Obit 2

We left our wannabe hero as he prepares to board a bus headed for Memphis. Information gaps acknowledged, but not yet taking responsibility for arrogance.

It seems that my life has been segmented by school or other life learning exercises. The break points in the memory flow have significant tipping points that define the next phase. Memphis was one also.

The bus trip up through Mississippi to Memphis was a learning experience all by itself. That story is best told in a different venue. School in Tennessee was a load of fun, surrounded by airplanes, systems, learning all sorts of things – attempting to resolve the information flow as the firehose was opened. New life, new career, new everything.

But, here is the point in time where learning forever was pushed into my little pea-brain…and it actually stuck the first time through. After checking in and joining the training command as a student, my first day in this new school had a block of orientation to the entire process from day 1 to 3650. They had a 10 year plan mapped out. After my initial training in fundamentals and theory, I would attend a specific course of instruction around electrical systems, power distribution, troubleshooting, and more system theory. Actual aircraft were used for testing skills. Overall process and governance was taught also as the standards were based on Naval Aviation Operations. So a system learned in one unit was transferable to the next unit, aircraft, or operations center.

What a concept.

Like maybe that type of thing should exist at any time there is human interaction with education needs, structures, process and larger organizations?

Bottom line was once I left this “school” environment I could expect to be attending further schools at least once a year. Type specific systems, communications, automatic flight controls, navigation, it just goes on and on. But the true value of this constant education and growth was the leader training that was endemic to the entire process. Each element fit into a larger matrix aimed at preparing the individual to manage technical work groups and eventually entire maintenance departments in extremely high stress environments.

After four or five years of this exposure and daily touching of the systems and technologies the individual is well prepared to start supervising others while they grow up through the system.

So, my value-add lesson was that I needed to accept the idea that I was going to be in a school of one sort or another for my entire military career. You were either going to be in a technical school, deployed, or in a leadership school. In between, you did your “regular job” in your unit.

Just one more nail in the coffin for the excuse of “I didn’t want to be in school anymore.” As it turned out, that is about all you do in the Marines; train, deploy, school. I had taken an action with a major goal of “no more school.” Oops.

And there I thought I knew everything. This error will repeat several times over the years. After a while, you learn to make decisions with imperfect data, but then you manage your risk differently – another lesson I learned the hard way.

Take whatever education is offered – you won’t know you need it until you need it and then it will be too late. Another twist is to be completely open to generic benchmarking – a term I didn’t learn until much later, only to realize I had been doing it all along.

Arrogance was not gone yet, but maybe the information gap lesson was learned.

YMMV

Obit Part 1

 

We first see our hero, or at least a wannabe hero, on 15 September 1975 at the culmination of a year of planning and execution.  Our hero is exiting the bus at MCRD San Diego and has just realized that some of the stuff in the movies is actually true.  As in solidly into the “Holy Crap!” category.

Have you ever made some serious life decisions and then realized that perhaps that the decision tree was created in fantasy land and based on either incomplete information, misdirection, or perhaps outright lies?  I was dealing with a very professional sales guy – even if he was dressed in Marine Corps blues.

What I thought I had solidly blocked out, was in fact, based on conclusions that had almost no connection to reality.  I had been so sure I was right.  Looking back after all these years, I can see where I had a serious case of myopia complicated by some hubris issues, and further exacerbated by rose colored glasses.  Thank you Leon Uris.

I will wait here whilst you look up those big words, the Leon Uris reference, and connect with the visceral 18-year-old fear of the unknown.  Because I had stepped into serious land.

The process started at about age 11 or so when I stumbled across Battle Cry.  Somehow that got imbedded into my psyche and I knew what I wanted to do.  Fast forward several years, and I passed the ASVAB with good enough scores that I qualified for every enlisted job the USMC offered at that time.  Airplanes were my goal the USMC was my path.

So, there I was, standing on the yellow footprints, trying to decide what I needed to do. The conclusion, based on me wanting to be there, having taken (adult) actions to be where I was, and then actually holding up my hand and affirming that I would do what I was ordered to do, was that I needed to leave on 11 December by the shortest legal path that resulted in me doing what I wanted to be doing at this time next year.

