A FEW THOUGHTS

Archive for the ‘Good Idea!’ Category

I am really happy that I today finally got around to registering as a Kiva lender. Kiva.org is an organization that organizes micro-loans to people with entrepreneurship around the world in need for some business capital to start or continue their business. The business plan and credit is checked by local representatives, and as part of Kiva you make a contribution together with other “lenders” (everything from $25 and up) to the people/business idea of your choice. The payment is through PayPal and you will get the money back as described in the payment plan for that loan. There are certain countries that through local regulations, currency issues or local conditions cause more risk than other places, but all together I am very impressed with the statistics Kiva can show to. For now I have started with a small amount spread on four different projects. If that goes as planned I am prepared to increase the contribution.

How do you raise performance in your team? How do you raise performance in a project ? How do you increase team spirit? How do you preach the true core values to your co-workers? All different aspects of the same thing, and covered in Guy Kawasakis post  How to Change a Job Title Into a Mission commenting Steve Gary Blanks book The Four Steps to the Epiphany.  The statement is that, for your company or department, to focus on its mission rather than the employees titles you may be able to raise  performance. And I think this is very true!

Having the department and its workers to identify the mission they are on, its intent and the value of the mission you will raise the awareness and the drive for your employees. Installing core values and a sense of crusade you will raise the willingness to contribute. This is something you as a leader and manager should not underestimate, and if you don’t abuse it you can achieve a lot. Here’s what he recommends:

1. Develop a mission for each department. This should summarize “why people come to work, what they need to do, and how they will know they succeeded.” The SuperMac marketing department’s mission became “Help Sales deliver $25 million in sales with a 45% gross margin.”
2. Teach the mission intent. A specific mission such as this is bound to change according to market conditions and product development schedules. Thus, employees must understand that the mission intent—achieve corporate revenue and profit goals—is the “big picture” and even more important.
3. Instill core values. The final step that Steve took was to instill core values of “accountability, execution, honestly, and integrity.” In other words, there would be no surprises and excuses. He only wanted facts and requests for help.

Technical Project Meetings, like any meetings I suppose, have a tendency of sometimes getting out of hand both in sense of time and agenda. This can be reduced by some simple tips on how you prepare and how you carry out the meeting. There are also som pitfalls you should be aware of. Let’s start with a few rules on planning and carrying out the meeting:

1. Set Crispy Clear Objectives
   Ever experienced the meeting that took half the day and where you achieved nothing? Yes? Chances are that one of the issues were lack of clear objectives for the meeting. Before calling any meeting, make sure that you have clear objectives that follows the idea of S.M.A.R.T. (S = Specific, M = Measurable, A = Attainable, R = Realistic, T = Timely).
2. Set an Agenda
   Meetings without a clear agenda will take longer than they need to and don’t get the results you need to. Write and distribute the agenda in advance, at least 1 or 2 days before the meeting, not 30 minutes before the scheduled time. Give timings for each item and allow for small delays, otherwise you will get halfway down your agenda by the time you have to leave.
3.  Keep meeting papers short or avoid them
   Receiving a ton of papers is the biggest turn-off for someone attending a project meeting. Consider whether you really need to distribute papers for your meeting, and try to keep papers to a maximum of one page. For status reports, consider giving people a template that include a simple traffic light system to indicate where things are good(green), there are issues (yellow) there are major issues (red).
4. Get the right people in the meeting
   While there usually is a core team you need in the meeting, there might be decisions that require someone more senior occasionally. If you know this, make sure that you get the person who can make the decision along otherwise you will have a frustrated team on your hands. If difficult, try to schedule that persons part of the agenda to the end of the meeting and limit the time.
5. Make sure the environment is comfortable
   Effective meetings only take place if the people attending are comfortable, so get the room with A/C and provide cold water and hot coffee if needed.
6. Start and Finish on time
   I know you hate it when people turn up 15 minutes late when there is 15 minutes left. Make sure it is clear to everyone that you will be starting and finishing on time. Encourage them to leave 30 minutes either side of the meeting free to ensure they can get there on time and that if something major arises it can be dealt with. If that doesn’t work you will have to schedule it in for them.

Now, with those six rules you should be quite well prepared for your meeting and it should be ok. However, as you know, there are always some people who can sink a meeting totally just by being themselves. So there are a couple of stereotypes you should know how to deal with. I am quite sure you recognise them:

• The Dominator
  Some people tend to dominate discussion simply because they are excited. These can actually be useful to the team if we find appropriate approaches manage their positive energy. Unfortunately, most of us are also familiar with the other type – the aggressive bully that disrespect others comments and hijack the meeting completely. Sometimes these dominators are overly negative, and other times they just won’t let anyone else get a word in. In either case, you need to deal with it:
  • Thank them for their feedback and ask for other opinions (“Paul, that’s an interesting idea. Let’s see if others have ideas as well.”)
  • Repeat the dominator’s comment and write it visibly for all to see, then ask for other ideas to complete the list, before you discuss them all. You can say; ”that is a good idea, let us get three more ideas on the table before we discuss them all”. 
  • Suggest you use a round robin technique of going around the table and ask each person to share a comment and start off with the other participants, or ask everybody to use a minute to write down their ideas and then have everybody read it out loud while you write it all down. Then discuss.
  • Make sure you also ask the more quiet people to share their ideas
  • If necessary, take a break and have a word with the dominator where you explain that he/she brought up several key points and you appreciate that because it helps the others on the way, and now you are hoping to get some of the other team members involved in the discussion. Ask them to help you get the team involved.

