But, before you get started, I have to tell you that there are a few things they did not teach you in project management school.  A few items that every Project Manager learns over time through experience that changes the way they approach their job.  Below are a few of the “dirty little secrets” of project management.  Read them at you own peril:

• You will spend a significant amount of time and energy playing politics. Whether you like it or not, corporate politics and projects are closely related.  Most projects come at the expense of other initiatives, and there is always someone that is not in agreement with the selection process. Also, most projects have large numbers of stakeholders, line managers, internal & external customers, and other parties that have a stake in the outcome. There’s a good chance that at least one of them has interests that are not aligned with yours. You need to keep your eyes and ears open, and your fingers on the pulse of the organization to insure success.

• Not all of your team members want to be part of your project. Many have other jobs, responsibilities, and pressures. Often, they are awarded to you by a line manager or stakeholder who is required to provide a resource, but not necessarily the best one. I have even had team members who secretly were against the project to which they were assigned. Don’t assume that all team members are excited and motivated by the opportunity to work on your project.

• The Business Case your project was built on is crap. You get assigned to lead an important project, with lots of accolades and a splashy launch with the CEO.  The next day, you and the team dig into the details of the business case and you find it’s based on fantasy.  The revenue projections are grossly overstated, the costs are not realistic, and the market potential is far smaller than the figures used.  Wow! It’s a little hard to go back now and tell the CEO you decline the position. Turns out those Ivy League business analysts who wrote the business case were influenced more by passion than facts.

• There are Stakeholders who don’t support your project. Many stakeholders had no say in which project goes forward, and if they did, yours would not be their first choice. Some disagree with the strategy, many worry about the changes that might result, and others have legitimate concerns about things like resource allocation and balancing fiscal year goals with longer-term priorities.  In any case, they may be your stakeholders, but they are not always in your corner.

• Your project Sponsor cannot always be trusted. What?  The person you turn to in times of trouble is not always reliable?  Yes, sponsors often have many responsibilities and your project might not be the most important. Plus, sometimes they become a sponsor because of position and rank – not due to interest or competence.  There are times when a project goes bad and your sponsor will simply vanish.  Sometimes you have to walk down the road alone.

• Your Project Management Office (PMO) is not always your friend. PMO’s are a great help to most Project Managers. They can provide infrastructure, support, and guidance that will help you be successful. However, they are not all created equal.  Some PMO’s thrive on power, bureaucracy and control. Others are understaffed and focus solely on just a few high-visibility projects. Finally, there are some with a level of maturity and development well beneath your needs.    

• People will sometimes hate you. It is just a fact that people who run projects and bring change often face resentment, resistance, and even loathing.  Often you are messing with people’s worlds, challenging their norms, and forcing them to change something with which they are very comfortable. Many times you are an outsider that does not “come from” or “know the business”. Yet, you will lead projects that sometime change everything.  Some people will hate you for this; it is often hard to avoid.

The good news is that if you are armed with the right tools and skills and aware of the pitfalls that many project managers face, you have most of what is needed to succeed.

The keys to being successful are the following:  be open and transparent, listen, be humble and respectful, use all the tools in your tool-kit, never let obstacles derail you, trust your gut, and be willing to ask for help when needed.

Good luck to you. I know you are ready for this challenge and many more!

Not all sponsors are created equal. Some are smart, strong and like their roles; others not so much. Most sponsors want the best for you and your project team and will help you in many ways. Sometimes they offer words of encouragement; other times you get a kick-in-the-ass. Mostly, good sponsors sit in the background and let you do your job – offering support or a guiding hand at critical moments.

I once had a great but quirky sponsor who used to say things like, “I have to yell at you. I have a reputation to uphold.” I took his rants and raves, because he always supported me and my teams without fail. He was not a perfect sponsor, but always entertaining.  Once, in a meeting he called me an, “f’n dictator.” I loved that guy!

But what about having a sponsor outside of the office?  Do you have that person at home who helps you in times of need? Someone who tells it like it is, even when you rather not listen?

