All posts by Steve A

When I speak to various groups, I use my military and emergency management experience to teach leadership and project management lessons.

Recently I was asked if there was a difference between leading projects in a military and a civilian setting.

Yes, there are times in the military when project management is intense, and timings are compressed, but at its core, the principals are the same.

When I entered the military, I had no idea that that the training I received and the rules developed for infantry tactics were invaluable in leading project teams.

 Here is my top ten:

1. Plan. To survive combat, the infantry leader must think beyond the immediate situation and assess possible outcomes. The project manager should define how objectives will be met regarding scope, requirements, schedule, resources, risks, cost, quality and performance.

2. Study your Intel. In combat, knowing the situation on the ground is key to effectively adjusting your position. In project management, team composition, costs, weather and projects requirements will, most likely, change before completion, so stay ahead of it.

3. Check your kit. The tradition of the sergeant doing a weapons check is mirrored by the project manager’s check on available resources. Are the resource management & procurement management plans consistent with the project plan?

4. Check your communications. An infantry leader has a range of communication tool to stay in touch with those directing the operation and those executing the orders. Your communication tools should be diverse and tailored to the needs of all levels of internal and external stakeholders.

5. Know your team. Like the infantry leader, the project manager must be aware of team members’ capabilities as missions and projects fail due to the departure of a key contributor. Have the adequate backup and to shape your team, so its overall performance is greater than any one individual.

6. Never leave a team member behind. Combat team members must know that the team leader will take care of them. The project manager often demands extreme dedication from team members. In return, team members should be rewarded for successful project completion.

7. Know the territory. The infantry leader must be able to use the lay of the land advantageously. Likewise, a project manager must know the circumstances surrounding the project and must be able to internalize and articulate the goals of the project.

8. Be decisive. When an opportunity for failure looms, infantry leader is the person to evaluate the threat, enact a recovery strategy, and monitor the situation until the danger passes. Above all, the infantry leader and project manager must provide a clear vision of success.

9. Lead. The combat infantry leader often must make difficult decisions. Project managers are not involved in life-or-death decisions, but the stakes can be high.

10. The mission isn’t over until the paperwork is done. Once the mission is complete, the first order of business is to debrief & document the results. As project management: document the project, detail the results, move from implementation to sustained operations, and document lessons learned.

‘No great strategy was born without careful thought.’ (Anon) 

On the other side of that saying is the truism:

‘there comes a time in every great endeavour that you have to shoot the planners and start!’

Strategic planning is important.

By doing it you set priorities, guide investment decisions, and layout growth plans. But for many, the strategic planning has become just a thing you have to do and either result in a glorified budget or lots of razzle-dazzle & jazz-hands in the form of analysis, charts, and presentations – but with little that can be translated into action.

The result? Many strategic plans end up on the shelf, posted on the website or hidden away on a shared drive.

Many of you start new strategic planning cycle – how do you avoid being a statistic?

Use these four steps to make better use of the work that goes into planning a strategy & achieve something:

1. Experiment & test the assumptions

The very essence of the strategic plans is that they are a vision of a future state. And that necessarily requires assumptions that certain outcomes (increased revenue, improved margins, higher ROI’s) will result from a given initiative.

But too often these assumptions are only supported by secondary research, educated guesses, or assumptions rather than field tests.

The result? Managers are uncomfortable and unsure with moving into action, committing resources or preferring to stay with the business they know rather than possibilities that may or may not pan out.

To overcome this inertia, ask managers to include specific, short-term experiments, whose results will show what works and what does not.

2. Banish BS Words

Strategic plans are often filled with empty phrases such as “Leverage our World Class Operating Capabilities” or head-scratching statements like “Reshape Our Pricing Strategy to Drive Demand While Maintaining Market Access.”

Unclear language signals that you do not have a clear idea of what is needed to succeed. I have heard of organizations banning words and phrases such as leverage synergy, innovative and robust.

