The power of INTUITION in business

Did you recently experience simultaneous conflictual feelings towards a person or towards a situation? (Often referred to mixed feeling)

Think of your last week, it could have been a tiny situation in a day and yet that situation changed your state of mind for a moment. For example, you had a mixed feeling while and/or after:

• Coming in at work feeling some tention in the air;
• shaking the hand of someone;
• assessing a business deal;
• meeting someone new (a potential new employer, partner, client, employee...);
• discussing some issues or new ideas with a someone or a group;
• reading an e-mail, articles or documentations containing annoucements, a new idea, a new solution, a new issue...;
• participating to a meeting or conference.

Mixed feelings or INTUITION are revealing important information about a situation. I believe that INTUITION is our sixth sense. It can actually be very POWERFUL and USEFUL in business. A survey in 2006 conducted by PR WEEK indicated that 62% of CEO's that rely heavily on gut feeling or intuition. http://www.ehow.com/info_8361792_use-intuition-business-decision.html

Are you listening to your intuition?

Let's do something fun for a minute. take a sheet and a pen. Do two columns, write "INTUITION" on the left colomn and "BLACK OUT" on the right column. The INTUITION column will be for you to write situations where you actually followed your guts. The right one will be situations where you did not follow you gut feeling consciously. Think of good and "bad" decisions you made. Note the year of each situation. Write at least five elements of each column.

What are the outcomes?

So, how did it go? 

• Was it easy for you to identify situations where you had mixed feelings? Are you sensitive to your INTUITION?  
• Is it possible most of your "bad" decisions where made even if you had mixed feelings? (Their is no "bad" decisions - just learning experiences)
• Is it possible that you listen more your INTUITION today vs in the past? In the beggining of your career? 
• In which situations do you find yourself NOT listening to your INTUITION? 

How can you read better your INTUITION?

The only way you can read better your INTUITION is to take time for yourself to see how you really feel about a decision, about someone you just met. If it does NOT make you feel good, you need to digg in why. Don't let others decide or influence you if you are the decidor. Ask for advice but know that you are the one making the decision. If it does not FEEL right, no matter if you need a decision now to happen, it is better to say no and continue to search for solution. 

Often, we are too focused on the timeline of our decision and give up a bit on the quality of the decision. 

Your gut feeling, INTUITION will help you a lot... If you use it.

Boost your business with LOVE & HAPPINESS

Feel to check your company at the local medical clinic? 

What are the symptoms?

• The staff motivation is at zero? 
• Turn around is high?
• The financial numbers are just wrong?
• Objectives keep on being missed?
• Work environment is negative?

Is it possible that your company is going through a crisis? Your company is missing Vitamins? Antioxidants? Minerals?

It's time to turn this around!!! Change the MIND SET!

STEPS:

1. Infuse HAPPINESS everywhere in the company and all around you! Make it CONTAGEOUS!
2. Make an electro shock in the company! Surprise them, turn things around! Change habits! Surprise them - they have to get out of their comma! Do anything that will catch their full attention!
3. Now that you have their attention! Have a reality check with them! Make them understand that you are in the same boat! Each one needs to contribute to find solutions! We all have the problems and are all responsible to collectively resolve it! This is what a company is all about TEAM WORK
4. Make a plan on all angles with them, make sure that you have an organic plan and a plan that covers all angles of the company! This is truly the best time to reinvent yourself as a company! Your collective knowledge is what will save you!!! IT IS SO POWERFUL! It is a super power that we do not use enough typically.
5. HAVE FUN!!! Make it fun, people are there most if their time mind as well use it in a way that people will be happy to actually come to work! Light up their flamme in them so that they develop themselves and achieve their objectives.

HAPPY medication will boost your company to no end!

How to read beyond the numbers

Budget, Sales targets, Revenue enhancement, Cost compression, Profit & Loss, EBITDA, Stock value.... 

I have found that many companies juggle with numbers like if they were in a circus until no end. Numbers get to fall all over the place and become hardly trackable or reconcilable. Numbers are the common ground for communication in a business. Numbers take form of a language in a company, your staff need to be able to understand number and use them as a communication tool as well.

