’t Need Your Own Business to Become an Entrepreneur
5. Two Simple Yet Rarely Practiced Secrets of Managing a Service Business

Though it brings rewards in the end, most of us are afraid of challenging our own thought patterns as if it were an invasive brain surgery.

We’re designed this way, right?

Wrong.

But yes, we’re conditioned this way.

Few weeks ago I had a weekend discussion with one of my friends who shares a rare frequency and runs a successful design firm.

We talked about building the business, creating a-list teams and providing a-class customer service.

He was discussing with me about a customer feedback: designers working with his firm were otherwise very good but lacked innovation. He said that it was true for even their Chief Designer who had experience as little as 18 years in the design industry.

Conclusion was to hire a fresh (but brilliant) design graduate whose job would be to passionately challenge each one of the designs that the design team come up with.

Last week, I meet my friend again to hear the good news that his customer is very happy with recent design innovations that his team produced.

It worked like a charm. Why?

Because the beginning of the end of any great endowment is: “Falling in love with your own creation”.

Sure, you’ve to believe in yourself, your vision and your abilities. But, at the same time, following the same way of thinking just because that’s the way you’ve always done it, is the sure-fire way to attract devolution at the lightning speed.

The decision of bringing in fresh talent to challenge generated healthy conflict. The conflict was to challenge their designers’ fixed way of being and to ensure that only best comes out in the end.

Sometimes, it’s better to have someone in your team who has eyes to look at the things from fresh lens.  Maybe it’s good to have ‘No, but, Can we not…?’ kind of people rather than yes-men.

Photo Credit: livingonimpulse‘s Flickr Photostream

See Also:

1. What’s better? Being able to be specific or being able to do the work?
2. The Guaranteed Way To Best Manage A Project
3. 10 Peaks For Creating Performance Focused Teams
4. Contribute Beyond Your Title With Assumed Responsibility And Take The Right Decision!
5. 10 Signs You Are Happy At Work

1. What’s better? Being able to be specific or being able to do the work?
2. The Guaranteed Way To Best Manage A Project
3. 10 Peaks For Creating Performance Focused Teams
4. Contribute Beyond Your Title With Assumed Responsibility And Take The Right Decision!
5. 10 Signs You Are Happy At Work

I’ve seen many business heads keeping no stones unturned to chase the numbers. Generally, numbers are good and keep people motivated however if the numbers do not create the feeling of excitement in your people, its a time to look at the things from different lens. May be the business will do better, then.

Just Numbers?

Profit focused Steve the marketing-head said, “You didn’t meet the numbers this year huh? I really don’t understand why my team is not inspired with the numbers.”  “But how this number madness does any good for me? We still didn’t get last year’s due incentive! ”, said Jack the employee.

Just talking numbers doesn’t work. It needs a totally different level of dedication from all the parties involved!

Photo Credit: PinkSherbet’s Flickr photostream

See Also:

1. Mini Saga – Executing The Dream
2. Mini Saga – Secured UnSuccess!
3. Mini Saga – Focus
4. Mini Saga – Lights, Camera…Action!
5. Mini Saga – Doing Rather Than Being

1. Mini Saga – Executing The Dream
2. Mini Saga – Secured UnSuccess!
3. Mini Saga – Focus
4. Mini Saga – Lights, Camera…Action!
5. Mini Saga – Doing Rather Than Being

1. Unhappy Employee
2. Not feeling fulfilled
3. Irrelevant job needs and the person skills
4. Weaker / undefined career path
5. Lack of recognition
6. Family needs not met
7. Because the spouse (or someone very important) is settling to another city or country
8. Poor salary, Poor benefits, no perks!
9. Low morale
10. Change of personal goals
11. Sensing layoff!
12. Poor Organization Culture
13. Ineffective reward systems
14. Boring workplace
15. Feeling of boredom
16. Lack of challenges
17. Work life imbalance
18. Stressful work environment
19. Very demanding client
20. Culture of not taking the accountability
21. Less overall communication between people
22. Lost faith in the vision
23. Too much Internal politics
24. Company culture mismatch with individual’s values
25. Too much bureaucracy
26. Too much agility
27. Insecurity
28. Unfriendly leave policy
29. Hostile environment
30. Revised mission statement not exciting
31. Lack of growth opportunities
32. Salary not in alignment with responsibilities!
33. Lack of learning opportunities
34. Lack of coaching, training and mentoring
35. Bad Boss
36. Whimsical reporting manager
37. Lack of motivation
38. Indistinctive  leadership in different situations
39. Management does not keep promises
40. Lack of trust and confidence in the boss / management
41. Bad Team
42. Sore relationship with team members
43. Mental / physical abuse

