I led a program recently for project managers and saw their biggest challenge is that most people don’t see the “bigger picture” when they are at work on a project – or any work assignment, for that matter. Most of us tend to focus on what’s in front of us (the desktop, both computer and […]
Why is there such a high failure rate among projects? One reason is that there is a gap in the soft skills of project managers. Although project managers are well trained in the technical “hard” skills of risk assessment, project planning, etc., little attention is given to interpersonal or people skills – the so called […]
Closure conversations can be used at anytime, they don’t have to be used only at the end of a project or an accomplishment. Jason, a hospital administrator in a Columbus hospital, used a closure conversation at the beginning of his interviews for a new job at a different hospital to reduce anxiety and address an […]
Closure conversations are one of the most powerful conversations you can use. I want to share an email from a former MBA student that illustrates just what impact a closure conversation can have. She writes: Professor Ford, I had to write to you and let you know I had the most incredible closure conversation today. […]
The July 10 issue of Dilbert (shown below) provides an excellent example of two types of unproductive talk: gossip and complaining. Disparagingly talk about the work of others is gossip and contributes to animosity, bad feelings, and conflict. Complaining (also known as BMW = bitching, moaning, and whining) is a morale killer and contributes to […]
Did you know that there are two kinds of talk in an organization? One kind of talk is the kind that is needed to get things done. We call this “productive talk”. Productive talk is needed for people to know what they are working on and why, understand what they need to do and handle, […]
The June 12th Dilbert comic strip (below) gives a good example of the difference between an understanding conversation and a performance conversation. Dilbert, probably like many of us, assumes that explaining what is needed to someone who’s job it is to do it should be sufficient to get it accomplished. He is wrong. If you […]
According to John Kotter, one reason organization changes fail is because leaders don’t develop a vision for the change and “communicate, communicate, communicate” it to their organziations. Well, a study in Human Resource Management Journal* indicates that vision is not the only thing leaders fail to develop. They also fail to develop the change agents […]
Having authority can contribute to the very problems managers believe are solved by that authority. Why, because when managers have authority they don’t think they need to communicate as much. This is particularly true when managers confront threats to the successful completion of projects they are managing. Years of research indicates that managers who have […]
All of us have failed to keep a promise we made to someone. It might have been we forgot to make a call, failed to get something done on time, or only did part of what we said we would. And even though we may have a good reason for breaking our promise, there are […]
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