Tuesday, August 23, 2011
The Cost of Conflict and benefit of collaboration
Most people don't understand a collaboration model. They think that negotiation means that you make people do things by threatening to walk out, having other alternatives or otherwise pressuring them. While this can work for the short term, it causes resentment and retaliation and does not get the other side to give you its best ideas.
Even those people who think one should focus on people's "interests" and "rationality" miss the point: the world is emotional and irrational, especially in negotiations important to people. To deal with an emotional person one needs to value their emotions and talk them gradually off the ledge, not show them how your spreadsheets align.
There have been so many missed opportunities: in Libya, Afghanistan, Egypt, Syria, with Israel/Palestine, with children, even in buying or selling homes, where one party wanted to talk but the other would not.
Firstly, the road from perdition begins, simply, with an attitude. The other side is not necessarily the enemy, even if they work for a competitor and even if others from their group might be the enemy.
Just because they were born Muslim doesn't mean they like Al Qaeda. Just because they are female doesn't mean they want children.
Using "averages" to judge people is unfair. How would you like to be judged based on an average?
Second, to get more one has to find out the other party's perceptions, ask questions, make a connection. People who make human connections with others are six times more likely to persuade others to do what they want.
Third, studies show that differences add value: they provide the basis for more creativity. Work groups with perceptual differences create three times as much value as consensus groups.
So, instead of debating over differences to see who's right, lawmakers and executives alike should be trying to see how they can create better ideas from those differences. For example, trading things that the parties each value unequally.
Fourth, threatening, insulting people and walking out just gets them angry and less interested in a deal. It might feel good, but in terms of meeting goals, it just doesn't work.
Fifth, emotion takes focus off goals and greatly reduces the chance of deals. If you are emotional, get someone else to negotiate, take a break or don't take it personally. If they are emotional, value their emotions to calm them down.
Sixth, start with the easy things on which there is agreement, even the date of the next meeting. It will bind parties together more.
Seventh, progress incrementally, small steps at a time, particularly when there are big disagreements. Parties get nervous making big steps in a risky world.
You don't have to trust everyone from the outset, but where there is conflict, simply acknowledge there isn't much trust and try to get commitments from each other in the absence of trust.
Build trust slowly through personal contact and you don't have to disclose your bottom line; simply say that it makes you uncomfortable. To be collaborative, you don't have to be fully disclosing. But you do need to say what's going on and actually try to form an agreement, piece by piece.
People don't expect you to disclose everything. But they do expect you to be direct, honest and real. That's the essence of collaboration. So before we tear ourselves apart, maybe we can be civil and have a talk?
Read the fill article here: The Cost of Conflict | Psychology Today
Even those people who think one should focus on people's "interests" and "rationality" miss the point: the world is emotional and irrational, especially in negotiations important to people. To deal with an emotional person one needs to value their emotions and talk them gradually off the ledge, not show them how your spreadsheets align.
There have been so many missed opportunities: in Libya, Afghanistan, Egypt, Syria, with Israel/Palestine, with children, even in buying or selling homes, where one party wanted to talk but the other would not.
Firstly, the road from perdition begins, simply, with an attitude. The other side is not necessarily the enemy, even if they work for a competitor and even if others from their group might be the enemy.
Just because they were born Muslim doesn't mean they like Al Qaeda. Just because they are female doesn't mean they want children.
Using "averages" to judge people is unfair. How would you like to be judged based on an average?
Second, to get more one has to find out the other party's perceptions, ask questions, make a connection. People who make human connections with others are six times more likely to persuade others to do what they want.
Third, studies show that differences add value: they provide the basis for more creativity. Work groups with perceptual differences create three times as much value as consensus groups.
So, instead of debating over differences to see who's right, lawmakers and executives alike should be trying to see how they can create better ideas from those differences. For example, trading things that the parties each value unequally.
Fourth, threatening, insulting people and walking out just gets them angry and less interested in a deal. It might feel good, but in terms of meeting goals, it just doesn't work.
Fifth, emotion takes focus off goals and greatly reduces the chance of deals. If you are emotional, get someone else to negotiate, take a break or don't take it personally. If they are emotional, value their emotions to calm them down.