So how do we actually get numbers to make sense again?

If I do a genius plan, will I be able to transform those numbers into reality?

No, not necessarily. In the best intention, companies do assess their SWOT, they build a strategic plans in all aspects of their business (corporate, product or services, sales, marketing, operations, support, financial, HR, etc... All those strategies and plans part of the echo-system of a company are unfortunately NOT а garantее of success... even if all the numbers are aligned in all the plans of the company.

Like many of you, I have seen the strategies, plans and results of many companies from different industries. I have found many times that the best strategies and plans come up at the end to not drive at all with the results. There is often a big GAP between the strategy and plans end the bottom line actual numbers.

So if my plan is not as genius as I thought, what will a company usually do?

Execs typically make changes in the pyramid by appointing a new senior here and there or by calling up an external consultant to figure out what's wrong and why that strategies and plans failed. The new eyes comes in and say,

"let's redo the strategy and plans"

and the story just repeats itself... We hand out to have (again) numbers and measures everywhere!

What else can we do?

• Do we really take the time to develop the strategies and plans with the staff?
  Statistics show that strategies and plans are built most of the time without our most precious knowledge base~ our employees! Your staff is your diamond! A real treasure, your most precious asset. Too many companies develop the strategies and plans by externals resources or by people that do not have the content and reality of the business.


Are the numbers really understood by the staff and all?
Do we really use the collective knowledge we have as a company?Ensure that the collective knowledge is used and that your plans are built with your stakeholders and staff. The best realistic comprehensive plans are done when knowledge is coming from all stakeholders including your key employees - they are your gogethers, they are the ones really having the hands to make things happen.
• Are the strategies and plans developed in silot? Did we integrate the plans?
Are they integrated throughout the revenue cycle?

• Did we breakdown the numbers so that they make sense to our team?
  
• How much time do we set on developing the strategies and plans?
• Are they validated bottom-up and top-bottom?
• Do we have an engagement or comitment from all stakeholders? Do not think that your stakeholders are your exec committee.

In the essence, the objectives, the baseline numbers need to make sense for all parties and need to be REALISTIC. This is the only way that the numbers will actually drive and make sense to all.

The worst unrealistic plans are done by execs when working in stand alone.

So in the end. If you help your employees to read beyond the numbers and involve them in building the strategies and plans, it is a certainty that you will maximize your results and NUMBERS!

What are your thoughts?

How to keep them on board - retention!

How do you go about attracting, getting on board and keeping your employees?

The flash that comes to me is someone trying to catch a train while it is already at full speed - or someone trying to get out by the roof or hidding so that they can get out at the next stop. Isn't stressfull for a manager to not feel in control of his team?  If you were your employees; would you like to feel that everyone is waiting for you, trying to help you to get on the train and making your trip comfortable and fun? Compassion, team work and good conditions are the aspects that will make a difference for your team member. How can you put in place the right conditions?

We certainly can't stop the train but do have the power to offer the right conditions.

In one of my past experience, I unfortunately lost the most important key ingredient of my team! A Program Director working on the most critical program. He had everything we needed with a strong background in Consulting from Anderson with many years of experience. Already within 6 months in his role, he was able to put the project back on track (almost eyes closed for how good he was)! I believe that he did not realize how much value added he created, even if I was telling him all the time. Despite our efforts to keep our program Director, I also respected his decision and strongly believed that I could not make him against his will. I thought I needed to have in this position a leader with strong conviction that he/she could make things happen to achieve the program objectives. It turned out that the next Program Director never performed like the previous one. I was SO WRONG! Then I started to ask the real questions that I should have asked since the beggining:
- Why did the first Program Director was not engaged?
- Why did he get on the train and run away?
- Did I offer the right conditions for him to succeed?

I was finally getting somewhere! I touched the root cause of the problem! I took for granted that our conditions were right for the program director because the conditions were simply fitted for me at the time.

Very few people will stay in the wrong conditions for them even if the final destination is very promising. 

Would you?

