A project kickoff meeting is your first opportunity to set the tone for a newly initiated project. That’s an opportunity that shouldn’t be taken lightly. After all it will be hard to change the impression the kickoff leaves on its participants. To ...
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You don’t have to manage projects for long before you encounter situations where expectations no longer match reality. Whether you’re dealing with scope creep, budget overruns or missed deadlines, sooner or later you’ll have to deal with a project that’s gotten out ...
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Managing top performers can be a challenge. Great leaders don’t treat everybody equally but they also make sure top performers are not delivering results at the expense of the team. In preparation for writing this article I asked members of the Impact ...
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January is always a great time to think about your goals for the next year. Between New Year’s resolutions and the simple fact that we’re at the beginning of a new calendar, it just feels like the right season for planning. One ...
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With the holidays already upon us, it can be a real challenge to stay motivated and keep the people on your team from falling into an unproductive lull. Some organizations simply concede defeat during the holidays. While it may not be realistic ...
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Listening to others’ thoughts about how you can improve can be a humbling and uncomfortable experience. It can naturally put us in a defensive stance. Just as positive feedback helps us understand what we’re doing well, critical feedback helps us understand where ...
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Skip the Meetings, Stay Informed It was 5:30 on a Thursday evening and Jim’s meeting was just about to start. These daily gatherings were held as a forum to raise critical issues that occurred during the day. Jim wanted to avoid being surprised ...
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For many, one of the most difficult aspects of managing project teams is the fact that sooner or later things will not go as planned. When that happens you need the confidence to hold difficult and uncomfortable conversations with key stakeholders. A ...
read moreThe father of my childhood best friend was always tossing out one-line bits of wisdom that fit just about any situation. As a boy I remember him saying “Perfection is the enemy of the good.” I was several years into my career ...
read moreWhen I was 18 years old I enlisted in the Virginia Army National Guard. The armory near my college was home to the 229th Engineers, a battalion of light combat engineers. As a college student I was undeterred by the recruiter’s comments ...
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