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Do You Recognize Exceptional Performers?

3 February 2012 - POSTED by Ty Kiisel

I think everyone has experienced this at least once. The manager who feels the need to take personal credit for everything good that happens on the team or in the department. If anyone notices something the team has worked on as a success, he or she wants to take credit for it. “Yeah, that was my idea.”

On the other had, if something goes wrong, that same manager is the first to throw the team under the bus. I’ve even had skid marks on my back because my manager had slammed on the brakes and backed the bus up for another pass.

Hopefully it goes without saying that it isn’t long before those managers expose themselves as they frauds they are. Ultimately the team doesn’t like that kind of manager, they don’t give him or her their best work, their boss doesn’t respect them and they get sent packing.

Any kind of leader (particularly a project leader) needs to consider how they promote the good work of the team. I think it’s important to appropriately recognize achievements. In an article titled How to Build Trust When Your Team Doesn’t Know Each Other, Wayne Turmel suggests, “There are many ways to show off the competence of team members. When you have message boards and social network tools, there are opportunities to answer questions, refer other team members and generally offer individuals a chance to shine they might not otherwise get. As the manager, take the chance to commend workers in ways that let the entire team know who did such great work.”

In many organizations, the only time a team member is acknowledged is when there’s something wrong. I really like the idea of making it a point to look for ways to show off the competence of my team—to share their accomplishments with my superiors. It creates an atmosphere where people aren’t afraid to speak with me and makes it a lot easier to have those sometimes difficult conversations when there are problems.

There’s nothing wrong with finding ways to shine the light on exceptional effort or an exceptional member of the team. What’s more, although money is a motivator for performance, it’s not the only motivator. Most people leave their employment for reasons other than money. Maybe their commute was too long, maybe they didn’t like the job—but it’s more than likely they didn’t feel their contribution was recognized or appreciated as something valuable; or they didn’t like their boss.

Over the course of my career, I’ve noticed the times when I’ve been the most successful have been the times when I’ve been able to facilitate an atmosphere where individual members of the team could shine and be recognized for what they bring to the effort. When my need to shine is superseded by the ability of individuals on my team to shine, projects have been more successful, the team is happier, and as a result it reflects well on me.

As a side note, in most cases, praise for a job well done should be specific and public. Vague platitudes aren’t worth the wasted words. “Jones, the extra work you did to get the Acme project in on time made the difference,” is much more effective than, “Good job everyone.”

Specific and public is how I try to address praise to members on my team as opposed to reprimand, which should be handled privately—unless you want to do irreparable damage to personal relationships (which are the foundation of project leadership in a world where most of the time everyone on the project team is usually a dotted line on the org chart).

What do you do to recognize exceptional work or exceptional team members?

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The Three Ps of Mentoring and Being Mentored

2 February 2012 - POSTED by Ty Kiisel

I have been fortunate over the course of my career to benefit from the advice of some very smart people who were willing to mentor and teach me. That being said, I wish I could say that every “boss” or manager I’ve worked with has been a mentor, but I can’t.

Over the last ten or so years I’ve had the opportunity to be on the other end of that equation and have been in the position to work with a number of young people just starting out in their careers. I am energized by their enthusiasm, their drive to perform and the skills they often bring to the table.

With that being said, throwing them into the deep end of the pool to see if they sink or swim isn’t smart for the organization, isn’t good for the projects they contribute to and is just a bad management practice. Several years ago a colleague of mine and I were talking about the younger members of our team. We had intentionally hired fresh faces out of college because they were less expensive. I have since come to appreciate that what you don’t pay in salary to less-experienced team members, you must pay in coaching and mentoring. Nobody enters the workforce with all the skills they’ll need to successfully contribute to a project team. There are a lot of things we learn “on the job” regardless of our field of expertise.