Offering the right conditions

Understanding the success factors 
I took the time to meet with each one of my team members. It took couple of weeks but it was important for me to observe, listen and hear what team members had to say. You'll agree with me that they are the ones living with the challenges on a day to day basis. We have to recognize that they are are most precious contributors. They are the ones working very hard to achieve the set objectives. We owe them to ensure that they are as much confortable as possible and have a great stimulating environment. We need to pamper them. I always found that the easiest way to connect with them is to listen. I gathered 100's of ideas from them to make the Program Delivery more smoother and easier! 80% of the best ideas do come from your team. Can you imagine the impact on their work conditions if we make their life easier on a day to day? They are truly amazing!

Culture 
Second point or observation is that the program director was a consultant. In our company, the culture and policies unfortunately do not allow consultants to be decision makers. The assignment was meant to be temporary as we were hoping that this individual would accept a permanent job afterwhile. It was so hard for him to make his place, he was wrongly judged internally by many team members and yet, the clients loved him because he would deliver with the best possible result and client driven approach!!! The reality: he could not manage/control his own workpackages and was constantly challenging the competency center. Not a good condition for a result driven individual! I decided given the culture of the company to hire a permanent resource in this position after he left.

Accountability
When I got into this organization, the teams were organized in a weak matrix structure. There was one competency center and a separate PMO group to manage the delivery of the project. This created a lack of focus on the contract delivery objectives and created distorsion between the priorities on the day to day competency center activities and priorities of project. Since we are a project driven division and since each program is large enough to support dedicated teams, we decided to create teams by Programs where the Programs Managers could have the entire control on their program delivery. We moved from a weak matrix structure to a stong matrix. This was a big quick win and we could observe short term benefits.

Leadership
We ensured that the right leaders were put in the right position. We had so much talent in this team and needed to ensure that our key players could find a way to develop their expertise and be in a leading role (when suited). In the past, we had very few leaders and were appointed to roles that did not suit them perfectly. We promoted leaders within the teams. This created a natural healthy synergy between the functional teams and facilitated the team work.

What are the other conditions you need to put in place? What about team work? Collaboration?

Tips to get someone on board

1) Communicate the conditions you are offering, get feedback, adjust if necessary. Have an open discussion

2) Clearly communicate what is expected from him/her. I prepared a clear roles and responsibility description so that the new program director could relate to what is exactly expected from him. Since this is a large program, I also prepared a RACIE to clarify some specific areas of accountability, especially between the managers. A clear description of roles and resp is key. Make it clear when you are transferring progressively some roles and responsibilities throughout a 30 day period for example. Identify exactly what responsibility is being transferred when. For example, she will start to lead the steering committee week 4, the program committee week 3, the project reviews week 2...

2) Day 1 of her arrival, I had him meet with HR and my leaders. The senior directors booked time in their scehdule to welcome him, to make him meet the employees, to sit down and explain the specific business processes of the company, to get him started on his computer and logistics

3) Day 2, he spent the day with me as I was the one doing the transition with her. I provided him an overview of the project portfolio, of his contract context and history, of his team strength and weaknesses, of the clients team, of the governance structure, of the program strategy, plan and progress, of the program key issues and related action plan, of the program risks and current mitigation measures... I gave him key documents to read

4) Day 3, I pre-scheduled one on one meetings with his employees so that he could make a first contact with them.

5) Then he completely mapped my schedule as I would transfer the knowledge to him specifically as we go.

6) I asked him to produce a 30/60/90 day plan so that he would have the liberty to take over his new role completely with a sense of ownership

What else did you do in similar situations? Please share

Boost your business value

Since I can remember, I have always been interested in the mechanics of things, in the process of creating an idea, a game, a good or a service.

We will look together in this article how a BUSINESS FRAMEWORK can boost your BUSINESS VALUE.

My best friend and I used to do lots of experiences and special projects that may not make sense today. But the essence of all that was that we were trying to figure out how things were made and how to make it better. I am far from being an inventor but I am really passionate about the big idea of how things work together. I believe that somehow, everything is all interconnected. Look at the dynamic of how a car works, all the pieces have a specific function that contributes to another. The same concept applies to the human body, to nature, to a family dynamic and even to a business and an organization.

