True North A COMPASSX CONSULTING PUBLICATION
Inside This Issue Project Management Offices —Aim for Less
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Your Emotions Will Create Your Success By the Numbers Do You ‘Measure What Matters’? Arrive at Your Destination in Mint Condition
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PEOPLE AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICES — AIM FOR LESS
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Determine realistic role descriptions and periodically review them for potential updates based on lessons learned from projects. Define your expectations for a good project manager first (e.g. an ability to lead people, manage schedules, navigate complexity, think critically), then select project managers who fit that mold and will succeed in a lightweight PMO structure. Develop a clear understanding of demand versus team capacity, forecast and plan forward, then close resource gaps. Ensure you can pitch, preach, sell, and obtain consensus of why these lightweight PMO practices will create a much greater chance for your projects to succeed ... because they absolutely will. Achieve quick training wins by leveraging existing third-party training courses whenever possible, and minimize time-consuming creation of training documents, which may quickly become outdated — a vast array of online training courses exist for purchase or sometimes for free from your existing vendors. Consider acquiring a cloud-based training platform for long-term ease of training distribution within your organization.
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Expanding companies often face common challenges: 1) how to execute with the resources they have within their four walls, and 2) as these same companies mature and execution becomes more routine, how to employ the right level of project management to boost on-going execution without burdening their organization. CompassX has helped our clients develop and implement lightweight project management offices (PMOs) based upon factors such as company culture, matrixed complexity, number and size of yearly projects, and the overall appetite for more rigorous project management. The implementation of a lightweight PMO specifically tailored to your organization provides the greatest ROE — that is, return on execution. Our core framework includes uncovering and determining the answers to these types of questions with our clients:
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Who are your favorite internal customers? Approach and obtain support from these groups first as they will be your early adopters and cheerleaders for future success. Take a gradual approach by implementing a mix of high- and low-priority projects first, then incrementally migrate the process to more and more ongoing initiatives. What happens when a large project gets behind schedule? Budgets are blown? Dashboards go from green and groovy to red and angry? Define these scenarios upfront, and create your governance models around them. Identify and focus on one or two reporting opportunities deemed to be most beneficial — for example, an executive dashboard and a weekly stakeholder status update. Define and agree upon the universal elements of those reports — the audience, cadence, forum, content, and metrics. Define the factors that determine project success, then create regular retrospectives and foster a continuous improvement environment.
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CHANGE MANAGEMENT, TRAINING, AND ORGANIZATIONAL READINESS
REPORTING, COMMUNICATIONS, AND GOVERNANCE
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STAND UP
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The most common answer on where to slot a new PMO is beneath technology leadership. However, this isn’t always the right choice. An office of the President, COO, or divisional leader can and should be evaluated.
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TUNE IN TO
TURN ON
Your Emotional Intelligence
Feelings connect us as humans. Emotions and a desire for safety drove us to connect tribally and eventually become the Earth’s most dominant species. Companies covet people who possess high emotional intelligence (EI) because individuals with high EI often outperform even those with high technical skills or functional knowledge. But what happens when your feelings overwhelm you? Anyone who’s awoken in the middle of the night with a racing heart due to the thought of a bad moment at work can relate. Your career and personal goals may be held back by not improving your emotional-IQ (EIQ). JOURNAL Track your feelings daily and weekly. Note your highs; note your lows. What are the triggers to these feelings? What are some of the simple things that bring joy to your life? Time with your family, a favorite series on Netflix, reading before bed, making it to the gym — make a list and do these things each week. In no time at all, you will have a list of 20–30 simple things that cost little time and money but pay large emotional rewards. Here’s a note on journaling: Don’t do as I did and use the “not enough time” excuse. You absolutely, positively have control over two time periods every day no matter the circumstances: first thing in the morning and the final few minutes of the evening. Use a variety of forums (email, webinars, brown bag sessions, etc.) when communicating organizational and other changes, to accommodate your audience’s various learning styles. Remember you are now the Chief Marketing Officer for your portfolio’s successes. Focus first on leadership buy-in, and then use the right leaders’ “voices” to communicate change and highlight its importance to the organization. Who says what is often as important as what is said. • Here are my favorite techniques to improve your EIQ. ... continued from cover •
