M+A Integration Requires Technology Marriage

Here's some perspective on the Microsoft / Yahoo marriage. The integration of their cultures will be daunting. However, blending their technologies is likely to generate the most contention. This could be interesting to watch, if acquisition is consummated. Can the best of both companies survive? ...

... "A smooth integration also will not be a matter of simply swapping one set of software or hardware for another - though that is a daunting part of the task. It may hinge on changing deep-seated mindsets. " ...

Via New York Times: Merger View:

Innovation Culture of Unstructured Structure

Ideas on champion-ing sustainable innovation, include creating a burning platform to catalyze and help your people embrace the new culture. ...

... "Unfortunately, when the addiction to systems and structures rules the day, an organization's quest for a culture of innovation all too often degenerates into nothing much more than a cult of innovation. " ...

Via Idea Champions: INSIDE JOB

Adoption Risks with Innovation Projects

Whether you are implementing a fundamental new innovation or providing a new way to do things, cultural adoption is a risk you can't overlook. Considering your change management strategy? Do you promote methods that drive addiction or use Frankenstein to your advantage? Read on for some insights. ...

... "Great innovations have foundered over human stubbornness. ... Resistance to technology is an omnipresent risk for every innovator. " ...

Via New York Times: Risk

Mindset then Tools

Good advice for influencing innovation in your enterprise. Do more of this to innovate: experiment, invest resources, create burning platforms, and understand your customers' problems. ...

... "Do not train your employees on creativity techniques or bring in innovation software until you have addressed your underlying cultural issues (the mindset). " ...

Via Steve Shapiro: Innovation Mindset, Not Tools

Project Foe: Complacency

Complacency, or lack of accountability, is a root cause of project failure that proj managers need to be ready for. If it pervades the culture of an enterprise, watch out. Consider cutting scope way back and increasing phases to determine if performance can trend higher. Otherwise, cut your losses. ...

... "Despite the critical reaction to the piece, I'm still convinced that complacency – as evidenced by the recent Economist survey that found that over half of European IT professionals feel there is no risk to their job security if they do not hit project deadlines – is a major factor in the UK's appallingly high IT project failure rate. " ...

Via IT Week: Project Culture

Create Innovation Culture: Understand Where to Begin

Here's a diagnostic tool to understand where your innovation culture gaps are and how to approach them. ...

... "Based on the Innovation DNA, it gives you a way to begin conversations and create action plans based on solid information. " ...

Via Innovation Network: Where to Begin

Innovation Obstacles: Resistance, Time

Pulse-point survey on innovation shows cultural resistance and lack of time as barriers to innovation. Langdon Morris is author of Permanent Innovation, which is the process of innovating continuously, by developing an organizational culture that embraces innovation as a core value. ...

... "Both topics are chronic problems in organizations today, and both are significant red flags that indicate unhealthy situations. If your organization is characterized by resistance to change or you don't feel you have enough time for innovation then it may be time for a serious assessment of your organization's culture, and perhaps some remedial work to shift more of your focus toward something other than short term concerns." ...

Via Innovation Labs: Results of the Permanent Innovation Survey (PDF) ...

ITIL Asia Controversy?

There's some controversy over whether ITIL will be embraced in Asia, related to culture and accountability. ...

... "23.6 per cent of Southeast Asian respondents reported that their organisations had implemented ITIL. Moreover, a further 44.8 per cent expected to be implementing ITIL by the end of next year. " ...

Via CIO Asia: ITIL

Company Culture: Simple Mindset

Philips Electronics needs some outside-in perspective to cut through the complexity and see the simplistic approach to design. ...

... "For Philips, the promise of simplicity isn't just about making products that are easier to use. The bigger challenge is rewiring the entire organization. " ...

Via Business Week: Philips

Influence the Culture: Achieve the Goal ...

More evidence that influencing culture is the strongest lever in positioning an organization for success, however it is defined. ...

... "The chief executive knew he could not personally cause the needed innovation, but he could help create a culture and lead his managers in a way that would foster innovation - a culture that encouraged the traits of Adaptability and Involvement. " ...

Via Inc: Building a High-Performance Culture

Innovation Culture ...

An organization can leverage the workforce and increase its overall rate of innovation. Employee involvement and empowerment, setting challenges, and leveraging individual strengths are a good start to encourage serial innovation. ...