3. Banish the template

The template is the standard tool for strategic planning. I think in 13 years as an executive in a large NGO I have seen at least 15 strategic planning templates – often several in a single year.

Ideally, they force us to consider various topics – SWOT & environmental scans, competitive analysis and the comparison of data from across the organization.

But the rigid use of templates can focus actions on corporate requirements rather than how to grow business. When the same templates are used over & over & over, the result can be stale ideas, blah-blah responses, and worse, camouflaging key issues and opportunities that need to be addressed.

Avoiding this may be as simple as eliminating sections that no longer make sense or even better – throwing it in the garbage and starting over.

4. Ask provocative questions.

In theory, strategic planning should foster intense debates and discussions; but when the process is rigidly structured, and the documents crammed full of data, the dialogue will be stilted or constrained.

To overcome this, it’s important to ask tough questions when plans are presented in a way that can lead to unscripted answers that will enrich the thinking and increase everyone’s level of confidence in moving forward. A few examples include:

• “What are the top 2 or 3 things that must go right for this strategy to work?”
• “If we pursue this strategy, what are we deciding not to do?” and
• “What specific capabilities will we need to develop for this plan to succeed?”

Closing Thoughts

Strategic planning is an important part of the life cycle of any organization.

The challenge is to make sure that it’s more than busy work, or another corporate exercise, or razzle-dazzle jazz hands.

Click here to read about ‘busy-work.’

It is questionable if ‘No’ is a full sentence, but it is a terrible answer to give another human being.

Whether you are a parent, a spouse or a boss, saying “no” to others isn’t always easy.

But it’s a message that can be delivered with kindness.

Kindness to yourself, and the people around you.

Think about it.

Do you want to go out for coffee with a mentor who’s stretched to the max and resentful?

Do you want your star employee to stay silent if she’s drowning in too many projects?

Of course not.

You want the people you care about to be happy and sane! Those people must also include you. Saying no doesn’t limit your opportunities either — it opens you up to the right ones.

Read about using silence as a conversation tool

It’s not just about the words you use, but how you say them. If you want to say no with grace and compassion, keep these tips in mind:

Be Quick – Saying no doesn’t get more comfortable if you wait. Respond as quickly as makes sense — it’s a sign of respect and gives you peace of mind.

Be Polite – Thank them for thinking of you and, if appropriate, congratulate them.

Give AN Alternative – If you can’t do it, ask how else you can contribute.

Give The Reason – Research shows that the word “because” makes people more likely to do something. It softens the blow and provides context.

Don’t Lie – Whatever you say, be truthful. If you can’t be sincere, then don’t say anything besides a kind “no.”

Don’t Apologize – You can say that you’re sorry to miss the event or program, but don’t apologize for saying no. You haven’t done anything wrong.

Read about talk to your people when times are bad

HERE ARE 7 SCRIPTS YOU CAN START USING TODAY

HOW TO SAY NO TO YOUR BOSS WHEN YOU DON’ T HAVE THE TIME … I hear how important this is. Can we look at my current priorities together? There’s a lot in motion right now, and I want everything to be done right.

Why it works: “Can we look at my priorities?” shows that you’re on top of things. It also reminds your boss that there are consequences to shifting your focus.

HOW TO SAY NO TO YOUR BOSS WHEN YOU DON’ T AGREE … I don’t think we should move ahead with this strategy, but I do have another idea that might work way better to help our customers. Are you open to another perspective?”

Why it works: Instead of being disagreeable, propose an alternative, this proves you’re invested and committed to helping the team get the desired outcome.

HOW TO SAY NO WHEN YOU’RE OVERSTRETCHED AND OVERCOMMITTED … “I have to pass on this one. I’ve been burning the candle at both ends and promised I wouldn’t take on any more commitments until I had a chance to get back on track.”

Why it works: It’s simple, truthful and transparent.

Read about too many priorities

HOW TO SAY NO TO HAVING YOUR BRAIN PICKED … Ask what they realy want.

Why it works: People ask because they need something, you can save time and still be helpful by merely asking what they want.