I am a lucky guy, I met my strongest sponsor in late 1989, and we were married in 1994.  Her name is Julie, and I am truly fortunate that she is part of my life!

You see, like some of you, I can be a little difficult at times.  Maybe I am strong-willed, somewhat stubborn, opinionated, a tiny bit bossy, head-strong, and every so often I am a little cranky.  While I view these as positive traits, I can understand how others might see things differently.

Anyway, my beautiful wife puts up with me.  She forgives my faults, accentuates my strengths, stays cool in trying times, and even laughs at my jokes. She is the perfect partner to have in life. As F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “I love her and that’s the beginning and end of everything.”

So as we approach Valentine’s Day 2012, I want thank all the sponsors out there that empowered and helped me to be my very best. And to Julie, my strongest sponsor, the woman I love – thank you for always being there, and for helping me strive to be better. I will love you always!

Have a happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

“Cause I got something on my mind that sets me straight and walking proud. And I want all the time, all that heaven will allow.” ~ B. Springsteen

Leadership skills typically fall into two buckets: hard and soft. Hard skills are specific abilities that can be defined and measured. Examples of hard skills include: using an Excel spreadsheet, creating a Profit and Loss statement, researching a competitive product. These skills tend to be tangible, repeatable, measurable, and for most people, transferable through education and training.

Soft skills are something different. They are less concrete and more esoteric. Soft skills include: communication, listening, negotiation, conflict resolution, team building, influencing and problem solving. Soft skills are personal attributes that enhance your ability to interact effectively with others. These skills are behavioral competencies and they are hard to quantify. They are also known as interpersonal skills, or people skills.

The development and study of soft skills is fairly recent. Prior to 1980’s, management was predominantly top down, rules based, and autocratic. This changed as companies realized that distributed power led to more creative thinking, increased productivity, and more content employees. In the 1980s, team-based, values-driven organizations appeared. Companies were no longer driven by rules, but by systems and teams. Suddenly, there was a need for leaders who could master soft skills.

Today, many feel soft skills are more important to business leaders than hard skills. Noted psychologist Daniel Coleman states that, “An individual’s ability to manage their relationships with others is twice as important as their intelligence quotient.” Clearly if we look at today’s workplace environment and see the changes due to technology, customer-driven markets, information-based economies and globalization, there is an increased reliance on, and demand for, soft skills. For these reasons, soft skills are increasingly sought out by employers in addition to standard qualifications.

If soft skills are so important why can’t we just find a way to standardize them so they can be mastered by all? Why do we still see people in the workplace who struggle with interpersonal or people related matters? Why are soft skills so damn hard?

First, as noted above, soft skills are not tangible. They are difficult to quantify and measure. Without a baseline to measure, it’s hard to determine what works and why. This makes it a struggle to build learning and training exercises that traditionally look at measurable best practices.

Second, most of us were educated in systems that only taught hard skills – math, science, history, language. Traditional education did not focus on teaching soft skills. So most soft skills are learned on the job by trial and error. Essentially, we’ve had to learn them the hard way.

Finally, everyone is unique. We have different histories, personalities, mores, ethnic backgrounds, motivation, and values. Because of this diversity there are no one-size-fits-all solutions or models to be utilized when conflict and interpersonal issues arise. Each situation is different; the key is flexibility to judge each situation on its own merits, and offer a creative solution.

So, soft skills are hard to master. But, below are a few suggestions that can help you move forward.

• Know your personality strengths and weaknesses. There is some science that theorizes that how humans interact with others is driven by their personality type. There are many tools to measure personality such as the Myers Briggs Personality Indicator. A good on-line place to start is HumanMetrics, which offers a free Jung Typology Test. Understanding your personality type can help narrow the focus to areas you can leverage or improve.

• Watch and listen to others. Find others in your organization who you think have good soft skills. Watch and listen to see how they interact with others. Find out what they are they doing that is successful. Do not be afraid to copy what you feel is working.

• Ask for feedback from your team. Those around you often have excellent insight into your interpersonal skills. Do not be afraid to ask for input on your actions. This will often win respect from others as it shows you value their opinions and want to improve.