... "By creating a culture that encourages innovation and sets particular goals in place, entrepreneurs can train employees to be systematic innovators. " ...

Via Entrepreneur: Thinking Bigger ...

IT Resource Management: Departmental Priorities ...

Sometimes, departmental priorities can affect the availability of resources for organizational initiatives. Should the portfolio score drive the priority of the work? Should resources be controlled centrally? Resource management is a challenge for the IT organization. CIO explores the team culture and effective techniques for building teamwork. ...

... "Each manager sets his or her own priorities for resources, and one manager's highest priority may very well be another's lowest priority. That, alone, is enough to kill teamwork. " ...

IT Resource Management: Departmental Priorities: Team-Building and Teamwork: Via CIO

Vendor Management: Multi-Sourcing Requires Strong Governance Processes ...

Multi-sourcing has its advantages: creates competition and spreads the risk. However, the complexity of vendor management and governance is increased. ...

... "There are also several other issues that can cause multi-sourcing to be a poor option. If the market does not include enough suppliers with the specialist skills needed by the buyer then there is no competition anyway, and if the buyer doesn't already have a culture of strong IT governance ... " ...

Vendor Management: Multi-Sourcing Requires Strong Governance Processes: Via Silicon.com: Beware the multi-sourcing pitfalls ...

Earned Value Management Trends, Best Practices, and Pitfalls

A few weeks ago, I commented on Part 1 of a three-part series on Earned Value Management on Projects@Work.

While Part 1 set the stage and illustrated some of the challenges of EVM, Part 2 of this excellent series offers some excellent case studies and learnings.

For instance, the US government agency, OPM (Office of Personnel Management) cites the following critical success factors:

- Continuous executive sponsorship (not just up front)
- Committment to funding for adequate tools and training
- Adequate allocation of project managers' time to manage using this system
- Piloting EVM in a small group of projects to illustrate success and fine tune the details
- Not underestimating the culture change management required, involving employees, managers, and timekeepers. Regularly maintained training and job aids are critical.

Another organization, Inter-Coastal Electronics, cites having shallow, simple WBS templates in their ERP system as a key success factor. They claim that a WBS that's too granular becomes too difficult to manage. I couldn't agree more.

I highly recommend this series to anyone attempting to introduce Earned Value Management in their organizations.

http://www.projectsatwork.com/content/Articles/230753.cfm

Study Shows No Consensus on PMOs

Having trouble getting consensus in your organization on the value and structure of your PMO? If so, you're not alone.

As reported in PMForum, the research team that has been studying how PMOs are used has released its interim findings.

The findings, based on the 500 companies studied, show that there is wide variation in the perceived value of PMOs, the structure of PMO's, and in the functions PMOs deliver.

In addition, there appears no be no pattern whatsoever in one industry or region versus another. At the least, it'll make it difficult to come up with any kind of "standard PMO design."

It only makes sense that a PMO's charter could vary based on the culture of the organization, the project management maturity of the employees, the committment of senior management, what the organization is trying to get out of the PMO, and a host of other variables.

Maybe the lack of agreement, and the resulting organizational maelstrom caused when many PMOs are launched, is the reason why two-thirds of PMOs fail. Studies have shown that the PMOs that begin by insuring the success of project teams and providing portfolio management services---and then progress to becoming a center of excellence---seem to have longer-lasting success than those that try to do too much too soon.

Meanwhile, it should be interesting seeing the final results of this particular study. The PMForum report is below...

PMFORUM, Connecting the World of Project Management PMFORUM Breaking News: REALITY OF PMO'S STUDY: INTERIM RESULTS RELEASED

CIO Challenge: IT Innovation and Efficiency ...

CIO's are challenged by the need to create IT-enabled innovation while sustaining their hard-won efficiency gains of the recent past. Article offers advice ranging from organizational and culture to process and procedural. ...

... "The challenge that lies ahead for CIOs is to make room in their thinking, their culture and their processes for this renewed interest in IT innovation. " ...

CIO Challenge: IT Innovation and Efficiency: Via CIO: Innovation Rising

Managing Global Projects; Don't Be a Tourist

Ladies first, No steamrolling, Swastika greeting cards....

No, I haven't lost my mind, and this isn't some weird form of free association. These are all examples of cultural misunderstandings that are pointed out in an insightful article from Computerworld.