An organization or company is exactly like a cell, a family. It has an Eco-system where everything departments are tied together. What ties them together are the end to end business processes which support the BUSINESS FRAMEWORK and enables each players to reach the business objectives.

Common success factors I noted from business leaders over the years are the following;

1. They have a clear vision on how the business needed to be shaped 
2. They have a perfect understanding of their market, opportunities and threats 
3. They have a clear business model focused on their core competences 
4. They have solid business framework implemented where each business unit, departments, individuals could relate to and could understand the Eco-system of the company.  
5. They have effective business processes supporting their operations.

Often, they do have a vision, they understand their business and market, they know what their core competencies BUT... are unable to share and create a clear business framework that can be understood by all.

Very few employees and managers do understand the chain of activity of the revenue cycle which starts with product strategy, development, marketing, sales, contract, service delivery and support... It is so crucial that a BUSINESS FRAMEWORK be documented and communicated to all employees. All processes can easily be linked to the business framework in a second step. You have no idea of how much you can impact your business if you would just have a business framework.

A software company I helped in the past to create its business framework increases significantly the value of their business when it came the time to sell a division. A SIMPLE BUSINESS FRAMEWORK boosted their value of 30%!!!! The fact that the company was able to demonstrate its operating model and had a business framework added tremendous value in the sales process of the division. We are talking about millions of dollars here with a minimal investment that youc an do yourself! ROI is extremely high, plus you really get to improve the operations of your business if you attach your business processes and put in place a continuous improvement philosophy.

 How to build the business framework?

1. focus on your revenue cycle, breakdown the major activities of the revenue chain 
2. build an illustration of your revenue cycle that you can Frame on your walls 
3. under each key activity of the chain, identify the key business process, the key job roles in this area and the key performance indicators 
4. make sure that you have your mission statement written on the business framework, including the values Building a business framework is pretty easy and can be done quickly, make sure that your framework becomes the point of reference in your company. Use it on a day to day basis. Put your BUSINESS FRAMEWORK every where in the company: Board room, kitchen, meeting rooms, manager's office...
5. Make it grow, put it on your internal website, link each business process in the framework with URLs. Make it fun.
6. Do training sessions to all your personnel, add the BUSINESS FRAMEWORK in the New Employee Guide!

Your success is directly dependent on how your team does understand their contribution in the bigger scheme if the company and understand how each other interact with each other. That is one critical key for success.

Ask me questions if you need more details, you'll see it is much easier to do than what you think.

How to develop the right solution for your clients?

In few steps, develop a good solution that fulfills THE needs AND requirements.

"Did you ever made a simple order that went totally wrong?"

The more your solution fits the business needs the better your chances are that your client will be willing to pay for it. Of course, economically, your solution needs to be sold at the right price point that the client is willing to pay for. If you know that the price point is too low right up front, do not invest one penny trying to develop it!

Still today, I see a lot of companies trying to push solutions to clients that THEY THINK will fulfill their needs. Millions of dollars are unfortunately lost in development projects that die before they even have a chance to see the day.

Why? Too many companies do not invest enough in the most important phase of a development project (which is the identification the business needs and development of a business case). They jump right away on the "HOW" and do not spend enough time trying to understand the "WHY" and the "WHAT".

One of my client signed a contract last year in regards to a development project. An assessment was performed by some systems architects prior to the sell and a USE CASE (high level requ's). You have no idea how much effort was put into it, there was so many discussions with product management and with the solution experts. At the end of the day a great document was created on how they thought the solution should work. But NO ONE involved clients to validate the assumptions and the use case! Everything made sense for everyone at a high level. Sales signed a contract with a first client and couple of weeks after the kick-off guess what? Yes, the project has not started yet and major show stoppers were identified by the client already! So we had to put a hold right away on the project to step back and reset the contracts. Please if you are a software company, always, always, always sell a solution architecture phase prior to signing the development contract. How can you sell a license for a new development that you have not scoped properly yet?