• Find a coach. Getting honest, productive feedback can be hard. Often it is best to find someone outside your normal channels who can help you identify the areas where you need to focus. Look around at the networking organizations that you belong to – there are usually qualified people willing to coach for little to no cost. PMI offers a free coaching service to its members. Send me an e-mail and I will be happy to provide you with coaching options.

• Don’t think that soft skills are for weaklings. As high-powered, strong leaders, we often think of soft skills as wimpy. You need to get over this – soft skills are a requirement in today’s organizational environment. They will define your levels of professional success in the future. Spend time understanding and improving your soft skills, or risk becoming a dinosaur.

Employers today highly regard soft skills, because they understand that to get things done, to achieve the company goals, they have to have the right employees in their organization. People with good personal attributes and excellent interpersonal skills are necessary and invaluable to business. Soft skills play a vital role for professional success; they help you to excel in the workplace and their importance cannot be denied in this age of information and knowledge.

Go ahead and open up your leadership toolbox. Do you have the interpersonal skills needed to be a leader in today’s business environment? If not, now is the time for action – now is the time for change!

Your core project team consists of leads from: R&D centers inTaiwan, Sri Lanka and the USA; manufacturing sites in Singapore, Mexico and Indonesia; software programming in India; and, your regional marketing offices that will coordinate user testing via customers in the USA, Germany, Japan and Brazil. Oh yeah – you and the other corporate support personnel (finance, branding, supply chain) are co-located in California, USA. Let’s see, that means you will have team members in 9 time zones, 11 countries, speaking dozens of languages. You get the idea – this is going to be one complex project!

So how do you get started with your core team? You know that the initial moments of a project are critical. The author Frank Herbert wrote the “beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct.” You need to get the team off to a productive and positive start. But with such a diverse group, you worry about how they will mesh as a unit, and how long it will take to form a team identity. How can you insure that your global team hits the ground running?

It all starts with a well planned, project kick-off meeting. Below are nine suggestions that will help your team have a productive start.

• For a large, global project, the kick-off meeting should be done in person. With such a diverse team it is mandatory that you quickly take control, start the integration process, and build on the initial project momentum. A face-to-face meeting enables you to manage interactions, observe behaviors, and lay the foundation for solid team dynamics.

• Hold the kick-off meeting in a neutral location. Many people like to start a large project with a meeting in the corporate head-office, to have a big show for Senior Executives. To me, this is a waste of time.  Focus on the purpose of the meeting and not the photo opps. You only get one chance to hold a kick-off meeting, make it free of distractions.

• Plan your meeting in a timeframe that does not conflict with any major global holidays. Often we say it is not a holiday in the US, only to find out it is a holiday (like Chinese New Year) somewhere else.

• Have team members arrive at least a day before the meeting starts. This will give them time to recover from their travels and adjust a bit to the local time. You want the team fresh, focused, and motivated during your meetings.

• Plan several “ice-breaker” and team building activities early in the proceedings. Some cultures tend to integrate quickly, but this is not the case with everyone. In most cases, relationships are built on trust – which is something that must be nurtured and developed over time. Use team building activities to start the process of building trust-based relationships.

• Schedule a cultural understanding workshop. There are plenty of programs that are fun, educational, and can build relationships. I bet your in-house training person could run a session for minimal cost.

• During the kick-off meeting, plan several non-meeting activities. If possible, plan an afternoon of sight-seeing with the team. Go to a museum; see a play or even a concert. I like to organize “walking and talking” tours of the city where we are staying.  A city walking tour is educational, relaxing, fun and usually tiring!  Pick an activity that the team will remember and can go home and “brag” about to their families, friends and co-workers. Outside activities help break the monotony of meetings and allow team members to interact and bond over something besides work.    

• Have a variety of foods to eat and watch the eating habits of your team. You may find that there is a team member who does not eat the local food. Often, they prefer to go hungry rather than tell you that there is a problem. If you see someone not eating, speak to them in private and arrange food that they enjoy – you will win respect for your observations.

