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A Case for Character - Rewind

 The character issue has been in the forefront as of late.  One of the most famous case's of a man’s character being called into question was President Clinton’s when he lied to the American people about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.  Many other cases have been in the news lately regarding ministers, politicians, teachers, and others.

In the 1996 Presidential campaign, Senator Bob Dole made the character issue one of the cornerstones of his campaign. Senator Dole believed, as well as many of us, that character and personal integrity are more important than Gallup poll results, political campaign slogans, or 30-second sound bites on the evening news.

In his book, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, Stephen Covey discusses character by putting it into terms of what he calls the “Character Ethic” (32).  The Character Ethic is based on basic principles such as, humility, integrity, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, fairness, service, patience, modesty, and the Golden Rule.  The Character Ethic defines the parameters by which personal character is measured.  By using principles as our guiding beacon, it can be concluded that success and self-respect come from incorporating basic principles into our daily lives.

Character builds on the idea that principles guide our effectiveness and to many extents our self worth.  Principles according to Stephen Covey are “natural laws that can’t be broken” (33).  Most rational people would agree that principles are universal in all societies.  They are common to almost every major religion, ethnic group, and social institution throughout the world.  Principles are fundamental truths handed down through the ages that have universal application.  Principles should drive our values, and values in turn give us a direction for our lives, much like a roadmap.  “Values, are the worth or priority we place on people, things, ideas, or principles.  Principles are self-evident and are enabling when understood” (Franklin Covey 11).  If our values are derived from principles (and they must be to have good character), we, by default, will have a solid foundation on which to build good character.

Most reasonable people would agree that one of the most important groups of people that must possess and exhibit a strong Character Ethic are our leaders.  Too many times we are disappointed that our leaders are unwilling or unable to take a stand for what is good, decent, right, and fair.  We see examples in the media every day where corporate, political, and religious leaders take the easy way out.  They do what is best for them, and their constituents, and not what is in the best interest of society.  Many people over the course of the last 15 years have fit in this role.  Jim Baker, Jimmy Swaggart, Bill Clinton, and Richard Nixon all conjure up memories of men that have made poor decisions, based upon selfishness, and not principles.  When leaders fail to rely on principles to make the important decisions, they are no longer credible or fit to lead.

Character, as stated earlier, uses principles as its underlying foundation.  Our own personal values must be derived from these principles to start the process of building character.  We have learned from the public mistakes of others that you cannot have good character while neglecting core principles.  We all must keep trust and trustworthiness as core principles, without which, it won’t be possible to obtain or keep a reputation as having good character.

Effective leaders, and all people must have the trust of others, and more importantly, must be worthy of that trust.  Trust, is not given, it is earned.  Once you have lost people’s trust, and especially if you are considered to be a leader or role model, you have immediately lost much of your effectiveness with your constituents.

Character, is not something you acquire overnight.  It is a result of a lifetime of effort.  It only takes one incident for your character to be called in to question.  Once your character comes into question, even for a single issue, such as a lie or indiscretion, your reputation, and all that you have worked towards, will be called into question. 

In the end, we would all do well to surround ourselves with people that exhibit high ethical standards and lead principle-centered lives.  These individuals, will help us along our journeys by showing us through their example how to live and work in a world which seems to no longer hold the Character Ethic as fundamentally important.

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Works Cited

Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. New York: Fireside, 1990

Franklin Covey Co. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Training Program Manual. 1998 ed.

Enough!

Chapters from the book "Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life " by John C. Bogle.

Buy this book if you have had Enough.

"Too Much Cost, Not Enough Value"
Too Much Speculation, Not Enough Investment"
"Too Much Complexity, Not Enough Simplicity"
"Too Much Counting, Not Enough Trust"
"Too Much Business Conduct, Not Enough Professional Conduct"
"Too Much Salesmanship, Not Enough Stewardship"
"Too Much Focus on Things, Not Enough Focus on Commitment"
"Too Many Twenty-first Century Values, Not Enough Eighteenth-Century Values"
"Too Much 'Success,' Not Enough Character"

Mr. Bogle begins with this:

"At a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island, Kurt Vonnegut informs his pal, Joseph Heller, that their host, a hedge fund manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch-22 over its whole history. Heller responds, 'Yes, but I have something he will never have; Enough".

