Manage This - The Project Management Podcast

When it comes to problem solving or innovation, the goal is to generate ideas, make those ideas better, and then implement them. But what if we are skipping some important stages of the creative problem-solving process? Dr. Teresa Lawrence, an expert on the integration of Creative Problem Solving into project management, joins us to illustrate the importance of understanding our cognitive diversity, knowing our preference to the stages of the creative problem-solving process, and recognizing how our preferences influence project team interactions.

The podcast by Project Managers for Project Managers. What do you do when you inherit a problem project? Hear about a stalled project that was threatening the accreditation of a popular city zoo. Our guest, Megan Young, inherited this project with no knowledge of the requirements, and with no plan or clear scope. Hear her advice on prioritizing, budget planning, addressing scope creep, negotiating tips, and team motivation. Table of Contents 02:41 ... Greenville City Projects03:33 ... Getting PMP Certified05:39 ... Valuable Project Manager Skills07:20 ... Addressing a Stalled Zoo Project10:31 ... Tackling the Challenges12:36 ... Building Trust with Stakeholders15:11 ... How to Prioritize17:10 ... Software Installation Projects19:27 ... Kevin and Kyle20:42 ... Budget Planning24:20 ... Negotiating Tips26:32 ... Addressing Scope Creep28:15 ... Keeping the Team Motivated30:26 ... Dealing with team Conflict32:40 ... Megan’s Motivation33:45 ... Contact Megan34:28 ... Closing MEGAN YOUNG: You can learn a lot by just showing up onsite and having a conversation with somebody. People will talk to you when they’re comfortable in their space. And a lot of times that means just going out and standing beside them. I mean, when I was in the Parks Department, sometimes it meant helping somebody put a bench together. And they would talk to you in that process and you’d kind of hear the good, the bad, and the ugly. But a lot of times it was the most valid of the truth that you were hearing. WENDY GROUNDS: Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers. Thank you for joining us today. My name is Wendy Grounds, and joining me in the studio is Bill Yates. We want to take a moment to specially say thanks to our listeners who reach out to us and leave comments on our website or on social media. We love hearing from you, and we always appreciate your positive ratings and reviews on whichever podcast listening app you use. Our guest today is Megan Young. She currently serves as the Assistant Manager to the City Manager for the City of Greenville, South Carolina. Prior to joining the City Manager’s Office, Megan was the Parks and Grounds Administrator for the City of Greenville. Megan is a certified project management professional and certified park and recreation professional. During her time in the PRT department, Megan led the implementation of the Cityworks program as a work and asset management system. She managed large and small-scale infrastructure projects and was integral in the successful reaccreditation of the Greenville Zoo in 2020. And she’s going to tell us a bit about that project today. BILL YATES: I’m excited about this. We are going to talk about the zoo. We’re going to talk about spider monkeys. We’re going to talk about parks and recreation. And I’ve got to go ahead and just let you know, too, this is near and dear to my heart because I went to Furman University, which is in Greenville, South Carolina. Now, I graduated in 1980 [mumbling] something. WENDY GROUNDS: It’s a while back, yeah. BILL YATES: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Greenville at that time was just not cool. It is super cool now. And a lot of it is because of Megan and the team there at the City of Greenville and what they’ve done. They’ve got an amazing Liberty Bridge and Falls Park area. There’s the Swamp Rabbit Trail which my wife and I have actually ridden bikes on and walked along. It’s just beautiful. So Megan’s going to talk to us about a number of parks and different projects that they’ve done. But this is, again, it’s special to me because she’s talking about an area that is a rich part of my history. WENDY GROUNDS: Yeah, that’s really cool. I’ve driven through Greenville. I’ve never stopped there, but I think after this podcast I’m definitely going to take a stop next time I plan on driving through. BILL YATES: Definitely. WENDY GROUNDS: Hi, Megan. Welcome to our podcast. MEGAN YOUNG: Hi,