• At the end of the meeting, give gifts or mementos of the event (shirts, sweaters, hats). In many cultures, gifts are an important component of a relationship. Make sure that you understand the gift expectations and protocol.

The ideas above will not create an instant bond between your team members, but they will help to get things moving. With a solid foundation of knowledge and common understanding of each other, your team can together move forward into the next phase of your project.

Do you have any other kick-off meeting recommendations?  I would be pleased to hear and learn from you.

I worked with an executive team that gathered together each month to review performance, strategy, milestones and sometimes ridiculous things like the allocation of reserved parking spaces.  A meeting agenda was always meticulously prepared and distributed. Each agenda item was led by a champion, followed by questions and answers, and finally opinions from the team.  At some point the leader of the group, the Executive VP, would interject and start by saying, “I need to be brutally honest here.” I would always snicker when I heard this because this particular executive was never lacking in honesty or intensity when it came to matters of business.  For him to pre-warn the team, meant that the next words out of his mouth might be a little blunt – and usually were.  Most times the comments were spot-on, nerves would be struck, and a re-energized debate would ensue. In the end, the issue on the table would be probed, dissected, challenged, and alternatives and next steps were finalized.  Whew….item two please!

The tactic being used here is fairly simple – to solve a problem you have to dig, explore, and dissect it until all the facts are known.  You need to see the entire picture, warts and all.  To do this as a team each member must feel free to ask questions, debate assumptions, and challenge facts. The team sometimes has to go to an uncomfortable place – where feelings and even careers can be hurt. It can be brutal!

Why does this have to be so difficult?  Why can’t you just bring problems to your team, give a good situational analysis, state the options, and then ask for help and ideas?  Getting support from others is the foundation of high performing teams – right?

Well, not all teams are created equal.  In the case of this and many other teams, the pressure to perform was high, competition amongst the team members was extreme, trust levels were low, and the change management approach being used left many uncertain of their status in the pack.  In this environment, it was hard to admit to your peers and superiors when there was a problem, or that you were not in total control. Instead, you might dress up the issue with charts, graphs, overly optimistic forecasts – and hope that nobody asked the tough questions.

As a leader I see the importance in having teams that are open and feel free to say exactly how they see things. So how do we get teams members to be brutally honest with each other in a positive way?

It Starts with Trust.  Leaders use team building and coaching techniques that allow team members to become comfortable and supportive of each other.  This takes time – trust has to earned. It cannot be fast-tracked or rushed.  Once established, team members will open up to their issues and invite debate about options.

It is never personal.  As a leader you cannot let a debate turn personal.  Personal issues and feelings have no place in an open forum. In fact, they take the focus away from the task at hand – running the business. As a leader, if you see this type of behavior, then you have to resolve it immediately or consider removing both team members.

Cultural Differences Must Be Understood. How much one can openly question a colleague or state an opinion can vary by culture. Saving face is important in some cultures, but not in others. As a leader, you must encourage those whose were taught to lay back to speak up and contribute to a debate.  Others you have to muzzle.  In the end, everyone must be part of the process.

Share / Buy-in to a Common Vision.  Teams that understand and believe in a common goal tend to be more focused in their approach and more likely to ask the tough questions. Team members might disagree and debate on the tactics used to reach the goal, but the guiding principle brings a team together under a common banner. 

Management Sets the Tone: You and leadership team must lead by example.  A leadership team that does not reflect the values of honesty, trust and openness will often lead others in their charge to follow the same path. It starts at the top – you and your peers must set the example.

The Executive VP that I talked about earlier was a good leader. He challenged his team and always looked to question the status quo.  He thought that for an organization to succeed it had to be willing to ask the tough questions and face business challenges head-on.  If feelings got hurt, then so be it – you either toughened-up, or you were gone. In the end, the team “normalized,” a few changes were made, and the organization settled into a profitable position at the head of its industry.

How do you feel about asking the tough questions?  Do you know people who are brutally honest and respected for their candor, or not?  How can team be coached to open up so that honest and free discussions can occur?  I would like to hear your views.

Our teacher on this and most days is Loan (pronounced Low-on). She is a Vietnamese immigrant with a young family, a friendly smile, and a work ethic that brings many “workout warriors” to their knees.