HOW TO SAY NO TO REQUESTS THAT ARE NOT YOUR AREA OF EXPERTISE …”Great idea, but I have to pass because the project falls outside of my expertise. What you need is a person who does X. Here are a few referrals to get you started:”

Why it works: Referrals are a fantastic way to support your client, grow your network and keep everyone working in their zone of genius.

HOW TO SAY NO TO CLIENTS WHEN YOUR SCHEDULE IS FULL … I have to pass because my schedule is full right now and I wouldn’t be able to give your project the attention it deserves.” Why it works: By calling out your inability to “do a good job,” you’re showing how much care you put into each project.

HOW TO SAY NO TO WHEN YOU’RE TOO BUSY: … “Thanks for thinking of me, but I’m not able to accept given my other commitments.”

One of the great pleasures of my life is having thoughtful conversations with children.

Being an Uncle and a friend of children relieves me of the parental relationship and creates openness and free-space to engage at a different level.

I love opening those conversations with gentle questions like: What did you learn at school today? Or, what surprised you today? Or, what happened when ‘X or Y’ happened?

I am not sure which came first, but I often used similar open-ended questions with members of my team. I learned more about what was going on at work by framing questions to find out if people understood why they were doing something over what they are doing.

Read more about asking why

I recently read a great post by Ozan Varol, where he related a story about a question from a parent asking how he could cultivate curiosity and critical thinking in his children. He responded with questions parents should ask instead to inspire a richer conversation, discovery information and inspire creative & critical thinking.

They reframed my opening questions, my challenge to you is: How can you use them in your workplace?

1. Instead of “What did you learn today?” Try “What did you disagree with today?”

“What did you learn in today?” reinforces the regurgitation of knowledge on demand.

By reframing the question, you can develop the ability to challenge the status quo and to question alternative facts and convenient lies.

2. Instead of “What did you accomplish this week?” Try “What did you fail at this week?”

We live in a society that stigmatizes failure. As children we don’t fail, we receive participation awards. Now as entrepreneurs – and quite weirdly – terms like ‘fail fast’ have become participation medals for adults.

Read more about the fallacy of successful failure

In asking What have you failed at this week gives people the breathing room to tackle problems and it creates space to reflect, learn, and improve on your next attempt.

3. Instead of “Here’s how you do that.” Try “How would you solve this problem?”

When an employee comes to us with a problem, resist the initial instinct to deliver a quick and efficient fix.

Let them find a solution on their own. The process involved in finding the answer is far more important than the answer itself.

4. Instead of “That’s just the way it is.” Try “Great question. Why don’t you figure out the answer?”

As children, we were masters at asking questions and were moved by genuine curiosity. The education system and workplace have beaten curiosity down because most questions have been settled because That’s just the way it is.

Instead of stifling your employee’s curiosity, encourage them to ask questions and remain curious through open-minded inquiry.

5. Instead of “You can’t do that.” Try “What would it take to do that?”

Don’t off-handedly dismiss ideas as crazy or infeasible. Imagine if a young Einstein had been silenced by a busy or annoyed boss.

Open possibilities instead of closing them off, encourage seemingly crazy ideas by engaging with your people in conversation.

6. Instead of “Did you make a sale today?” Try “How did you help someone today?”

The first question is superficial.

The second encourages forming meaningful connections and developing a spirit of generosity. It is a far better message to be on the lookout for opportunities to help others.

As a manager, the chances are that at one time you were an expert.

But as your career advanced, you were promoted to a job outside of your specialty. Your subordinates started asking questions that you couldn’t answer or even understood. How can you lead them when they know a lot more about their work than you do?

Welcome to reality.

Read about surviving as a leader

You are now the leader without expertise—and this is where you, possibly for the first time in your career, find yourself failing. You feel frustrated, tired and disoriented, even angry. What can you do?

First, resist your natural inclination to dive into the details so they can be an expert again.