The podcast by project manager for project managers. A great leader strikes a balance between warmth and strength. If it’s time for you to conduct an honest assessment of your leadership style to connect better with your teams and understand your stakeholders more effectively, take a listen to hear how to connect, then lead. Table of Contents 02:47 ... Meet Matt04:44 ... Social Power and Personal Power06:38 ... Knowing your Likeability09:17 ... Strength and Warmth12:12 ... Strength and Warmth Matrix15:04 ... Changing Your Impact17:51 ... Make a Stronger Team Connection.20:02 ... How Not to Compromise Warmth21:54 ... Snap Judgements and First Impressions24:23 ... Kevin and Kyle25:20 ... Connect with Your Audience27:25 ... Preparation is Vital29:44 ... Be Your Authentic Self33:03 ... Connecting Remotely36:26 ... Keeping Energy Levels Stable37:33 ... Communicating to Highly Skilled Professionals39:18 ... Using Analogies40:05 ... Speaking Truth to Positions of Power42:13 ... Contact Matt43:57 ... Closing MATT KOHUT: Some people tend to go with their strength first, and they backfill on the warmth. Some people lead with warmth first, and they backfill on the strength. And it’s sort of like being left-handed or right-handed. Everybody’s just got a dominant hand. And as long as you can pick up objects with both of them and not drop them, it’s okay. WENDY GROUNDS: You’re listening to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers. My name is Wendy Grounds, and with me in the studio is Bill Yates and Danny Brewer. We love having you join us twice a month to be motivated and inspired by project stories, leadership lessons, and advice from industry experts from all around the world. Our aim is to bring you some support as you navigate your projects. You can also claim free PDUs, Professional Development Units from PMI by listening to our show. At the end of the show we will give you advice on how to do that. Today we’re talking to Matt Kohut. Matt is a co-founder of KNP Communications, and he has 20 years of professional experience writing and preparing speakers for both general and expert audience. In addition, he has served as a communications consultant to organizations including NASA, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and Harvard University. Matt is currently a fellow at the Center for Advancement of Public Action at Bennington College, and he’s previously worked at Harvard University as research specialist to the dean of Kennedy School. Now, this is an interesting conversation, and we are very excited to bring it to you because it follows on so well to our conversation we had with Vanessa Druskat on emotional intelligence. BILL YATES: Yes, this is an area that I think because of my own experience, I feel like this is an area that a project manager, certainly me, should and can grow in throughout their career. It’s amazing talking with Matt. He knows so much about social science. That’s the background experience he has. But the advice that he gives is so practical. Not only did he write speeches, he coached those who were delivering the speeches as to how to make a good first impression, how to connect with their audience, how to not overpower them with too much information. These are things that project managers struggle with. These are things that we have to be aware of. So the advice that Matt gives in our conversation is really going to help us be better at our jobs, connect better with our teams, understand our customers better, and amp up our performance. WENDY GROUNDS: Hi, Matt. Welcome to Manage This. Thank you for being our guest today. MATT KOHUT: Thanks for having me. Meet Matt WENDY GROUNDS: We are excited to talk to you about communication and leadership and all of those good things; but I am really intrigued by your other career, the side of you that is a professional bassist. Can you tell us a little bit about that and your passion for music? ...

ANDY CROWE ● BILL YATES ● NICK WALKER NICK WALKER: Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers. This is our every week chance to meet and talk about what matters most to you as a professional project manager. We talk about getting started, getting certified, getting the stuff of project management done. I’m your host, Nick Walker, and beside me are our in-house experts, Andy Crowe and Bill Yates. They are project managers themselves. They mentor other project managers and those working to become one. And guys, today’s topic addresses what might be to some teams sort of an elephant in the room, the fact that many projects don’t move along as we originally envision. In fact, Andy, sometimes, as a friend of mine once put it, you know, when the manure hits the combine blades... ANDY CROWE: Right, the fertilizer hits the ventilation system, sure. NICK WALKER: Yeah, right. ANDY CROWE: Yeah, and you know what, a lot of times figuring out what to do with a troubled project, with a project that’s in distress, and where do you start? And a lot of PMs spend time in this space. This isn’t an unfamiliar territory for a lot of people. BILL YATES: Yeah, people should not be surprised by this. This happens. This is a part of project management. There’s a quote by William A. Cohen. He says: “All successful projects are simply a long series of adversities that must be overcome. Adversity is normal.” NICK WALKER: So we just need to look reality in the face and say, okay, this is just going to happen. Adversity is going to happen. But is there a difference between just simple adversity, you know, little roadblocks that come in the way, or something that is really in flames? ANDY CROWE: Well, there certainly can be. A lot of times project managers start a project. They don’t have any input into the finish date. They don’t have input into the schedule, necessarily, or the budget. And now they kind of have to find some way to meet the goals of the project. By the time that they get added, they’re already in trouble. NICK WALKER: Yeah. So sometimes it’s even almost too late. So what do you do at that point? How do you sort of regroup and pick up? BILL YATES: Yeah, and that’s what we’ll focus on today is looking at those troubled projects, those that are in recovery mode, those that need turnaround. ANDY CROWE: Right. And so Bill, maybe not just the ones in recovery mode, but the ones that need to be in recovery mode. BILL YATES: Right. ANDY CROWE: Maybe they’re going along, business as usual. They haven’t detected trouble yet. So let me ask you, if you’re thinking about a project, what’s the canary in the coal mine to you to know if there are problems on the project, to know if it’s time to kind of circle the wagons and start thinking about it differently, put it in recovery mode? When do you – what are some of the triggers? BILL YATES: Yeah. There are – that’s the perfect place to start. There are many triggers to me, many signs to look at to detect trouble. And some of those are real soft skill type things. You’ve got to read people. Others are hardcore metrics. So you start, if I think about soft skill stuff, Andy, I think about some of the past projects that I’ve worked on where things, the train came off the rails. And many times you could pick up on it in your interaction with a customer. The customer’s attitude towards you or towards the project or towards the team changed. ANDY CROWE: Right. BILL YATES: In some cases, the customer disappeared. They no longer had an interest in the project. And that was scary. That’s scary. ANDY CROWE: Well, as long as the money’s still flowing, I guess it’s not all that scary. BILL YATES: Yeah, right. Yeah, you may think, you know, well, there are times when I wish my customer would go away so we could get something done.

Louis Alderman and the team focus on the 6th Edition of the PMBOK Guide and discuss the recent exposure draft and how it will impact the PMP Certification Exam in the future. Tune in for the latest and greatest.