Preparing Influencing Goals
These notes are intended to help you prepare your thinking about influencing goals ahead of your workshop.
To be even more successful, what would you need to influence? What would need to change? There may be many things, and some you may not feel in control of. However, please stretch your thinking and consider things which you could work towards over a period of several months which, when successful, would substantially improve your results and contribution to the organisation's strategic objectives.
You may wish to liaise with others around your role as well however, don't spend too much time. Often, allowing this to gestate between now and your workshop will suffice.
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Diane Dromgold’s Vision for Inspirational Project Managers
Diane Dromgold, Managing Director of RNC Global Projects has been a friend and colleague for nearly 10 years. Her experience at the sharp end of Project Management is extensive. At one time, she employed over 100 project managers working with major global names and even the Australian government.
Diane is recognised as one of the top 100 influencers in Project Management globally. She also key notes presentations at the annual conference of the Association of Global Management Studies who have over 100,000 members.
She also has some strong opinions, as you will see in this interview where we talk about the changing role of project managers and her vision for inspirational project managers.
Read More“It’s a bit political” Walking into Danger
When a new assignment, project or job carries the caveat – it’s a bit political – be very careful.
Costas came on our third call and immediately I could tell that he had news.
We had been doing some preliminary work to reposition him with the global IT leadership team, and to start thinking differently. To date, he has built his brand on hard delivery of tough/big projects, but lately has found this out of favour.
“Good news, I’ve been offered a new project based in Seoul. It’s will take 50% of my time and is a major challenge. The boss has said it’s a bit political, and I’ve been sold in to save it.”
“Fantastic, tell me more.” I’d love to say it was down to me but, I think that this had been brewing for a little while, and I just came along at the right time to help Costas land it.
Costas went on to say that he has been asked to go in and fix Read More
Are You Too Soft as a Project Manager?
Incredible it may be, but the data is beginning to emerge that this could indeed be the case. The usual caveat about generalisations aside, this is what my recent research is starting to reveal. And, you don’t have to be a project manager to learn from these results.
Based on a group of 195 project managers I have discovered, somewhat to my surprise, that they are more likely to be high in Tact and Diplomacy and low in Determination, than the general (professional) working population. To be honest, I had expected the opposite.
These people all completed my Influence Profile that measures preferred behaviours when working with others. This is not looking at their actual behaviour, but rather the way they would most like to behave (which is reality is the default behaviour they use most of the time).
Within this psychometric, four dimensions of behaviour are analysed and Read More
Chapter One: A Project Manager’s Perspective
This book is all about taking action, and I want to hit the ground running.
Most problems and challenges in life are a matter of perspective. Adopting alternative perspectives enables you to see the problem differently. It doesn't mean that one viewpoint is right or wrong. It is simply a technique that can give you new insights and potentially, a solution that will work.
So, in this first chapter I want to challenge you to think about project management from a few different perspectives. Read MoreHow to Navigate the Matrix
Most people at a middle or senior level in large organisations have at least two bosses, usually dubbed the solid and dotted-line bosses' — the classic matrix structure. Often, these bosses are conspicuous by their absence — tied up on other pressing projects and initiatives. When you do get a one-to-one, it is usually a hurried conference call focusing on their priorities, and often at odds with the “other” boss' ideas. When you point this out, a frequent response is the insistence that you need to deliver on your objectives and should be capable of making it happen.
So, in order to make things happen, you have to be able to influence both of your bosses to feel bought-in to the way you are pushing things, and you have to single-handedly influence the myriad of peers — all of whom also have many bosses and stakeholders. Complicated work!
Increasingly, this problem fits into a global organisation where time zones and cultural differences exacerbate the complexity. But, let’s face it, that’s what you’re paid for, isn’t it?
Understanding This Challenge
The first point to recognise is Read MoreFour Reasons Why You Struggle to Engage Stakeholders
Few things are possible in large or complex organisations without buy-in from stakeholders. To get that buy-in, you have to engage them.
So, you diligently reach out to them to bring them up to speed, get their input and elicit their support for your initiative. Naturally, you are convinced that it is in their very best interests to pay engage with you, they have a great deal to gain from this exciting project.
And that is when the problems start.
Your Read More
Project Managers: What You Need to Know
You probably don't know this, but when I first started out I worked for a branch of the intelligence services. Nothing terribly exciting, just a communications and IT specialist. Well okay, some of the time it was very exciting, but I can't go into that.
Embedded in the culture was the concept of "need to know." To minimise the risk that secrets would leak, you were only told things that were essential to perform your role. Nothing more, nothing less. For this to work, we all had to rely on someone at a more senior level making an accurate judgment about what we needed to know. Only they were allowed to see the bigger picture.
In fact, it was Read More
How to Gather More Political Intelligence
In Mastering the Politics, I talk a great deal about the need to develop greater political insight or intelligence. This is absolutely vital if you are to avoid "shooting in the dark" with your attempts to influence others.
Of course, there is always an element of guesswork involved in any act to influence, and in a way, that is part of the fun of it. Yet at the same time, guesswork is leaving you exposed.
So, it makes sense to develop the habit of increasing your knowledge on Read More