Turn Your New Year’s Resolutions into a Project

If you’re like me, you have had a few challenges with achieving your New Year’s resolutions. Willpower, lack of focus, not really your resolution but one that someone else thought would be good for you, not knowing how to go about achieving the resolution. These are all things that have kept me from being as successful as I would have liked to have been in the past. So what can we do to be successful in achieving our New Year’s Resolution? Last year I decided to attack my resolutions a little differently. I decided to turn them into a Project and to use Project Management and Goal Setting techniques to successfully achieve my Resolutions. After all, I am a Project Manager. The process you should go through is as follows:

1. Document your resolution in as much detail and as specifically as possible. In other words, identify what it is that you want to happen and by when.
2. Identify at least 3 reasons why you want to achieve each resolution. The more ‘whys’ you can come up with, the better chance you have of being successful. (If you can’t come up with at least 3 ‘whys’ then maybe this really isn’t your resolution)
3. Consider each resolution and identify the actions you will need to take to achieve it.
4. Identify how these actions relate to each other and schedule their completion as part of an Achievement Plan for each resolution.
5. Gather together each of the Achievement Plans into a Resolutions Achievement Plan(RAP).
6. Include a review of the RAP activities as part of your normal day-to-day planning process and include necessary activities into your normal Activity Planner.
7. Monitor the achievement of your actions on a timely basis. Take whatever action is necessary to stay on target and keep your RAP up to date.

Let me give you 4 hints on how to keep yourself motivated and focused on achievement.

1. Read your resolutions and the reasons why you want to achieve them at least once a day and preferably twice.
2. Visualize yourself having already achieved the resolution and while you are reading them put that vision in your head.
3. Get a buddy, let them know what you are doing and ask them to help hold you to your RAP by asking for achievement information.
4. Whenever you are trying to do something or not do it ask yourself this question, “Will doing this take me closer to or further away from achieving my resolutions?” Once you get that answer decide whether you want to do it or not.

The last thing is to ‘Have Fun’ doing this, remember to enjoy the day-to-day journey and you will have a much greater chance of achieving whatever it is that you truly want to achieve in 2016. Good Luck and Have Fun.

Let me know how things turn out.

Richard

Richard Morreale is a professional speaker, author, trainer, and c-suite consultant specializing in Program and Project Management, Change Management and Success Strategies. For more information or to book Richard as a speaker email him at richard@richardmorreale.com or ring him at 336 598 2793.

Identify the skills, attitudes and behaviours you believe you need as a Project Manager and establish a Personal Development Plan.

If you have been reading my articles, you will know that I believe that successful Project Management is about 20% ‘hard skills’ as they relate to Planning, Organising, Monitoring and Controlling and about 80% ‘soft skills’ as they relate to attitudes and behaviours.

One of the important things that I believe Project Managers should do is identify the attitudes and behaviors they believe they need to be a truly great Project Manager and they need to work hard to achieve them. By the way, if you are a Project Manager why would you want to be anything other than a great one. I’m sorry, I’m going off on a tangent here but I think Project Managers should work to be the best they can be. Most people like people who are striving to be their best. After all, how many records do you think Tina Turner would have sold if her hit single in the 80’s was named, Simply the Average? I can tell you – not many. It was named, Simply the Best for a reason and it sold millions!  So, I believe Project Managers should work to be the best they can be.

To be the best they can be, they need to have an absolute working knowledge of the Hard Skills of Planning, Organizing, Managing and Controlling. And they have to have and practice Soft Skills. Some of the ‘soft skills’ that have come up when I’ve asked my audiences to tell me what Soft Skills they believe are required by Project Managers are Enthusiasm, Energy, Honesty, Professionalism, Good Communicator, Empathy, Openness, Approachability, Sense of Humor, Fairness, Passion, Go For It Approach, Commitment to Excellence, Commitment to Success, an Extra Miler, Caring, Good Listener and Motivator. You may come up with different ‘soft skills’ and that’s OK.