 Some tips; 

• Involve your clients to understand the business requirements. You can conduct focus group sessions. Make sure to understand how the requirements will impact the business processes of clients. Try to extrapolate the benefits of the features and potential impacts on the KPI's. Try to be as pragmatic as possible, go as far as documenting the process flows to really think of everything. Document the preliminary assumptions and components that are definitively out of scope versus in scope. GO OR NO GO?

• Develop a business case. Calculate ROI, how is it going to cost to develop the features? What is the CTO (Cost of Total Ownership)? How long will it take to make the development and will we be on time to market? What is the customer price point? Is the margin acceptable? What are the risks? What are the sale forecasts expected and customer target? How much will it cost to market? GO OR NO GO?

• Developing a solution architecture is like building a puzzle. You first make sure that you have all the pieces you need and then you put your pieces together to build a clear vision from all angles. How will all the pieces integrate together? Which piece touches which piece of the puzzle? Usually a solution architecture diagram is used to illustrate the 'puzzle' as well as each components. Solution architecture document template can be found in internet easily. You want to ensure that you build a technical architecture at the same time that you build your solution architecture. Both dimensions need to work together. For example, you may want to integrate a master file but also need to clearly identify how the master file will be integrated technically (bidirectional interface?, only sending unidirectional info?)... 

• The solution architecture needs to be enough detailed and documented so that everyone understands what needs to be done to support the business need identified and future state targeted. The solution architecture shall be approved by the client and should be enough detailed to estimate development costs. Client will need to know the development costs before signing the solution architecture. If there are some budget constraints, the solution architecture will be developed with the budget in mind. The you estimate the costs of development with a better level of precision. You also document the assumptions. You will have another GO NO GO to make, is it worth it? Is this development aligned to your product strategy? Does it make sense for the client?;

• Do not underestimate the time it will take to validate and approve the solution architecture. The development of the solution architecture can take anytime from 6 weeks to 6 months depending on the complexity of the solution to create and depending on the methodology used to do so. 

 Ask me more questions if you need!

Make a good first impression!

How many people did you meet since you started your career? Thousands. Did you have the chance to make a good impression with each one of them? 

Imagine if you could make a good impresion only in the first 30 seconds on each of this thousands of people. You need to invest 30 seconds at first. Of course, you'll need to entertain your reputation but hey! 30 seconds to start on the good feet, not bad!

I guess we all have our "weird" experiences. Once, I presented myself to the general manager of an hospital at a press conference and as we shaked our hands as a greeting, we talked at the same time! We then waited two seconds and both started to talk again to say "pardon madamme?". Oh boy, how unconfortable is this?

So I decided it was time to refresh my memory and to re-think about the tricks I had learned years earlier at a Dale Carnegy training. I also read many many books on how to introduce myself and improve my communication skills. The techniques are not that hard, we just need to apply it. It is simple and a sure thing...

In summary, 5 elements that helped me the most;

1- Before you make a move, learn to read physical signs sent by the other individual. 

It will tell you within 3 to 5 seconds The mood of the individual and will help you to determine if it is a good time to approach the person and if the case how you should approach the person (if the person is watching his or her watch - they surely have a time preoccupation --- not time start a long conversation make it brief; if they are taking a call - do not disturb him or her; if they are writing an e-mail - do not disturbe as well as they might be resolving a critical issue; if their jaw seems stressed - not time to try to close a deal; if their harms are crossed and person seems closed in; not time either to try to close a deal. Try to open them up first...

2- Know what you will say before you say it; 

think about how you will a approach the individual. Know exactly what you will say in advance to open up the conversation. "Good day Tom, how are you today? I seen your speech last month and thought that it was so innovative and fresh! I got also some feedback from so and so whom also thought that you nailed down the tax issue pretty well"... Bring something positive on the table, think of one element positive that could be of high interest for the person you want to speak to. Anything but ALWAYS open with a positive element. The only exception of when the individual has a sick wife, sick kid or family that passed away, in that case open up by expressing your sympathie and remain supportive in your state of mind (feel the pain of the individual of support). It is certainly not the time to try to close a deal or talk too much about business unless the invidual allows you to do so.

