I just got back from a retreat. I do this once, sometimes twice a year. It gives me an opportunity to slow the pace of my life so that I can see some of the landscape instead of my usual head-whipping attempts to look at what I'm doing as it flashes by. This time I really experienced the importance of practice. I had a visceral sense of what it would be like to actually reach a goal, and it looked like a type of death. If I became a Yogi, what would be the point of practicing Yoga? If I became a writer, why would I choose to write again? If learned all I needed to learn about facilitating groups, how bored would I feel when I started work with the next one? The joy lies in the practice. In doing what I love to do, in doing what feeds my soul, on a daily basis, not in the achievement of an arbitrary goal or end-state.
I also got a sense that what I do, what we all do, makes a difference in the world. We will never get to the point of 'saving the environment' or 'achieving social justice'. These things are not goals, they are practices, and they demand the efforts of many many practitioners. They also need a span of vision beyond a single lifetime. (Certainly beyond mine, since there are more years behind me than in front of me now!) I intend to plant some trees that take a very long time to grow as a talisman to remind myself that having a purpose which extends out into a future I will not see has real, tangible value. I will also practice overcoming my resistance to doing something - anything - every single day. Saying a mantra, doing three sun salutations, writing my journal - anything - to remind me that repetition is my friend and that overcoming resistance is also a practice.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Big Ten
I am often asked for this list. The wording has evolved a bit over time - including a switch from "risk" to "success" factors to align with the new focus on appreciative inquiry - but essentially, they have remained consistent for over 20 years.
As with all such lists, they are easier said than done, but if that was not true, why would anyone need a Project Manager?
The Big 10 Project Success Factors
1. Project Sponsor is identified
The Sponsor advocates for the project is at a senior level in the organization. He or she encourages staff support through personal leadership and enthusiasm. The individual assigned to this role is kept consistent through the life of the project.
2. Project Key Contact is identified
The Key Contact (often a project manager) has appropriate decision-making authority for the project and knows the organization’s culture and the project’s stakeholders.
3. Project vision and goals are clear and well communicated
Everyone involved or impacted by the work (the stakeholders) understand why the project being implemented and can describe the benefits it will bring to them and the organization.
4. Project scope boundaries are managed
There is a process in place for establishing and managing the scope of the project as the work evolves.
5. Project budget is established and communicated to the stakeholders
Team members, and other stakeholders, are aware of the budget and use their knowledge to assess options and make recommendations.
6. Project schedule is realistic
The team has confidence that they can complete the work in the time-frame.
7. The team has the appropriate skills to complete the work
The technical and business skills and knowledge needed to complete the work are understood, and the team has them, or has been given the time and opportunity to learn them.
8. Project status reporting process and accountability for action is defined
The team and stakeholders have a timely and structured process for reporting status, requesting decisions, and flagging issues to those responsible for taking action.
<"span style="font-weight:bold;">9. Deliverable review process is defined and managed
The responsibility for reviewing and approving project deliverables is clear and the number and scope of iterations is managed within the context of the budget and schedule.
10. Project progress is being regularly communicated to stakeholders
The project team and sponsor regularly communicate the project’s progress to stakeholders, and ask for and respond to their feedback
As with all such lists, they are easier said than done, but if that was not true, why would anyone need a Project Manager?
The Big 10 Project Success Factors
1. Project Sponsor is identified
The Sponsor advocates for the project is at a senior level in the organization. He or she encourages staff support through personal leadership and enthusiasm. The individual assigned to this role is kept consistent through the life of the project.
2. Project Key Contact is identified
The Key Contact (often a project manager) has appropriate decision-making authority for the project and knows the organization’s culture and the project’s stakeholders.
3. Project vision and goals are clear and well communicated
Everyone involved or impacted by the work (the stakeholders) understand why the project being implemented and can describe the benefits it will bring to them and the organization.
4. Project scope boundaries are managed
There is a process in place for establishing and managing the scope of the project as the work evolves.
5. Project budget is established and communicated to the stakeholders
Team members, and other stakeholders, are aware of the budget and use their knowledge to assess options and make recommendations.
6. Project schedule is realistic
The team has confidence that they can complete the work in the time-frame.
7. The team has the appropriate skills to complete the work
The technical and business skills and knowledge needed to complete the work are understood, and the team has them, or has been given the time and opportunity to learn them.
8. Project status reporting process and accountability for action is defined
The team and stakeholders have a timely and structured process for reporting status, requesting decisions, and flagging issues to those responsible for taking action.