•  The Multi Tasker
  We are seeing more and more multi taskers in our meetings. You know the ones whose attention constantly darts between the meeting and for example PDA, laptop, reading etc. And usually with the explanation that he can not be away from his work. Otherwise the world falls apart.
  • Using a “drop box” in the meeting room and agreeing to place all phones, etc there prior to meeting start.
  • Limiting meeting time to one hour to ensure participants aren’t away for too long.
  • If you arrange a full day workshop, agree on 5-10 minute technology breaks every hour
  • Use techniques to keep participants engaged (round robin, team work, voting)

• The Rambler
  The rambler derail the meetings with their extensive rambling commentary. Often the rambling goes into areas with little or nothing to do with the agenda, and not only extend the meeting,but also completely alters the agenda – and thereby minimising effectiveness. A couple of pointers:
  • Have a printed agenda on a whiteboard. When conversation goes into wilderness, point to the specific agenda topic to refocus the group.
  • Include timings for each part of the agenda, and ask someone on the team to give a 5-minute warning before the end time for each section.
  • Simply interrupt. Remember, it’s your meeting. Raise your hand and interrupt discussion to ask if the conversation is on topic and helping the group reach their goal for the meeting. You can also introduce a list of these unresolved issues that come up which you address at the end of the meeting and assign action items for each.

At the end of the day, running effective meetings is about planning and executing. And in regard to the team members; too often project managers simply ignore their “personality issues” and instead stick their head in the sand hoping the behaviour will improve on its own. It won’t! The good news is that there are a variety of facilitation techniques you can use, and they enable us to be assertive while preserving those critical relationships. Remember these key points when using the techniques:

• Don’t forget the power of questions. Questioning is a powerful way to deliver a difficult message.
• Try less assertive techniques before progressing to more assertive ones. Many will respond to very mild interventions.
• Act early! You want to send a very clear signal to the team that you will address counter-productive behaviour quickly.
• Act on behalf of the team. The more you remember it’s not a situation of “you” verses “them”, the easier the exchange will be.

I’ll finish this brief lesson off with a quote form the book of Tim Ferriss; “The 4-Hour Workweek”;

It is your job to train those around you to be effective and efficent. No one else will do it for you.

Here is some interesting info for all geeks, and also non-geeks really. Kevin Rose just published an interview with Dr. Andrew Weil, author as well as founder/director of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at University of Arizona. The interview includes a lot of good questions and interesting answers on everyday health topics such soda drinking, use of multi-vitamins, coffee, tea, anti-oxidants, Omega3, krill, detoxing vs. more natural ways, soy food, exercise and diets. The interview was really good and informative. Absolutely recommended watching! I also recommend having a look at his website which holds tons of info. Thanks Kevin for your good work!

Kevin Rose gives a demo of the beta version of Square – a new device for iPhone that will allow you to accept card payments with your iPhone.
This looks really cool, and I look forward to seeing the product when it hits the market.

Brian at CAIN MOSNI thought of a cool concept and coordinated a virtual “jam session” with musicians from all over the world!
It’s AMAZING what you can do nowadays!
Dumbfoundead

A month ago I wrote about the idea of creating a Life List to help achieve ones goals. This has been on my mind for some time, and writing about it made me think some more. I don’t know whether this will help me achieve more than I would if I didn’t write a list, but it is certainly an interesting experiment for the mind to write it. I don’t know if I am supposed to add things later on if I think of anything else. I think I will. I will certainly cross them of when accomplished. This is certainly an entertaining exercise and I think I have written a list that is quite true to what I want. I think I can recommend others to try this as well, if not for anything else but for the mindprocess of it. Here we go, it is now out in the open!

Reading through one of my favorite travel websites I came by The Gutsy Girl’s Guide To Drinking Alone, and the first impression is that this is a post on how girls are to have a drink alone without getting bored or necessarily getting picked up by guys. But reading closer I realize these are great tips for any traveler, single or not, traveling alone or not, just to get in touch with local people and get that “extra flavour” to your journey. Because that is one of the main things it’s all about, isn’t it? I find that the more I travel the more I want to find and get in touch with the local residents, get their tips and experiences, learn about their way of life and see if that doesn’t expand yours just a bit too ;) Happy traveling everybody !

I just read an interesting article from Gill Corkindale, an executive coach and writer from London, decribing the different types of leadership in terms of working inwards to your team or outwards to the organisation (very simplified). It is interesting reading which could give you a couple of “breakthrough facts” about yourself. This can really be key areas on your self-development as a leader and how to maybe get the edge on your own career. One of her hints refers back to another letter of her which argues the importance and benefits of actually setting up time in your calendar for yourself and your own reflection. How are you to improve – as a person, as a leader, your ways and methods- if you dont actually prioritize it yourself? Recommended reading.

Inc Magazine have announced 11 businesses you can start in your pajamas