As a project leader, you may find yourself from time to time in the position of mentor and coach. If you do, remember the Three Ps:

Patience: Whether you’re the coach or the person being coached, this is an important P. In a perfect world people don’t make mistakes—we don’t live in a perfect world. Mistakes are part of working with people. We need to be patient when less-experienced team members make mistakes. What’s more, it’s likely they will make the same mistake more than once. Frustrating to be sure, but it’s seldom the end of the world. In reality, it’s part of what it costs to work with younger people. And, in reality older, more senior team members make mistakes too. I’ve come to appreciate that it’s a part of working with project teams. Projects are messy and unpredictable things. When people are stretching and creative problem-solving, sometimes stuff happens. Be patient.
Practice: Part of learning any new skill is practice. Not only is it important for the person being coached to take time to practice, as a coach or mentor, it’s important to create an environment that gives people time to practice and learn. Unfortunately, there are a lot of things that require doing them over and over again to get them right. It’s been said, “That which we persist in doing gets easier, not because the nature of the thing has changed, but our power to do so is increased.” Practice might not make perfect, but is an important P. Practice.
Persevere: Giving patience and practice time to bear fruit is critical to success. I’ve seen a number of very talented people fail to persevere when times got tough or situations become challenging. This applies to both the mentor and the person being mentored. Winston Churchill famously said, “Never, never, never give up.” Although never is a long time, perseverance is a critical P. Don’t give up.

What are you doing as a project leader to coach and mentor younger members of the team? Feel free to share your ideas and suggestions.

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What’s Wrong with Being Predictable?

31 January 2012 - POSTED by Ty Kiisel

Sitting down at my desk this morning, I actually laughed out loud.

Although there was nobody here to witness my outburst, I still looked around the office to make sure. There’s nothing quite as disturbing as a lone man in the semi-dark of the early morning office laughing out loud.

I have always thought of myself as a pretty spontaneous guy. In fact, I’ve always prided myself as being able to think well on my feet and deal with new situations as they arise. This morning I had to face my demons. I am really quite predictable.

With few exceptions, I drive into work, park in “my” spot, enter the office by the same door, climb the stairs and put my bag down on the same corner of my desk the same way every morning. I extract my computer from my bag, remove my notebook, hang up my jacket and pull yesterday’s calendar page of my desktop calendar. I had to laugh. What’s wrong with being predictable?

About this time last year I read a post by Richard Lawrence that has resonated with me. He’s a certified SCRUM coach who writes about software development and making software teams happier and more productive. Lawrence suggested that dev teams should focus more on being predictable than being productive. He argues that increased productivity will fall out of a predictable approach to software development. I have since thought that a more predictable environment would also benefit other teams.

Lawrence suggests that a focus on predictability helps a team:

Develop and complete smaller projects that can be completed in a day or two. I like the idea of breaking down the work into smaller chunks. Although there will always be larger projects with time-lines that stretch out to months or longer, breaking up those projects into shorter durations will complete-able deliverables allows teams to show value at more regular intervals. This is good for stakeholders, team morale and ultimately project success.
Work on a smaller number of project deliverables at once. I once worked with a fellow who was incredibly productive if he only had a couple of project deliverables on his plate at a time. Less than that and he would fuss over a project deliverable forever—more than that and he would be so overwhelmed that he would freeze up and accomplish very little. Admittedly, every team member is different, but keeping expectations reasonable (in my opinion) helps project teams be more productive.
Ensure that the definition of done that is identified before the project is started is the same definition of done when the project is completed. I’ve noticed that the longer the duration of a project, the more likely the definition of done will morph into something other than what was originally intended. Sometimes this might be the result of scope creep, but often it is the result of unforeseen impediments that over the course of a lengthy project make it difficult to completely accomplish the goals or the initiative.
Enable individual team members to cross disciplines to get things done, avoiding unpredictable wait times. Shorter duration projects often encourage team members to step outside of their “defined” roles to get things done. Which, after all, is what getting things done is all about, right?
Make achievable commitments based on past results. From a management perspective, it’s easier to predict the results of a series of shorter duration projects than it is to predict the results of a project that will drag on for months at a time. From a team member’s perspective, it allows them to feel a sense of accomplishment at regular intervals. Most people respond well to feeling a sense of accomplishment at a job well done. The more often they are able to do that, the more productive they will be.

On the other hand, Lawrence suggests (and I agree) that a dogged focus on productivity usually leads to:

Individuals optimizing for their own productivity (i.e. lots of tasks getting done—a focus on activity rather than results)
Over-committing
Starting projects without necessarily believing they’ll get done in the time-line required
Sacrificing quality for speed (i.e. “Just get it done; we’ll clean it up later”)
Communicating and collaborating less (“All that conversation slows me down. I need to focus on my work”)

Lawrence argues that a strict focus on productivity might increase a project teams ability to get more accomplished in the short term, but focusing on predictability is a better long-term solution for helping teams increase productivity.