The next three months of my life are somewhat of a blur, but I did get through it. Should you ever be curious, ask me. Life is different in that environment, but several lessons learned there kept me in one piece over the years. Oddly enough, I graduated in spite of me thinking almost everything is funny. Serious humor in boot camp. I get the stereotype, but dang.

Following some tribulations, I arrived in Meridian Mississippi ready for my second USMC school. The first being that lovely boot experience. It was not until this time that I viscerally recognized how big a mistake I had made. I was going into a school environment that did not teach what I wanted. Oh boy. Arrogance and incomplete information.

The worst part of this is the arrogance and incomplete information correlation did not solidify for many years. How many times have you made some decisions thinking that you knew what you needed to know – but part of that information process was tilted because assumptions regarding portions of the decision tree were “hardcoded” by the arrogance of thinking you know something.

In this case, the recruiter had a quota to fill and I was not asking the right questions because in my arrogance I assumed I knew the answers. Ooopseyo. Which makes the incomplete information piece be on me also. Doubled up on the critical mistake category before I was 19. The recruiter sent me to aviation supply school. If it had not been for a screening process at the gaining command, my life goal for being around aircraft would have been from a different perspective.

The Marine conducting the personnel record screening at the gaining command could have made some assumptions and acted on less than complete information, but they did not, so I benefited from their diligence. My contract for supply school was modified to the point where I was separated and sent to Memphis for Aviation Electrician School.

The incomplete information issue can be handled in other ways allowing action plans to develop with contingency decision trees based on the missing information. Sounds circular, but it works.

While the incomplete information lesson sank in immediately, I did not learn the arrogance lesson so quickly as I repeated that mistake over the years, and it has bit me each time. Lose the arrogance. I don’t know everything even in areas where I think I do. Recognize that and take actions to gain the needed information, modify behavior, and . Life is much easier that way.

YMMV

Pressure is a Privilege

I am mindlessly watching ESPN. Some sports center-ish athlete interview with what I thought was a worthless jock. And then, in the middle of talking about stress, Julie Foudy (the supposed worthless jock) comes out with the following:

“Pressure is a privilege”

Wow. That is a deep one. Like, it may not have a bottom. And certainly, no top.

Think it through just a bit in relation to your life. I know that when I look at my life, pressure has been a part of it. In reviewing the pivotal points in my career, I had choices to make that the majority of people in this country don’t get to make. I was in a position to make those choices because of what and where I was. I never thought that was a disadvantage. And then Foudy utters the words that make it all ring true. I had the privilege of pressure.

How many of us can claim something similar in our everyday work? We don’t punch a clock. Other than the processes and procedures we develop for our customers – no real set routine. We pressure ourselves to exceed expectations. We are not flipping burgers, pushing an idiot stick, or grinding through a personal episode of “Dirty Jobs.”

Don’t get me wrong. All those jobs need doing. Somebody does them and I am glad it is not me. But there are whole rafts of job categories that the doer just drones through – the same thing every day, every week, every month, year after year.

And then you and I get to make our own schedule, find and create lasting customer and professional relationships, and have an upside only limited by our own ambition, drive, and motivation. Not everyone can claim even part of that.

Give me the pressure to succeed. We have serious mental exercise. We must be agile, think on our feet, and sometimes work odd hours. 40-hour week? Rarely. But, flip all that around, It’s a privilege.