Whatever you come up with, identify the top 8 characteristics you feel you need to be successful and grade yourself for each characteristic on a scale from 1 to 10. 1 being so poor at it you almost get suicidal thinking about it and 10 being so good at it that people throw rose petals in front of you as you walk into the office. Don’t spend too much time on analysing where you are on the 1 to 10 scale just mark it by your gut feelings. Once you’ve done this, you will have a list of attitudes and behaviors that you (not someone who has told you but you) believe you require to be a truly great Project Manager and you know where to start devoting some time to getting better.

I once had a Sales Person who did this exercise on one of my seminars and marked herself a 10 on all of her 8 characteristics. She lasted about a month with me. She had a real interesting sense of her ability.

I would use your analysis of your characteristics as the basis for a Personal Development Plan. I suspect that you rated yourself somewhere between a 3 and an 8 on most, if not all, of your characteristics. So you could really improve in most areas. Search for those things that will help you get better in the areas where you really need to get better. Start studying, reading, listening to CD programs and watching DVD’s recorded by some of the truly great Personal Development speakers and authors. Practice what they recommend and then every 6 months or so go through the same exercise of rating yourself and see how you are doing compared with your previous scores.

Suggest to your Project Team that they do it also. In fact, why not lead them through a facilitated session in setting up their Personal Development Plan. By the way, I think that the Personal Development Plan should not be shared with others. It is a personal matter and I believe it should be kept that way.

I believe that once you start doing this you will see yourself becoming the best Project Manager you can be. This will help you become more successful in dealing with people and in managing your Projects.

Enjoy the Journey

Richard

Richard Morreale is a professional speaker, author, trainer, and c-suite consultant specializing in Program and Project Management, Change Management and Success Strategies. For more information or to book Richard as a speaker email him at richard@richardmorreale.com or ring him at 336 598 2793.

The 3 Amigos – A Project Management Idea That Wins

When I take on a project, I describe my Management Team and me as the ‘3 Amigos’. I consider the ‘3 Amigos’ to be the Project Manager (1), the person on the Project that I have appointed as the Technical Director or the technical lead(2) and a Project Support Officer (3).

Although I have successfully managed some really huge technical Projects in my life. I do not come from a technical background. I have had lots of different jobs since I started working in aerospace as a messenger. And my college degree is in Business. I’m not saying that I can’t understand technical issues but I do not have the experience necessary to really dig into the technical aspects of some Projects. And, by the way, I am not all that interested. Hence, I assign a person in charge of the technical aspects of the project.

When I was assigned to manage my first Project, I obviously took the job even though I didn’t have a technical background and the Project was a highly technical one. So what did I do? I worked out a plan that showed that I needed some hotshot technical people. They were assigned to me and I made one of them my Technical Lead. Her name was Rebecca and she was just great. Her job was to spend all of her time on technical issues and brief me on the various options associated with them. My lack of technical experience didn’t keep me from being smart enough to understand the issues. My job was to consider not only the technical issues but also the ramifications around cost, schedule and other resources and to make the decisions. It worked just great and it was on that Project, early in my career, that I realised that by appointing a Technical Lead who understood the technical issues associated with the Project, I could manage any Project. I am not a civil engineer but I know that I can build a bridge or a building. I would hire the best Civil Engineer that I could find and put her in charge of the technical aspects of the project. I believe that a really good Project Manager with a really good Technical Director can take on almost, if not every, type of Project and deliver it.

The 3^rd person in the ‘3 Amigos’ is the Project Support Officer who either manages a Project Support Office (if the Project is big enough) or is the Project Support Office (if the Project is not big enough to have a Project Support Office Team). This person is responsible for supporting the rest of the Project Team and me in the areas of Project Planning and Control, Configuration Management, including Change Control, Risk and Issue Management, Action Item Administration, Documentation Management and other areas.