Figure out if that’s at home with a coffee cup or before logging into your PC at work, but burn that thought into your head, and you will make it happen. GIVE THANKS If I could provide you with the single best activity in my personal “return on emotional health,” it would be to give thanks. Once a day, every morning, quickly rattle off three things you are thankful for — health, a nice meal, a roof, electricity, a California sunrise, weather, a family dinner, TGIF, money to make the mortgage payment. Do it. Do it fast and don’t ever say, “I don’t have three things to be thankful for today.” 5-SECOND RULE In our last letter, I briefly mentioned a book titled “The 5 Second Rule: Transform Your Life, Work, and Confidence With Everyday Courage,” by Mel Robbins. This is going to sound terribly simple, but the best advice I can provide from this book is to train yourself to count down from five (as in, 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1), and when you reach zero, go, do, execute, write, walk, talk — whatever you may be holding onto in your mind. This “take immediate action” approach will leave you feeling more accomplished and invigorated with a clearer head. Often for me that is a trigger to open one of my journals and put down my creative thoughts. Or it is a trigger for me to do one rep of something. One rep for me is setting a timer for 20 minutes and working until that timer goes off. More often than not, 20 minutes turns into 45 or 60 minutes. In addition to the common Microsoft technology, there exist ample, newer cloud- based applications that can help you organize, track, and report on your projects, or increase collaboration and productivity. There is no shortage of apps available, and each has its sweet spot. Some may fit your project better than others, so don’t be afraid to experiment and find what works best for you. Many benefits of a PMO can be realized with a lighter-weight set of methods and standards that focus on the right blend of needs for your organization. We can’t emphasize enough that there is not a one-size-fits-all model. In fact, trying to “lift and drop” from other organizations will cost you in the long run. The journey is often well- rewarded with a less-is-more approach. • LEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY •
Robbins goes into a lot of scientific detail of how and why her technique works; it is a good and recommended read.
PRACTICE AND PRACTICE YOUR ACTIVE LISTENING
Often the act of super-active listening can single- handedly connect you to other people with the least amount of effort. Dale Carnegie wrote about the concept of active listening in what has been called the single greatest business book of all time: “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” I find that the more focused I am on active listening, the higher my empathy becomes. The higher my empathy becomes, the easier it is for me to continue to actively listen. And the end result is typically that I strengthen my relationship with a colleague or friend or, at the very least, make someone’s day more enjoyable. I would love to hear what works for you! Please email me at kyleh@compassx.com. Kyle J . Heppenstall Kyle J. Heppenstall Founder | Managing Director
TOOLS AND TEMPLATES
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Create a few high-quality templates and samples of the heavily used day-to-day management tools so PMs can hit the ground running: status reports, project charters, schedules, risk and issue registers, etc.
To learn more visit www.compassx.com or email solutions@compassx.com .
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‘Measure What Matters’ BOOK REVIEW Learn to John Doerr’s Book Introduces an Innovative Strategy to Goal Setting
Percent the Nasdaq has gained in 2018, nearly double the S&P 500’s advance 16% 16.1% 4.2% $100 5 $1.1 3,400 BY THE NUMBERS Percent U.S. corporate year-over-year profits soared in the quarter that ended June 30, the largest such gain in six years Percent the U.S. economy (GDP) grew in the second quarter Billion annualized in lower taxes paid by U.S. corporations due to lower rates signed into law last year Months straight both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have posted winning gains Trillion dollars richer U.S. stock investors were after August’s hot month of gains Days of the current bull market, the second longest ever. The average postwar bull market loses steam at about 1,821 days.
“Ideas are easy. Execution is everything.”