Sixth, start with the easy things on which there is agreement, even the date of the next meeting. It will bind parties together more.
Seventh, progress incrementally, small steps at a time, particularly when there are big disagreements. Parties get nervous making big steps in a risky world.
You don't have to trust everyone from the outset, but where there is conflict, simply acknowledge there isn't much trust and try to get commitments from each other in the absence of trust.
Build trust slowly through personal contact and you don't have to disclose your bottom line; simply say that it makes you uncomfortable. To be collaborative, you don't have to be fully disclosing. But you do need to say what's going on and actually try to form an agreement, piece by piece.
People don't expect you to disclose everything. But they do expect you to be direct, honest and real. That's the essence of collaboration. So before we tear ourselves apart, maybe we can be civil and have a talk?
Read the fill article here: The Cost of Conflict | Psychology Today
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Four steps to identifying and managing project risks
Some IT consultants overlook risk identification and management, especially on small engagements. Brad Egeland says this oversight could cost you future business.
I’ve run some projects as an internal PM and others as a consultant brought in to either lead a team or perform the work myself.
The way you run engagements will differ somewhat based on your incoming status (employee vs. consultant) and the size of the effort (long-term software implementation vs. short-term consulting gig to implement new processes).
There can also be differences in how you put together the upfront formal planning documents, and the way you formalize and document requirements.
One variable that remains constant regardless of whether you’re an internal or an external project lead is the task of risk identification and risk management. I’ll address the topic of risk below from a consultant’s perspective.
Even if it’s a one-on-one engagement with the CIO or project sponsor, it’s critical that you run through a risk identification process during a detailed risk planning session.
(The CIO is your best source of initial information.) The onus is on you to ask good questions, because you’re the expert on consulting engagements and can warn the client about the common pitfalls they might encounter. You’re coming in cold and don’t know the potential risks of the organizational infrastructure, procedures, and personnel.
Be careful not to make assumptions before you have all of the facts; otherwise, you can wind up adding more risk.
Even if you can’t formulate a detailed risk response to each item, it will still be helpful to identify a strategy to keep in mind as you continue to track these risks.
I encourage you to conduct weekly status meetings with the client, during which you should provide a revised task schedule and status report. Your risk list should be part of every weekly status report during.
It’s worth the time and effort because mitigating even one risk could mean the difference between success and failure and might land you future business with the client.
I’ve run some projects as an internal PM and others as a consultant brought in to either lead a team or perform the work myself.
The way you run engagements will differ somewhat based on your incoming status (employee vs. consultant) and the size of the effort (long-term software implementation vs. short-term consulting gig to implement new processes).
There can also be differences in how you put together the upfront formal planning documents, and the way you formalize and document requirements.
One variable that remains constant regardless of whether you’re an internal or an external project lead is the task of risk identification and risk management. I’ll address the topic of risk below from a consultant’s perspective.
Step one: Identify risks
You’re coming in cold and don’t know the potential risks of the organizational infrastructure, procedures, and personnel. Be careful not to make assumptions before you have all of the facts; otherwise, you can wind up adding more risk.Even if it’s a one-on-one engagement with the CIO or project sponsor, it’s critical that you run through a risk identification process during a detailed risk planning session.
(The CIO is your best source of initial information.) The onus is on you to ask good questions, because you’re the expert on consulting engagements and can warn the client about the common pitfalls they might encounter. You’re coming in cold and don’t know the potential risks of the organizational infrastructure, procedures, and personnel.
Be careful not to make assumptions before you have all of the facts; otherwise, you can wind up adding more risk.
Step two: Talk to SMEs and users
The next step is to meet with subject matter experts and end users (if these are different people) and any other personnel who will interact with the solution to a significant degree. These individuals can be good resources when you’re trying to identify potential risks.Step three: Devise risk strategies
You need to work with the project sponsor, the SMEs, and users to determine and document the best strategy to mitigate or even avoid these risks if they arise.Even if you can’t formulate a detailed risk response to each item, it will still be helpful to identify a strategy to keep in mind as you continue to track these risks.
Step four: Manage risk and provide regular status updates
I’m a proponent of managing consulting engagements on an ongoing basis like you would on a formal long-term project.I encourage you to conduct weekly status meetings with the client, during which you should provide a revised task schedule and status report. Your risk list should be part of every weekly status report during.
