NLP, Project Management, Project Management Books, Project Management Communications

Secrets of powerful teams: Revealing ideas of NLP and the use of words

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The ongoing challenges of creating the magical bond between team members in small and big endeavors can be elusive. What more, in the last few decades it has become increasingly challenging, since we have been moving from emphasis on social skills and communities to technical and managerial skills, as a result the lore concerning the magic of teams has been lost.

When I’m facilitating workshops for business professionals, project managers in software development, seminars for finance and IT professionals, consulting with marketing and supply chain experts, I am surprised to witness their low propensity for soft skills literacy. They know the hard aspects of what needs to be done, however they remain clueless when required to lead the teams that help them accomplish the required objectives.

As most of these teams are cross functional in a matrix organization, it is likely that the leaders and managers of these teams do not necessarily have direct hierarchical control over the team members. Requesting deliverables from the team members becomes challenging. Even when the managers do have hierarchical power, the contemporary concepts of empowerment and motivation prevail, making direct commands unpopular to say the least. Yet again requesting fulfillment of the objectives and deliverables becomes tricky. It is quite remarkable that simple concepts for creating positive interactions outside the business world are hardly ever used within business and project teams.

In order to lead through the challenges of both collocated and virtual teams we can use concepts from Neurolinguistic programming (NLP). It is a powerful technique with proven results.

We will explore only a fraction of what NLP is about, specifically several words that are used redundantly in almost each and every team interaction. These words are mostly negative, yet common in team interactions, create noise in the communication, confuse the message, and carry a baggage of ill-considered meanings.

The first word we will examine is – Try

The first word that is used quite often without understanding the implication is: Try.

For example: ‘we will try running this test next week’ or ‘please try to have the results by Wednesday’ or even ‘I tried really hard’.

To understand the issue with- try – view this link: http://bit.ly/18MnRcM .

Try – masks the intent and carries an element of implicit failure within the message. As Yoda said, you either do it or you don’t there is no try. Either you’re going to run the tests next week or you’re not going to run them next week. When you’re saying that: you are going to try to run them next week, most like you’re not going to do it. When I’m telling you: please try to have the results by Wednesday, I’m actually saying that it is fine that they’ll come in by Thursday or Friday or even next month.

Let us look at an email example written by Mark, a team leader:

We have indeed defined a way of work, but we also defined a process for completion of tasks, that we should try to stick to.

What is Mark saying? Did we define a process just so we should try to stick to it? Or did we define a process that we must stick to? By using try, Mark undermines his authority as a team leader; he defined a process so that the team members will follow it.

The abundant use of the word try in many teams, both co-located and virtual, is a sign of fear that both leaders and team members have of stepping up and asking for commitment and responsibility.

Bottom line – drop the TRY it does not add anything to the communication!

The second word we will examine is – Should

The second word that is used quite often without understanding the implication is: Should.

‘Should’ has a flavor of admonition, guilt, and manipulation, especially when other people are using it; by blurting out-loud a general statement with the word ‘should’.

For example: “you should always finish what you’re eating and never leave anything on the plate”. Also: “this should have been completed by now”. And yet another: “you should not get up before the manager has left”.

Let us look at a meeting, where Tina – a production lead, is saying:

Tina answers: “we should focus on production levels as this is what is driving the transfer to production, trust me I’ve been here and have seen these projects many times

In this case Tina is using ‘should’ to reprimand the team and also to have it her way by defining an imaginary rule and enforcing it upon the team. Actually what Tina is saying: “I want to focus on production levels”. Many times people use should instead of ‘I want’, this is the case with parents and children. The admonition of: “you should be nice” is actually saying: “I want you to be nice”.

Observe the power and direct impact of the second sentence as opposed to using ‘should’. People use the word should to mask their wish or need. Instead of directly stating what they want, they construct a stipulation without naming a person responsible for carrying it out.

In families we often hear such a ‘should’ sentence: “the lawn should be cut”. This is indirect communication that with time can create resentment. Actually the person would be better off asking directly what he wants to happen: “please can you cut the lawn now”, is a much better question. Notice that this question can lead into conflict as the other person might rebel and disagree. By using ‘should’ we are avoiding the conflict between our wishes and the other person’s wishes. The truth is that the conflict is not avoided; rather as the communication is not direct it is unclear what the person wants the other person to perform. The conflict thus is exacerbated and not mitigated. The extensive use of ‘should’ stipulations occurs in families, in couples, and naturally also in teams.

Monitor the ‘shoulds’ in your teams, they are barriers to effective communication and reduce the potential power of the team.