It reminds me of that old series of TV advertisements with a "Don't be a tourist" theme (one example had Richard Nixon giving the "OK" hand gesture while getting off a plane in Latin America--and nearly causing a riot). Of course, I forget the product being advertised, so the ad couldn't have been too effective. But I digress.

In all seriousness, having done quite a bit of travel myself, I can vouch for the importance of avoiding the stereotypical American trait of steamrolling your ideas or values, or assuming everything works as it does here in the U.S. (yes, I realize not ALL Americans are like that, but a sad number are).

Better to engage people's input, and have them be part of the solution. A little bit of humility and cultural awareness (and, dare I say, learning at least a few phrases of a foreign language) goes a long way. It's especially important when managing projects that span geographic and/or cultural boundaries.

Here's the article from Computerworld (and just so nobody thinks I'm picking on Americans, the article shows that cultural misunderstandings are a global issue) ...

Culture Clash - Computerworld

IT Governance: Dealing With Cultural Differences ...

Interesting article on the differences in culture and communication styles across the globe. Requires some companies, like the Manpower quote below, to document processes, such as governance, in detail. Page 2 has good insights on programming cultural styles ...

... "To overcome that, Manpower has created an IT governance system dubbed The Manpower Way. It describes the processes, methods and tools used to manage projects, people, assets, investments and budgets. " ...

IT Governance: Dealing With Cultural Differences: Via Computerworld: Culture Clash

Innovation: Influence Culture to Succeed ...

Jeffrey Phillips explores the innovation culture: free flow of ideas and people open to collaboration. Should compensation systems be changed to influence the culture? What works best? I've seen researchers share in the patent filing (prestige) and receive a modest reward from revenue performance (financial). ...

... "We've grown our cultures to assume that if it needs to be done, I'll do it myself. Basically, in many firms, we encourage competition and knowledge/information hoarding. " ...

Innovation: Influence Culture to Succeed: Via Innovate on Purpose: Biggest roadblock to corporate innovation ...

Fighting the Status Quo; A Lesson from an Education Reformer

Reading Dennis Littky's The Big Picture: Education is Everyone's Business has been very inspiring. Just as Littky challenges the status quo in the education system, we must do so in our organizations.

Here's a quote I especially like in the book:

"No matter how far you have gone on a wrong road, turn back"
- Turkish Proverb

I've listed 21 key points, paraphrased from the book, to illustrate how the same issues that face the education system apply to creating a learning environment in business...

1. Teach how to think flexibly, not that there's a right way and a wrong way for doing everything. It's worth noting that the best tennis players hold the racket the wrong way.
2. Create an environment that allows students the freedom to find themselves with the support and motivation of inspiring adults [leaders]
3. Teach students to fish; don't give them fish. Quote: "We have plenty of people who can teach what they know, but very few who can teach their own capacity to learn" - Joseph Hart
4. Use collaborative learning - i.e. "What do we think of this passage as compared to this one?" etc.
5. Teaching and learning are about problem solving. Put teachers and learners in the best possible environment for them to do this together.
6. Don't dismiss someone as "dumb in math" or "uninterested in science." Cater to their strengths [as Peter Drucker says, "Make weaknesses irrelevant" and pair people with complementary strengths if need be]
7. Don't measure education [or any kind of success] by the number of minutes a kid sits at a desk.
8. Remember the Three R's: Relationships (with teachers, community, parents, etc.), Relevance (to the students lives and passions - i.e. "what's in it for me"), Rigor (allow them to concentrate intensely in an area of their interest - build depth, not breadth)
9. Insure a shared philosophy among the principal and teachers [i.e. management]
10. Fix the atmosphere. Create an environment for learning. Fun, happiness, respect, kindness.
11. Build celebration into the culture. Celebrate often, for various occasions.
12. Know who really sets the culture of a school [or organization]. It's the senior students [middle management and vocal champions -- what Seth Godin calls "the sneezers" --those who can spread an "idea virus"]. Engage them in recreating the culture, and others will follow suit. You can't change the culture by holding a special assembly [or a meeting or a memo]
13. Never make rules based on the exception.
14. To build trust and respect, provide responsibility and decision-making to students, and control over their environment, tools, and learning
15. A culture can thrive and grow on its own stories. Every interaction helps build the culture.
16. Start with the student, not the subjects or classes. Quote: "One size never fits all. One size fits one." - Tom Peters
17. Use real world examples - or better yet, real projects. Students can tell when things really matter and when they're contrived. [so can business people learning project management]
18. Don't give grades. The real world is based on giving feedback and showing people what they need to do to improve. It helps students succeed. Grades are meaningless, subjective, and can destroy morale. Use a narrative instead. It's a tool to help learning, not evaluation for evaluation's sake.
19. Quote: "Nobody grew taller by being measured." - Phillip Gammage
20. Measure what counts. There is no one indicator of success that fits every student. Instead, measure how often a student talks to teachers about their problems [builds the right culture]; measure if parents agree the school is a safe place and that it views parents as partners [i.e. customer satisfaction]
21. Friends of change [6 C's] are: concentration (on your philosophy), commitment, conversation, collaboration, caring, conviviality