3- When shaking hands, if you are the one introducing yourself, I prefer to break the ice if no one is there to intoduce me.

Simply say somthng like "I do not believe that we met before, you are???" If you know the snake and title of the person, you could say, I believe you are Miss Queenton from company Y??? (people are flattered when they feel that they are known, plus it saves them time, why would you want them to present themselves if you already know their names?). I would then continue by asking a question I really do not know about them like " and Miss Queenton, when did you join the corporation?". If the person did come to you first, let them lead the presentation process, stand still and let them do the talk. Be open, smile and look at them in the eyes, they will start talking and present themselves. If they don't simply say "I am Mrs. Queenton from company X, what is your name?" again if you know their names and never got presented before you can certainly say, I believe you are "Mr. Black from Company Z?". ...

4- Talk with a lot of energy and control. 

People will analyze your voice tone, your physical posture and what you say. Make sure that you stand still and that your physical posture is perfect. Make sure that that your voice contains lots of energy and is confident. You have to be confident in what you are saying and this will automatically transpose in your voice tone. Finally, select the right things to say and select the right words.

5- Make it all about the other individual and NOT about you. 

Some tips, to make the other people elaborate more on a subject that they are talking about, repeat the last words of the last sentence they said with a question intonation... Also, ask open questions (stay away from closed questions that require a yes and no answer)

Have fun, conversation is truly a skill we can develop with time. Remember that the first minute will be the one that the individual will judge you based on the impression he or she will have of you! Be nice at all time, being Grunchy, judgemental or negative will close the door to nice conversations.

How to MAKE TIME for your team?

It is known... TIME FLIES! 

I always try to find ways to make every minute count. I used to say that I wish that there was more time in a day but soon found out that there is never enough time... so if I organise my time better I can truly "enjoy" each moment and stop trying to run after time and having to catch my breath all the time.

As manager or executives, we spend most of our time in communication mode. Statistics show that manager spend about 80% in communications to manage operations; it could be mgt meetings, conference calls, business breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The 20% left is left for the rest (managing employees, catching up with e-mails...).

What if I told you that very few managers conduct periodic meetings with their staff? Is it surprising you? How do they expect to meet objectives if they are not a key actor in the delivery process and if they have no clue on how their team is managing the delivery? We can't just float on the sea with our safety floater and leave our entire team behind struggling in deep sea! It is OUR responsibility to direct them, listen to them and motivate them to ensure that WE (as a team) are all going in the right direction.

Here is how I usually organize my time;

• Monday mornings are the meetings to confirm the priorities of the week with teams.

• Monday PM to Thursday Nights are open to clients. 

• Fridays, it is my one on one meetings with each of my direct reports.

In between, the teams always know that they can reach me on my cell at anytime. I am very flexible and I make them feel that it is always ok to call me. Afterall, if they do, it is because they need an advise on something. I end up talking to my direct report almost everyday.

I ask my direct reports to coordinate a meeting every morning between them so that they discuss the progress of deliverables. We use an agile method. Our focus here is to remove or prevent any obstacles to impact the critical path of delivery.

I find the work dynamic to be very healthy this way, the frequent communications and time spent with the teams allows them to be focused on the right priorities. I love my teams and know that they are the ones delivering the goods. I am very greatful to have them and always try to make them understand that they are key to our success.

For me this open and fluid dynamic is a key success factor. We are tighly connected and I make time for my team accordingly. Also, it is always nice to catch up and care about them. A part from work, we need to stay open to listen to their personnal challenges. This helps us to be better execs and managers. We understand better why their performance is sometimes affected.

In summary:

1. Schedule PERIODIC MEETINGS with your teams: never or rarely cancel those meetings
2. Be AVAILABLEvia your cell, texting or any other way when team are trying to get to you: make them feel confortable to call you, tell them you will call them back if you can't call them now (but do call them back ASAP)
3. LISTEN to what they have to say: address the issues they are escalating to you, reassign actions if you can and follow the results
4. CARE about them truly: know what's going on in their lives, support them when appropriate
5. APPRECIATION: Tell them how good they are and how happy you are when appropriate. Be thankful to have them.
6. HAVE FUN with them when possible. Business does not have to be serious 100% of the time. Be happy when ever you interact with them. Take out the negative tension.