See Also:

1. 15 Things That Employees Want In Order To Feel Motivated
2. What Can Be Termed As A “World Class” Organization?
3. Four Causes Of Poor Performance (And What You Can Do About Some Of Those)
4. Five Steps To Turn An Organization Into A Learning Machine
5. Nine Irrefutable Ways to Establish and Maintain Profound Relationship with Your Boss

1. 15 Things That Employees Want In Order To Feel Motivated
2. What Can Be Termed As A “World Class” Organization?
3. Four Causes Of Poor Performance (And What You Can Do About Some Of Those)
4. Five Steps To Turn An Organization Into A Learning Machine
5. Nine Irrefutable Ways to Establish and Maintain Profound Relationship with Your Boss

Can you precisely answer this question: “Do you have ample amount of trust amongst your project team?” May be…May be No.

It becomes very difficult to manage projects when team members do not have good amount of trust among one another.   They would see everything happening in and on the project with skeptical eyes.

In the matrix organizations where project managers do not have implied authority to reward the team members by giving them pay-hike or promotion, trust remains the only effective factor that gets things done.

OK got it but what to do to build trust-based work environment?

Well, here’re few ideas:

1. Trust Yourself: It might look funny but I’ve seen many project managers who don’t trust themselves. They have doubts in everything they do, everything others do and they feel that everyone else is out there to cheat them. Do not belong to that community. Trust yourself. Trust your guts. Trust what you do. It’s okay to make mistakes, learn from it and move ahead. Remember, people don’t trust whom who do not trust himself.
2. Be authentic: Make sure what you say is fact. Be transparent in all you do. Do what you mean; mean what you do. Sarah Ban Breathnach said it once so beautifully, “The authentic self is the soul made visible.” So make your soul visible to your team and win their trust.
3. Effectively Handle Conflicts: Robert Townsand said it once, “A good manager doesn’t try to eliminate conflict; he tries to keep it from wasting the energies of his people. If you’re the boss and your people fight you openly when they think that you are wrong – that’s healthy.”  Make sure that conflict doesn’t get converted to combat, instead profit from it.
4. Listen twice, speak once: Greek philosopher Epictetus said, “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” How true!  Invest in listening to your people. People feel good when they feel attended and listening is the best gift you can give to anyone.
5. Say No: When you really mean you should say no, say ‘No’. Just because of the fear of confrontation, do not say ‘yes’ for which you’ll regret later. Saying no is about being transparent. Saying no means taking responsibility. Say no and also be ready to justify the reasons behind it. Once convinced, team members will respect you more.

Trustless team is just unacceptable and as a project manager it’s your humble duty to plant the seeds of trust in your team. Also you need to think about bigger questions like below:

“Many organizations put their customer first in their so called mission statements but don’t invest in establishing and nurturing trust in their project teams.  This leads to unnecessary delays in getting things done. Isn’t it a customer-disservice?”

If you don’t have such bigger questions to combat then here are three not so big but still very important questions:

1. As a project manager, do you have ample amount of trust in your team?
2. If the answer is no then what concrete actions you’re taking about it?
3. If the answer is yes then what else can you do to solidify it?

Photo Credit: notsogoodphotography’s Flickr Photostream

See Also:

1. How To Inaugurate Effectiveness In Your Project Team
2. More On Better Team Relationships 12
3. If You Want to Have a Great Project Team
4. How Team Relationships Are Affecting Your Ongoing Projects?
5. Seven Promises That I and My Project Team Members Make To Ourselves

1. How To Inaugurate Effectiveness In Your Project Team
2. More On Better Team Relationships 12
3. If You Want to Have a Great Project Team
4. How Team Relationships Are Affecting Your Ongoing Projects?
5. Seven Promises That I and My Project Team Members Make To Ourselves