How to Reach Your Career Destination - the GPS Way

A lot of us wonder why we seem to be stuck in our careers or why we have not yet reached our goal but at the same time though we have no problem using our GPS to get to our destinations so let's see how we can use the same GPS methodology to get to where we want to be.

1. Know exactly where you are going. Don't just think to yourself - I want to be a CEO or a VP or the best entrepreneur there is - really plan out the details - as if you are already living it. Write down your age, what your position is,what you are earning, where you a living - with as much detail as possible. Even GPS units need the whole address to get to its destination.

2. Know exactly where you are now. If you are not entirely sure by just thinking about it yourself because you are too "in to it" - do what GPS units do - find satellites. Industries typically call these reviews a 360 degree review but be brave and ask the questions that need to be ask from your peers, direct reports, managers - anyone who can give you their perspective of where you are right now.

3. Know how to get from here to there. Determine the best route possible based on your risk-tolerance or desire. Do you want a faster route - which may mean higher levels of stress(GPS analogy - tolls)? Do you want the scenic route? Do you want to avoid side streets or what we may call horizontal learning?

4. Check regularly if you are still on track and if not, recalculate. Putting down the end point, knowing your start point and drawing a line between the two points is just the start but a big start. You must also be prepared for unexpected turn of events or change in plans. The "street" you were planning to traverse might be under constructin or closed and thus you must regularly check your progress and make changes when necessary. You might even decide along the route that your end point has changed but the same steps apply - just follow your own internal GPS.

Career Advice for Project Managers

I have a team of people right now that all have sparks in them and on one-on-one discussions with them - most of them want to be project managers. I just know that all of them will become great project managers someday and I see myself as one of the few people who can help them get there faster...by telling them what mistakes I had and how I learned from them and hopefully they learn the lessons faster than I ever did...I figured that my own success is driven by them becoming great project managers in their own right so I always see this as a win-win move.

My team gets juicier projects and our sponsors know that even amidst of several high profile, complex projects - my team delivers.

One of the basic discussion points though that I think most people miss that is critical to their careers is knowing what they want to be when they grow up and I am not talking about people wanting to be VPs or even CEOs at some point in their lives but truly describing in detail how they see themselves becoming that person and what exactly are they doing by then and most importantly knowing what would it take for them to get from where they are now to where they truly truly want to be.

I always tell them that it is like using a GPS - their own career GPS so to speak.

1. Know in detail where you want to be (eg you typing the exact address in your GPS and not just the city)
2. Know exactly where you are right now (even the GPS does this first time you turn it on)
3. Know the milestones or critical turns that you need to remember along the way
4. Check every now and then if you are still on the right path
5. Expect surprises along the way and when they happen, be ready to take action and change direction if need be

Situational Leadership and the One Minute Manager

In the book by Ken Blanchard, One Minute Manager, he talks about Situational Leadership. I could say that so far, this is the best theory I heard about management and leadership.

It does not come to us naturally as managers since we always think and say that to be effective, we have to have a management style that define us. This book would tell us that to be truly effective managers and leaderships, we should be able to flex to multiple styles to fit the development needs of our direct reports.

Does the direct report require direction or support or a mixture of both? This book tells us that our direct reports go through different development needs(D1 to D4) and that as managers, we are responsible for ensuring that our direct reports can be as productive as possible by providing them appropriate leadership styles (S1 to S4).

The book also tells us that the development needs varies by task and we should not label a person a D1 or a D4 without attaching the label to specific tasks.

At the end of the day - the book tells us that there is the golden rule (do unto others what you want done unto you) but there is the platinum rule - do unto others what they want done to them and the latter is the true measure of a true leader.

Be Interested to be Interesting - Listening Your Way to Success

One of the things that I value about my current company is that it values people so much so that it has a training program for managers geared towards developing them to become better people managers. What resonated with me the most today is the phrase "be interested to be interesting".

I have always found myself to be in the mood to solve problems so much so that when people come to me about a certain concern - my brain starts thinking about giving this person some advice on how to solve the problem as soon as possible thinking that it is after all what he came to me for - right? I realized today that may not be the best approach after all.

I learned that the best first approach is really to listen - and not just listen by saying "aha", "ok" or simply not talking. Listening is being fully engaged at that moment in hearing and understanding the other person fully. The first goal is to be truly able to paraphrase or summarize what the other person is saying as a statement without your own judgment or thoughts mixed into it.

