Power of Reflections

 Power of Reflections 

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 

As we discuss the importance of developing project management skills to get things done in addition to functional expertise as we move up the career ladder, 80 % of the tasks are non-repetitive or project nature, and we may need to deal with many stakeholders who may not be directly reporting to us.

We discussed the relevance of defining outcomes, reducing the complexity into simplicity, holistic planning, big picture orientation, insights on stakeholder outcomes, reducing changes and minimizing conflicts.

The next principle i personally learned from project management is “ Reflecting from experience.”
 
What does it mean to reflect?
 
Reflecting is taking time from regular activities and looking back at the experiences to learn what went right/wrong and the reason for right/ wrong.
This process is more powerful in deep learning as it improves the confidence and assurance of positive actions and helps to learn valuable lessons from failure.
One of the unique concepts of project management is that irrespective of the project's success or failure, once the project is completed, it suggests documenting the key learning from the project.
During the key learning session, the team discusses and documents the practices that helped or affected the projects, relooking at the assumptions, what went right and wrong, etc.
 
How this practice of reflecting will help any professional?

The reflection process helps any professional who, after completing the task, spends some time thinking about what worked well and what did not work.
 
One research reveals that the habit of reflection differentiates between extraordinary and mediocre performers, and a person with courage can only do the reflection process. Initially, it will be challenging to reflect on our own mistakes and admit them.
 
How do we develop the habit of reflection?
 

1. Whenever you finish any major task or milestone, take some time and reflect on the experience. For example, after attending the interview or meeting the new client, think about what you have done well, what could have been done, how you could have responded to the query, etc
2. Some people have the habit of writing a journal daily/weekly/monthly, which could help to reflect upon the general experience during the period.
3. Along with the team, sharing the experiences will also help to reflect.

 
An important point is that learning from our own experiences will be powerful learning that can be developed with self-awareness and practice.
 
Let us summarise key learnings of project management in professional development next week.
 
Have a great week ahead!

Minimizing Conflicts

  Minimizing Conflicts

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 

As we discuss the importance of developing project management skills to get things done in addition to functional expertise as we move up the career ladder, 80 % of the tasks are non-repetitive or project nature, and we may need to deal with many stakeholders who may not be directly reporting to us.

We discussed the relevance of defining outcomes, simplifying the complexity, holistic planning, big-picture orientation, insights on stakeholder outcomes, and reducing changes.
 
The next principle we can learn from project management is “minimizing conflicts.”
 
In a project environment, there is always uncertainty, which leads to conflict in ensuring timeline commitment, operating within budget, and delivering service/ product as per expectation. Being aware of this, seasoned project managers always focus on estimating the time and budget with all contingencies, giving them more power and a stress-free mindset when things go wrong.

In my earlier project experience, many times i made the mistake of underestimating the time and budgeting and got into conflict and stressful moments. Essential learning is the ability to predict some changes in advance and add some buffer in time and cost instead of looking at a straight line.

Also, project management insists on role clarity for all team members, performance expectations, and setting the right communication forum to discuss the issues, which i see as the proactive conflict management practices.

One of the studies says that conflict happens 91% of the time due to internal organization issues like lack of communication, underestimation of time, and role clarity rather than external issues like change in customer specification, macroeconomics, etc.

Project management focuses on minimizing conflict with contingency planning and communication processes.
 
How can the functional head apply this insight?
 

1. Whenever you initiate a new task, spend more time estimating time and budget estimates with all possible contingencies.
2. Define the roles and responsibilities of each member and set the performance expectations right at the beginning.

For example, as Human Resources head, while planning manpower budgeting for the financial year, if you spend quality time on the estimation of new recruit numbers, existing cost of retaining talent, market expectation on remuneration on new talent and its effect on internal with contingency will help you to get the proper budgeting approval from management and avoid the conflict later.

We often fail to anticipate changes, think situations are always straight lines, and underestimate contingency planning.
 
The key is most of the conflict comes on cost and timeline, which can be managed with proactive contingency planning.

Have a great week ahead.

Managing changes

 Managing changes

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 

As we discuss the importance of developing project management skills to get things done in addition to functional expertise as we move up the career ladder, 80 % of the tasks are non-repetitive or project nature, and we may need to deal with many stakeholders who may not be directly reporting to us.

We discussed the relevance of defining outcomes in the beginning, reducing the complexity into simplicity, holistic planning, big-picture orientation, insights on stakeholder management, and proactiveness.
 
The next principle we can learn from project management is “managing the changes.”
 
Insights on managing changes: 

Project management insists that change is inevitable and cannot be avoided despite the best planning process. Whenever change happens, it advocates to look at the impact of change and keep the stakeholders informed. Also, any change can be manageable with a tradeoff with resources.
 
Primarily, it teaches project managers to handle the change comfortably.
 
 How can functional managers apply this insight?

Whenever we take new initiatives, despite our planning, things may go differently as we move ahead. How we face and handle the change with a different perspective makes us better at executing the work.

For example, as a Planning Head, you are doing your best to make a production plan and get into execution. Suddenly, a key customer is changing the quantity and due date, which is the change.

How would you be able to handle this comfortably?

