Step by Step

Feedback vs Feedforward

It doesn’t matter if we are working as a contractor, leading our own company or being part of an organization, we always have the opportunity to learn about the past and understand how we can improve. Feedback is a tool we can use to evaluate our performance. There is no doubt that we can learn about our mistakes and failures, and that we can use feedback to improve.

However, what if we could leverage the opportunity to see all the possibilities and opportunities that we will have in the future? What would happen if we enable our team members, collaborators or employees to strengthen their learning by focusing on a positive future and not a past of errors?

This is what is called “The feedforward.” This term forged by Marshall Goldsmith and Jon Katzemback (feedback to the future) is complementary to the feedback although there are some differences:

As Dr. Goldsmith noted in his article ‘Eleven reasons to try Feedforward’: “We can change the future, we can’t change the past - By giving people ideas on how they can be even more successful, we can increase their chances of achieving this success in the future”

• Reference www.marshallgoldsmithfeedforward.com

Originally Published on Mayte’s Corner...Thoughts on Project Management  - 2018 Q2 - PMI Northern Utah Chapter newsletter

I am sure that if you are reading this post, is because at some point, last time that you connected and checked your LinkedIn you’ve realized that something is wrong. You are receiving a lot of spam or the information you see on your screen, isn’t relevant for you

In theory, LinkedIn is the PROFESSIONAL NETWORK by definition, the ones that create here a profile is to find or create business opportunities, work, and knowledge exchange…

Here the key points to identify and eliminate contacts on LinkedIn. 

• Spammers, these are the first to eliminate.
  • They send courses offers that do not have to do with our field.
  • Impersonalized offers or recommendation requests without our name or adding hundreds of contacts at the same time.
  • "The Perfect" job, salaries of six figures, working from home ... this does not look good!

• Non-professionals. Lately, I've noticed that people post on LinkedIn like in Facebook, kittens, and congratulating parties, family photos. These contacts are in my eyehole, my time has a value, and I really glad that your dog is healthy, but if this post really interests me, I will be checking my Facebook, not LinkedIn.

• Outdated, unfinished or profiles without a photo. Bye bye! 

• Sectors of non-interest, many of us made the mistake (years ago) when we created the LinkedIn account to add to familiars, friends, general contacts, who do not belong to our sectors. This beginner’s failure makes that we see news on our home page that has a lack of interest. It’s the time to clean it, we can see family and friends in other social media. 

• Bad behavior. Maybe this is a little subjective, but I define the following by bad behavior something like these examples. 

  • Ask for advice or favors continuously for free.
  • Sends too many messages, using the inbox as a chat.
  • Try to sell something few seconds after accepted the connection request.  
  • Their interactions or post are rude and inappropriate.
  • Requested personal data in an open post.
  • Copy and reuse your post without permission.

• Smoke Sellers. Last but not least, people who sell smoke. I have super clear that LinkedIn is nourished by ego, and promoting the "good that we are", but from selling or strengths to "I'm expert guru, visionary..." really? From my point of view, you are an amazing and great IT help desk technician, visionary is Steven Hopkins, you are in my point of view, if I only see this in your presentation, and I do not see interesting posts or contributions that prove it, I am sorry, but you are out.

What do you think of your LinkedIn contacts? Do they meet these conditions? Are you going to clean them?

By the way, feel free to add me to your LinkedIn connections. lol

Sometimes I had the rude consultant in my mind; it helps me not to forget about how we need to take care and improve our communication or stakeholder management.

Honestly, I did not think at any time to share my intimacies or invite him to a close family party, I did not pretend to be his friend. A Simply, cordial relationship with co-workers.

Throughout my professional life, I’ve recognized that I made great friends as well as good co-workers. We spend many hours in our work, and over time the relationships between us never stop improving.

Personally, when I start a new project or start working in a new office, I do not go with the idea of making a lot of friends or inviting the whole department to a Saturday crazy party dinner in my home. I usually consider myself a reserved person, and the step to move from peer to friend, is not a fast step and usually occurs when I leave that company or project. I should point out that I have been a freelance for years, which has made me travel around Europe from project to project and from client to client, meeting amazing people.

I have been living in the United States less than two years, and I’m gratefully surprised that we can find statistics and data on anything, I love that.

A few days ago, I’ve taken a look to the Bureau of Labor statistical, I was curious about how the Americans spend their time. 

So, it is a fact that we spend more than 8 hours at work.

Some newspaper articles, important doctors, psychologists, coaches, and mentors, argue about the fact that we must stop separating professional life from the work.

As project managers, here are the key reasons can help us to improve our skills if we’ll stop separating both lifes. 

• We'll be better workers. Increasing productivity and reducing stress.
• We'll engage the teams better. By getting to know the team members better, it is easier to know their needs and get a buy-in.
• Improving communication
• Diminution of stress

But, there are also some inconvenient:

• Overconfidence makes the requests you make are not taken in the required way
• Falling into the error of talking about work during leisure time
• Possible conflict of interests or leave in a disadvantage relation to the rest of the team.
• Less productivity due to a more distractions, longer coffee breaks, more time to have lunch,
• Lose the boundaries, and then, the outside issues will affect to work.

Each of us is very different, and each of you will take different approach how to manage the ties at work, but, here few tips for the first days that will be useful not to  be rude but don’t spoil anything.

• Prioritize the work
• Be a little reserved. Avoid speak about religion, politics, money.
• Don’t participate in gossips
• Live together, share time at the office with your peers, don’t lunch alone, participate during the coffee breaks, or after works drinks
• Collaborate with the group, offer your help, and share your knowledge.
• Don’t exclude any team member, sometimes in a team, people try to join with people with the same role, be open! Talk with the technicians, or with the developers, you’ll discover an all-new world.

What’s your approach? Friends or Colleagues? 

Reference: Bureau of Labor Statistics - Charts from the American Time Use Survey. 

http://www.bls.gov/tus/charts/

First of all, this is not mine, this is not my phrase, my rule or my belief…I heard once, someone told me…it has a history, and here I will share with you.

More than ten years ago, I arrived at my first remunerated job in IT. Big company, big office, big team.

Do you remember your first day in an office? Year after year, project after project, the situation is the same, the recruiter manager or de project manager walks around the office and you are presented to a lot of people.

Your new team, your new family, all of those people that from this day you will share your knowledge your happiness, your stress, more than eight hours day with same people, sometimes will be easy, sometimes a challenge.

One of those first days, after connecting the computer, check the connections, check the first emails, lunchtime arrived. I turned around, I’ve checked that nobody was in their desks, and nobody asked me to go with them to the lunch room.

I’ve checked again, and I see a guy, I stopped few minutes to think, yes! It’s him, he is in my team. I walked until his desk, smiled and said, “Did you have lunch? Or do you want to join me?” his answer was…I didn’t come here to make friends.

I was shocked, without words, this guy was so rude.

Two or three years after, walking around a library I saw this book:

• Yo no he venido aquí para hacer amigos, desventuras de un consultor IT – Jaime Miranda

There is no English version of this book, but I tried to literally translate the title:

• I didn’t come here to make friends, memories of an IT consultant (or something like this)

I bought it, I read it, and I laugh too much.

Was this rude guy the author of the book? No, he wasn’t.

Maybe the rude guy read the book before me, maybe the rude guy continue working in the same company, maybe the rude guy ten years ago didn’t have knowledge about the importance of networking in 2016.