John RiceSustainment Engineer| Lockheed MartinHarmony, Fl, United States
Operations management (OM) is the set of activities that creates goods and services through the transformation of inputs into outputs. OM is one of the three major functions of any organization (manufacturing or service), the other two being financing/accounting and marketing. Unlike a project, which has a specific objective, a limited duration, and limited resources, an operation is ongoing with objectives and resources that can change over time.
Developing a new levitating car is a project; manufacturing Toyotas is an operation. All managers need to know the principles of operations management. Project managers survive by building relationships with operational managers. How do you build your relationships with managers you come in contact with? Saving Changes...
Great question, and within an organization for me it happens one of two ways. If doing product development, you build the relationship with other departments during the project interaction. Including them in status updates and by forcing yourself to interact. Go to their desk, or pick up the phone and talk to them about what you're working on. Make your information freely available to them to build credit. Later, if their name pops up and you need something, the connection is already made. Outside of the project work, consider yourself a resource for all your come in contact with. You are there to serve and to provide value so reach out, make connections and offer up yourself to them. The work you put in today will always come back to you in good ways.
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1 reply by John Rice
Apr 03, 2017 1:56 PM
John Rice
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Liana,
Thank you. You made a good point if you want to build a relationship you must make yourself available by reach out and offering. Basically, connect to people.
Saving Changes...
Ed Tsyitee JrConsultant | Consultant Tucson, Az, United States
I think one of the best ways to develop relationships is to remove work silos within an organization and emphasize cross functional teams as much as possible.
Not only does this increase knowledge sharing, it also limits down time in productivity because people become familiar with other people's work, and are able to perform the basic functions.
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1 reply by John Rice
Apr 03, 2017 2:09 PM
John Rice
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Ed,
You bring out a good method, but environment and culture dictate the application. In the Army, we stress cross functional training and cross talk, so soldiers are appreciative of who has their backs. Some organization is not structured in this way, then we as PMs have to make the effort to engage others.
Saving Changes...
S RajasekarSenior Project Manager| AllscriptsBangalore, Karnataka, India
1. Be transparent
2. Have person touch
3. Listing
4. Accept personality
5. Share/Give
6. Have patience
People eventually understand and build trust
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1 reply by John Rice
Apr 03, 2017 11:24 PM
John Rice
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S Rajasekar,
Being transparent equates to your words mimic your actions. Listening is critical, the two ears and one mouth applies
Saving Changes...
John RiceSustainment Engineer| Lockheed MartinHarmony, Fl, United States
Apr 03, 2017 8:14 AM
Replying to Liana Underwood
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Great question, and within an organization for me it happens one of two ways. If doing product development, you build the relationship with other departments during the project interaction. Including them in status updates and by forcing yourself to interact. Go to their desk, or pick up the phone and talk to them about what you're working on. Make your information freely available to them to build credit. Later, if their name pops up and you need something, the connection is already made. Outside of the project work, consider yourself a resource for all your come in contact with. You are there to serve and to provide value so reach out, make connections and offer up yourself to them. The work you put in today will always come back to you in good ways.
Liana,
Thank you. You made a good point if you want to build a relationship you must make yourself available by reach out and offering. Basically, connect to people. Saving Changes...
John RiceSustainment Engineer| Lockheed MartinHarmony, Fl, United States
Apr 03, 2017 1:18 PM
Replying to Ed Tsyitee Jr
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I think one of the best ways to develop relationships is to remove work silos within an organization and emphasize cross functional teams as much as possible.
Not only does this increase knowledge sharing, it also limits down time in productivity because people become familiar with other people's work, and are able to perform the basic functions.
Ed,
You bring out a good method, but environment and culture dictate the application. In the Army, we stress cross functional training and cross talk, so soldiers are appreciative of who has their backs. Some organization is not structured in this way, then we as PMs have to make the effort to engage others. Saving Changes...
John RiceSustainment Engineer| Lockheed MartinHarmony, Fl, United States
I ask this question because it falls in line with Acquiring a Team, although how many of us connects with our indirect stakeholders like the mail clerks and logistics clerks? No one member of a team is more important than the other, for instance, remove your big toe and imagine how your balance is affected. A notification delay from the mailroom could cost time and money, only because you are just a number to the people sorting packages. Saving Changes...
John RiceSustainment Engineer| Lockheed MartinHarmony, Fl, United States
Apr 03, 2017 1:53 PM
Replying to S Rajasekar
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1. Be transparent
2. Have person touch
3. Listing
4. Accept personality
5. Share/Give
6. Have patience
People eventually understand and build trust
S Rajasekar,
Being transparent equates to your words mimic your actions. Listening is critical, the two ears and one mouth applies Saving Changes...
Edward DanielsProject Manager| IndependentGlen Burnie, Md, United States
I think we can all agree that communication is the primary way to connect and build relationships. I will take it in a different direction, to build better relationships, PMs have to develop ways of unobstrusively communicating project tasks. Using task managers for example is a great way to communicate and follow up with your stakeholders as against emailing a task list and sending daily, weekly reminders or as the case may require. Building relationships is not the goal but it is a by-product of better communication with your teams and stakeholders.
When i was a junior analyst, i hated being reminded of what i needed to do, as if i was slacking off the job. However, with a tasker dashboard, i was able to update my progress and didn't feel particularly offended when my PM checked in with me to discuss the progress on my dashboard. It changed the way i perceived my PM, because i was able to realize they have a job to do as well and not just bugging me about what needs to be done.
With the right tools in place, one can build excellent relationships by changing the conversation from "what are you doing" or "where are you on the project" to "I see that you have completed the initiation and planning tasks already" or "Great, we are ahead of our deadline this week".
Thank you for your hard work. Everyone likes for their contributions to be acknowledged!
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1 reply by John Rice
Apr 04, 2017 11:06 PM
John Rice
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Edward,
However, with a tasker dashboard, make sense. I too get annoyed when being asked for an update more often than not. I understand bosses needs data, therefore I agree with dashboards. Another benefit is reduced meeting agendas, if the PM already pull data then they can focus on risks and problem-solving.
Thank you
Saving Changes...
John RiceSustainment Engineer| Lockheed MartinHarmony, Fl, United States
Apr 04, 2017 11:00 AM
Replying to Edward Daniels
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I think we can all agree that communication is the primary way to connect and build relationships. I will take it in a different direction, to build better relationships, PMs have to develop ways of unobstrusively communicating project tasks. Using task managers for example is a great way to communicate and follow up with your stakeholders as against emailing a task list and sending daily, weekly reminders or as the case may require. Building relationships is not the goal but it is a by-product of better communication with your teams and stakeholders.
When i was a junior analyst, i hated being reminded of what i needed to do, as if i was slacking off the job. However, with a tasker dashboard, i was able to update my progress and didn't feel particularly offended when my PM checked in with me to discuss the progress on my dashboard. It changed the way i perceived my PM, because i was able to realize they have a job to do as well and not just bugging me about what needs to be done.
With the right tools in place, one can build excellent relationships by changing the conversation from "what are you doing" or "where are you on the project" to "I see that you have completed the initiation and planning tasks already" or "Great, we are ahead of our deadline this week".
Thank you for your hard work. Everyone likes for their contributions to be acknowledged!
Edward,
However, with a tasker dashboard, make sense. I too get annoyed when being asked for an update more often than not. I understand bosses needs data, therefore I agree with dashboards. Another benefit is reduced meeting agendas, if the PM already pull data then they can focus on risks and problem-solving.
Thank you Saving Changes...