So says John Doerr in the first few pages of “Measure What Matters.” It’s his mantra, and what defines his overarching message is that knowledge is important, but execution is king. The engineer came to Silicon Valley with $50 in his pocket, hoping to get a start in the computer industry. Doerr cut his teeth at Intel, where he first crossed paths with Andy Grove and came across the seeds of what would become an innovative management methodology and goal-setting framework.
He went on to share this methodology with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who were just getting their new company, Google, on its feet at the time. His “sharp- edged tool for world-class execution” was effective and helped the startup track their progress and “measure what mattered” so they could quickly define themselves as the premiere search engine in the marketplace. Thankfully, Google isn’t the only one with access to Doerr’s incredible management system — he has meticulously catalogued it in his book “Measure What Matters.” If your organization has ever been stymied by fuzzy ideas and less-than-stellar execution, this book is for you. In it, you’ll find key management principles and a goal-setting technique that will help you and your team achieve excellence. Doerr preaches the importance of objectives and key results — OKRs. The collaborative goal-setting protocol can be applied to your entire company, from teams to individuals, to help you get to the top. After Doerr shared it with Google, co-founder Larry Page said, “OKRs have helped lead us to 10x growth many times over.” OKR is a little like a compass for your team: You can think of objectives as giving the direction for your goals and the key results as the milestones. Doerr presses upon the importance of clarity and specificity when it comes to defining key results. They must be aggressive yet realistic. He’s a true scientist at heart — key results must also be measurable and verifiable. How else do you know if what you are doing is working? You need the quantitative data to allow your results to be measured. There are two quite interesting takeaways: 1) Doerr doesn’t advise tying OKRs to compensation or bonuses. Instead the book’s teachings assume that by having your team constantly set goals, rinse, and repeat, they will achieve more for both themselves and your organization. 2) OKRs are self-graded by author, not manager. That certainly is a break from how most organizations review employee goals. Whether you’re a C-level executive or manager of a small team, “Measure What Matters” has concepts that you’ll likely want to implement right away. In the framework of goal setting, the OKR strategy has the potential to help your team hone in on and quantify where you are and where you’re headed.
True North Rating : A 2018 Must-Read
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DID YOU KNOW?
BACK TO SCHOOL
• Before erasers, the best way to erase pencil marks was with a rolled up piece of white bread. • Didaskaleinophobia is the fear of going to school.
ARRIVE IN
MINT CONDITION
JetBlue Offers Its Take on Domestic First Class If you have a trip to the East Coast on your horizon, you might consider Mint. No, not the breath freshener — it’s JetBlue’s take on domestic first-class airfare. The service is available on select coast-to-coast routes and on flights to the Caribbean. Along with your standard first class benefits, they offer several unique amenities that you likely won’t see on other domestic flights. It’s already been named the 2018 Traveler’s Choice on TripAdvisor for Best Business Class in North America. So what do you get when you opt for Mint? longest available on a domestic premium flight, which sounds very appealing for an overnight flight — or any on which you hope to take a nap. Each ergonomically designed seat is topped with a comforter and pillow and has a massage feature. This type of getaway experience is enhanced with noise-canceling headphones and a TV screen in front of your seat. JetBlue boasts that Mint comes with the most free in-flight entertainment.
If you select a seat in row two or four, the luxury goes even further — you’ll find yourself in the Mint Suites. The Suites offer coveted privacy that’s so hard to find aboard an airplane. Thanks to fully enclosed areas with doors, you get something of the appeal of your own room aboard a plane. Mint service comes with complimentary gourmet meals sourced from New York’s local restaurants and eateries — think pick-me-ups
Like with most first-class booking, you get priority boarding and security. Inside the airplane, Mint offers fully lie-flat seats, the
like a cappuccino or espresso from Brooklyn Roasting Company and sweet treats from Milk Bar. The July dinner menu included pan-seared seabass and pulled pork rice rolls. JetBlue calls their service “a refreshing take on premium,” and from our experience, it’s just that — a first-class experience with thoughtful touches that make for a refreshing time in the sky.
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