People and Projects Podcast: Project Management Podcast

Your company culture? Yeah, it probably has some problems, right? And our guest Mike Rognlien has a message for you and for me. If your company culture sucks, it's at least in part because you’re part of it. And since you’re part of it, it’s at least partly your responsibility to help make it better.

Mike is the author of a book entitled This Is Now Your Company: A Culture Carrier's Manifesto. It's a provocative, in-your-face look at organizational culture and what you can do about it.

I hear from listeners almost every day, and I love it! How about you and I connect on LinkedIn? Go to https://PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/LinkedIn and send me an invite!

Also, if you know of a group at your organization that has an upcoming large group gathering and uses outside speakers, let them know about the podcast! I'd love to work with them to help improve their ability to lead and deliver. Learn more at https://i-leadonline.com/keynotes. Thanks!

Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast!

SEMI FUNK by Kevin Macleod Licensed under a Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 License.

NOTANICO MERENGUE by Kevin Macleod Licensed under a Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 License.

When you think of meetings, what thoughts come to mind? Words like productivity, efficiency, and great use of time isn’t what I normally hear. But if you look over your last week, you’ve likely spent a significant amount of your time in meetings so in the next couple full-length episodes, we’re going to be talking about how we gather to help you and your teams maximize that time together.

In this episode, we talk with the J. Elise Keith, author of the new book Where the Action Is, and I'm excited to introduce you to some ideas in the book.

Learn more about Elise and her book at https://www.lucidmeetings.com/book.

Backlog is project management software trusted by over 9,000 companies worldwide. Learn more about our sponsor at Backlog.com/projects.

I hear from listeners almost every day, and I love it! How about you and I connect on LinkedIn? Go to https://PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/LinkedIn and send me an invite!

Also, if you know of a group at your organization that has an upcoming large group gathering and uses outside speakers, let them know about the podcast! I'd love to work with them to help improve their ability to lead and deliver. Learn more at https://i-leadonline.com/keynotes. Thanks!

Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast!

WASTING TIME by DAY WAVE available on YouTube

CHEERY MONDAY by Kevin Macleod Licensed under a Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 License.

Dee Hock is one of my management heroes. Dee founded VISA years ago and had many insights on how to be an effective leader. If you've sat through one of our leadership workshops, you might be familiar with one of my favorite Dee Hock quotes. Dee says:

"If you look to lead, invest at least 40% of your time managing yourself -- your ethics, character, principles, purpose, motivation, and conduct. Invest at least 30% managing those with authority over you, and 15% managing your peers. Use the remainder to induce those you 'work for' to understand and practice the theory. I use the terms 'work for' advisedly, for if you don't understand that you should be working for your mislabeled 'subordinates,' you haven't understood anything. Lead yourself, lead your superiors, lead your peers, and free your people to do the same. All else is trivia."

There's a lot to chew on in that quote, isn't there? Too often we think managing is about managing down--our so-called subordinates. Dee puts much more focus on managing ourselves and those with authority over us. You and I could argue about whether his percentages are precise, but that's not the point. I take the point as managing ourselves and those in authority over us is a big deal. We need to be intentional about it, and that's why I spent time talking with John Baldoni about the subject.

In this premium episode I want to take time to stress points from the interview with John to help you put the learning into action.

First, do you recall John's distinction between managing up and leading up? To me, it's mostly semantics and I'm going to use the terms synonymously. That said, there's a good point to be made here. Some people interpret managing up as sucking up. It's as if we're kissing butt to just look good to the boss, often in a deceptive or at least selfish way--perhaps at the cost of others not looking as good. We don't manage or lead up just to look good. In fact, sometimes when I do this, I'm managing up precisely because I don't want us all to look bad! I'm concerned that the decision-making process needs additional perspectives or that it would be to our mutual benefit if the boss was influenced a certain way. Where it gets sleazy is when it's about me. Isn't that a good marker, in general? Whether it's regarding conflict or negotiation or influence or giving and receiving constructive feedback or goal setting or just about any area of life: when it becomes all about me, it's a problem. So, as John mentioned, leading up is ultimately about being committed to helping the organization grow and achieve.