The third word we will examine is – Why

The third word that is used quite often without understanding the implication is: Why.

Why carries a sense of blame to it. for example: “why did you break the glass?” One can see that the usage of ‘why’ here is not about receiving an answer but more about rebuking for the actual breaking of the glass, since there is not a good answer for this question. A wisecrack answer might be: “because I like to see you get mad…” actually, it is just the right answer for a question with the word ‘why’ and often an answer we receive from teenagers for ‘WHY’ questions.

For example, at the same meeting, Ashley the project manager is answering:

Ashley tries to gain control back and asks Tina: “why do you think this is now relevant for our meeting? Let’s try to get back on our planned agenda!”

In this case Ashley is blaming Tina by asking her the question. Ashley would have been better off saying: “Tina, I would like to revert to our defined agenda, I think these are relevant issues for another meeting”.

The word ‘why’ carries guilt and finger-pointing into our team communications. It is better that we leave it out of our messages as it doesn’t have any positive impact on what we are saying. Rather it is clearer to state what we want to achieve or alternatively ask information gathering questions using the word ‘how’.

For example Ashley might ask: “Tina, can you please explain how these figures impact the transfer to operations?”

Notice that while ‘why’ structures a closed ended question, ‘how’ questions are open-ended and investigate as to the process that led to a certain consequence.

The ‘whys’ don’t contribute to clear communication instead they add guilt and finger-pointing, drop them!

Michael NirWant to learn more about the secrets and more NLP words? Six Secrets of Powerful Teams A practical guide to the magic of motivating and influencing teams (The Leadership Series) , available on Amazon

Find Michael’s other publications on: http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Nir/e/B00B0S45W0

Michael has been providing operational, organizational and management consulting and training for over 14 years. He is a certified project management professional and Gestalt process facilitator, offering training, consulting, and solutions development in project and product management, process improvement, leadership, and team building programs
Michael’s professional background includes a significant amount of work in the telecoms, hi-tech, software development, R&D environments and petrochemical & infrastructure business.

Project management CV, Project Management CV Workshop, Project Management Help, project management resume

Project Management CV Help

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With the UK job market seesaw it is important to make sure you are making a good impression with your job applications – often with the lift in roles we are lulled into a false sense of security that the market will stay buoyant for a while and that the volume of roles means we are in with a good chance of securing interviews. Unfortunately this isn’t the case, the volume of applicants remains high and as such the competition is still strong. With recruitment companies endorsing the need for a good CV to yield results from your job applications and a small emergence of courses aimed at assisting project professionals gain the tools and knowhow to create a winning CV it is now widely being acknowledged that job hunters need to step up.

I have been pleased to see such interest in my field and completely agree that more needs to be done, time is of the essence and those who are fortunate enough to have the ability and/or time to put together a winning CV should take heed. For those who recognise they either cannot put together a strong CV or haven’t got the time/inclination are best suited to invest in their careers with a professional CV writer who actually understands the industry and doesn’t just play about with formatting and rewording documents at a high cost.

Project Management Help

I am presenting a PM CV writing workshop later in the year with APM as I feel it is important to give something back to the PM community and fully endorse those who can write a CV but need a little guidance should be doing so. For the rest of you, I have put together a series of blog articles with lots of examples and tips on how to create a winning CV and continue to offer a competitively priced CV writing service bespoke to your needs. A great deal of contractors come to me already bought-in to the investment opportunity of having a CV created which time after time secures them interviews moving forward, likewise a great deal of senior PM professionals who are just too busy to work on their CV step forward to take the service. I have also noticed a number of clients wanting to break into project management but not knowing where to start or indeed what the roles actually are – these clients receive coaching in a variety of areas and walk away with a strong CV and knowledge on how to approach a career change.

There are many reasons clients come to us but one which made me smile the other day was a project manager who when asked his reasoning for coming to us was that he is in a position where he can pay others to do the tasks he hates. Just like having a breakdown membership, why change the wheel yourself when there is someone much better qualified to do this whilst you get on with your life. Embrace the help that is out there and identify what is most relevant for you, treat your career needs as an investment, just as you would take PM training or invest in better tools (software) – make a difference to your life.