YMMV

15 Questions for Leaders to Ask

1. When Did I Last Look in The Mirror?

As leaders, let's encourage a culture of accountability, creativity and innovation by continually looking in the mirror to develop solutions for moving forward, particularly if something didn't go as planned. Rather than blaming or pointing fingers, we should reflect on how we'd like to be treated, roll up our sleeves, anticipate risks and leap forward to help. - Joanne Markow, GreenMason

2. Where Are My Blind Spots?

It's no surprise that leaders are extraordinarily talented and experienced professionals in their respective fields. Even still, no leader can attest to knowing everything. Everyone has blind spots and knowledge gaps, and when discovered, they must be addressed. No matter their achievements or the laundry list of recent wins, leaders should be eager to uncover their weak areas and improve them. - Karima Mariama-Arthur, Esq., WordSmithRapport

3. Am I Being the Change I Want to See?

The famous quote by Gandhi, "Be the change that you wish to see in the world," is very applicable for leaders. This first requires clarity on the impact you want to have as a leader, then ensures your actions and words role model that impact. If you are not successfully doing what you ask of others, you can't expect them to follow with enthusiasm. - Bonnie Davis, Destination Up

4. What Are My Reactive Triggers?

We all have reactive triggers. Knowing your reactive tendencies will allow you to shift to using these strengths in a creative and strategic way. Not asking this question keeps you reacting to day-to-day fires and situations and will dig a bigger and bigger hole. To step into strategic leadership, you must continually raise your personal awareness of how you react. Do you protect, comply or control? - Jenn Lofgren, Incito Executive & Leadership Development

5. Who Do I Need to Get Feedback From?

The question leaders need to ask is not to themselves, but to every single person who works for them. The best leaders are those who have developed relationships where the answers they get are genuine and honest. "What am I doing well, and what's in the way of my being the best possible leader I can be?" Getting feedback from others is far more important than any question you ask yourself. - David Butlein, Ph.D., BLUECASE Strategic Partners

6. What Don't I Know That I Need to Know?

And who from my team can fill in the gap? This is a great way to grow people around you, as you're paying attention to the fact that everyone knows something you don't. It shows respect for their knowledge, gives you a sense of how they think and can support you, and how you can help them grow, as well. - Donna Karlin, No Ceiling, Just Sky™ Institute

7. How Well Do I Listen and Connect with Others?

As a leader, do you really listen to others? How do you know and how do you demonstrate that you really heard the other person? When we actively listen to another person, trust develops, the other person feels valued and important, and miscommunication, misunderstandings, and misinterpretations decrease. Listening slows down the conversation where each individual feels more connected. - Melinda Fouts, Ph.D., Success Starts With You

8. Have I Made an Impact?

As part of a leadership audit, one must ask oneself if they are making an impact in the people they are leading. Yes, you may start out with a goal or mission, but ultimately a check-in is required to see if your approach needs to be adjusted based on your impact, to support your initiatives or lack thereof. - Niya Allen-Vatel, Resume Newbie

9. Am I Focused on My No. 1 Goal?

The key to leadership is to motivate others and oneself to doggedly pursue a specific goal. Often, in the heat of putting out fires and working on the business, instead of in the business, the pursuit of the primary goal (whether revenue, getting top talent, building a great product, etc.) gets pushed to the side. A "leadership audit" should recalibrate whether the pursuit is on track. - Yuri Kruman, Master The Talk Consulting

10. Am I Growing as A Leader?

We often reach a point in our leadership journey where we feel that we have found a groove and don't step outside our comfort zone. Instead, audit your leadership knowledge, management skills, strategy and innovation. Ask for on-the-spot feedback and conduct a 360-degree assessment with your team. By continuously expanding, you drive your own performance and engagement, and that of your team's. - Loren Margolis, Training & Leadership Success LLC

11. Is My Ax Sharpened?

The saying "sharpen your ax" comes from the parable of a woodcutter who chopped less wood because his ax was dull. Leaders get dull too. Without continuous learning and professional development, leaders can become less effective. So, while cultivating others, don't forget to sharpen your own ax. You'll then work smarter and not harder. Great leaders take the time to invest in themselves. - Tamiko Cuellar, Pursue Your Purpose LLC

12. How Do Unconscious Biases Impact My Decisions?

Unconscious bias affects decisions. We’ve developed many kinds of biases to help us navigate the world with a minimum effort, but they can also hinder someone from considering different options when making decisions. Leaders should learn to accept that we are all biased before we can begin to take positive action to identify them and to mitigate bias with specific strategies. - Maria Pastore, Maria Pastore Coaching