Project Management Office Setup Thoughts

• Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of existing project managers and project support personnel
• Develop a basic project management training plan for the entire organization to familiarize all with the project management verbiage and practices
• Identify and provide specialized advanced training for all project leaders and functional managers
• Develop a project management office (PMO) to provide enterprise coaching, and to develop and manage your organization’s project management methodology
• In addition to the methodology, the PMO should develop and maintain standard project management templates for the organization to use
• Ensure that existing projects are audited and meet your organization’s minimum project management standards
• Setup a program where your PMO provides coaching to less experienced project managers and oversight of all enterprise projects
• Ensure all projects have Lessons Learned captured

Cleverness and Problems

Albert Einstein said "A clever person solves a problem; a wise person avoids it". After reading this quote, it reminded me that project managers spend a lot of time (or should be) avoiding problems. One thing that can help project managers to avoid problems is following a defined process, or more specifically, a Project Management Methodology (PMM). At its core a PMM is a set of agreed-upon processes that assists project managers to deliver predictable project outcomes.

To create a PMM you need to define all project management processes, procedures and policies used to deliver your organization's projects. Also, don't forget to develop or obtain a set of project templates as they are an important part of any PMM. Finally, you must develop a training program to introduce and educate your organization about the new PMM.

KEY POINT - When developing a PMM ensure you must include input from your lead project managers and any other personnel that have a stake in your project management outcomes.

Dogma and Open-Mindedness

Dogma is living with the results of other people's thinking. Be careful when allowing the opinions of others to smother your inner voice, but do remain open-minded to new ideas and information.

Open-mindedness - When we close our minds to new information or opinions it is often because they go against our beliefs or take us out of our comfort zone.  Admitting to ourselves that new ideas and information that go against what we feel is right may make us feel that we were/are wrong.  That is OK.  Open-minded people are open to new ideas and new information even it they have to admit in the end they were wrong when believing something else.

As a project manager we rely on our beliefs and experiences and the beliefs and experiences of others to bring our projects to success.  Be open-minded and encourage everyone on your team to express their ideas and opinions.

 People and Life

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." - Maya Angelou

As a project manager there is no more important responsibility on your project than working with your stakeholders to establishing trust and creating an environment that is built on respect and follow through.

Listening is Hard!

Listening is hard because it involves keeping your ego constrained long enough to consider what is being said before formulating your response.

Wisdom often lies in the pause between stimulus and response.

Few people listen well, which makes good listeners all the more relevant and important.

When someone starts talking, our focus should be:

1. Listening intentionally to what they are saying

2. Ignoring patterns in their speech and forming conclusions 

3. Putting said about whether we agree with what they are saying until they have finished   speaking

When we quickly prepare responses as a listener the conversation becomes about us. When the other person does the same meaningful communication ceases to occur.

Rather than making the conversation about you, work to understand the other person's perspective. You don't have to agree with them, but you owe it to them to be respectful and open minded.  

Remember and put to use one of Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits - Seek first to understand then be understood.

We should make it a habit to seek understanding with one another.  A conversation is not a competition to make a point, but rather an exploration of each others thoughts, emotions, and beliefs, and biases.

Your Last Project

It has been said “You only live as long as the last person that remembers you”.

In Project Management it has been said that “You are only as good as your last project”.  While this statement may see unfair, it is nonetheless true in many environments.

Be, Say, and Do!

 

Three action steps when working with others, per Ajayi Jones

1. Be: Write down what’s important to you, and what’s worth fighting for. 

2. Say: When you don’t see eye to eye with your boss or disagree with the rest of the room, ask yourself these three questions. If you answer “Yes” to all three, speak up.

