Good Vibrations for Better Performance
| Here’s another proven area to manage in your project that will improve worker engagement. One of the Q12 questions (described in last post) is “In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work?”
How many of your workers will say “No”? Sure, you might work in a matrix organization where you do not have that much control over the management of your workers but you can send out good vibrations. You can recognize them yourself for all sorts of reasons,
Find an excuse to recognize or praise workers in your project. It will help workers become more engaged so that you can get the results you want. |
Posted on: September 08, 2008 09:07 PM
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This Quick Clarification Can Bring Results
| There are things you can do within your project that have proven value to increase results. You can even leverage the proven Gallup organization’s “Q12”. The Q12 is a list of 12 questions that every organization needs to ask workers to ensure they are committed to the organization and giving 100% every day.
One question that is useful to your project is, “Do you know what is expected of you at work?” It’s a simple but insightful question. Ask this question of your workforce and you may be surprised at the answers. Large groups may be unclear at any time because of schedule changes, major design changes, corporate strategy announcements, internal IT organizational initiatives, and a host of other possibilities.
A more proactive move, however, would be for you to immediately clarify expectations at any significant change or announcement. This will keep everyone from questioning their efforts and becoming unfocused. |
Posted on: September 08, 2008 07:11 AM
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Lies, Damn Lies…and Resumes
| You can’t let up on the basics, even if you need extra time to do advanced work. Confirmation is now in that you must still check on the accuracy of resumes. 57% of IT industry employers reported that they have found lies on resumes. And I bet those are the ones who actually checked.
Don’t think the “exaggerations” have to be subtle. Here are some of my favorites from a list of wild lies turned in by resume checkers. Interviewees
If you have recruiting function make sure they take time to check the details. No one to do it for you? Plan the time to do the work yourself, even if you can think of all kind of other priorities. |
Posted on: September 01, 2008 11:18 PM
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How to Identify Spectacularly Unsuccessful People
| This is my favorite list of the year: “Traits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful People." It’s not of our interest here because you should beware of these traits in yourself. You should be aware of these traits in stakeholders and people you work for. I provide a few traits verbatim here to tweak your interest:
How many of you work with or for someone like this? Many, I’d wager.
Is there any hope for you? Dartmouth’s Finklestein, the author of the study, suggests, sadly, no. Evidently, the traits are too deeply embedded. My recommendation: Get Away. As fast as you can.
Read the rest of the list here (registration may be required). |
Posted on: August 26, 2008 09:20 PM
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Generation Y’s Psychological Beat Down
| We have two updates on Generation Y that will help manage this group in the workforce. Readers of this blog will recall that this generation has previously reported high demands of their workplace. They were expecting satisfying and challenging work, flexible hours and enjoyable co-workers.
Evidently the harsh reality has hit them. Perhaps they are starting to “get” Dilbert. In any case, a recent survey (same as last post) finds that Generation Y now has the lowest expectations of the four generations. A BlessingWhite survey reports that the Millennials are the least engaged in the workforce. That’s a big turnaround in a short time.
As a project manager, you have more of a reason to organize mixed-generation work teams as described in the previous post. But also monitor the results to ensure the Gen Y workers are committed to the project and putting in their best effort each day. |
Posted on: August 22, 2008 07:20 AM
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