And you, how do you make time for your employees?

Effective Business Process Mapping Sessions

You can conduct successful business process mapping sessions!

The success relies in 3 aspects:

1. Having an OUTSTANDING preparation
2. Having a GREAT FACILITATOR that can capture ideas, follow the discussions and can bring people together
3. Having the RIGHT STAKEHOLDERS around the table
   

Couple of years ago, my team conducted a process design session with our key project stakeholders. I normally do not participate in such sessions but went to support my new project manager whom was facilitating the session. I was so trilled to participate in the session as many flashbacks came back from the time I worked in consulting at Deloitte. I remembered the awesome feeling when my clients would scream "EUREKA!!!! we got the perfect idea over here!" or "Wow, I never thought of it from that perspective" or "Now I see the big picture and how the dots are all connecting". As my memories came back, I realized how excited I was to be part of the meeting. I sat at the tip of my chair during the session and actively participated in the process and in the discussions. I enjoyed the session almost like a first time a kid discovers the great taste of chocolate!. I can say that I love my work, I love to help my clients reaching the next level.

Prior to the session, we gathered a lot of information on best practices and did a preparation session in which I also participated to ensure that we would "rock" that process definition session. 

Before the session:

• We broke down the processes we wanted to cover and the priority
• We agreed on the level of details we wanted to cover
• We agreed on how we actually wanted to document the processes
• We drafted the processes upfront in Visio based on our current understanding
• The project manager printed each activity box on one sheet and sticked each activity on a large rolled paper bought at the dollar store, she then created a large size flow chart that everyone could see

The day of:

1. At the beginning of the session, we confirmed objectives and rules.
2. We revised the flow of activity and were able to unstick boxes when needed to move them around, we also added new sheets when new activity needed to be inserted.
3. At the end of the session, we were able to have a complete end to end process represented of the wall that everyone agreed on.
4. Of course our minute taker was updating the Visio file as we went but the process with the giant flow chart allowed the group to work together and stay together in the process development, it created the expected synergy and avoided delays related to the on-line update.

Loved that session, at the end of the session, we achieved the objectives --- Our clients and stakeholders were so proud as well of themselves.

What are your tricks and good tips? Please comment or send us links

What to do with an employee you do not trust?

TRUST is the essence of an healthy relationship between you and your employees

Without TRUST we entertain doubts and are often reluctant to delegate. 

When we have serious doubts on the integrity of a team member, we need to address the situation. A lack of trust can certainly lead to failure and can cause a certain stress to all team members.

Did you ever have an employee that you just could not trust? There was this gut feeling inside of you questioning you about your employees intentions? How did you address it?

It certainly DID happen to me. This was probably one of the worst situation to manage for me. Let me share with you the context and what I have done to fix the issue. I hope that you can apply some tips and ideas immediately to your situation. After all, we all want to have a motivated team with great spirit, we want the best for them and we just can't let it go when we have an employee that can potentially jeopardize the peace of our group.

Many years ago, I nominated a resource to a management position (mistake #1). It certainly was not the best move I've made but hey, it's part of my learning process. This individual was very smart and was a great performer. Over a period of only 4 to 8 weeks after his promotion to a management position, the team's motivation of my whole group went down the toilet. Mind you, this promotion did not get out of a hat, it was wanted and I had the buy-in from my troup. But after a while, people would come to work with long faces and would not tackle issues with the same enthusiasm. I got REALLY worried!

8 Strikes in 4-8 weeks:

• The manager talked negatively about some of his own team members while those individuals were not there (strike 1)
• The manager talked negatively about our company in front of the client! (strike 2)
• The manager reprimanded pretty badly his own resources in front of clients or other team members (strike 3)
• The manager was very talkative and never seemed to listen what other people had to say, he was frequently conducting monologues (strike 4)
• The manager encouraged rumors internally (strike 5)
• The manager seemed happy to talk to everyone at all time but people started to not pay attention to this manager as it did not look sincere (strike 6)
• The manager imposed many decisions to clients and resources without taking the input of resources, this increased the frustration internally and was understood by many people as being a lack of trust towards them (strike 7)
• The manager was not respectful towards contractuals and really did not value there input and value, consultants were his enemies and needed to act within a certain frame. The reality of our business is that the consultants are extremely precious because they bring knowledge and know-how that the company does not have... (Strike 8)



Result: he completely lost his credibility and very few people wanted to work with him because no one would TRUST HIM!!!