I have to agree. What’s more, making it happen might even be easier than you think. Although projects aren’t usually considered repeatable work, there are many aspects of a project that can be templated to be made more “predictable.” Applying templates to parts of the process that make sense makes project planning easier, encourages the capture and implementation of best practice and helps ensure a successful project outcome.

Is predictability part of your methodology? How do you utilize your project management tools to increase predictability and ultimately productivity?

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Keeping the Wheels Turning

30 January 2012 - POSTED by Ty Kiisel

As a young man I worked in my fathers industrial supply business. I worked in the warehouse and drove the delivery truck. We sold fasteners of all kinds, nuts, bolts, screws, cotter pins and other industrial supplies. I learned about screw pin anchor shackles, concrete anchors, structural bolts, machine tools and other industrial/construction-related tools and equipment. Visiting industrial sites all over Utah, Idaho and Wyoming, I also learned about how they were used and their value to equipment and machinery.

The linchpin has always been an interesting fastener to me. It’s small, not particularly strong; but when used to keep the wheel of a piece of machinery (or even a small go-cart) on an axle, it’s indispensable. Without the linchpin, the wheel will eventually spin right off the axle—resulting in a catastrophic failure.

The same is true with project teams. There is a linchpin, and the success or failure of any project rests on that linchpin’s ability to perform. It’s not the project manager. Nor is it the project sponsor or the particular methodology the team uses to get work done. It’s not even the project management software or other tools employed by the team to facilitate collaboration, report on progress or manage project deliverables.

Unfortunately, from a project management software perspective, the linchpin is often ignored. It’s probably because he or she isn’t involved in the purchase decision, has no budget, has no purchase decision authority and it’s felt that the needs of project managers and stakeholders are more important—at least they often have budget and the ability to purchase products.

In reality, it’s the individual contributors on a project team that keep the wheels rolling, and regardless of your methodology or software tools, in my opinion, ignoring the linchpin is one of the reasons so many projects fail. If everyone on your project team can identify with the following four statements, you’re well on your way:

I’m empowered to do what I do best—When people have the opportunity to do what they do best, we get their best work, they’re motivated and engaged—which helps them perform at a higher level. Project leaders who empower their teams to do what they do best consistently complete successful projects.
I have the tools to do my work right—This may or may not include your project management tool, but if the team doesn’t have the right tools, their productivity drops. Have you ever wondered why the same team members who won’t (or don’t) update project status in their PM software, will spend a couple hours at home updating personal status on Facebook or Twitter? I have. I believe it’s because the software solutions used in most organizations use software designed to provide value to project managers and stakeholders—not individual team members. And, if the only value the team sees in a new solution is a better way for management to “watch what’s going on”, it’s not the right tool for the team. If everyone on the team (including individual contributors) can see value, project managers and other business leaders will be able to seamlessly capture all the accurate and timely project information they need to make informed decisions.
I’m recognized for my contributions—Most people are proud of what they do and want to feel like they are making meaningful contributions to objectives that lead to value. I’m not talking about insincere “atta-boys” but I am talking about being aware and recognizing superior performance and consistent effort. Of course there may be members of the team who refuse to step up. In those instances, I think it’s important to evaluate whether or not the problem is of our creation or that particular team member just might not be right for the team. As a team member, you might be an incredibly talented and brilliant individual, but if you are unwilling to contribute your best efforts for the benefit of the team, are difficult to work with or otherwise a consistently low performer, you might not be right for the team.
I know what’s expected of me—For team members to perform at their best, they shouldn’t have to makes guesses about priorities. If they can’t reliably answer the questions, “What should I be doing now?” and “What should I do next?” it’s difficult to get their best efforts. It doesn’t make sense to expect team members to “figure it out for themselves.” That’s not to say that team members need to be directed or hand-held every step of the way either, but it does mean that everyone needs to completely understand the objectives of every project, understand their own individual role and contribution to the team and have all the information they need to keep them working toward the objective. Ambiguity in this regard is a real productivity killer.

Like most things, it isn’t really that complicated. Individual contributors on the team are every bit as critical as the linchpin is to the wheel and axle. When your methods and solutions consider the needs of everyone on the team, you’ll foster and environment where a free-flow of timely and accurate project information is available for informing smart project decisions; and your projects will be more successful.

What are you doing to keep the wheels turning?

