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Welcome Project Team Leader!
This is a blog specifically targeted to you, the Project Team Leader, to enable joy in work in your team. You are in a unique position…you aren’t the boss, but you have authority. The people working on the team do not have to give you 100% (because they report to someone else) AND they are vital for the team to succeed. Ooof.
The goal of this blog is to equip and encourage you for the journey. You and your teams are workhorses of progress. Most new products/services started because of a cross-functional team. Everyone wants innovation, and these teams and team leaders make it happen. Our goal here is to help you, the Team Leader, build a team that wants to work together and succeeds.
Improving Process Thinking: Are you just saying “throw a strike?”
It’s spring, and time to think baseball. It may also be good time to get our processes in better shape, so here’s a story to help you differentiate process thinking from outcome thinking…critical to process improvement. A while back, I was helping a good guy...
5 Tips for Better Data Visualization for your Team
Data is all around us more and more, and sometimes its hard to actually visualize what you are really need to do with it. As facilitators, we need to help participants with data visualization to see the information they are wrestling with more clearly. To show you...
Storytelling vs. Seeing what the data says
This past week I had the pleasure of attending a session on “Data Visualization” at the ASQ Service Quality Conference in Chicago. It was of particular interest to me because I have taught classes and tried to help clients on this topic. The session was given by Robb...
Taking on Project Risk…Together
Risk. We dread it and we love it. Or is it, we dread it OR we love it? Understanding this about ourselves and those we work with can make a project a lot more enjoyable. Risk is everywhere. Our financial advisors reiterate at every turn “current success does not...
Do Profits Matter?
Do Profits Matter? I was doing some work with another consultant, and he made the comment that only profits matter. I took objection to that statement and shared this. Yes. Profits matter. But we need to realize that profits matter like breathing matters. Profits...
Joy in Leadership
Last week, I was treated to listening to a key note by Shawn Achor at the #WCQI in Nashville on the Happiness Advantage. I listened intently as I was giving a talk on Joy in Leadership in a few short hours...and I wondered if our terminology was similar. It was....
You might be a Presentation Redneck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIMeascoht0
Innovation is to bread making as…
It crosses cultures. There are infinite varieties. It is a staple for most people in the world. It provides nourishment. For thousands of years we didn’t truly understand what was happening to make it work. And this fabulous invention is…Bread! I want to share...
Myers-Briggs Types for Dinner
The following Myers-Briggs story illustrates the opener versus the closer portion of type (or perceiver versus judger). This is a real life story, but the names of my friends have been changed. My co-instructor for Myers-Briggs, we will call him Frank, and I met...
What is the knack?
He has the knack for... She has the knack for... What does it mean to have a knack? We think of those we know that seem effortless in their ability to grasp a topic and perform at a high level. But research tells us that no one becomes great at what they do without...