Project Managers Need to be Cheerleaders Too

Sometimes the project manager also needs to be the head cheerleader, if you will.

Recently my project team has been suffering with morale issues due to a shifting organizational culture and marketplace. On Friday, the project hit 50% completion. With this, an opportunity was created to remind them that they have accomplished a lot and in fact, all of these accomplishments have collectively resulted in our achieving 50% completion. I praised them and thanked them. This cost nothing but a few minutes of my time. There were no mentions of a hard road ahead - simple, sincere praise and thanks - no ifs, ands or buts.

Cheer your team on - find a reason - any reason. It certainly can't hurt.

Collaborative Thinking; The Project Manager's Challenge

Years ago, I read a wonderful saying by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the author of The Little Prince. He said, "Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward in the same direction."

That saying stuck with me for some reason, and I was reminded of it again recently as I began to read an absolutely energizing book called Creating We, by Judith Glaser. The book carries the same basic intent as Saint-Exupery, except on an organizational level.

The basic premise is that in order to break through the typical silo thinking and toxic, fear-driven, autocratic environments that drive so many organizations today, one needs to get the players to focus externally on the customer, instead of internally at---or against---each other. Just take a look at this list from the book on why organizations fail:

• Lack of shared focus, shared purpose, and/or shared vision
• Lack of enterprise-wide communication
• Lack of organizational ambition and a strategic approach to getting there
• Lack of respect for others within the organization
• Failure to tap resources and inner talent, creativity, and responsibility
• Failure to break down the walls ("silos") between divisions
• Lack of team cohesion and failure to develop team agreements, rules of engagement, and decision-making processes.
• Failure to focus outside and see the customer
• Lack of hope and spirit; a punishing environment

Is this your organization?

Glaser, whose executive consulting company, Benchmark Communications Inc., has helped many of their A-list clients transform their culture from I-centric organizations to we-centric organizations, offers many compelling case studies and practical advice in the book. I highly recommend it to anyone trying to break down the silos in their organization.

For project managers, it's especially useful, as projects often require facilitating conflicting stakeholders and departments to some sort of agreement. Compounding the problem is that these people are often at higher levels in the organization. To address this, the book offers ways to facilitate we-thinking that are useful from any level in an organization, although ideally it should be driven from the top. For that matter, why not buy a copy for your senior executives (and no, I don't get commission).

For Project Success, Ask Plenty of Questions

Tell me about your father and your mother. Did they feed you often? ... What were some of your other memories growing up? How about...


OK, so maybe we don't want to overdo it. But it's vital that we not hesitate to ask questions during preliminary project research, at status meetings, and behind the scenes.

This is one of the most frequently cited problems with rookie project managers. They hesitate to ask questions for fear that someone will think them incompetent, and as a result they appear incompetent.

In fact, I've noticed that the more experienced a project manager is, the more questions they tend to ask. I once knew a manager who purchased pens as promotional gifts for all of his staff with nothing but the company logo and a question mark on it, as a reminder for everyone to never stop asking questions. This really got the point across, and helped build the culture of a learning organization.

For Project Success, Every Job Counts

One thing project managers (and senior managers) often overlook is the importance of the value EVERY team member brings to the project. We need to recognize, cherish, and reward these efforts. But often we don't. Perhaps it the American culture.

Consider this intriguing statement from the chairman of a Japanese electrical manufacturing firm, courtesy of Louis E. Boone's Quotable Business...