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Three Keys to Help Manage the Queue

27 January 2012 - POSTED by Ty Kiisel

Any group that provides shared services within an organization must deal with project sponspors who think their project is the most important thing happening and deserve priority treatment—even if it isn’t or doesn’t. What’s worse, in many organizations, they often go directly to individual team members to get their work done first—chewing up time that should be spent on priority projects.

This distracts team members from their primary objectives, and they struggle to manage priorities. This is not only frustrating to project leaders, who soon realize that squeaky wheels in their organizations are really directing the team—the team is frustrated too.

Although there are organizations that have an active Project Management Office (PMO) and formalized processes for evaluating and prioritizing all inbound project requests—most don’t. Part of a successful project organization is effectively managing the queue of inbound projects.

Ironically, an approach that can help manage the queue can also provides project leaders with reliable information, engage the team, and create an environment where individuals can contribute at a higher level and take ownership of their work.

Regardless of how your particular organization tackles these challenges, an effective approach should include the following:

It Works the Way People Naturally Work—enabling stakeholders to request work, suggest deadlines, collaborate and negotiate. Whether it happens formally or informally in your organization, these negotiations are going on right now anyway—you just might not be a part of the discussion. Creating a formalized queue for how requests are submitted and distributed to the team is critical. For some teams this might mean incorporating a more social feel to how work is requested or enabling dialog and negotiation (which usually transpires when work is assigned). Forcing people to work within a “process” that doesn’t feel natural will never be really effective.
It’s Tailored to All Types of Workers—providing value to everyone on the team. For example, if the only value the team sees in a new solution is a better way for management to “watch what’s going on”, it won’t work. However, if everyone (including individual team members) can see some value, management will be able to seamlessly collect the project information they want—at the source. I’m convinced that providing a method or solution that provides value to the individual contributors on a project team is critical to fostering an environment with a free-flow of timely and accurate project information for informing decisions.
It Portrays Work in Context—because projects aren’t the only work people deal with every day. If project leaders and their teams don’t have visibility into everything that’s going on and how it interrelates, it’s an incomplete picture. What’s more, information about tasks, projects and goals should be captured in a way that provides context. Although I don’t advocate implementing Twitter or Facebook into the process, a Twitter-like approach that attaches conversations to tasks and issues is incredibly valuable to leaders trying to make sense out of all the data collected within projects.

Over the years I’ve discovered that the solution to most issues I face in the workplace aren’t as complicated as I originally wanted to make them. I’m a big believer in executing the most simple solution that will get the job done. The same is true with today’s three keys.

If you already have a formalized process for evaluating potential projects (like Loyola’s process I mentioned a few days ago) consider yourself fortunate. If not, give these tips a try. Is there anything you can add to the list?

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10 Tips to Effectively Communicate With Stakeholders

26 January 2012 - POSTED by Ty Kiisel

Keeping an open and effective line of communication with stakeholders is important. A couple of years ago I stumbled on this list of tips for presenting to stakeholders, which is worth rehashing. Sometimes it seems like a thirty-minute meeting can be over in sixty seconds. Stakeholders sometimes have short attention spans, so if you don’t capture their attention in the first minute or two, they’ll start checking their email and watching the clock or worse—bail on your meeting.

Anyone involved in project-based work has to deal with sponsors and stakeholders. With that in mind, here are ten tips that might help your presentations:

Pique their interest: An agenda is always a good idea, but a brief summary of what will be discussed is even better. Plus, it gives stakeholders a take-away and allows them to come prepared with questions.
Don’t assume they know their job as stakeholder: They might understand the high-level view, but you will probably need to fill in the details.
Keep it simple: Give them the situation in straightforward terms. Don’t overwhelm them with information. Cut to the chase. (However, be prepared for a deeper dive if they start asking questions.)
Use numbers and pictures: PowerPoint is a great tool for presenting graphics and numbers to stakeholders. It’s how they present information to each other. You should too.
Sometimes you have to use logic: Accept the fact that there might not always be data to support a particular situation. Not having numbers to back up your position could make a successful argument problematic, so you may have to turn to “if … then …” logic to shed light on a situation. However, don’t expect the same results or response from stakeholders—numbers rule with them.
Waiting is never a good option: Don’t wait until a problem is obvious—it’s often more difficult to solve the issue at that point.
Always offer a solution: If you are going to bring up a problem without offering a potential solution, you might as well tell the stakeholders, “Fire me now.” Finding solutions is part of your job as project manager.
Specify the actions required of them: If stakeholders need to take action, don’t assume it will be obvious to them. Restate—in list form—what actions need to be taken and when.
Always say “yes,” but make sure they understand how much “yes” costs: Sponsors and stakeholders don’t like to be told “no,” so don’t do it. Just make sure they understand the cost of their request, so they can judge for themselves whether or not “yes” is worth it.
Don’t stop reporting status because stakeholders stop requiring it: Perception is reality. If stakeholders perceive that you aren’t doing anything—your not. Don’t let your head be the next one on the chopping block.