<"span style="font-weight:bold;">9. Deliverable review process is defined and managed
The responsibility for reviewing and approving project deliverables is clear and the number and scope of iterations is managed within the context of the budget and schedule.
10. Project progress is being regularly communicated to stakeholders
The project team and sponsor regularly communicate the project’s progress to stakeholders, and ask for and respond to their feedback
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Diet for a bloated planet
I have been on a diet since January 7th. (Actually, I prefer to call it a "healthy eating plan" - just in case I don't keep the weight off.) It involves the usual bans on sugar, simple carbs and alcohol, limits on the portion sizes of lean meat and fish, and as many green veggies as I can consume. It feels good. It's simple. All the superfluous elements are out of the fridge and the pantry, and shopping is way easier. I can just walk around the outside of the grocery store and ignore the middle bits and the endless freezer cabinets. Clothes that I put at the back of the closet have migrated to the front again, and they feel new, saving me a trip to the mall.
It also feels as if I am acting out a micro-cosmic version of what's happening in the world (or at least the world I live in). It's as if we have all gone on a diet. We have collectively become repulsed by our greed, rampant consumerism, and overly complex institutions. We collectively shouted, "too much!" just before Christmas, and perhaps with a shared, but barely conscious wisdom, we brought the planet-eating economic "growth" to a halt. It's going to be hard. It is already hard for a lot of people. We are going to have to learn to live on a lot less. Just as millions of people in Africa, India, China etc have been doing while we have been buying more and more cheap stuff, and eating ourselves to death.
Our politicians and business leaders appear to be playing the part of my whining inner voice when my blood-sugar gets a bit low at three in the afternoon. They are resisting what has to happen. "No, don't change! Eat the cake, it's only one little slice, what harm can it do? You don't know what might happen if you try and live on cauliflower!"
Pumping unimaginable amounts of money into the economy in the hopes that we will all go back to stuffing our lives with mostly useless stuff is trying to fix the problem with the thinking that created it in the first place. It had better not work. For the planet's sake.
It also feels as if I am acting out a micro-cosmic version of what's happening in the world (or at least the world I live in). It's as if we have all gone on a diet. We have collectively become repulsed by our greed, rampant consumerism, and overly complex institutions. We collectively shouted, "too much!" just before Christmas, and perhaps with a shared, but barely conscious wisdom, we brought the planet-eating economic "growth" to a halt. It's going to be hard. It is already hard for a lot of people. We are going to have to learn to live on a lot less. Just as millions of people in Africa, India, China etc have been doing while we have been buying more and more cheap stuff, and eating ourselves to death.
Our politicians and business leaders appear to be playing the part of my whining inner voice when my blood-sugar gets a bit low at three in the afternoon. They are resisting what has to happen. "No, don't change! Eat the cake, it's only one little slice, what harm can it do? You don't know what might happen if you try and live on cauliflower!"
Pumping unimaginable amounts of money into the economy in the hopes that we will all go back to stuffing our lives with mostly useless stuff is trying to fix the problem with the thinking that created it in the first place. It had better not work. For the planet's sake.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Fundamental collaboration
It struck me yesterday that collaboration in the sense of working cooperatively with other people, a lot of other people, is essential to our existence as a species. Imagine living without any help from other people. No one to pick up the other end of the sofa and help you move it to the other side of the room. No one to help you fold a king size flat sheet. No one to grow your vegetables, to fix your car, heck no one to build you a car! It's impossible, we can't imagine it. Not even hermit monks on the side of a mountain in Tibet live without the assistance of someone to bring them food once in a while. So, it seems logical that since collaboration is one of the fundamental skills that ensures we stick around in the bio-sphere, that we know how to do it. That our sensory systems are actually tuned to other people and their response to us on a very broad band.
But we don't seem to be aware of this in most of our communication. We act as if talking or writing things down, maybe showing a picture, is all we have to work with.
I am still amazed at the growth of teleconferencing and web conferencing. It's like turning all the lights off and then asking a bunch of meeting attendees what's on the wall. We can only guess at most of it. We communicate with each other much more effectively through body language, tone of voice, facial expressions, smell apparently, than we do by what we say. But we don't trust the information that comes in on these channels. Don't value it enough.