1. As a proactive, you could have given some buffer in the initial planning if you are good at analytics and pattern reading of the customer's past trend.
2. Now, accept the change as part of your work. That mindset makes you accept reality and look for the next step.
3. Understand the consequence or impact of change in other’s customer’s orders or capacity
4. Keep the customers informed about the possibilities of accommodating as most of the time, lack of communication creates further chaos in the system
5. Understand the impact and trade-off required on timeline or quantity and cost aspects like overtime/ outsourcing, etc, and keep the relevant stakeholders like customers, plant head, and other functional teams informed.

The key point is that change is inevitable, and each comes with some other impact; being aware of the impact, working out tradeoffs as solutions, and keeping the stakeholders informed are all aspects of managing changes.
 
Most functional heads struggle when things are not going as planned, which is nothing but a need to learn the art of managing the changes comfortably.

Have a great week ahead.

Being Proactive

  Being Proactive  

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 

As we discuss the importance of developing project management skills to get things done in addition to functional expertise as we move up the career ladder, 80 % of the tasks are non-repetitive or project nature, and we may need to deal with many stakeholders who may not be directly reporting to us.

We discussed the relevance of defining outcomes, reducing the complexity into simplicity, holistic planning, big-picture orientation, and insights on stakeholder management to get things done.
 
The next principle we can learn from project management is “proactiveness.”

Proactiveness is a behavior that involves acting in advance for future situations rather than reacting.
 
In project management, more emphasis is given to proactiveness. Since there is more uncertainty in   projects by nature, anything may happen, and things will not happen as planned. Project management insists on identifying possible failures or risks and possible solutions and options to overcome the failures. Project management is all about managing risk and people.

How can a functional manager use this insight?

Develop the habit of foreseeing the failure modes in any initiatives and to have plan B and move on. 

When we do not foresee the possible risk and mitigation plan, we either tend to worry or blame the circumstances when something goes wrong.

This thought process of anticipating failure and having a backup plan is always a proactive approach that each functional head can practice.
 
For example,

As Human resource head, you decide on a succession plan for a person with X; what will happen if X leaves the organization? Plan B helps.
As Planning Head, you are planning to produce X items; what will happen to plant utilization if the plan is disturbed due to a change in customer schedule? Plan B helps
As plant head, your plant capacity is X; what will happen if demand zooms to 2X? Plan B helps
You are presenting a business plan to your customer; what will happen if your system does not work? Can you manage? Plan B helps.

We need to foresee possible risks or failures in any functional event and think that plan B will help us psychologically when things go wrong. That is proactiveness.
 
Proactiveness is a habit, and it will come from awareness and practice.
 
Have a great week ahead!

Introducing book: How to Win Friends and Influence?

  Introducing book: How to Win Friends and Influence?

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 

As we discussed developing project management skills to get things done, one of the principles we highlighted was " stakeholder management. " It is more about managing and influencing people during the task planning and execution.

In relation to the topic of stakeholder management, i thought the book " How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie would be more relevant.

The author provided many simple, powerful gestures when dealing with people with examples. Most ideas are common sense, but we miss them when dealing with others. He outlined many fundamental techniques for handling people in the workplace. Despite the book being written more than 50 years ago, it is still one of the international best sellers because of its content, ease of reading, and easy-to-grasp people management skills.

Recommend this book if you want to improve your workplace people management skills.
https://amzn.to/46apmku

Have a great week ahead.

Managing Stakeholders

 Managing Stakeholders  

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 

As we discuss the importance of developing project management skills to get things done in addition to functional expertise as we move up the career ladder, 80 % of the tasks are non-repetitive or project nature, and we may need to deal with many people who may not be directly reporting to us.

We discussed the relevance of project management principles in functional management, such as defining outcomes, reducing complexity into simplicity, holistic planning, and big-picture orientation.

The next principle we can learn from project management is “insights on managing stakeholders.”
 
What is managing stakeholders?

In any complex business task, many people will get involved directly or indirectly, and their influence will affect the outcome. Project management insists on stakeholder management as one of its components.

Stakeholder management is all about managing the people of varied interests/expectations who will affect the project outcome. It could be  involve them early, making them partners, communicating with them appropriately, and creating relationships. This management skill will help us to navigate the project successfully.

How can functional managers apply this insight?

Any initiative or task you do will need the support of others beyond your functions. The success or failure depends on the extent of collaboration we have with others. The others are stakeholders. They may have little interest in the initiative, or it may affect them or do not want it to be implemented.

Our management skill is to align all stakeholders to get things done.
 
For example,

Assume that you are the planning head and made a plan by coordinating sales and operations. In reality, things will go differently than planned, and you must change the plan frequently. When you change the plan frequently, it will affect the many stakeholders in the system, and they will get upset with the frequent changes.

In this situation, balancing the big picture of customer's order delivery and unexpected changes in a plan,  how you manage many stakeholders, and finally getting things done will be the testimonial of your stakeholder management skill.

Some of the tactics highly  effective people use to manage stakeholders, as i observed

1. Think and identify the people who will  benefit and be affected by the initiative
2. Approach and brief them in a personal and professional way about the purpose of the initiative and get their support
3. Make the stakeholders as team members 
4. Keep them communicated about the progress frequently so that they are not surprised and also feel included 
 
 To summarise,
we must develop the ability to look at the stakeholders beyond our circle and make them inclusive by communicating with them appropriately and building relationships.
 
When we develop stakeholder management in any task, the likelihood of getting things done will be high.

Have a great week ahead!