Second, a primary skill to develop is learning to read your boss. This is so critical. Some time back I interviewed Dave Po-Chedley about his book on stakeholder relationships. Dave said we need to learn the “buying habits" of our boss. I like that term. How does he or she make decisions? Do they like a lot of detail or not? Do they want a PowerPoint deck or does that make them suspicious--they just want it drawn up on the fly on a whiteboard. Are they an outgoing, gregarious person or more quiet and analytical? Pictures or numbers? Face-to-face or via e-mail. All of these and many more are considerations to take to heart when we're trying to influence up. Becoming a student of your boss is part of Dee Hock's 30% of your time. Pay attention and learn to adjust your style accordingly. Anticipate what they want to see and how they'll likely push back. Learn their buying habits. It will make your job of selling ideas much easier.

Third, I want to remind you about John's three main requirements for you to be successful: competence, credibility, and confidence. Though I'm always surprised when someone occasionally wants to argue this point, competence is not fixed. It can be developed. A hunger to learn is one of the top traits I look for in aspiring leaders. Education and experience combined with a teachable spirit can significantly develop our competence--even helping us become a true expert given enough time. Applying that competence over time can increase our credibility. As I mentioned in the interview, credibility is currency. We have to execute--we can't just talk a good game. Consistently delivering with--as John said it--“shining colors" help us develop credibility that can be banked on. And then there's confidence. Nearly every year I spend time with one or more coaching clients whose issue isn't competence or credibility. Rather, they have a confidence problem. They sell themselves too short. Competence, Credibility, and Confidence are three C's that are worth writing down and being intentional about developing.

Finally, I want to recall your attention to John's leadership advice to Be Seen, Be Heard, and Be There. How visible are you to your boss? I was with a leader last week who was challenged because her boss was in a different state. It's difficult for her to build credibility in his eyes b...

My guest in this episode is the former Chief Futurist of Intel: Brian David Johnson. Brian joins us to talk about his book The Future You: Break Through the Fear and Build the Life You Want. Brian is going to help you see that project managers are perfectly positioned to benefit from thinking like a futurist.

Learn more about Brian at threatcasting.asu.edu/.

Whether live in-person or virtually, contact us about having Andy speak at your company. Our project management and leadership related keynotes and workshops can help improve your teams' ability to lead and deliver. Learn more at PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/workshops.

I hear from listeners almost every day and I love it! How about you and I connect on LinkedIn? Go to https://PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/LinkedIn and Follow me (I've maxed out the connections but if you Follow me, I'll Follow you back!)

Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast!

Talent Triangle: Strategic and Business Management

Back to the Future by WinnieTheMoog Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6090-back-to-the-future License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Fjeld by Alexander Nakarada Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7242-fjeld License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Back to the Future-We Don't Need Roads (1989) scene available on YouTube at youtube.com/watch?v=fCjsUxbNmIs

How do we stay motivated when we’re pursuing our goals? And what can we learn from motivational science to help us both at work and at home? We’re joined today by one of the most important voices in motivational science, Dr. Ayelet Fishbach. Ayelet is the author of a new book entitled Get It Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation.

In this episode, Ayelet will talk about some of the biggest myths or misunderstandings about motivation--some that I think you’ll recognize. She’ll talk about the importance of how we frame goals and how putting a number to them makes a big difference. She’ll explain the planning fallacy and how that impacts us individually and with our projects. Ayelet will help us better understand if we should reflect on the progress we’ve made--or how far we have to go yet. And throughout the discussion, we’ll apply the learning to goals like project delivery, team motivation, earning a certification, exercising, losing weight, and even parenting! It’s a conversation I’m looking forward to sharing with you.

Learn more about Ayelet and her book at https://AyeletFishbach.com/.

Ready to take your leadership skills to the next level? LEAD52 is your 5-minute weekly pass to leadership intelligence. You get 52 weeks of learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Join us at https://GetLEAD52.com.

Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast!

Talent Triangle: Leadership

I Am Running with Temporary Success from a Monstrous Vacuum in Pursuit by Chris Zabriskie Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heo0oXDa8ck License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Early Riser by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2315niU5WBY License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license