13. What Do I Get Paid to Do?

That's the question I find many leaders are stumped by, or the answer they provide is a template response. What are you paid to do? Generate revenue, build products, engineer solutions? Nope. You get paid to be a leader. What that genuinely means varies notably based on the leader and organization. True clarity on what being a leader is remains one puzzle piece I find many people struggle to find. - Leila Bulling Towne, The Bulling Towne Group, LLC

14. What Fears Am I Not Facing?

Each leader has their own set of fears. Each context brings new permutations for activating those fears. Seasoning can often mean developing skills to work around fears rather than facing them directly. A leadership audit that includes surfacing fears, along with how and when they manifest, is the first step to diminishing their hold. The second is holding yourself accountable to new behaviors. - Maureen Cunningham, Up Until Now Inc.

15. Am I Pushing or Pulling?

Leaders often share their vision and then tell their reports how to execute. These leaders are "pushing information" out and expecting folks to "snap to it." Evolved leaders work to pull information from their teams. When individuals are asked what their greatest aspirations are, not only does the goal become more compelling, but the team is all in, as they helped to create the vision. - Deborah Goldstein, DRIVEN Professionals

Coaching

Have you ever considered getting some help with professional development? Have you ever had someone, a co-worker perhaps, or a friend or family member ask for help with life? You got kids?

Each of these is a coaching relationship. I gave this subject some thought over the last few weeks. Both of my brain cells hurt. My spare brain cell was in sympathy pain. But in the end, I managed to separate mentor from coach.

A mentor gives general advice/guidance; a coach is focused on one or two specific items that need a change/improvement. For a more concise explanation, see this and this; followed by this and this.

If you walk away from that light reading with a puzzled look on your face, join the crowd. When I started down this path, I thought I had a good handle on the difference, the similarity, and the relative importance of each.

Now I see the need for constant re-construction of my viewpoints on each, and how mentoring is sort of the roof over many different coaching points. One of the critical pieces I consumed was a little video by Robert S. Kaplan.

Robert S. Kaplan is somewhat successful, and even if you don’t agree with his success, his words about coaching really hit home for me. Specifically, he states that that it is 100% the responsibility of the junior to get coaching. He then follows that up with the statement that it is 100% the responsibility of the senior to provide or perform the coaching that the juniors need. The individual is completely accountable for knowing their own strengths and weaknesses, and then to go get the coaching needed. The senior person is 100% accountable for knowing the juniors’ strengths and weaknesses and providing the coaching.

This 100% thing creates a coaching environment. Your job is not to sit and wait for it, it is your job to go out and get it.

I see how that applies from the Cxx level down to the “just hired” level. And when you look at it from that perspective, it makes the entire process very palatable. I know that I can surely use some coaching in an area or two. I try to help my team as I note issues. I sure hope they look to me or someone else for coaching.

Kaplan continues on by saying that coaching should be focused on one or two things the coached can improve on over a set period of time. Coaching requires the coach to KNOW the coached, or go discover the coachee by interviewing all the other co-workers. But either way, the coaching needs to be about specific skills or attributes that can be improved or accomplished over a set amount of time. Sounds just like a S.M.A.R.T goal, yes?

So, to sum this all up… Are you getting the coaching you deserve? Are you providing the coaching others deserve? Do you ask for help? Do others ask you to help? We are all in this together, and we can either fail together, or we can succeed together. I like the succeed option.

YMMV

What is your Marketing Plan?

My team gets tired, I am sure, of hearing me urge them to get out in front of Sales. Sales needs to have something to sell; engineers need sales to sell them. But, there is no process to follow to tell the local sales types what is available. After all, my skill set does not map directly to some nifty SKU in a catalog.

I am reasonably certain that is true for almost all humans. If that is true, and there is no process or guidebook on how to “get in front of sales”, how can you expect the sales team to sell something they don’t know about?

The answer, of course, is found in your personal marketing plan. Let’s pause here while you do some light reading here, here, and here. What do I get out of that reading? That the definition is going to change from group to group. So, here is my take on this.