Some tips I learned:

a. Have the word "you" in the first few words to indicate that what you are saying is not your thought but your speaker's thoughts and you are simply reflecting on what he said to ensure your speaker got his message to you right. Examples can be "From what I understand, YOU..." or "You are saying..."

b.Paraphrase - don't parrot. Don't simply repeat what the other person is saying but say it in your own words

c.Acknowledge the feelings, not just the content. An example would be "From what I understand, you are upset with your situation". You are not saying it is right or wrong to be upset but simply acknowledging what the other person feels.

d. Don't use it all the time. Assess whether reflective listening is the right approach for what you are trying to achieve, which may be providing the other person some room to process his own situation more clearly or allowing the other person to think himself through a solution. There are moments when a more direct approach might be required. Use your own judgment and sense of intent and appropriateness when practicing.

The Project Management Circus: Act 3 - The Juggler

The juggler is one of the most common acts in the circus as it is in project management.

How many times has a project manager been thrown into a situation that he only does not need to balance between scope, cost and schedule but balance as well his emotions vs leadership, balance between his team's productivity vs team morale  - even balance between himself vs his project? Somehow the idea of juggling a chainsaw, a bowling ball, a torch, a 60 lb jug and an axe while blindfolded and riding a unicycle - on a tightrope seems simpler to do right?

The key to success in this act is to always know what are the things up in the air (the tasks), what is the first thing you need to catch(what is the priority), when do you need to catch it (the schedule), how will you catch each one without hurting yourself(the process) and should you be the one to catch it in the first place (the skill of working the matris).Most importantly - always trust that your knowledge will carry you through and this is where experience comes in. The more experience you have in balancing all the aspects of a project - the more the act becomes second nature to you - so much so that you can manage to wow the crowd even when you are blindfolded.

Lesson learned - don't shy away from project tasks that seem bigger than you think you can do now - always believe in your ability to stretch your comfort zone and you will soon find yourself juggling not only tasks - but juggling several million dollar projects all at the same time.

The Beauty of the RACI

The RACI chart is a standard document in most projects and I would say that it should be a standard in ALL projects ..but what is a RACI chart anyway?

RACI is an acronym and different organizations have different takes on what each letter means and that is why as a project manager, you should be aware of the standards of your client's company with regards to a RACI chart - take the time to ensure you have the right definitions because it can cause confusion later on. It is usually created when a project has just been conceptualized.

Typically RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed. In other organizations, it can mean Responsible, Approver, Consulted, Informed or even Responsible, Approver, Coordinator, Informed. Whatever it can mean, it always answers the need to know who are the people responsible in defining and delivering the project and what is their role in EVERY task in a project. Most RACI chart requires there is only one R for each task or only one A for each task if the A means accountable - a good practive to have.

I recommend having a template of all the possible task that a project can take vs lumping them into generic work that may cause issues later on. The template can then be "customized" based on what a project requires. Remember - a task that says "complete the design document required for all data interfaces" is much more trackable and thus controllable that a task that says "complete design documents".

What is the importance of a RACI when you have a solid, trustworthy team? Each project is unique and in my experience, there is always room for assumptions and one assumption that team members usually make is that if the task is unfamiliar to them - then it might not be theirs and will taken cared of by another team member. Another situation is when the task can be performed by more than one person in a team - you can either have a case of two people doing the same work or noone doing the work.

By having a RACI chart from the start, you ensure that each person knows their role, the extent of their role, what they are expected to do in each task, if any, and how they relate to other people and their roles - a perfect recipe to prevent roles and responsibilities issues later on.

KNOW your team

As a project manager, I would argue that KNOWing your team is one of the most important thing you should do, especially if you are a program or portfolio manager who will have several projects running at the same time with different stakeholders and the only consistent, binding link you have with all these projects is your team.

How do you know your team and how do you use the knowledge? I typically ensure that I have or can get the following for each of my team members:

1) Basic Information - name, experience, expertise, skills, education - all your general resume-level information. This is his "what was and what is" information.
2) Career Goals - and based not just on "where do you think you are in 5 years" type of questions. A person may be an expert today at a certain skill but is dying to get out it and hates doing the same thing again. This is his "what is the future he wants to see" and can it be in your team.
3) Work Preferences - is he the type of person who prefers to work alone or in a team setting. I have seen individuals who excel when doing some tasks all by themselves. Don't discount them immediately out of your team if you know he has a fit in your team.
4) Culture Fit - will he fit with the "culture" of the overall team, including yours
5) Leadership Potential  - regardless of what role he might play in your team, although this comes more in handy when you are a program or portfolio manager obviously. This also is an important input in your "9-box" analysis of your team which is anothe topic in itself
6) Current Rate and perceived self-value growth rate
7) Unique traits and situations - for example - does he have any pet peeves that may affect his work?

Knowing the above for each of your team members and knowing your project - you can now do your "mission impossible" team selection and formation ensuring that each role is critical and that each player playing the role will complement the rest of the team.