Regardless of your company’s work management methodology, there are a lot of project management tools available to help manage tasks and time-lines—some will help you more effectively communicate with the stakeholders in your organization. Whether or not your chosen project management tool facilitates that kind of communication, ignoring that important part of your role as project manager is dangerous. What do you do in your organization to encourage a positive relationship with stakeholders?

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“Tuning” Post Implementation

25 January 2012 - POSTED by Kristyn Gunderson

Having grown up in Colorado, skiing has always been a favorite past time in my family. While skis can be costly, my father taught me how to properly take care of them. It is just as important to tune and wax your skis periodically every year, as it is to buy the right equipment. Keeping up on the maintenance of a pair of skis is not only necessary for them to last longer, but also to help skiing performance.

Just as tuning and waxing a pair of skis is essential to have high performance while skiing, it is necessary to continually “tune” the way you work.

Post Implementation Consulting Team Lead, Dave Johnston, talks about the benefits, options and processes of consulting services after AtTask implementation to help stay waxed and tuned to achieve high performance.

Kristyn: Looking at the implementation, where does your role fit in the process?

Dave: The purpose of our team is to help customers once they’ve already gone through implementation. So after implementation, they may have taken a couple education courses, finished working with the consultant, and that’s where we come in. Often times, once people have been working in the tool questions will still come up but it may be more complicated than just needing basic support. Our team is able to help customize the support and walk clients through different obstacles if they arise.

Kristyn: How does the post implementation consulting work? Are there different packages?

Dave: After the consultant works with the client and time runs out we noticed sometimes there is still a need. So when you can’t use your consulting time anymore, you can still have the customer support that is personalized to your needs.

Secondly, there are three different packages: silver-25 hours, gold-50 hours and platinum-100 hours. The time can be used on essentially anything the customer needs. We’ll do training, reporting building or sometimes a combination of the two. Having that extra time helps to walk people through it, explaining features along the way so they fully understand how it functions and how it works specifically for their needs.

Kristyn: How do you not only get in touch with a post implementation consultant, but also find out more about the packages?

Dave: Getting in touch with a post implementation consultant is easy. In the help desk there is post implementation queue where you can fill out the specific needs or complications, hit submit and AtTask contacts you. Also, to find more information on any consulting services, or the post implementation packages specifically, everything is at Community.attask.com.

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A Personal Stake in the Outcome

24 January 2012 - POSTED by Ty Kiisel

I recently finished reading Eric Ries’ The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses. I included the subtitle because, Ries suggests, business leaders and project teams should consider themselves “entrepreneurs” and should be working to create the innovation that will make our organizations successful.

Not too long ago, I asked if it made sense for project team members to feel a sense of skin in the game, I believe it does. Ries suggests, that people “…need a personal stake in the outcome of their creations.”

Neither he nor I believe this always needs to be some kind of financial stake (although that sometimes makes a lot of sense), however even in organizations where a financial stake is unacceptable or impossible because the organization is a non-profit or government, “…it is still possible for teams to have a personal stake,” says Ries.

Ries describes how Toyota creates this sense of personal ownership and stake in the outcome with the role of shusa, or chief engineer:

“Shusa are often called heavy-weight project managers in the U.S. literature, but this name understates their real roles as design leaders. Toyota employees translate the term as chief engineer, and they refer to the vehicle under development as the shusha’s car. They assured us that the shusa has final, absolute authority over every aspect of vehicle development.”

The shusa is responsible for the development of every new car from start to finish. In the late 70s I met an engineer at Toyota who was really excited to pull out the schematics of the quarter-panel he designed. My first thought as he describe how this was “his” quarter-panel was, “It’s a fender.” That “fender” happened to be recognized as part of the best engineered car in the world that year. All these years later, I admire his passion and sense of ownership. I don’t know if he had a financial stake, but his name was attached to the car and he definitely felt a personal stake in the outcome of that project.