I believe in the ‘3 Amigos’ concept and I will never run a Project without my other 2 Amigos. And you should consider not doing it without your other 2 Amigos also.

Enjoy the Journey,

Richard

Richard Morreale is a professional speaker, author, trainer, and c-suite consultant specializing in Program and Project Management, Change Management and Success Strategies. For more information or to book Richard as a speaker email him at richard@richardmorreale.com or ring him at 336 598 2793.

The Cookie Thief by Valerie Cox

Have you ever thought you were right – I mean absolutely knew you were right without a doubt – only to find out eventually that you were wrong. Recently, my glasses broke and I asked my wife, Linda, if she had seen them as I know that she uses them sometimes. Well, she said that she hadn’t used them recently and she had given them to me the last time she used them so that I could put them somewhere safe. Somewhere that I could find them when I needed them. Well, I knew she was wrong. I just knew that she had misplaced them. I got a little angry and told her that her memory was failing her in her old age (she’s just 54).  Not a good thing to say. But anyway, she said she had given them to me and that was that. Well, you know the end of this story, don’t you? I found them in a drawer in the living room. Right where I had put them so that I wouldn’t forget where they were if I ever needed them. Now, I’m not going to say something foolish like,  I found them in the last place I looked. Anyway this is just one of many stories that I could tell you about being wrong when I knew, without a doubt, I was right. I bet you have a few stories you could tell me.

I discovered this poem a few years ago on a Dr Wayne Dyer Program. I really like it. Thought you might like it too.

A woman was waiting at an airport one night
With several long hours before her flight
She hunted for a book in the airport shop
Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop

She was engrossed in her book but happened to see
That the man beside her as bold as could be
Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between
Which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene

She munched cookies and watched the clock
As this gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock
She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by
Thinking “If I wasn’t so nice I’d blacken his eye”

With each cookie she took he took one too
And when only one was left she wondered what he’d do
With a smile on his face and a nervous laugh
He took the last cookie and broke it in half

He offered her half as he ate the other
She snatched it from him and thought “Oh brother
This guy has some nerve and he’s also rude
Why he didn’t even show any gratitude”

She had never known when she had been so galled
And sighed with relief when her flight was called
She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate
Refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate

She boarded the plane and sank in her seat
Then sought her book which was almost complete
As she reached in her baggage she gasped with surprise
There was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes

“If mine are here” she moaned with despair
“Then the others were his and he tried to share”
“Too late to apologize she realized with grief”
That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief

Enjoy the Journey,

Richard

Richard Morreale is a professional speaker, author, trainer, and c-suite consultant specializing in Program and Project Management, Change Management and Success Strategies. For more information or to book Richard as a speaker email him at richard@richardmorreale.com or ring him at 336 598 2793.

Direct the Project With a Project Board

There are going to be plenty of times during a Project when you, the Project Manager, will have difficulties that you will not be able to overcome on your own and you will need help from senior management. So, as a Project Manager, I feel it is important to have someone or some group you can turn to when you need help to get something done either in the client’s, the user’s or the developer’s organisation.

For this reason I believe it is of utmost importance that you establish, specifically for your Project, a Project Board or a Project Steering Committee or whatever it is that you want to call it. The important thing is that you make sure, in whatever way you can, you get the right people assigned to this group. As a minimum, you should have a senior representative from the developer’s organisation, a senior representative from the client’s organisation and a senior representative from the organisation that is going to actually use what you and your Team are delivering. You need to also make sure that a Project Sponsor is part of this group.

These representatives must not only be at a level sufficient enough in their particular area that they can make decisions for that area of the organisation but they must also be able to make things happen when you need things to happen. They need to be able to deliver. They must be truly committed to the Project, and to the Project’s successful delivery. These people need to know what they are doing. In a real sense they are directing the Project but at the same time they are servants to you and your Team.