Over the next 60 minutes, Loan leads the group through a series of moves (called poses), focusing on increasing flexibility, balance, and strength. We follow her visual and verbal instructions the best our bodies allow. Half way through I am drenched with sweat but continue. She leads us by example, with energy, encouragement, and subtle challenges.

At the end of the practice we enjoy a few moments of relaxation in a pose called Shavasana (dead-man’s pose). This is the time to relax, reset – to clear one’s mind.

Of course my mind finds it hard to stop – so yesterday during Shavasana, I was thinking about how to become a better leader. As my body cooled and my mind wandered, I thought about how Loan guides us through the practice and the key leadership tools that she uses.

Make a Connection: Each class Loan finds a way to connect with every student through a friendly hello, a smile, or a comment about the day. She walks through the room during the practice making adjustments to our posture, correcting a misaligned pose, or gently helping us to stretch further. These are small gestures that make you feel there is a connection, and gives you motivation to want to follow, to achieve, to excel. Business leaders need to do the same – not just walking around observing, but by interacting, finding common ground, and showing an interest in their people. Loan knows all our names, the names of our spouses or partners, and a little something about each one of us. How many business leaders can say the same?

Push Hard But Know When to Pull Back: The mission of yoga is to strengthen our bodies (and minds). This is not always easy – resistance is often evident. So we have to be challenged to explore our boundaries and limits but not so much that we lose our spirit. There is a fine line here that all leaders must walk – how to get the best out of people, push them to explore their maximum capabilities, but not turn them off to the message and methods. This requires being attentive, observant, and able to read body-language and other non-verbal clues. A great leader can see when “enough is enough,” and pull-back as needed.

Use Your Breath to Calm Your Mind: In leadership positions we are often faced with conflict, debate, stress, and fatigue. The true character of people often shows in the “heat of the battle.” We need to learn to step back, breathe, and collect our thoughts before we face the challenge.

Focus on Yourself: At work, we spend a lot of wasteful time worrying about others. We are strivers who work in competitive environments. We constantly compare ourselves to others in how we manage, look, feel – even how much we earn. Wouldn’t it be more effective long-term to use this wasted time to better ourselves? We need to focus on us (our own practice) and not worry about others. We can only control what we do, how we act, and what we feel – this is a great responsibility.

Focus on the Opportunity: Good leaders help you see the possibilities. During each yoga class, Loan always finds the time to demonstrate a pose that few of us can do – but, with enough practice might be possible to one day achieve. Leaders show the dream – and make you feel that if you work hard enough and with conviction, the dream can become a reality.

It is OK to Take a Break Once in a While: We are wired to step forward, to take charge, to overcome our physical limitations. Our foundation is our bodies, and sometimes they need a break. We are not Superman/Superwoman. Sometimes we need to step back, rest and let others lead. After a short rest we return refreshed and refocused, ready to take our earned spot at the front.

Well, it’s time to finish the practice – Loan says at the end of Shavasana that it is time to, “bring your mind back into your body.” I think I learned a lot today; maybe yoga is good for my body, mind, and my career. I am looking forward to my next yoga class to see what else I can learn. Namaste.

It turns out that this blue-chip company was suffering through a difficult period.  In the past year there had been several quality and production problems that had became public knowledge and many internal growth projects were running behind schedule. The Executive Team spent much of their time putting out fires. One manager said to me that, “something was missing in the organization.”  I offered the word, “discipline,” which I could see struck a nerve. When asked how I had reached this conclusion, I said that, “I could see it from your parking lot.”

Discipline in the workplace is a unpopular concept. Just thinking about it brings memories of tyrannical bosses, maniacal HR managers, and hierarchical silo structures that control the workplace through an expansive list of cold, ironclad rules all listed in a black covered manual called Corporate Policies and Guidelines. Discipline is old school – big time.

Today we monitor and control ourselves.  Employees expect freedoms that help promote creativity and spontaneity.  Discipline and the act of disciplining a worker is left for extreme situations when the company has few choices.  We encourage people to change bad behaviors, even coach them on good practices – but disciplining them for negative actions – it rarely happens.