What should you do instead? To succeed in this situation, you must learn and practice a generalist leadership style. Based on my work with leaders who have successfully made the transition, here are the four key skills to develop and practice:

1) Focus on relationships, not facts – The specialist focuses on facts and the generalist leader focuses on relationships. The specialist tells their staff the answer; the generalist brings them together find the answer.

How? The best tip for building relationships is to spend a lot of time, face to face, getting to know people as individuals. Constantly adapt your approach to the individual and the situation, and that means knowing people very, very well.

Read about how to listen to your people

2) Enabling things to happen, don’t do the work – As the expert, you make decisions based on your unique knowledge. As a generalist leader, you do not do the work directly, but you enable things to happen by knowing when to leave things alone and when to intervene. This isn’t easy because you have a broad array of responsibilities and you need to be able to tell where trouble lurks:

How?

• Sit in on meetings between a direct report and his subordinates. If the conversation is two-way, that’s a good sign. If the manager does all the talking and the subordinates are passive, it may be a sign you need to decide if the conversation is healthy.
• Get feedback from your network to see if your teams are delivering. If the feedback is negative, but the team leader insists everything is on track, there is a problem.

3) Practice seeing the bigger picture, not mastering the details – As a generalist, your value comes from being able to see the big picture better than others. The specialist lives heads-down, plotting a detailed course on a map, while the generalist leader is heads-up, looking around and noticing the reefs, icebergs and hazards on the horizon.

How? Start by focusing how a problem is affecting the people two levels below you and two levels above you. This tactic challenges you to think deeply, and develop a perspective that will make a real difference to the organization.

Surviving your first 90 days as a new boss

4) Rely on “executive presence” to project confidence, not on having all the answers –  It may be easier for the expert to project confidence as the facts and the facts speak for themselves. Where does the confidence come from as a generalist – you must draw on “executive presence” to inspire confidence in others.

How? Pay attention to how other leaders walk into a meeting, notice how they dress, how they speak, how they stand—these are not personality traits, they are skills. Watch some videos of world leaders and notice the relaxed body stance, the calmness in their voice, how their sentences are crisp and to the point — that’s the path to executive presence.

Finally

Ease the transition to generalist leadership by realizing that you no longer can, or should, be the expert.

Your role as a leader is to bring out the best in others, even when they know more than you.

The tactics described above have helped me make the transition, and they can work for you too.

Download your guide to the 7 Simple Shifts to Being A Better Boss

Recently I provided advice to employees who think they had been screwed over because they were passed over for a promotion. In that post, the employee was told all promotions were on hold due to budgetary reasons, only to see a peer get promoted while she was away on vacation.

Read So, You Got Screwed Over – 9 Ways To Handle Being Denied A Promotion

There are two-sides to every story and to be fair, the employee at the centre of this did not have her best year, and she may not have been a fit for the new job.

What is the issue?

In a nutshell, the Boss lied.

• The Boss lied about the company’s moratorium on promotions.
• The Boss lied about this employee’s performance?

Yes, I said lie. The boss was dishonest. Period.

The result of the lie?

• This Boss has created employee who has lost trust and confidence in the company
• The story has shared inside and outside the company and diminishing their reputation
• The Company might lose a 5-year employee
• And it begs the question … Who else is skulking around bitter and angry instead of productive and doing good work?

How could this have been avoided?

I understand why the Boss said that there were no promotions, he didn’t want to open himself up to the next obvious conversations about the employee’s performance and fit and why they likely would not be considered for the promotion.

Read Does My Butt Look Big In This Dress – 2 Phrases A Boss Needs To Respect The Truth And Your Team

I say that if you aren’t sure how to have honest conversations with your employees you should get professional development to learn how to.

If you don’t or can’t do it, consider turning in your boss badge, because hard and honest conversations are a big part of your job.

My Final Thoughts

It is easy to blame the employee or the boss in this circumstance as each bears a share of responsibility.

But to me, this story tells me more about the culture of the entire organization.

An organization that put an ill-prepared supervisor into a position where a lie seemed like the best response.

Shame on them.