You must remember this – a Project Board appointed to just “tick a box” is worse than having no Project Board at all. With a “tick the box” Project Board we have the false impression that we’ve got the help when we need it only to find out too late that they do nothing for us.

Just do it. Put a Project Board in place and reap the benefits!

Enjoy the Journey,

Richard

Richard Morreale is a professional speaker, author, trainer, and c-suite consultant specializing in Program and Project Management, Change Management and Success Strategies. For more information or to book Richard as a speaker email him at richard@richardmorreale.com or ring him at 336 598 2793.

Project Planning – The Steps to Produce a Structured Plan

My article last week introduced Project Planning as one of the most essential steps to take in the management of your project. I wrote that next to Requirements Documentation Project Planning is the second most important thing for a Project Manager to do. I talked about what I saw as the contents of a good Plan. I also identified what happens when you don’t have a plan and mentioned that in all my audits of successful and unsuccessful projects, I found that lack of proper planning was the 2nd most reason that projects failed. I also wrote that for a plan to be accepted by all those on the project, they would have to have helped put it together. Today, I’m going to write about how to structure your planning.

So what does a structured plan look like. Well, a structured Project Plan is broken down into a number of levels. Those levels are: Level 1 – Project, Level 2 – Stages, Level 3 – Products, Level 4 – Milestones, Level 5 – Activities, Level 6 – Tasks.

In terms of the plan, the Project itself is the top level and it can be broken down into a number of sequential or slightly overlapping Stages. Each Stage can be broken down into at least one but, in almost all cases, a number of Products. Each of the Products are produced and delivered by completing a number of Activities. Some Project Plans even break the Activities down into Tasks to provide greater granularity of the work required to produce the Product. Milestones can be identified at whichever level you wish for tracking purposes. In terms of this example, I’ve established the Milestones at the Product level.

By the way, I don’t care what names you give to the various planning levels just as long as your planning is structured into logical levels. Some people might substitute the term Phases for Stages; Deliverables for Products; Tasks for Activities and Activities for Tasks. It doesn’t matter what you call the different levels as long as you pick one naming standard and stick with it. It’s not the name that’s important. The important thing is that you do it.

So, what’s the process that you go through to develop the Project Plan? Well, the Project Plan on any of the Projects I’ve managed, say over the last 30 years, was developed by following this 9-step Planning Process. The amount of time you take to prepare this plan using the steps below depend, obviously, on the size and complexity of the project. The steps are as follows:

Step	Action
1	Break the Project down into major Stages of work. A major Stage of work delivers a major product at the end of the Stage.
2	Identify the Products to be produced and delivered in each Stage. The work in each major Stage will produce at least one and maybe more than one Product.
3	Describe, in detail, the agreed content standards for each of the Products. The actual contents down to the Section, Subsection and lower, if needed for estimating, monitoring or controlling, should be documented.
4	Produce an Activity breakdown of the work required to produce each Product. Based on the contents standard, what are the Activities that need to be accomplished to produce each of the Products.
5	Organize the Activities into a ‘Dependency Network’. This network will show start and completion relationships among all of the Activities.
6	Identify planning and estimating criteria for each Activity. This is the criteria used to estimate timescales to complete an activity.
7	Assign resources to each Activity. Assign the people on your team that are available or the type of person you require. Use this to recruit or assign, as required.
8	Schedule each of the Activities using either an automated planning tool or manually. You can use a Project Management tool such as Microsoft Project or other Project Management tool you might have.
9	Smooth resources, as required, to create the most optimum schedule. Move Activities around as much as possible, within completion constraints, to smooth out the resource requirements.

This process will help you put a well-structured, comprehensive, realistic, achievable Project Plan in place.

And while you are doing all of this, remember to ‘Enjoy the Journey’

Richard Morreale is a professional speaker, author, trainer, and c-suite consultant specializing in Program and Project Management, Change Management and Success Strategies. For more information or to book Richard as a speaker email him at richard@richardmorreale.com or ring him at 336 598 2793.

