Operational Excellence in Project Management

Very easy to write but hard to implement.

The company that performs these functions may have improved processes, good data, ready answers, etc ... but hiring the wrong team will cause your customer experience to suffer - and the crash will be swift ... Before writing how to select a team with a focus on this concept, let us first explain what it is.

From the blog "We do Marketing" -

Customer Centricity is a management philosophy that places the consumer at the center of an organization's attention and analysis. It is not only a methodology or a way of conducting a business, but rather a professional stance that seeks , instead of creating products and services according to what the company believes, knowing and understanding its consumers and seeking to develop characteristics in their products and services with three main objectives:

1 - Meet the specific needs of their consumers (conscious or not)

2 - Solve chronic problems or prevent them from appearing

3 - Create additional benefits that add more value to what is being offered.

You must already be thinking ... but .. he is writing the obvious, any area is like this ... I will not waste my time reading this ...

If you got here, it's because I still have credibility with you my colleague! 

Thank you for your trust !!..

So let's talk about this, team selection! 

First of all, a good interview helps you determine if a candidate has motivation, compatibility, positivity, empathy, and shares the values ​​of your company. 

For you to select a professional focused on "customer-centric service" I recommend that your questions are aligned with the following behaviors and characteristics below:

• To have empathy, that is, she must understand feelings and emotions, trying to objectively and rationally experience what another individual feels, because this leads to a most important point for our clients, empathy leads people to help each other, as it says a colleague of mine, and I really like this term, she takes her professional to altruism - love and concern for others - and the ability to help. When an individual can feel the pain or suffering of the other by putting himself in his place, he arouses the desire to help and act according to moral principles, and this makes all the difference his client and awakens an incredible feeling of trust
• Have genuine interest in learning quickly and dealing with criticism quickly, after all this friendly fire comes from your customers, this is the most difficult part because usually people tend to get defensive and outsource the blame.
• Never, never be a negative person, the word of fashion is positivity, let me explain, it means looking at the good side of things ... For these professionals will always occur events that are not to their liking and that does not mean they are bad professionals. These are times that were surpassed by them and helped them to make them stronger emotionally. They have found a quick solution and then get on the bright side, they are strong, determined and able to put themselves before anything that comes before them. This goes for you too!

When looking for professionals focused on customer success, we want professionals who: 

• They achieved customer success through the team, not by individualistic responses, if there was no collaboration then there was something wrong, I'll be clearer if that person cares more about individual success or team success
• Serum of truth , ask the candidate to introduce you to a current or former chief as a reference,
• Find out how they understand customer-centric customer service at the company they want to work with, this will help you understand if your base is well grounded on this item,
• Classic question : We all fail, but the important part is what the candidate learns from it - or do they blame someone for it? It goes something like this: "I never lose, or I hit or I learn!",
• Seek to understand how it relates to angry clients. This includes references to effective conflict resolution skills, customer respect, and humility - because sometimes an apology is more effective than an explanation for an already irritated client,
• Here's how he talks about the most difficult customer he's had to act on, it's hoped he'll dig deeper into what can be done to come up with a solution that works for the customer and what strategy they used

And by the way, you must have understood the game of the correct interview, no use, certification, training, etc., customer-centered service can be for any type of company, private, private, NGO or even association, and this is a serious business! This customer-centric culture begins with the formation of your team whatever it may be.

I will leave here a video on youtube very interesting for you to watch and to understand in practice what is Customer Centricity !

Managed projects and delivery it with success demands what is obvious, meaning, ability, technical skills and knows project management process, but it is more than that,, you have to understand the basic principles of leadership and you have to  exercise them daily and when you do this you will understand this sentence:

"Not every project manager is project leader."

And during project execution will remember this phrase also:

"Your team  is equally important to the success of the project and it should be a high performance team."

A team of this level does not fall from the sky or appears miraculously, it takes time to build a high performance team,  but don´t be naive, teams  needs strict discipline and rigid definition and control roles and responsibilities which has to be e followed!

If you want your team to be high performance you need to create this structure otherwise you will have chaos in your project, when it is achieved you will be able to trigger innovation and creativity with the team and results will be materialized.

This is your role as a leader, create this structure !

You want to be one more or want to make a difference? Remember for each project delivered with success project you get a free invitation to run another project and, increasingly complex.  You decide  which path you want to follow, up or down the ladder of success...If you want to climb the hill I invite you to continue reading this article because from this point I write for those who want to win.

As leader there are principles you have to consider and follow as stated above, which I will describe below:

• Vision - build and share the vision and project objectives with the team is one of the critical success factors for the project, it is not done just once, for example, during the kick-off of the project, it is a daily exercise and continuous communication and team acculturation,
• Collaboration - High performance teams are using the synergistic effects between them, the impossible becomes possible, and this happens only through active collaboration inside the team and as the example comes from above, the project manager plays a crucial role in this process, be a role model and demonstrate and exercise collaboration,
• Performance - Planning is important in the project at the end of a day's work you and your team have to perform and deliver. As a leader it is your responsibility to create an environment that promotes high performance team and individuals.
• Learning - People make mistakes, we all make mistakes, effective leaders encourage staff to try new ways and learn from your mistakes, he devotes enough time for the team to learn, innovate and be creative.
• Results - delivery results is a prerequisite for any project to be delivered  this is the result of team work not an individual. This will only happen if you make sure you run  the first four principles above.

"The reason most people do not achieve their goals is because they were not defined, or have never been seriously considered by them as attainable or reliable. Winners can tell you where they're going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will participate in this adventure with them "- Denis E. Waitley