At the end of the day, after a couple of weeks in that role I really started to put the pieces together and started to be extremely worried about his approach and is lack of CARE and RESPECT for others. TRUST comes from knowing that the individual is loyal and has a high sense of integrity. He has proven the exact opposite.

Knowing that he was new in a management role, I quickly started to coach him and to address those points in order to try to bring him where he needed to be. I was very frank and transparent with him and reported the events without saying specially where it came from. I also recommended some correction actions for each point and future behavior to adapt.
To be honest, it turned out that the situation DEGRATED as he continued to drag himself down. Of course the manager felt pointed and felt that he could not continue his POWERTRIP anymore. It was clearly a power trip, it was something to see! the worst part is that he truly thought that he was doing good and that everyone was respecting him. I do not get this and it was truly sad to see. I really seen the potential in this individual and he was just wasting all his talents on a power trip.
So, then, You know what he started to do???? He started to reprimand even more the resources and threaten them if they would talk to anyone but him! IT HAD TO STOP.
I reassigned the manager elsewhere, where he could like before brig high value to the organization without creating all those problems. Who's fault was it? To be honnest, I think that I had a big part of responsibilities in that. I am the one that triggered this somehow by assigning the wrong resource in the wrong position. He has his part too but we are totally both responsible. This was such a good lesson for me.
TIPS:
- Always put trusted people in your circle of direct reports.
- Work with HR early in the process, involve them, do a performance plan if needed
- Be very clear with the individual when situation arise, do not let things go
- Protect your team, open the discussion with them, do not leave them alone
- Lead by example, build trust in people and avoid working with untrusty resources
- be yourself, be transparent

Escalating issues IS NOT a sin!

Isn't it stressfull when we face an issue that can jeopardize all the work and effort we have been doing? 

Yes, it happens... It happens in all good program or projets. In fact, I have never seen a program without any critical risks and/or issues. I have to admit, I LOVE to break my head to find new ways and new solutions. PROBLEM SOLVING is fun and IS stimulating! Problem solving skills is so important and critical everywhere!

If you are like me, while resolving issues, you try to keep the temperature of your soup at the right level so that the water does not overflow... Indeed, I try to resolve as many issues as possible at my level so that I can spear my bosses or stakeholders. Execs hire us because they trust our judgement. They give us a mandate and expect us to be successful. I work hard to avoid escalating issues to the next level but HEY, sometimes it is necessary! What you do not want to happen is this...

When needed, I am not shy to escalate to the next level in a timely manner. I know that when I escalate, it is really because I did everything I could and know that I need help to move on. I do not feel guilty when I escalate, they are there to support us at an exec level and this is why escalation processes exist! I am saying this because I used to be so scared to escalate, I felt like a failure if I had too. I learned that not everything is on my shoulder!

Escalation is not a sin, it is part of a project. 

You need to be prepared to face issues that you will not be able to resolve yourself and that will require the participation of your execs for xyz reason. Be ready however to resolve 99% of the issue coming to you. The 1% will be escalated. Would it be great if we could shift our effort from issue resolution to risk mitigation?

Tips

• have regular update meetings with the people involved in the escalation process
• have a clear escalation process (who escalated what when and how?)
• ensure that people involved in the escalation process are AVAILABLE and take actions within given timeframes
• If you can't resolve it at your level, push the issue up right away if affects critical path
• resolution time is key, don't drag issue, they are often extremely expensive
• have a proactive approach, put lots of efforts on risk management this will decrease the number of issues that comes up because you will have prevented them!
• use issue resolution techniques, open your hears, be always attentive to news ideas and input from others