Project Planning – One of the Most Essential Steps to Take in the Management of Your Project

Project Planning is one of the most essential steps to take in the management of your project. Produce a good Plan and go for it!

However, before I get into the specific ideas concerning planning and how I recommend that you do it, there are a number of things that I would like to say about the subject at an overall level.

First of all, when I talk about a plan, I define it as a scheduled list of interrelated Stages, Products, Activities, Milestones, Tasks, etc. along with assigned resources, estimated effort and planned elapsed time.

I believe that having a proper Project Plan is probably the second most important thing that the Project Manager must have in place. I say the second most important thing but I know  you can’t have two most important things. But if you could it would be the Requirements Specification and the Project Plan. I worked as Program Director for the CEO of a bank in London once who told me that the most important thing was the successful completion of a program I was managing while at the same time telling me that the other most important thing was a second program I was leading. There you go – two most important things.

In terms of Project Planning, I’m a firm believer in what Zig Ziglar says and he was probably not the first one to say it. “Failing to plan is planning to fail”.

Without an agreed, integrated Project Plan in place how does anyone on the project have any idea what they are supposed to be doing, when they are supposed to be doing it, who is depending on them doing it, when the various Milestones are going to be met, when the project will be delivered, and I’m sure I could think of loads of other reasons for the plan if I took the time. But, I think you get the picture.

If you want to ensure project failure, discontent on the project and chaos, just refuse to put a good Project Plan in place. By the way, in my experience, the lack of a detailed, well-structured Project Plan on a project is the second of the top 10 reasons that projects fail. The first reason is the lack of a detailed, agreed Requirements Specification.

And lastly, I’ve found that for a plan to be accepted and agreed to by the Project Team, the customers and all other stakeholders on the project, they must be part of the production of the Plan itself.  One of the worse things that a Project Manager can do is create the Project Plan without the assistance of those involved or affected by the plan and then expect them to be committed to it. It just won’t work.  You must have their involvement to get their commitment..

So join me on my next few articles when we’ll talk about the structure of the Project Plan and the steps you need to go through to prepare it.

Richard Morreale is a professional speaker, author, trainer, and c-suite consultant specializing in Program and Project Management, Change Management and Success Strategies. For more information or to book Richard as a speaker email him at richard@richardmorreale.com or ring him at 336 598 2793.

One of the Major Reasons Projects Fail – No Agreed and Controlled Requirement

Let me first of all define what criteria I use to determine if a project is a failure or not. The criteria I use is cost, schedule and expectations. I believe that a project is a failure if it costs more than what was approved, if it was delivered later than the approved schedule, if it did not meet customer expectations.

In all of my audits and reviews of Information Technology (IT) project failures – large and small, I’ve found that the top reason for failure is the lack of agreed and controlled requirements. In other words, the project team did not have a clear picture of what the customer wanted the team to build and deliver. And, in cases where there had been a clear picture of the requirements, changes to that clear picture were made but were not controlled properly.

I’ve always tried to work out why a Team of people would start building something before they knew what it was they were supposed to build or before they had a clear picture of what it is they were supposed to deliver. It’s just plain foolish, isn’t it? It’s easy to see how foolish it is if you were dealing with a builder that you hired to build your house. Before he started, you would definitely have blueprints, specs, etc. for the builder to follow. In addition, you would have agreed the cost and the delivery date. I know you wouldn’t just tell the builder to start without both of you understanding and agreeing the plans, specifications, costs and schedule.

So why do IT people do it? Why do IT Teams start building before they have it locked down as to what it is they must build? Well, let’s take a look at a number of reasons why I think they do.

One reason is that Senior Management, in most cases, are pushing for a delivery date that is usually very tight and usually not particularly feasible. So Project Managers feel like they need to take some short cuts to deliver on time. And one of the short cuts is to start working on what they believe they have to deliver before what they are supposed to deliver is documented and agreed. Or they say things like, “Let’s get the work started, we’ll do the documentation later”. And, of course, the documentation never gets done.