Conclusion
We may not always conduct smaller consulting engagements with the same formality as we would $2 million dollar projects for Fortune 500 companies, but the need to identify and manage risks is still there.It’s worth the time and effort because mitigating even one risk could mean the difference between success and failure and might land you future business with the client.
Online Communications: Are you there?
Ever started typing away in a chat window assuming someone is online and realized you’re typing into the void? Skype is a poster child for this syndrome. you’re working away and a pop up window tells you Fred has just logged into Skype, and you were just about to try and get in touch with him.
‘Hey - r u there? ‘ you type, and wait …nothing. Turns out Fred isn’t online at all despite Skype’s claims otherwise- or maybe he is but Skype is minimized on his desktop or he wandered away from his computer or phone. Plenty of small businesses - and business units of larger organizations - rely on these types of tools as their principle way of connecting and collaborating.
Culturally we tend to coalesce by habit around the watering holes where we expect to find people and information, but these ad hoc meeting places can rely on chance - and when you need someone urgently can be frustrating.
In mediaeval Britain the market cross in towns was the principle messaging center - if you wanted to find out what was going on that would be where you headed. Things have got a lot more complicated since then.
The current generation of options for information gathering and collaboration are increasingly fragmented: modern digital devices, whether desktop, laptop or mobile, are capable of hosting a formidable array of applications - and of course many of these are now hosted online and through cellular service.
Twitter is a good example of a modern communication medium where you need to keep an eye on your filters dashboard if you are to see your connections attempting to engage with you or vise versa…no guarantee they’ll see your comments or questions.
Serendipity is when someone finds something that they weren’t expecting to find, which can be highly illuminating experience online but not much use if you urgently need to get the last quarter’s numbers off a colleague. The are of course occasions when you bump into just the right person when going to the water cooler or rest room but that’s not a particularly dependable strategy for dependable communication.
To be fair the deep rooted conventions around telephone calls and left messages don’t necessarily guarantee a response, and nor does sending an email, but at least there are opportunities to communicate your absence (’I’m in a cabin in Canada and offline until the end of the month‘).
Presence information is baked into unified communications product suites but relies on users updating their status and doesn’t cross pollinate to other services. A single sign on of presence would be useful across enterprise apps but would be very difficult to create.
Paradoxically ‘real time’ communication tools can be very useful for information curation and intelligence gathering purposes, as the English police are now demonstrating by ‘sifting through an “overwhelming” amount of “chitter chatter” on social networks during last week’s riots in London‘ - and no doubt showing up on the doorsteps of late night violent shoppers in the coming weeks. This characteristic of the modern web - the ability to search and find information after the fact - is a valuable tool for researchers and analysts ….but less useful if it’s five to twelve and you’re looking for someone or something current before your high stress meeting in five minutes.
The solution is orchestration of collaboration consistencies across the broader organization and its outliers, which can be challenging when different parts of the enterprise have different ways of working together but is doable if everyone sees there is something in it for them - such as actually being able to contact people and find things.
Especially for larger organizations the challenges of not embarking on this type of consistency drive can mean ever greater fragmentation and the sort of ‘who’s on first?‘ misunderstandings made famous by 40’s vaudeville comedians Abbott and Costello seen above - assuming people can actually find each other online to participate…
‘Hey - r u there? ‘ you type, and wait …nothing. Turns out Fred isn’t online at all despite Skype’s claims otherwise- or maybe he is but Skype is minimized on his desktop or he wandered away from his computer or phone. Plenty of small businesses - and business units of larger organizations - rely on these types of tools as their principle way of connecting and collaborating.
Culturally we tend to coalesce by habit around the watering holes where we expect to find people and information, but these ad hoc meeting places can rely on chance - and when you need someone urgently can be frustrating.
In mediaeval Britain the market cross in towns was the principle messaging center - if you wanted to find out what was going on that would be where you headed. Things have got a lot more complicated since then.
The current generation of options for information gathering and collaboration are increasingly fragmented: modern digital devices, whether desktop, laptop or mobile, are capable of hosting a formidable array of applications - and of course many of these are now hosted online and through cellular service.