But, what happens when it goes too far?  What if the attention to detail is lost by the workforce?  What happens when the employees no longer have fear that their actions have consequences?  And, if this happens, how do you take back control?

Whether we like it or not, discipline starts with a set of documented rules based on the values of the company. These rules are non-negotiable and result in immediate consequences.  They include:

• Safety and security
• Respect and behavior towards co-workers
• Service to customers (internal and external)
• Standards of quality
• Attention to procedural details

For these rules there are no compromises. The company posts these rules, reviews them with employees, and clearly defines the consequences that they bring.  I like to see leaders re-enforce these rules continuously at town hall meetings, team meetings, sales meetings, and during performance reviews.

What’s important is that the rules are consistently applied and visible to all. The rules must be clear and free of ambiguity. And management must live these rules.  A senior leader that parks improperly in the employee lot, sends a message to everyone else that this behavior is acceptable (which it is not).  The message must be clear – everyone in an organization is required to follow these rules or face the consequences.

The application of these rules can be handled as part of the development or learning process.  Talking about them does not always have to be confrontational.  I have often closed the door and discussed with others the negative impact of their actions (like being uncooperative, or disrespectful), to try to get them to see what effect their actions have on others. If this does not work, then I quickly move through the formal, documented disciplinary process (together with HR), that can ultimately lead to dismissal.

In the end, the workers of an organization have to take ownership of their behaviors and their commitment to excellence.  Leaders of a company have to create the vision and values of the firm, set the expectations and define the non-negotiable rules of behaviors and performance.  They also have to monitor compliance rigorously and deal with non-conformity quickly following a defined process.

The company I met with will be ok.  There are some smart leaders in the organization who realize that to move forward they need to step back and re-define internal standards of excellence, performance and discipline.

I told them that in 60 days I will visit their parking lot again – let’s hope it reflects the positive changes that we discussed!

The end of the year allows us to step back a bit, to reflect and recalibrate our approach. There seems to never be enough time during the year to do this so we try to jam it all in at year’s end, perhaps fueled by leftover cookies, turkey legs and grandma’s jello mold.

For 2012, I challenge each of you to find the full potential in yourselves, and in those who surround you.  To do this, I recommend you work on four traits that are not commonly associated with high-powered leaders.

Humor is a leadership tool that often gets overlooked. Humor can be used to break tensions, draw people into a conversation, liven up a dull topic, and pull teams together. Record label executive Allen Klein wrote, “Humor can alter any situation and help us cope at the very instant we are laughing”. The best leaders I have seen use humor to their advantage – sometimes you just have to laugh a little to move people forward.

Patience is a tough one for many of high-achievers. You did not get where you are by waiting – sometimes you give a push and things happen.  The trick is not to just push for a solution, but to push for the right solution. Ben Franklin wrote, “He that can have patience can have what he will.”  Sometimes to achieve great things you need time. Maybe the secret to patience is to do something else in the meantime.

Intuition flies in the face of today’s leaders who rely mainly of the use of hard data, business cases, user testing and committees to make business decisions. Intuition is the ability to collect and interpret soft data and use it effectively in determining when and how to act. Clearly some hard data is needed to understand complex issues, but the best leaders often rely on “gut feelings” to help guide them and can quickly determine what inputs are needed to make decisions.

Hope is not a common term associated with business leadership.  In the next year we will all suffer through highs and lows; we will experience wins and losses.  There will be times when solutions will not be possible. It is during the low times, that you as a leader must step up and give those around you a reason to believe, to push forward, and to continue the quest. Martin Luther King wrote that “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” As a leader, one of your responsibilities is to bring hope to the people of an organization. Are you ready?

I wish you all the best that life has to offer in 2012!  You have the power to control your own situation – use this power wisely.  There is a lot of good stuff to get done in 2012, so hey, let’s get started.