Another reason is that the development team members think they know what the customer wants and, therefore, they think they can get a head start and begin working on it before they finish discussing and documenting what the customer really wants.

An additional reason is that there is no process in place that defines how to go about delivering a project and, therefore, the Project Manager makes it up as he or she goes along and decides that a Requirements Document is not needed.

Starting work on a project before you know what it is that you are supposed to deliver at the end is always a mistake – A big mistake.

So, take the time to get a Requirements Document prepared, agreed and signed by at least the developers and the customer. File it in the project library and put it under strict Change Control.

Some of the benefits of doing this are:

• You and the team start off the project knowing what it is that needs to be delivered,
• It provides you with a firm baseline on which to develop your cost and schedule estimates,
• It provides you with an approved basis for evaluating proposed changes,
• It provides you with the basis for the preparation of System Test Specifications, and
• It helps in the communication between you, the development team, and the client.

So, make sure that you and the team know what is supposed to be delivered before you start working on delivering it.

Enjoy the Journey,

Richard

Richard Morreale is a professional speaker, author, trainer, and c-suite consultant specializing in Program and Project Management, Change Management and Success Strategies. For more information or to book Richard as a speaker email him at richard@richardmorreale.com or ring him at 336 598 2793.

What it Takes to Be a Great Project Manager (Part 3)

For the last 2 weeks, I have been Blogging about what it takes to be a great project manager. And if you are a project manager why not be the best you can be. What fun is there in just being average? The better you are the more opportunities you will have. After all, for those of you who can remember Tina Turner, how many singles do you think she would have sold if her hit song was  titled  ‘Simply the Average’? My guess is not many. That’s why the song was named ‘Simply the Best’. So let’s do whatever it takes to be ‘Simply the Best’ at what we do. There I go, preaching again. Sometimes I just can’t help myself.

At any rate, two weeks ago I wrote about the Hard Skills that make up part of the Project Management Greatness Equation. Last week I covered the Soft Skills that make up another portion of that Equation. And today I am writing about the Project Manager being a Master of Paradox. Let me explain what I mean.

I believe that a project manager must have a big ego. That is they must have the confidence that they can deliver almost anything. I mean, I’ve never built a bridge but I do know, without a doubt,  that I could manage the building of a bridge. Basically, I would use the same Project Management Hard and Soft Skills that I’ve used in every other type of Project. While I have the confidence that I could do it, I also need to have a small ego. An ego that would permit me to give most of the credit for the successful delivery of the bridge to the team because without them nothing would have been done. Big Ego – Small Ego.

The Project Manager must be not only a manager but must also exhibit the skills of a leader. The leader establishes the direction in which the project should go while at the same time motivating the team to go in that direction. The leader establishes the vision. The leader helps to ensure that the team understands the vision. The manager works with the team to identify the steps that must be taken to go in that direction. The manager, with the help of the team, plans, organises, monitors and controls the project. Leader – Manager

The Project Manager must be able to handle the ambiguity that sometimes is inherent in a Project. Not everything is known when the project manager would like for it to be known. Other projects interface with the project and have their requirements that could make the actions to be taken on a project ambiguous. At the same time the project manager needs to continue to search for  perfection surrounding his or her project.  The project managers must be able to live with the ambiguity and at the same time help his team live with it. Ambiguity – Perfection

The Project Manager must be able to handle the complexity of the project while at the same time be always searching for simplicity. Some projects are very complex and, in fact, they seem to be getting more and more complex as we go along. Complexity is sometimes very hard for people to deal with. It is the project managers responsibility to help his or her team deal with it while at the same time be always searching for simplicity. We need to remember that sometimes people make tings a whole lot more complicated than they have to be. Search for the simplicity and make it clear. Complexity – Simplicity