Twitter is a good example of a modern communication medium where you need to keep an eye on your filters dashboard if you are to see your connections attempting to engage with you or vise versa…no guarantee they’ll see your comments or questions.
Serendipity is when someone finds something that they weren’t expecting to find, which can be highly illuminating experience online but not much use if you urgently need to get the last quarter’s numbers off a colleague. The are of course occasions when you bump into just the right person when going to the water cooler or rest room but that’s not a particularly dependable strategy for dependable communication.
To be fair the deep rooted conventions around telephone calls and left messages don’t necessarily guarantee a response, and nor does sending an email, but at least there are opportunities to communicate your absence (’I’m in a cabin in Canada and offline until the end of the month‘).
Presence information is baked into unified communications product suites but relies on users updating their status and doesn’t cross pollinate to other services. A single sign on of presence would be useful across enterprise apps but would be very difficult to create.
Paradoxically ‘real time’ communication tools can be very useful for information curation and intelligence gathering purposes, as the English police are now demonstrating by ‘sifting through an “overwhelming” amount of “chitter chatter” on social networks during last week’s riots in London‘ - and no doubt showing up on the doorsteps of late night violent shoppers in the coming weeks. This characteristic of the modern web - the ability to search and find information after the fact - is a valuable tool for researchers and analysts ….but less useful if it’s five to twelve and you’re looking for someone or something current before your high stress meeting in five minutes.
The solution is orchestration of collaboration consistencies across the broader organization and its outliers, which can be challenging when different parts of the enterprise have different ways of working together but is doable if everyone sees there is something in it for them - such as actually being able to contact people and find things.
Especially for larger organizations the challenges of not embarking on this type of consistency drive can mean ever greater fragmentation and the sort of ‘who’s on first?‘ misunderstandings made famous by 40’s vaudeville comedians Abbott and Costello seen above - assuming people can actually find each other online to participate…
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
The Complex Process of Innovation
The innovation process, in the business context, is a structured action that is remarkably easy to implement.
It begins with a problem and ends with profit. As such, it is the ideal business process.
So it is remarkable that so few businesses have actually implemented this structured innovation process. Fortunately, all you have to do is read this and implement it in your firm!
Read the full article here: Innovation Excellence
Ten Myths About Social Networking For Business - Forbes
Here is a short guide to social networking misconceptions. Each is accompanied by a tangible action plan that you can take right now.
Myth 1: Everybody is on social media.
Why it’s perpetuated: Experts will show you pretty statistics on how more than 80% of people heard of a product through social media. This is a scare tactic to get you to hire them. The truth is social media is not on every one’s radar–not yet, anyway.
Action plan: Even if your target demographic is not on social media, you can harness the power of the Web by making it easier for search engines like Google to find your website (known by geeks in the trade as “search engine optimization”). Remember that this approach takes some time to gain momentum.
First step: Pepper your website with well-trafficked key words. How to pick them? Go to the Google Keyword Tool and enter about 20 or more generic terms that relate or describe your product or service; look for relevant terms that get several thousand monthly queries but it’s not enough to find popular key words.
You have to find ones where your site can compete–that means finding words that, if typed into Google, will spit out a page of results where your site ranks nice and high.
The key to ranking high on a search results page is to have as many high-quality sites as possible pointing links to your site (this goes for articles, information graphics and other forms of content, too).
A high quality website is chocked with content and follows Google’s Quality Guidelines. How many high-quality links do you have to attract? There’s an easy way to get a feel for that number.
For each key word, copy web addresses of the top sites that pop up in Google when you search on those key words. Then paste each of those web addresses into www.MajesticSEO.com and click “Explore.” Instantly you will see how many other sites are pointing to each particular web site.
If the first 10 addresses you chose are each attracting tens of thousands of links, it’s probably not worth your time to try to compete on that particular key word to get quick exposure on search engines.
However, if the third or fourth site down from the top of the search results page is only attracting a few hundred links, you just might be able to hoist yourself onto that top search page in a few months or less with some concerted effort.
How to increase the number of links to your site quickly? Start by courting relevant bloggers. Find the most active scribes by searching relevant keywords on Google Blogsearch.