"The U.S. puts its best young minds to work in staff jobs and has for years. Bright people have gotten the message. They avoid line jobs. Japan, on the other hand, wants its brightest men [and women] in line jobs. After all, that is what manufacturing is all about. Our people understand that while we may rotate them from line to staff, and vice versa, line jobs are critical for what you in America call fast-track executives."

While project managers need to work within the culture of the organization, the one thing we do have control over is the approach that, when it comes to our project, every job counts.

Agile vs Big-Bang Project Delivery; Argument Solved

For years now, proponents of realistic IT approaches have been touting the importance of agile or spiral development. And aficionados of traditional "plan everything up front" approaches have been counteracting this by stating the need to agree to a fixed scope, and stay on time and on budget.

Several weeks ago I mentioned an excellent book that addresses this subject; Software Projects: Evolutionary vs. Big-Bang Delivery, by Felix Redmill. I finally finished reading it, and it points out how to resolve the differences, with a reasonable and sensible approach.

Again, the book is expensive (well over a hundred dollars), but can be found used for around fifty dollars on Amazon.com.

Below, I've paraphrased and summarized the key points:

• Be sure to understand and state the business objectives up front. This is too high level for an adequate estimate, but it's a start.
• Then conduct a feasibility study, analyzing as much detail as possible before authorizing the project. Most organizations skip this step, with bad effect. Aim for an aggressive but realistic target.
• Beware of random constraints assigned by senior management, with no strategic cause. Most projects fail because they attempt to hold to unrealistic or arbitrary constraints. If necessary, document the risks of adhering to the arbitrary deadline and review with them. Negotiation tradoffs in scope, time, or cost as needed - or break the project into multiple phases.
• It's still too soon for a definitive estimate, but the results of the feasibility study should be submitted as an "order of magnitude" estimate, along with risks and a plan for mitigating them. This becomes the business case for the project.
• Make sure senior management understands that change is inevitable as the project progresses. But this change should be still be governed and weighed against the business objectives. Reassessment gates can be used to reset expectations of when the project ends.
• Not all change should require governance. Project managers should have the leeway to use their own judgment to change tactics accordingly as long as it's within the business objectives. They should not just "follow procedures."
• It should not be expected that all work will be done within the confines of the original document. For instance (and this is my example, not from the book), if implementing a purchased software project, a feasibility study would have been done before the software was purchased, configured, and tested. Upon configuration or testing, new discoveries/issues can (and probably will) occur. The only way to truly mitigate this is to do a pilot. Aside from that, expect changes.
• This is a HUGE culture change for most organizations on the part of senior management. Without this level-setting, management will expect all work to be held to the original estimate, and judge success against it. This is the key reason why most IT projecst are seen as failures. We must manage stakeholder expectations (and that includes senior management).
• Project progress should be weighed regularly against business objectives and not the completion of tasks. These objectives and the project's ability to meet them should be reassessed at each phase gate, with escalation of any variances to management. Again, this is the time to reset when the project ends, if necessary. This is also a huge culture change for senior management in most cases.
• Scope should be revised as needed and documented at each step, so there's a record of the approvals and rationale for changes. Reasons of variations should be captured as lessons for future estimating.
• Agile or evolutionary development is not an excuse to ignore change management. But change must be expected. To hold firm to a detailed schedule up front is not realistic for most IT projects.
• Maintain close contact with users throughout the project to assure success.

This sounds like a sensible approach, but does require level-setting with management. Again, many project failures are a result of not setting the right expectations with management. Otherwise, a project can be a complete success, but management is dissapointed. This destroys morale and unfairly judges the project as a failure.

I recommend the book for those who want to learn more, as the book goes into far more details and offers examples, processes, etc. Here's the Amazon link...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471933430/102-4494239-8790520?v=glance&n=283155

Project Work Packages; The Importance of Delegation

I read this story on Stephen Covey's website about his inspiring interview with a well-respected Naval captain. They key success factors for this captain were his ability to delegate, and his trust in his subordinates. This trust and delegation truly inspired passion and accountability in his people (something we've promoted here at PMThink as well).

It reminded me again of the importance of Work Packages in project management, where we assign deliverable (or group of deliverables) to a work package owner, and give them full accountability of managing the details to "make it so" (as Captain Picard of Star Trek: The Next Generation would say).