The Project Manager must be able to have the helicopter view  of the project and understand the big picture. How the project fits into the grand scheme of things – how the project interfaces with other projects – how the project affects other projects from, say, a resource standpoint. In addition, the project manager must be able to, at times, get into the details – see the small picture. Sometimes that is the only way he or she can get the information required to make big picture decisions. So the project manager needs to see the small picture when required and then be able to step back to the big picture view. Big Picture – Small Picture

The Project Manager must be impatient and expect things to be done with a sense of urgency. He or she must have the skills necessary to establish this sense of urgency on the project without causing harmful stress. However, the project manager must, at the same time understand that in some cases patience must be the watchword because patience is sometimes required to establish the  relationships required to run a successful Project. Impatience – Patience

So there you have it – what I mean by being a Master of Paradox. Whether you agree or not, I would be happy to have comments from you about this Blog or any of my Blogs, for that manner

Enjoy the journey,

Richard.

Richard Morreale is a professional speaker, author, trainer, and c-suite consultant specializing in Program and Project Management, Change Management and Success Strategies. For more information or to book Richard as a speaker email him at richard@richardmorreale.com or ring him at 336 598 2793.

Let’s look at the Soft Skills Required to be a Great Project Manager

If you read my Blog last week you will remember that I was writing about what it takes to be a great Project Manager. In my last blog, I said that successful project management has about 20% to do with Hard Skills and about 80% to do with Soft Skills. In addition, I think the project manager has to be a Master of Paradox. Last week I talked about the Hard Skills, today I’ll cover the Soft Skills and next week I’ll talk about being a Master of Paradox.

In addition, my criteria for a successful project is one that is delivered on time, within budget and meeting the expectations of the client. Also, the project manager has a responsibility to provide a positive experience for the people working on his or her project team.

The Soft Skills are so important to the success of a project that Soft Skills are the first thing I look for in a Project Manager. I know that a huge majority of those hiring project managers look at the Hard Skills first. Specifically, they require that most are certified as PMP by the PMI. My view is that the PMI requirements for certification as a PMP, only ensure that the potential project manager understands the tools that a project manager uses but does not mean that they understand how to be a great project manager. For a person to be a truly great project manager they must understand the tools and how to use them – the 20%. But, in addition,  most of all, they must have the right attitude and what I call ‘The Right Stuff’.

The Right Stuff includes, among other things and in no particular order, the following:

• Enthusiasm – They must be truly enthusiastic about what they are doing.
• Passion – They must be passionate not only about the project but also about being a project manager.
• Energy – Project Management is sometimes a tiring job and they must have the energy required to hold up and stay fresh.
• Great inter-personal skills – They need to know when to listen, when to talk and when to shut-up.
• Commitment to Excellence – They must be committed to excellence. They must do what it takes to make their project excellent.
• Commitment to Success – They must be committed to delivering their project and delivering it successfully.
• Sense of Humor – They must see the humor in certain situations and not take themselves too seriously.
• The ability to motivate his/her team – They are responsible for putting the environment in place that allows the persons natural motivation to come through.
• Self-motivation – They must be able to motivate themselves. Recognize that action usually motivates.
• Excellent communication skills – They need to be able to communicate both orally and in written form.
• Good negotiation skills – They must know how to go for a win-win solution in all negotiation
• Honesty – Honesty with their project team, their peers and their superiors. Especially when reporting on the health of the project.
• Availability – They must be not only available to their team members. They also must be the type of person that is easy to approach.

Having all of these Soft Skills are ideal. I’m pretty sure that most people don’t have all of them or if they do they could be better at them. Think of these attributes the next time you are assigned a project and work to adopt the attribute or get better at it.

Enjoy the Journey,

Richard

Richard Morreale is a professional speaker, author, trainer, and c-suite consultant specializing in Program and Project Management, Change Management and Success Strategies. For more information or to book Richard as a speaker email him at richard@richardmorreale.com or ring him at 336 598 2793.