Marketing is educating the consumer about why they need/want you or what you offer. In this case the consumer is the sales team. The sales team needs to know why their customer needs/wants you.

How do I do that?

Here is the rub: The answer to that question is going to change for each person. I can give you general guidance, but my personality (or lack thereof according to the SO) will make what I do work for me, but not necessarily for you. But, let’s give this a swing anyway, ok?

Preparation

Another thing my team is tired of hearing is goals, objectives, planning, focus, and accomplishing those goals and objectives. So, start there. Make yourself a backwards planning shell and pick a date in the future and set a goal of being able to approach the FSM in your market with the offer of at least one presentation to the local weekly sales huddle. You might need to make sure that this presentation also appears in PPT format so that you can contact your neighboring branch FSM’s also.

What is the content of this presentation?

A better question is: what is the delivery? The content of the presentation is your willingness to help with pre-sales. Delivery of the message/presentation will take many forms and need constant reinforcement. One FSM might not want to have a “presentation” but is totally willing to do email and other options. Your delivery in that case is more electronic and you’ll have to make a point to get face time with the branch staff. And a solid point here is: nothing replaces face time. I don’t care how good your video conference solution is, it is not face time.

You need to have an elevator pitch tailored to the sales team. Delivery of that pitch does require face time. But you need to be doing that anyway. Sales won’t sell what they don’t know. They need to know you.

Your resume needs attention at least once a quarter. Maybe all you do is read it aloud and decide it is still valid. But maybe you might want to update a significant achievement. Maybe you achieved another goal and passed a test or two. Added some more Mic, Key to your signature block. But, at least it is up to date. And have it in PDF format so that you can drop it into email on demand. Perhaps, if you are ultra-inventive, you will create a one-page marketing slick.

Send the resume and/or slick to the various sales, presales, delivery, business development managers, practitioners, et cetera. You will also want to get together with that same set of folks and flat out ask them what they need/want. Make an appointment with them and be prepared to discuss the following question:

“What can I be doing to help sales be successful?”

Notice that I approached this not as “what do *I* get” but rather what does the sales person get. Appeal to their personal interests and structure. I market myself to the sales teams. I educate them on what I offer to their success.

Remember that you have a story to tell; but you need to keep it out of the techie weeds and relate your skills and accomplishments in business terms. Technical details should stay in the 150-175 level.

On actual pre-sales calls you may need to drive past the 300 stuff, but for this purpose, something less detailed is much better. Your friendly sales executive needs to be able to spin the story to their customers. You need to give the sales team the data needed to create the story, but the data needs to be in an understandable form for the receiver, not the sender.

Time Time Time

But all this takes time. Building a reputation and instilling confidence in both your abilities and the idea of approaching the sales team is not going to happen overnight. It will take a bit. Take the time to create the goal and then figure out how to achieve that goal within the next quarter. Be prepared to adjust your plan based on input from the previously noted acronyms. Then take that plan to your SDM. You need an IDP outline anyway, right? It might as well be something useful!

In the end…

Being a consultant is much more than successful project delivery. A consultant should be helping with the entire sales process. A consultant recognizes the need to market themselves to the sales team and takes appropriate actions to achieve that goal.

Do you want to expand your career but are struggling with getting started? I am here to help.

Personal Development Plan Redux

 

I harp on goals and plans with my team. Without them, on a project basis, we are toast. Without them, on a personal basis, we might be okay, but perhaps coasting along without an objective. With them, we can suddenly frame success, determine present and desired states, and develop action plans for achieving the stated success criteria.

As a recap of previous rants on this subject, I recommend planning your future, obtaining coaching where needed, and getting a mentor (or three). As a follow-up comment to the mentoring, you don’t have to have a formal mentor relationship. Someone might be successful in what you want to be doing, and just listening to them or perhaps emulating them (no blatant weirdness please) is the mentoring you needed.

Sometimes a mentor can be a formal top-down thing; but in general, a somewhat less rigid arrangement works better. For the last six months or so, I have had a very-less-formal mentor. There has never been anything in writing or verbal that would have established a mentor relationship. But she is.