• “Do I mean it?” 

• “Can I defend it?”

• “Can I say it thoughtfully?

3. Do: Match your thoughts with your actions. 

Fair warning: Just because you follow these steps, it doesn’t mean your team will automatically be on the same page. It’s more that these practices force you to check in with yourself, and know that you said what you needed to say. 

You’ll leave the discussion knowing you tried.

Variety is the Spice of Life

It has been said that variety is the spice of life.  We can fear variety (change) because of its unknown impact be it physical, emotional, spiritual, or psychological.  Variety often means trusting others and stepping into the unknown with courage.

You must embrace change to experience the spice of life!

Tom Brady has some thoughts about change.  “Life is about always changing and adapting to different things. Today, the world wants to blame, and shame, and guilt, and fear everything all the time”

Do you blame others when changes go wrong?  Do you fear change? 

Sometimes it takes courage to embrace Variety!

Ignorance of Things

Nobody should be embarrassed for not being familiar with the Sunning-Kruger effect, the cognitive bias in which the more incompetent or ignorant you are about something the better or more knowledgeable you think you are at that thing.

Wisdom vs. Knowledge

From dictionary.com - The primary difference between the two words is that wisdom involves a healthy dose of perspective and the ability to make sound judgments about a subject while knowledge is simply knowing. 

”Anyone can become knowledgeable about a subject by reading, researching, and memorizing facts. ... Wisdom is knowing when to say it.”

Project Management Similar to Creating Art

"A great piece of art is composed not just of what is in the final piece, but equally important, what is not.  It is the discipline to discard what does not fit - to cut out what might have already cost days or even years of effort that distiguishes the truly exceptional artist and marks the ideal piece of work, be it a symphony, a novel, a painting, a company or, most important of all, a life"

Author Unknown

Top Ten List

Florida Power and Light management came up with the list below of the ten most important things they think helped them complete the St. Lucie 2 Nuclear Power Plant on schedule, within cost, and without major quality issues.

1. Management Commitment
2. A realistic and firm schedule
3. Clear decision-making authority
4. Flexible project control tools
5. Teamwork
6. Maintaining engineering before construction (design before build)
7. Earlsy start-up involvement
8. Organizational flexibility
9. Ongoing critique of the project
10. Close coordination with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (strong, fair oversight)

This is an awesome list that can be adapted to any environment and project.  Do you have a top ten list of things you need for your project to be successful?

Creating Trust

"What creates trust, in the end, is the leader's manifest respect for the followers" - Jim O'Toole, Leadership Change.

A leadership void exists when the goals of the leaders aren't embraced by the followers.  Respect, or lack of it plays a big part in helping to create this void.

Some leadership principles I have come to believe are:

Be consistent in what you say and do. Inconsistency shows a lack of focus. Being inconsistent will undermine your credibility with others.

As a leader you will need to provide focus, constancy of purpose, and clear direction to your team. The problem with many leaders isn't a lack of personality or charisma, it is a lack of focus and follow-through.

When leading remember "beware of no man more than thyself" - Thomas Fuller. Ask for feedback from others. Remember the higher the leader is in an organization the more blind spots he or she will experience.

A good leader is a master of the big picture and is knowledgeable of the details. A leader that isn't willing to get involved in the details is just plain lazy and won't have the respect of the team they are leading.

Be careful about negative assumptions. Leaders that are high achievers know their behavior tells the truth about their assumptions.

Leaders ensure that their followers know where they fit into the big picture.

Leaders who underestimate the intellect of others tend to overestimate their own.

Other things that are always displayed by a leader are the ability to:

Create and nurture a vision

Laugh!

Leave your ego at the door

Think before acting (not quick to criticize)

Be a risk taker

State and meet commitments

Be a role model

Have a can do attitude

Encourage success

and finally...BE VISIBLE

Free Advice Retold!