Let’s face it, Santa Claus knows what he’s doing.  He has a clear vision and mission from which he never wavers.  He collects and monitors the needs of his customers and constantly exceeds their expectations. He created and manages an iconic brand that spans the globe (you have to love the beard and red suit!). He runs a slick operation – low overhead, cheap and loyal labor, good cash flow with high barriers to entry.  He out-sources production when it makes sense (how many Apple iPad II’s will he deliver this Christmas?).  He and his efficient elves work well under-pressure and always meet deadlines.  Somehow he manages his empire without complaining, with a jolly spirit and a smile.  He could stand to lose a few pounds, his work-life balance is a little off, and he has no defined succession plan – but, somehow he pulls it all together when it really matters. 

So Santa is the perfect leader, right?

Well maybe not.  Santa must have missed a day of MBA school, because he is a little weak with risk management. Think about it. On the most important night of his year, Christmas Eve, he entrusted his operation to an unknown reindeer with a red nose, all because Santa failed to analyze and create a backup plan ahead of time for bad weather.  The man lives in the North Pole, and he did not consider that he would run into fog and clouds somewhere in the world on Christmas Eve?  This is simply an unacceptable level of risk taking.

Now I know, Santa did make it work with Rudolph, and maybe Santa is a good judge of talent. I guess that the elves could have jerry-rigged something together at the last minute (maybe a GPS device) – but, still Santa was lucky.  What if an unproven Rudolph was not up to the job?  Then, what would have happened?  From a risk management perspective, this was a major slipup by the big man.

Santa Claus is a fictional character (sorry if this comes as a shock to some of you), but there is a lesson here for all leaders – always take the time to identify, quantify and prioritize risks.  Once you have listed everything that can go wrong, you need to create actions to mitigate or minimize the risks, as well as having a trigger system to tell you when to implement. 

Risk management is serious stuff and there is no quicker way to fatally hurt a brand (yes, even the Santa Claus brand), then to not have options available should your plan veer off course.

I wish you all a happy holiday season and peace, love and prosperity in 2012!

Recently, I attended a series of lectures on the topic of motivation and how individual behaviors impact team dynamics. The lecturer covered all the traditional approaches to motivation theory from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs, to McClelland’s Achievement Theory, through Vroom’s Expectancy Theory. We discussed the shift from the early 20^th century studies of motivation which were Organizational-based (top-down) to the current thinking on Team-based dynamics (bottom-up).

All of these theories are interesting to study, and I have seen examples of each used over the course of my career. But as I sat down to write this piece, I had to ask when it comes to managing teams “what motivates me to motivate others?”

As an extrovert, people motive me – all kinds of people, the more variety the better. I find energy in working with diverse groups that include mixes of race, gender, ethnicity, age, personality, cognitive style, education, and professional experience. I once led a successful project with a team that were located on five different continents. Getting a group that is so diverse in its composition to work together is a challenge, but the output of energy, ideas and solutions that comes from such a group, makes the effort rewarding.

Also, I am motivated by seeing a group of people push beyond their limits to accomplish something that did not seem possible, and to do it as a team. There is no better feeling than working with a group and helping them to see solutions, where before, all they saw were problems. Success usually comes from a team working together towards a common goal that an individual cannot manage. Henry Ford wrote, “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” Motivating people to work together towards a solution is hard, but the rewards are breathtaking.

Finally, it is motivating to help individuals find that “Aha! Moment.” You know, that instance where there is suddenly clarity, and a solution is uncovered that could not be seen before. People often have to be led to this moment, some easily, some go kicking and screaming, some never find it – but, if and when they do, the jolt of energy and motivation you feel from helping them reach this point is intoxicating. I once helped a battle-hardened operations manager see that she had to change her way of thinking about cross-functional relationships. The moment when she finally understood and could see the value was a time that I will never forget.

So as you can tell I draw energy and motivation from people. In fact interacting with others is what gets me out of bed (along with coffee!). What about you? What gives you energy? What is going to get you out of bed tomorrow morning?

Note – I originally wrote this post one year ago. I was never really happy with the flow or the message of the original post, so I waited a while (a long while), and finally found the time and energy to revisit and revise the original. I hope that you like this post – please feel free to leave me your comments below.