Send each blogger a short, not-too-sanctimonious email saying you’re a fan of their work, and that you might have some content you think their readers would really enjoy; include a link to your site in the message.
Interested bloggers will refer to your link in their articles, making it more popular in the eyes of the search engines.
Myth 1: Everybody is on social media.
Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr
Action plan: Even if your target demographic is not on social media, you can harness the power of the Web by making it easier for search engines like Google to find your website (known by geeks in the trade as “search engine optimization”). Remember that this approach takes some time to gain momentum.
First step: Pepper your website with well-trafficked key words. How to pick them? Go to the Google Keyword Tool and enter about 20 or more generic terms that relate or describe your product or service; look for relevant terms that get several thousand monthly queries but it’s not enough to find popular key words.
You have to find ones where your site can compete–that means finding words that, if typed into Google, will spit out a page of results where your site ranks nice and high.
The key to ranking high on a search results page is to have as many high-quality sites as possible pointing links to your site (this goes for articles, information graphics and other forms of content, too).
A high quality website is chocked with content and follows Google’s Quality Guidelines. How many high-quality links do you have to attract? There’s an easy way to get a feel for that number.
For each key word, copy web addresses of the top sites that pop up in Google when you search on those key words. Then paste each of those web addresses into www.MajesticSEO.com and click “Explore.” Instantly you will see how many other sites are pointing to each particular web site.
If the first 10 addresses you chose are each attracting tens of thousands of links, it’s probably not worth your time to try to compete on that particular key word to get quick exposure on search engines.
However, if the third or fourth site down from the top of the search results page is only attracting a few hundred links, you just might be able to hoist yourself onto that top search page in a few months or less with some concerted effort.
How to increase the number of links to your site quickly? Start by courting relevant bloggers. Find the most active scribes by searching relevant keywords on Google Blogsearch.
Send each blogger a short, not-too-sanctimonious email saying you’re a fan of their work, and that you might have some content you think their readers would really enjoy; include a link to your site in the message.
Interested bloggers will refer to your link in their articles, making it more popular in the eyes of the search engines.
10 Steps To Writing Irresistible Content Irresistible
10 tips for making your content irresistible:
How do you make your content irresistible?
1. Write with conviction
Don’t be boring. Don’t just spit out the facts. Write from a place of passion and honesty. Write from your soul, not just your head. Create a “wow experience for your readers…every time.2. Write simply
Since most people scan online content, make sure you writing is simple – easy on the eyes and easy to understand. Invest enough time formatting your post.3. Make it applicable
What do you want your readers to do? Don’t assume they will apply what you write. Give them specific instructions on how to do what you’ve written.4. Use humor
It’s easy to drone endlessly about facts. Resist this urge. Also, don’t try and be funny if you’re not. Honestly, humor often comes from being honest. Look at your topic and describe how it makes you feel, how it makes your readers feel, and be descriptive. You may just unlock some humor you never thought you had.5. Create unique headlines
If your headline sucks, say goodbye to anybody reading your content, except maybe your mother. She’ll probably read anything. Online readers are moving fast and if a headline doesn’t jump off the page, capture their imagination, connect with their passion, they won’t read.6. Do your research
Thoughtful, well-learned people make the best bloggers. Are you constantly learning, constantly developing? It will show in your blogging. Know your niche, know what your readers want, develop an insatiable curiosity for deeper learning. It will show in your writing and people will love it.7. Solve a problem
Content that spreads is content that helps. Find a problem that your readers have and solve it. This may take time, but it’s worth the investment.8. Be generous with other’s content
Nobody likes a talking head that ignores everyone else. If you want your content to spread, live it by sharing other’s content. Networking and connecting with other bloggers is so important to your blog’s success.9. Be kind
If people like you, they’ll be more inclined to share your content. Respond to comments when you can, participate in Twitter conversation, respond to facebook comments. Always be kind. This will increase your likeability.10. Connect with influencers
The more you connect with influencers, the greater chance your blog has to getting noticed. Comment on their blogs with insightful thoughts. Link to their posts (they will notice). Share their content with passion. Reach out to them and thank them for their expertise.How do you make your content irresistible?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