She has the unique ability to synthesize information into a coherent conclusion and then present verbally off the top of her head. Or so it seems. Maybe she is practicing late at night for those random occasions.

At any rate, just getting to listen to her is a learning experience. She demonstrates skills that I have never mastered. Maybe one day. But there’s more! Sort of like the infomercial – BUT WAIT!

For my edification, for the same price of admission as before, we also get other pearls of wisdom that make you sit back and think. Sometimes that is good, sometimes it is a catalyst that you have been searching for and never realized it. Other times it points out something that maybe you should consider revisiting. The other day, here came this one.

Mindtools dot com. An interesting site to say the least. The specific item that brought me here was informative, instructive, and timely. But in poking around this resource, I found this little slice of goodness that ties in nicely to your needs to plan your future: Personal Development Plan - Mind Tools.

The current problem with this recommendation is that now Mindtools.com would like you to pay for what was once free – but I get it. OTOH, 20 pieces of government coinage is not that big of an investment in your future.

While I am waiting for you to breeze through 27 pages that can predict your future, allow me to observe that we are getting close to the midpoint of year – a perfect time to be looking at a goals and objectives review; work and personal must be in balance and if you follow my mantra, people should have to really know you to tell the difference.

OK, hopefully you have taken a few moments to peruse that planning guide. Furthermore, I hope that you realize that you can use the same techniques with your customer’s projects. Benjamin Franklin, is credited with: “Failing to plan is planning to fail” and that is certainly true in my experience. This tool could be the one thing that creates a tipping point and helps you achieve your goals.

YMMV

Cat Box

 

It is Saturday morning and I am doing cat box duty. Oy vay. But it must be done, or the house will smell like, well, a cat box. So, there I am digging and scraping, sifting and dumping. A thoroughly enjoyable task, yes?

But it struck me that either I did my chore to the best of my ability or the house will start to compete for Outhouse of the Month. Not the desired outcome. Short term, no one, not even the SO, will ever know I cut corners, or that I did less than complete work. Conceivably, I could take shortcuts for a goodly while before my poor work gets noticed.

You have to know how my two active brain cells work. While one of them is doing the scooper duty, the other one started comparing my cat box to our work with customers. Have I been doing my best work with my customers? Internal and external?

The sales team reaches out – do I give them everything I have regardless of probable outcome? Does my pre-sales effort reflect the best face to the customer with whom we would like to work? When I am doing a project are the outcomes short of expectations or do I exceed the minimums just because it is the right thing? Will my efforts result in the customer talking about CDW in a positive manner the next time they have a peer ask how things are going?

A long time ago (…in a galaxy far, far away…) I learned that integrity is the most important leadership trait. Do what you say you are going to do, do it to the best of your ability and knowledge, give credit where credit is due, and always seek to improve – both personally and professionally.

Like it or not, we are all leaders in some fashion. I have official things that I am tasked with – do I accomplish those tasks with my best effort? As a leader, do I give the subordinate co-worker my finest? Part of being a leader is following. Do I give my manager and dotted line managers everything they need and then some? What about my peers? When they ask for help, do I blow them off or do I do everything I can to help?

On delivery projects, we are expected to lead the team both from a technical and a business perspective. Do you treat that customer’s environment like it is your own? Did everything you did with your project reflect your absolute best work? When you saw something that you would correct, did you bring attention to it and offer solutions? Would you be willing to accept your work if you were the recipient of that work?

And here is the bottom line: Much like the cat box, if you do less than your best, sooner or later something is going to stink. I much prefer good smells.

What Vacation Taught Me

I took vacation this year; a formal thing with travel, schedule coordination, planned activities, and days full of interacting with others. Sounds pretty much like work, with the minor exception that this was all family-focused, with the SO being the only arbiter of success. The other differences were the realization that HughesNet has some serious speed constraints, and that I had to stand in just the right spot in the driveway or there was no cell service.

