Organizational Leadership

By Laura Rose • June 14th, 2013

Steve Wynkoop and I were talking a lot about designing and managing our professional careers on a weekly interview on SSWUG.org. This episode was about what steps to change your position in the your current company.

I received the below great question a few days after my Art of War for Product Managers and High-Performing Professionals.  I thought you might be interested in the answer as well. What if two product manager colleagues disagree on something and can only agree to disagree and cannot come to a resolution, what do you [...]

There are things in our professional careers that naturally scare us, but are required for advancement and continued growth. We are normally afraid of places we haven’t been before, things we haven’t tried before or subject matter that we know nothing about. If fear is a sign that we are pushing our envelop, then conquering that fear is a sign of real personal and professional growth.
So, how do we gather enough courage to take that next step?

This week we will take a short-cut into slapping ourselves back on the path. We won’t spend time investigating why and what took us off our course. Instead, we will jump into action with the idea of “doing one scary thing a day” to help keep up moving forward at a faster pace.

Which is more effective to improve team performance: positive feedback or constructive criticism? a positive culture or a negative one? The answer: both. The real question: in what proportion? The answer to the proportion question, from new research by Michigan doctoral student Emily Heaphy and team productivity consultant Marcial Losada: The ratio of positive-to-negative statements [...]

Everyone in development knows about Agile. However, Organizational Project Management (OPM) is still relatively unheard of. Simply stated; OPM focuses on linking strategy with project work.  This is the ultimate framework to make sure that your project  creates the right enterprise outcomes and not just outputs.   Today I am heading to the Project Management [...]

Sticking with my basics theme, how do you feel about building relationships?  Does it scare you or does it excite you?  Do you feel like its unnecessary or extremely important?  Maybe the better question is…HOW? Well if you ask me, I would say it excites me and I think its extremely important!  Then again, I [...]

I have been writing and speaking for a number of years about the need to create an environment for successful projects. It’s heartwarming to find a “student” who personifies this approach. Here is a summary of postings by Vickie M in a UC Extension course on management, leadership, and team building in the project environment: [...]

“Most success springs from an obstacle or failure. I became a cartoonist largely because I failed in my goal of becoming a successful executive.” Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill “Notice the difference between what happens when a man says to himself, [...]

Dumping-off.  We ask others to do stuff for us all the time – stuff we don’t want to do, don’t have the time to do, and couldn’t do even if we had the time.  We drop our suits off for pressing (a task we can’t do), our car for an oil change (a task we [...]

Hi, I’m Camille and I’m an extrovert. (Hi, Camille.) I confess that from time to time I’ve overlooked the talents that introverts have to offer. I’m reforming. On a recent flight, I read Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. I picked it up because in my [...]

Managing Projects Overseas – Part III – Simplify the Process We just spoke of global perspective of managing projects overseas, followed with how PMs can minimize culture gaps in these situations. We now conclude with a value-based sequel relating to simplifying the process as we successfully manage our project (s) overseas. Meeting Your Timeline Objective: [...]

Managing Overseas Projects – Part I – A Global Perspective All of us have had a fair share of success in managing projects either in our own cities and/or across our country. While some of us on a few occasions have had the fortune of also engaging in projects that are overseas (the meaning of [...]

“Reason has not come to repeat the universe but to fulfill it.” -Santayana One of the great joys in life is when I get to work with clients around organizational, cultural, and community issues, sometimes we work in the woods, sometimes in the field, sometimes in a classroom, and sometime in an office environment. No [...]

It’s impossible not to judge. Telling someone else “not to judge” — shows you have made the judgment that they are judging. Most opinions, descriptions, decisions, views, rulings, and critiques are judgments.

I received the below great question a few days after my Art of War for Product Managers and High-Performing Professionals.  I thought you might be interested in the answer as well. Q: Many senior employees work under my lead. In this case, many other senior employees think that what a lucky me. Jealousy is coming [...]

Most everyone is familiar with Pro and Con lists to help make a decision. Often times the Pro and Con List does very little to clarify the decision – because – well – the reason you are creating the Pro/Con list is because it was a ‘close call’ to begin with. We don’t go to the trouble of making a Pro and Con list on ‘no-brainers’. Often times the pro and cons are pretty equal – making the decision still difficult. Our mistake is that we stop at this point. We don’t take the next step to reduce the impact of the “Cons”.

Delivering Your 4th Dimension – Value Based Reporting By Dr. Shree Nanguneri on March 20th, 2013 “Guys, our reports are due this Friday to our client!” This rings a loud bell in our ears as project managers. While you compile those reports, you might find some that are excessively detailed; others that are not written [...]

Delighting Your Customers! By Dr. Shree Nanguneri Ever thought about a time when a salesman, provider or a vendor asked you if you were delighted with their product and/or services?  Probably, much less often than you wished.  By the same token, do you recall your customer or manager complaining about a Defective product or a [...]

The topic of leadership is on the forefront of most, if not all, organizations these days. It’s one of the most talked about and yet least understood topics in the business world. Today I entered the generic term “leadership” in a Google search and it came back with more than 462,000 results. When I changed [...]

One of my core beliefs is that we are most happy when we feel we’re making progress in our lives. It’s painful for us to remain stagnant in life. In fact, growth is not an option; it’s a necessity. Grow or die. That is the biological imperative that all living organisms experience. “Without continual growth [...]