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6 Tips to Persuade Stakeholders to Say "Yes" to Your Project
Categories:
Human Aspects of PM
Categories: Human Aspects of PM
| "Advertising is fundamentally persuasion, and persuasion happens to be not a science, but an art." -- Bill Bernbach, founder of Doyle Dane Bernbach, an ad agency Starting a project is not always easy. It requires resources and changes the status quo, so there can be a lot of obstacles until you hear "yes" to a project. That's why you need to know how to effectively persuade your stakeholders to get on board with your project. Dr. Alan H. Monroe's motivated sequence pattern, created in the 1930s, is useful for doing so: 1. Attention: Capture your stakeholders' attention with an interesting opening statement, or share a statistic related to your project. 2. Need: Identify the need that your project will address and share it with your stakeholders. The more information you have about the business needs, the better the chance your project is approved. 3. Satisfaction: Let stakeholders know how your project will satisfy the identified business needs. In detail, describe the approach you'll use in your project to address the needs. 4. Visualize: Explain the 'perfect world' that will exist after the project has finished. Make it as vivid as possible -- explain how it looks, sounds and smells. Be very energetic and enthusiastic when you explain. 5. Action: Tell them what you need them to do. Let them know specifically what steps you are taking to achieve the vision you've just shared. The sixth element I would add is to tell a story to help you make your point. It could be real or it could be fictional, but remember that people are more likely persuaded when they hear or read a story that transports them. If a story is told well, we get swept up and are less likely to notice things that don't match up with our everyday experiences. Use your creativity -- find your own way to mix all of these elements and you can build a powerful tool to persuade even the most demanding stakeholder. How do you reach and influence your stakeholders as people, not just businesspersons? See more posts from Jorge Valdés Garciatorres. See more posts about stakeholder management. |
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by Jorge Martin Valdes Garciatorres
on: February 06, 2012 11:33 AM
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In Search of Project Management Stars
Categories:
PMI
Categories: PMI
| Every project professional knows the massive effort that goes into a project delivered on time, on budget and in sync with organizational strategy. Now's the time to put the spotlight on all that hard work. Established in 1989, the PMI Project of the Year Award recognizes the accomplishments of a project and project team for performance and exemplary execution of project management using processes and approaches consistent with A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) -- Fourth Edition. PMI encourages nominations for projects from around the world, regardless of size, industry or location. Anyone can nominate a project or be nominated for a project; PMI affiliation is not required. The winner will be announced in October at PMI® Global Congress 2012 -- North America in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. But you have to act quickly. Nominations for the 2012 PMI Project of the Year Award must be received by Thursday, 1 March 2012. Winning such a coveted professional award reaps many benefits for both organizations and individuals. These may include a boost in sales, attracting and retaining top talent, and gaining media exposure. It's also an excellent way to celebrate a project team's successes while affirming an organization's commitment to sound project management. For individuals, a professional award can enhance your résumé or CV and your career prospects. Last year's project entries represented a diverse array. The Prairie Waters Project, aimed at preventing water shortages in Colorado, USA, took top honors. The finalists included the EMAL Smelter Complex in Al Taweelah, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and the Oak Grove Steam Electric Station in Franklin, Texas, USA. Learn more about the 2012 Project of the Year, download nomination guidelines and watch videos of 2011 award winners and nominees. Have you submitted your nomination yet? |
Build Generational Awareness on Your Project Team
Categories:
Generational PM
Categories: Generational PM
| There are certain interpersonal skills that project managers must master in order to analyze situations and interact appropriately, as outlined in Appendix G of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)--Fourth Edition. The skills include political and multicultural awareness. But, since the project team environment has evolved over the last 10 years, I think a new interpersonal skill should be required, not only for project managers but also for team members and stakeholders: multigenerational awareness. Generations as cultures are based on invisible values, beliefs, attitudes and assumptions created by shared experiences and events. These differ across generations, and each will likely feel or behave differently in the same situation. The lack of cultural awareness may lead to a misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the situation. As a project manager leading a multigenerational team, you must know how to handle generational differences. Try to empathize with someone from a different generation and understand where he or she is coming from. Listen to the meaning behind words