I was also pondering on how few tools for promoting authentic communication are permitted in a typical business setting. We are limited most of the time to meeting in sterile rooms with tables and not very comfortable chairs. Some rooms don't even have natural light and they are mostly too hot or too cold, rarely just right. The facilitator is expected to work exclusively with hearing and sight. Bringing the rest of the senses onto the agenda is greeted with suspicion and embarrassment. No item 3. "Stand up and shake out the tension". Attendees want to stay safely seated behind the comfortable barrier of a table top.
So, we try to do our best work in a setting that automatically induces defensive behavior in pretty well everyone, without engaging any parts of the body below the chin, and with a preexisting tendency to dismiss any information that comes to us as a feeling, a hunch. We design interesting and engaging ways to get individuals to speak, and we help organize what they say into some kind of order, but we don't suggest validating our decisions with muscle testing, or intuitive knowing. We rarely support the energy of the group in a meaningful way. We don't get the group in a circle on the floor to promote a sense of community. We don't suggest a five minute silent meditation to clear the mind. It's all a bit too L.A. for us Canadians.
Too bad! I vote we start a movement.
But we don't seem to be aware of this in most of our communication. We act as if talking or writing things down, maybe showing a picture, is all we have to work with.
I am still amazed at the growth of teleconferencing and web conferencing. It's like turning all the lights off and then asking a bunch of meeting attendees what's on the wall. We can only guess at most of it. We communicate with each other much more effectively through body language, tone of voice, facial expressions, smell apparently, than we do by what we say. But we don't trust the information that comes in on these channels. Don't value it enough.
I was also pondering on how few tools for promoting authentic communication are permitted in a typical business setting. We are limited most of the time to meeting in sterile rooms with tables and not very comfortable chairs. Some rooms don't even have natural light and they are mostly too hot or too cold, rarely just right. The facilitator is expected to work exclusively with hearing and sight. Bringing the rest of the senses onto the agenda is greeted with suspicion and embarrassment. No item 3. "Stand up and shake out the tension". Attendees want to stay safely seated behind the comfortable barrier of a table top.
So, we try to do our best work in a setting that automatically induces defensive behavior in pretty well everyone, without engaging any parts of the body below the chin, and with a preexisting tendency to dismiss any information that comes to us as a feeling, a hunch. We design interesting and engaging ways to get individuals to speak, and we help organize what they say into some kind of order, but we don't suggest validating our decisions with muscle testing, or intuitive knowing. We rarely support the energy of the group in a meaningful way. We don't get the group in a circle on the floor to promote a sense of community. We don't suggest a five minute silent meditation to clear the mind. It's all a bit too L.A. for us Canadians.
Too bad! I vote we start a movement.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Late hour regrets
It's 7:30 at night. I've been getting ready all day to facilitate a one-day Forum this coming Thursday, and I am not done yet. It's exhausting! Why did I suggest a four-person panel discussion followed by a moderated question and answer session for the morning? Who's idea was it to get five speakers - none of whom I've met - in the afternoon??
It reminds me of the hour before guests arrive for the party, or two days before Christmas. You know, that "it-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time" feeling.
My shoulders ache from being hunched over a keyboard all day, and despite having about fifteen days of music in my I-tunes folder, I am tired of the repertoire.
Sigh.
And yet, I know I will be high as a kite by noon on Thursday. I can only remember one session in the last year or so that made induced panic rather than euphoria. I was leading a planing session for a non-profit client with a very opinionated and ultra-democratic Board and staff in attendance. The energy and commitment was fabulous, but the session blazed off the agenda in the first half-hour. Thank goodness I had a co-facilitator with whom I could retreat to the bar at the end of Day One for an emergency re-plan.
Come to think of it, I have the same person - my old buddy Lynn Swanson - with me this coming Thursday. She can time-keep, man the Parking Lot and help me keep my notes and props in order.
I am soooo fortunate in my colleagues. I have long-time workmates to try out ideas with me, offer input on likely group dynamics, make visuals look pretty and debrief for the lessons learned over a nice glass of chilled something or other. Lucky me!
It reminds me of the hour before guests arrive for the party, or two days before Christmas. You know, that "it-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time" feeling.
My shoulders ache from being hunched over a keyboard all day, and despite having about fifteen days of music in my I-tunes folder, I am tired of the repertoire.
Sigh.
And yet, I know I will be high as a kite by noon on Thursday. I can only remember one session in the last year or so that made induced panic rather than euphoria. I was leading a planing session for a non-profit client with a very opinionated and ultra-democratic Board and staff in attendance. The energy and commitment was fabulous, but the session blazed off the agenda in the first half-hour. Thank goodness I had a co-facilitator with whom I could retreat to the bar at the end of Day One for an emergency re-plan.