Here's Stephen Covey's account of this interview:

I was training U.S. Navy officers in leadership during the dot.com era, when someone told me about an exemplary leader named Captain David Marquet, Captain of the U.S.S. Santa Fe, who never lost anyone, in spite of the hellish conditions submarine personnel are required to endure. An opportunity arose, which I jumped at.

I was invited to board Captain Marquet’s sub and interview him. Never before had I observed such empowerment. We stood on the bridge of this multibillion-dollar nuclear submarine with a football field of vessel in front of and behind us. A young officer approached the Captain and said, "Sir, I intend to take this ship down 400 feet." Captain Marquet asked about the sonar and sounding and then instructed this young man to give us another twenty minutes on the bridge before carrying out his intention.

Throughout the day, people approached the captain intending to do this or do that. The Captain would sometimes ask a question or two, but then say, "Very well." He reserved only the top decisions for his own confirmation and empowered others to make the rest. He said he wanted to empower his people as far as he possibly could within the Navy’s confines. He felt if he required them to own the problem and the solution to it, they would begin to view themselves as a vitally important link in the chain of command. He created a culture where those sailors had a real sense of adding value.

Months after my sub ride, Captain Marquet wrote to inform me that the U.S.S. Santa Fe was awarded the Arleigh Burke Trophy for most improved submarine, ship, or aviation squadron in the Pacific.

All in all, a very inspiring reminder to us that we don't need to be managing every last detail of our projects, and instead must have faith in our most valuable asset---our team. This "distributed accountability" approach is a surefire way to encourage and exploit team synergy. Just pick the right people, give them guidelines, and get out of the way.

VOIP Project: Voice-Over-IP ...

The VOIP transformation project is relatively high-risk: newer technology, questionable scalability, increased cultural change, and impact to a critical business function: communications. J. Nicholas Hoover discusses the pitfalls of a voice-over-IP phone project

... "Anyone thinking a switch to a voice-over-IP phone system will be smooth and easy should remember Ruth Harenchar's ruby-red nail polish. At the Hobart West Group, where Harenchar is CIO, the company's VoIP project required tough decisions, like whether to spend money training existing IT staff or hire expensive consultants. It meant learning to live without certain common telecom features in order to get the savings the company wanted. And it involved helping employees through the culture shock of replacing the familiar ... " ...

Via InformationWeek | Voice-Over-IP | VoIP Gotchas ...



Here are some relevant references on VOIP implementations:

Via NetworkWorld: The ROI of VoIP: "When it comes to VoIP, most network managers are satisfied that the technology works. The challenge is developing cost analyses: What will the new technology cost to roll out and support, and what benefits can companies expect to reap? "

Via NetIQ: VoIP in Action: "OK, you've moved beyond the deployment stage of your VoIP project. Your first group of VoIP phone users are happy and you've got high levels of availability and call quality. Now what? In the management stage, you need to keep those users happy with consistent availability and high call quality. "

Managing VoIP Implementations Effectively: "Voice over IP (VoIP) is the hottest telephony technology. Consumers and corporations are looking to reduce costs by deploying VoIP systems. The challenge, however, is that the technology is so new that few project managers have expertise in managing VoIP implementation. If you are interested in or responsible for implementing VoIP at your organization, this is the course for you. "

Innovation: Learn From Experiments ...

Increase your cycles of learning. Tom Kelley explores the culture of innovation, where learning faster than the competition drives competitive advantage. ...

... "Rely on The Experimenter to increase your organization's rate of enlightened trial and error. If you learn from each experiment, and run those experiments quicker and cheaper than others in your industry, you can accumulate more insights and convert them into value at a faster pace. " ...

Innovation: Learn From Experiments: Via Fast Company Now

Project Portfolio Management: CA Clarity Best in Europe ...

CA recognized as "Best" solution and vendor by European IT execs at Gartner project portfolio management PPM conference. ...

Project Portfolio Management: CA Clarity Best in Europe: Via CA: CA's Clarity Voted Best Solution and Best Vendor at Gartner Project and Portfolio Management Summit ...