Tell somebody you care, and how much they really mean to you. Let them know how they have changed your life

If you have children, encourage them with love, and let them know they are a blessing to you

If you live to make more money, get a (new) life!

If you aren't having fun doing your job, move on to something new

Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes - Tom Peters!

Embrace change and do all you can to expose unethical behavior

Don't allow deadbeat managers and/or lazy executives to ruin your career or influence your project. 

Gossiping is for children and old women.  Don't be a part of the office gossip loop.

Great leaders with ethics and a solid morale center are rare. I hamve never met one; however I'm sure they exist.  Seek them out with everything you have

Executives have forgotten how to be leaders. Because of this, we have a 200 billion dollar trade deficit, stock option scandals, CEOs going to prison, massive layoffs, outsourcing to India, disloyal workers, and a plethora of corrupt politicians

Make sure before you go to work for an organization you know who is running the show

Love the unlovable

Be nutty at work, somebody will appreciate the break in the monotony

Find a manager in your company that is doing a bad job and ask them about the middle management shake up that is eminent. Walk away quickly before they can respond

Look at yourself in the mirror closely for 60 seconds. Feel really bad that you look so old, then remember that life is precious and be thankful to God that tomorrow is a new day

Challenge authority when it makes sense

Project managers can't be wimps

Don't respect unrespectable people. Avoid them, workaround them, go through them. They are career killers

If you like to solve problems and make a difference, work for a non-profit or charity

Be a blessing to somebody

Stephen F. Seay, PMP sfseay@yahoo.com

A Glimpse at my Project Management Beliefs

Remove people from your team that don’t ask questions, don’t talk with other team members, won’t provide documentation, or won’t do analysis

Only people that aren’t competent won’t show off their work

Question authority or live with the result

A sense of humor can help get teams through tough times

A working meeting should have no more than five people. Meetings with more than five should be reserved for providing updates or relaying information

Project failure is planned at the beginning of the project

Project initiation is the most important project phase

Be honest in all your dealings

Project managers are expected to offer their opinions, but be accountable for their words

When it comes to project scope, what is not in writing has not been said

Have verifiable milestones

End of project surveys must be completed and the results distributed to the team

Bad conclusions lead to more bad conclusions

Documented assumptions are believed to be true for planning purposes

The best lessons learned come from failures

Without data you only have an opinion

Data doesn’t tell the whole story

Bad data leads to bad decisions

Senior management is usually clueless when it comes to what your project is all about

A bad project team will never deliver good project results

If your project sponsor isn’t responsive you should put your project on-hold until such time they can become involved

The bottleneck is at the top of the bottle

A project manager’s main job is to keep the customer happy

At the end of a project if you have met all scope, quality, budget, and schedule objectives, but the customer isn’t satisfied your project is a failure

Documentation doesn’t replace knowledge

Most people want to do good work. Many times they don’t have the tools or information they need to perform well, or they aren’t managed properly

Project managers aren’t successful if their team members aren’t successful

Not all successful project managers are competent and not all unsuccessful project managers are incompetent. Sometimes you just have to be lucky

Good project managers are insecure by nature

An introvert can’t be a (successful) project manager

A project manager with lots of enemies won’t be successful over the long run

You must be a relationship guru and be ready to fall on the sword sometimes

A project manager must be a motivator

If you don’t listen, you can’t plan

Project managers deal with change. You must be the change agent for your project. Your project sponsor is the change salesman

Business Case Template - Adapt to your needs

Try this template out and make changes based on your needs.  This was used by a government organization, but can be easily modified for use by the private sector. 

CLICK HERE for the Business Template

Stuff I Use - Classé Sigma 2200i Integrated Amplifier

Stuff I recommend...

A personal project this time, upgrading my two channel audio system.

The Classé integrated amplifier has a ton of features and sounds great.  I have owned it for eight months.  Awesome!

Classé Sigma 2200i integrated amplifier Measurements | Stereophile.com