Come to think of it, I have the same person - my old buddy Lynn Swanson - with me this coming Thursday. She can time-keep, man the Parking Lot and help me keep my notes and props in order.
I am soooo fortunate in my colleagues. I have long-time workmates to try out ideas with me, offer input on likely group dynamics, make visuals look pretty and debrief for the lessons learned over a nice glass of chilled something or other. Lucky me!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Appreciation 101
I spent several days over the Summer putting together a one-day staff conference for a client. The theme was "appreciation". A colleague and I came up with the concept of the conference and then sat on the organizing committee. My role, once the ball was rolling, was to design and deliver a workshop on how to make appreciation a personal and team habit when the day was over. I used the Dewitt Jones video, "Celebrate What's Right With the World to establish the emotional tenor for the one-hour workshop. (If you haven't seen this video, go to the Star Thrower Workshop and watch it. It is quite wonderful!) In the after-glow of the video, I asked the table groups to brainstorm the elements that make a compliment really mean something. The results across several workshops were amazingly consistent. Here they are:
1. Be sincere
2. Make it genuine
3. Give it from the heart
4. Make it timely
5. Or make it spontaneous
6. And unexpected
7. Validate something important about who they are or what they did
8. Be specific
9. Don’t have an ulterior motive
10. Give it to anyone – a stranger, a colleague, a friend, a boss
The conference was a spectacular success. About 500 people attended and no-one had a complaint! We set up a big piece of canvass and several magic markers to get immediate feedback. The most frequent words used were "thank you" and "fantastic".
I was pondering on what made it so successful, and realized (in the shower, naturally!) that is was because we hit all ten appreciation must-have's in the design and delivery of the day.
It's experiences like this one that keep the facilitation joints limber!
1. Be sincere
2. Make it genuine
3. Give it from the heart
4. Make it timely
5. Or make it spontaneous
6. And unexpected
7. Validate something important about who they are or what they did
8. Be specific
9. Don’t have an ulterior motive
10. Give it to anyone – a stranger, a colleague, a friend, a boss
The conference was a spectacular success. About 500 people attended and no-one had a complaint! We set up a big piece of canvass and several magic markers to get immediate feedback. The most frequent words used were "thank you" and "fantastic".
I was pondering on what made it so successful, and realized (in the shower, naturally!) that is was because we hit all ten appreciation must-have's in the design and delivery of the day.
It's experiences like this one that keep the facilitation joints limber!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Planning a panel discussion
I have been thinking about a panel discussion I am facilitating for a conference one of my clients is hosting next month. I came up with the idea of having three or four subject matter specialists present their annual updates in the form of a panel discussion instead of the usual serial monologues. Attendees in previous years have given the feedback that they want to know what's been happening during the year, and to have an opportunity to ask questions. Problem is, in said previous years, virtually no one has put their hand up when the speaker has asked the conversation-killer "does anyone have any questions?" So, how to deliver the update and then stimulate a real conversation? I'm hoping that by asking the panelists questions as if they came from the floor (Peter Mansbridge style, absent the fabulous suit and tie) that I can establish the appropriate atmosphere. Before we start, I'll invite attendees to jot down questions that come to mind during the panel discussion, and then have them discuss these with their table-mates and choose a couple of questions that they would all like to get answered.
I have been thinking about the ORID format for structured conversations, and pondering whether or not to structure my "floor" questions using this flow. I could start by asking a panelist to give us a run-down of some of the events of the past year (Observation). Then ask a question to get them to Reflect on the response to the events. Next I can focus a question or two to get their Interpretation of the meaning to the conference attendees, and finally I could call out the Decisions made or actions taken. As long as its not too formulaic, it could give a nice rise and fall flow to each dialogue.
Boy, I love doing this! More on this later.
I have been thinking about the ORID format for structured conversations, and pondering whether or not to structure my "floor" questions using this flow. I could start by asking a panelist to give us a run-down of some of the events of the past year (Observation). Then ask a question to get them to Reflect on the response to the events. Next I can focus a question or two to get their Interpretation of the meaning to the conference attendees, and finally I could call out the Decisions made or actions taken. As long as its not too formulaic, it could give a nice rise and fall flow to each dialogue.
Boy, I love doing this! More on this later.
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