and interpret non-verbal clues rather than applying generational stereotypes. Focus on making that connection with individuals of different generations to build a meaningful relationship. When your multigenerational project team disagrees, in my experience, it's often because people are following those generational fundamental values. As the project manager, you need to assume a humble attitude and question rather than assert. Asking people to explain themselves before assuming anything shows respect. Building awareness around generational differences in your project team can ultimately help avoid any problems. Encourage your team to: Avoid making quick judgments of values. Try to understand the value and its historical reason. Values evolve as people live their lives in different periods of time. Define a balancing act. Figure out how to manage different perspectives and different ways to doing things. What are you doing to build generational awareness in your team? Read more posts from Conrado Morlan. Read Dmitri Ivanenko's post on Answering the Loaded Question in Project Management. |
Building Blocks of Project Work Planning
Categories:
Project Planning
Categories: Project Planning
| In my previous posts, I laid out the basics, the framework and the key documents for planning a project end-to-end. Now it's time to dive deeper. One of the most essential project planning stages is to establish the grounds for the project work. Planning and defining the project work starts with defining the "what" of the project. Before you can begin, you must understand the business needs and identify the project deliverables and its characteristics. You must set the boundaries of the project by establishing what the project will and will not deliver, and break down the project work into smaller and more manageable work units. The building blocks of project work planning have four main steps:
The requirements elicitation process should be facilitated and not done by yourself. Therefore, do this. Get the appropriate project stakeholders together. Organize focused requirements workshops. Interview, brainstorm and job shadow to glean information. Defining the project scope involves prioritizing the collected requirements, and deciding what's in and out of scope based on such factors as criticality, priority, urgency, constraints, complexity, risks and costs. The scope covers the project deliverables and all project requirements, along with their detailed descriptions and the related constraints and assumptions. The scope illustrates the entire work that the project will carry out, as well as the project boundaries. The part of the work planning that generates action is the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The WBS enhances the project scope understanding by decomposing the project work and deliverables into smaller and more manageable work units, also called work packages. The WBS defines granularly the "whats" of the project. Do you agree with these steps? How many steps do you use for project work planning? Read more posts from Marian Haus. |
How to Handle Your Project Management Mistakes
| My mother used to have a Charlie Brown pin that said, "I've never made a mistake in my life. I thought I did once, but I was wrong." I'm not as oblivious to my mistakes. In fact, I have made quite a few, both personally and professionally. In some cases, my gut told me I was making a mistake, but I went ahead anyway. Other times, I forged ahead confidently, only to be jarred by the sudden reality that I'd done something wrong. This happened recently at work. I got called into the proverbial "principal, or headmaster's office" and learned something I'd done caused trouble at a sister company. Not intending to make waves, I had started a tsunami. If you're a new project manager, it shouldn't be a surprise that you may make some mistakes. What do you do when you are called in to discuss your fallibility on the job? I sat and listened to the grievance presented to me -- staying calm is always the best approach. I absorbed everything my organizational leader shared with me. The first thing I said was, "I'm sorry." I briefly explained my side of the story without fanfare or drama. If you can explain yourself with brevity, do. Rambling probably won't work in your favor. I made it clear that I understood the other side of the story and guaranteed that I would be extra diligent in the future to avoid such mistakes. I wasn't defensive. I wasn't full of ego. I recognized my part in the issue and accepted the blame, as hard as it was. My organizational leader was professional, but she also expressed her dissatisfaction and disappointment in my behavior. This was the hardest thing to hear. The importance of being able to receive harsh criticism is not touted enough. The ability to hear -- and accept -- when someone else points out that you failed goes a long way in helping you establish a fruitful project management career. Afterward, my organizational leader followed up by saying she trusted that I had learned my lesson and would make better decisions going forward. She appreciated hearing my side because she now had full context of the incident. Before leaving, I asked if there was anything else I could do. In my case, the answer was no, but if there are action items for you, be diligent about accomplishing them in a timely manner. Give feedback to your organizational leader about your progress. Making a mistake as a professional is embarrassing, but most times, your career will go on. Deal with the mistake professionally and with integrity for a chance to be even better at what you do. |