 

 

Hiring Manager, project management recruitment, Project Management Teams

Project Manager Recruitment

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Recruitment is an interesting topic and certainly becomes quite complex when you are looking for a specific skill-set such as project management – PM covers a multitude of areas and can often be deceptive in the job titles assigned to roles. The reason it can become difficult to source the right candidate can be because emphasis is placed on a person who currently performs the role, yes it is true. A lot of hiring managers will look to replace “Dave” or “Sarah” when they are moving on, often asking Dave or Sarah to list everything they do in their role to assist in creating a job description. Suddenly a fairly straightforward role starts to take on a rather long “wish list” and expectations are very high, this combined with applying a starter salary for that role means it becomes increasingly difficult to find the ideal candidate for the role.

Understandably if you have a star employee who is progressing or moving on, you will want to replace them seamlessly but naturally as someone has been in a position for some time they will lend strengths to their role which goes above and beyond the job description, over time they are generally rewarded and may take rather large pay increments for having additional responsibility.  Then when you are back at square one you are actually looking for an employee which does not exist especially at the lower salary pay band.

Standing out in the crowdTo escape this trap, it makes sense to meet with Dave or Sarah and talk through key responsibilities and think about what the core role actually involves and identify what the “would like to haves” are without biasing your recruitment.

The beauty of human nature is that we are all made differently and all have natural abilities in differing areas, therefore a new person on the team could actually bring a fresh dynamic which could really draw out skills from others who haven’t had the opportunity to shine. It is with this thought in mind I always encouraged an open mind from hiring managers to seeing candidates with varying backgrounds. Especially those who were adamant they required someone from a specific industry, the skill-set for a PM professional is transferable and as long as there is no need for the technical knowhow then there is no reason why they wouldn’t be able to perform the role. A PM in the traditional sense does not get embroiled in the product or service as this can greatly affect delivery, slowing down the process. All organisations and industries work differently and taking someone with a different perspective can really add a lot to a project environment. Asking questions often overlooked through complacency and always following methods which have previously worked – but isn’t project management all about change? Shouldn’t we be constantly looking for new and improved approaches as all projects are different (if not, they are business as usual).

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6 questions to expect at a web developer interview

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When preparing for an interview it’s important to consider a few typical questions your potential employer may ask you. We all know the interview process can be a daunting task, and it’s essential to come across as a competent and confident individual to be in with a chance of bagging that dream job. The focus of your potential employer’s thought process, is whether you are good enough to work for their company, so the significance of interview preparation should not be overlooked. For that very reason, we have compiled a series of web developer interview questions below, so you can walk into the room and communicate an air of wisdom and clarity when put under the microscope.

1.       What are your past working experiences?

You can expect to answer a relatively broad question about yourself to begin with. The interviewer is merely trying to get a feel of your personality and an elaborated version of the information presented in your CV.

Think2.       What kinds of sources do you follow to keep up with industry trends and developments? 

If you don’t already follow a handful of blogs relating to the web development industry, now is the time to start reading! The interviewer will be very interested in knowing how committed to the profession you are, and your specific viewpoints. This is that very thin line between your dedication to the skill and your own self-improvement, or something you perceive as just a job.

3.       What are your most favourable programming languages?

It is a simple fact that when we excel in a certain task, this generally results in a person favouring that subject. There are at least one or two programming languages a web developer will be most proficient, and the interviewer will be interested to hear the skills you can bring to the company and why it is you favour those languages over others.

4.       What kind of problems have you faced while writing code?

When your interviewer asks you a question about the problems you’ve come across in the past, they do not want to hear “I haven’t come across any problems”. Every developer at some point in their career has been confronted with a challenge, your interviewer is looking for details of what your problems were and what you did to tackle them.

5.       What is W3C and what does it stand for?

W3C stands for World Wide Web Consortium and it is the international standards compliance for web development. Their aim is to radically improve the way people develop new technologies, and this is something any established web developer should be familiar with. Your interviewer will most likely ask you this question, so if you are ignorant to the workings of W3C, start searching the web for answers now.

6.       When concerning case sensitivity, what is the principal difference between HTML and XHTML?

The interviewer is attempting to establish your basic knowledge of languages and the finer details involved. Expect to be asked a series of technical questions to test your knowledge and capabilities.  To answer the question above, HTML is not case sensitive but XTML requires lower case for all tags and attributes.

As you can imagine, these are just a small collection of the possible questions your interviewer may ask you, but it’s most definitely a good starting point. When considering what to expect at your interview, ask yourself these three questions; “What are my past experiences, what kind of skills do I possess, and what do I expect from the future?” Elaborate on these three questions and you’ll find yourself where you want to be in no time!

Good luck!

Karly Edwards is a freelance copywriter writing for Computer Recruiter, an IT recruitment agency based in Cardiff, South Wales: http://www.computerrecruiter.co.uk

Making Your CV Project You