... "CA (NYSE: CA) announced that it was voted Best Vendor and Best Solution for its Clarity system at the 2005 Gartner Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) Summit Europe. This is the fourth consecutive PPM Summit Best Vendor award for CA's Clarity (formerly Niku). The Gartner PPM Innovation Awards recognize technology and service providers for their solutions, programs, service and support. IT executives representing key business decision makers driving PPM adoption and implementation voted on the awards at the PPM Summit, Nov. 30 - Dec. 2 in Lisbon, Portugal. " ...

Sustaining Innovation: Growth Through Creativity ...

Creativity fuels the innovation engine. How can we increase creativity to accelerate innovation? What are leadership principles necessary to drive growth through the creative organization? Here are some great insights ... Marc Babej provides excellent summary of Peter Georgescu, Young & Rubicam, on sustainable innovation from the Fortune Innovation Forum. Peter emphasizes three points on innovation: Embrace creativity, emphasize human values, and support active involvement in investing in future generations through education. Creativity is seen as a core enterprise competency that requires a special type of leadership to cultivate and sustain. ...

Via Being Reasonable: Peter Georgescu on Sustaining Innovation ...

... "First, embrace creativity as the most vital enterprise resource. The only leverageable asset on a company's balance sheet. Creativity is the cure for lack of differentiation, and in turn it begets profits. It's an inexhasutible resource, but also fragile. Creative output requires a new type of leader, one who refuses to manipulate or manage through fear. " ...

David Tanner, Tanner & Associates, Inc., discusses harnessing and increasing the creative capability in a research and development environment. These techniques should apply to most innovation scenarios. ...

Via Winston Brill: Creativity and Innovation in R&D ...

... "It's vital to set aside quality time specifically for people to learn the techniques of creative thinking. This first step satisfies an essential criterion for cultural shift - that is, it gives status to the effort. What resources can you use to focus on this subject? In-house seminars, books and articles on creativity, and outside creativity experts. " ...

Ben Simonton expands on the leadership techniques necessary to increasing the enterprise creativity competency ...

Via Corante: What Drives Innovation?. IdeaFlow: Discussion about innovation and creativity -- new products, strategy, open innovation, commercialization of technologies, patents, idea generation, customer input in the NPD process, more.

... "The brain controls creativity, innovation, productivity, motivation and commitment. I will attempt to explain a superior leadership strategy which turns on brains to the maximum extent and thus greatly enhances innovation. ... A superior leadership strategy inspires people to do more, dream more and learn more. We all know that people are our most important asset and that the best ones are self-motivated self-starters. Unfortunately, only 5% or so are naturally that way. A superior leadership strategy is capable of making the vast majority of employees self-motivated self-starters who are highly committed and highly productive, up to 300% more so than if poorly motivated. So what is this strategy? " ...

Leadership Tip of the Day: How to Inspire Passion and Accountability

Wanna really make people miserable and make them dependent on you to get anything done? Just micromanage them.

But if you want to inspire passion and accountability in people, just give them general guidelines and full support, removing any barriers that stand in their way. This is what true leadership is all about.

Allowing people to own their deliverables, make their own decisions, and be responsible for their results gives them true accountability for their work, and inspires an entrepreneurial spirit as well. Micromanagement on the other hand destroys this spirit, as does second-guessing, manipulating, and finger-pointing.

Passion and accountability are critical for any organization to thrive, and the key to motivating employees. Let's get beyond this pervasive culture of hierarchy, silo-thinking, and micromanagement. Central administration is fine, but let's aim for decentralized decision-making. Spread the word!

Project Management Leadership Quality: Trust ...

The project management leadership soft-skill, "creating trust", is thoughtfully explored through this reference. ...

Project Management Leadership Quality: Trust: Via TechRepublic Blog: Trust: One of the primary keys to project management

... "This trust also allows the PM greater flexibility in her project management because the client trusts that the PM is working in their best interest. " ...

Additional resources on creating an environment of trust ...

Creating a Climate for Trust: "Creating a climate for trust is the foundation for effectiveness in any organization. When trust is weak, the organization is ready to self-destruct. "

Creating and Maintaining an Ethical Corporate Climate: "Leadership from the top is the single most important factor in creating and maintaining an ethical climate in any business."

Building Teamwork and the Importance of Trust in a Business Environment: "Even with the appropriate individuals on a team, a team that does not build a trusting relationship is not an effective team. Research shows that trust is the basis for creating a healthy work environment. "