When teams have a personal stake in the outcome of a project (whether financial or otherwise) they feel a greater sense of ownership, perform at a higher level and ultimately contribute to the success of their organizations. What are you doing to give your team a personal stake in project outcomes?

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The Value of a Social Network

20 January 2012 - POSTED by Ty Kiisel

Last night I made a presentation at an event sponsored by the Social Commerce Exchange. It’s not a project management group, but it is a network of people who share ideas, network and try to learn how to better leverage social media to accomplish the goals of their very diverse organizations. Not unlike the #pmot or #pmchat communities I enjoy interacting with about project management topics, I think there’s value looking outside of the PM community to get fresh ideas and learn new techniques. Because I’m an advocate of leveraging social media best practice within the project management process generally, learning what others are doing to communicate with their audiences is very informative.

Outside of project management, are there other communities you visit or forums you frequent? I’m a big believer of utilizing techniques and approaches from other industries that are successful (but possibly untried in ours), to increase productivity, improve collaboration and help individual team members maximize their contributions.

Attending events like the Social Commerce Exchange is part of what I do to improve my EVE ratio. Events like this often happen after work, I don’t get paid to be there, but I think it’s an important investment in my career. What are you doing to improve you skills and move the needle on your EVE ratio?

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Crude Confrontation Curtails Collaboration

19 January 2012 - POSTED by Ty Kiisel

There was a boy in elementary school who had a reputation for being tough and liked to bully the kids that were smaller or appeared weaker than him. He was the best athlete in our class, he could run faster, hit the softball farther and was definitely the strongest. Everyone was afraid of him. I was afraid of him.

As we got older and left elementary school he kind of slipped into anonymity. He wasn’t so tough anymore nor could he bully us anymore. In fact, I completely lost track of him and never really noticed him in high school.

Although grown-up bullies still exist, they aren’t quite as frightening as they were when I was in elementary school. Nevertheless, that type of brutish atmosphere isn’t very conducive to creativity and collaboration. However, even more than a bully, I think there is something else that makes it difficult for teams to effectively collaborate.

We work in an age of instant messaging, email and other almost instantaneous communication. We can’t let the immediacy of the medium allow us to become callous and casual in how we approach our co-workers, even when problems arise and mistakes are made. I believe that even in today’s workplace, there is a place for common (maybe not so common now) courtesy.

Take time to make communication thoughtful and cordial: When timelines are truncated and project teams are asked to do more and more, take an extra few seconds when writing an email or other communique to consider that your communication is going to a person. I like to begin every email with a salutation, which reminds me that I am writing to someone. The extra two or three seconds it takes me to address the person I’m writing to doesn’t negatively impact my productivity, but it does help me foster a productive and cordial working relationship.
Take time to be polite: Within the imperfect world of project-based work, sometimes difficult decisions take place. That doesn’t mean we can throw civility out the window. Over the thirty-plus years of my career I’ve watched what used to be considered common courtesy among superiors, subordinates and co-workers become “quaint” and considered “unnecessary.” There is nothing wrong with considering the feelings of someone needing correcting, regardless of how stupid you think they are or how big a mistake you think they’ve made. Being polite and considerate of each other is the very least we should be able to expect from our “professional” colleagues. Anything less is unproductive and immature.
Remove the criticism from “constructive” criticism: I was taught early in my career, by friends and colleagues much wiser than myself, that “criticism” is never “constructive.” I don’t think I have ever worked with a project team that agreed all the time. Project management involves a lot of problem solving, which means that it’s seldom done right the first time. Fostering a creative environment where team members are creatively solving problems and pushing for excellence requires collaboration, not criticism. Where disagreements arise or a course correction is required, “I don’t like this,” should be followed by, “Here’s why, and here’s a suggestion as to how you might proceed.”
Remember that critique is always easier than execution: It’s always easier to see the flaws from the outside looking in. Theodore Roosevelt said, “It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause who, at the best knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

Effective communication and collaboration doesn’t rely on tricks or gimmicks. In my opinion, it’s important to remember that effective communication is personal. It doesn’t matter if it’s face to face, via email, or even in a blog—its one person interacting with another. Project management tools can help facilitate this, but it’s really up to you.

American author and playwright Jean Kerr said, “Man is the only animal that learns by being hypocritical. He pretends to be polite and then, eventually, he becomes polite.”

What are you doing in your organization to encourage considerate and courteous interaction among your colleagues?

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