I thought that Virginia on the main corridor between the state capital and the population center on the coast would have had at least nominal cell coverage. But no. Minimal access to internet and cell service. Both restrictions were perfect for me as the whole point to a vacation is to change pace, viewpoint, and take the load off, right?

Too bad for me that my ki does not work that way.

What happened is that my spare brain cell kicked in and started doing the random thought comparison thing. If this has not happened to you before, it is very annoying. In this case, I was watching some sci-fi show about time and travel and another show about fighting the bad guys before they got bad and not getting the task done as promised (hence the protagonist being railed on by his boss). Yes, I was flipping channels.

The random thought comparison thing comes in when all that gets contrasted with my real life. Note that I did not ask for this to occur, it just does. My SO is used to me going blank and starting to drool; coworkers know to stay away. My children just run.

So here are the world-shaking insights that banged into me in those exacerbating moments. Time, fight the fight that needs fighting, under promise and over deliver, “what is the other guys’ perspective”, and my personal need to re-focus.

Time: it is the one thing the we all possess, and once spent, we cannot get back. How are you spending your allotment?

Not every fight needs fighting. Determine which is which. Live with one, pursue the other. I will let you decide which path to take with which fight. Picking which fight to fight is sometimes more about which weapon to choose.

I find an approach to the recalcitrant project counterpart is to leverage some of my limited consulting skills and make my counterpart think that all of what I want is because he/she thought of it. Mostly you can do that with the “help me understand…” sentence preface where you get them talking. A few suggestions along the way and their explanation of their perspective will start aligning with the answer you need them to give. It works, it really does.

How many times have you had someone say “just a sec”? That is an extreme case of over promising, because we all know that waiter is not getting back to our table in “just a sec.” Expectation setting is crucial to positive outcomes. If you layout what you will be able to do, and then exceed that, everyone is happy. If you do the layout and cannot deliver the minimums, everyone is not happy. Very simple. So simple it appears to be in the same vein as “common sense.”

Finally, the re-focus thing cropped up again. How I spend my time, what goals are important enough to survive the latest round of life objective updates, and what am I doing about those goals and objectives needed some introspection.

Goals and objectives simply need to be refreshed on a regular basis. We have our personal goals, our professional goals, and the goals our manager says we have. Review, re-prioritize, shuffle, juggle, change, delete, and add objectives to achieve your goal. If you don’t pay attention to this process, the process will do it for you, and probably not in the way you want. You must do it. Or it will do you.

Just so you know, Stargate (the movie) is a lot deeper than the genre might suggest, and NCIS: Los Angeles has a few spare angles as well.

YMMV

Technical Consulting

Something went through both of my brain cells today. And to keep a long story short, it centers on your approach to the question – whatever the question might be at the moment. But, let’s confine the definition to work, where we spend a goodly portion of our life, and how we would like that portion of life to be as good as possible.

I was listening to a hotshot answer what I narcissistically thought was a great question when the light bulb lit. His answer was not only covering the technical aspects that I needed to hear that he knew, but he was (quite cleverly) also feeding in the business angle aspects to the answer formula. In essence, he was answering my follow-on questions of “what is the business reason for taking this action and does this action resolve the situation with the minimum staff adjustments in terms of time and skill set and did you cover the hidden costs as well as storage, cpu, ram, racks, et cetera.”

In short, he was doing really well answering my question. And I know he was the same in front of the customer. Everyone needs to have this guy on the team.

At any rate, the light bulb lit up on the concept of technical v consulting answers. Mr. Hotshot could have stuck with the pure techno-babble, with lots of numbers, specifications, descriptions of how to do it, and all of that fun stuff. Surely, there is great value in having someone know exactly how to do whatever it might be right off the top of his or her head. I wish I could do that sometimes. I usually revert to being able to point them right at some reference work. Works for me. And reserves my spare brain cell for other things.

Details are critical to our success. Mr. Hotshot was clearly in the right spot – he can bang out the details like no-one’s business. And he knows what he does not know. And he knows how to defer the question to an issue parking lot for follow-up. Perfect.

Mr. Hotshot could also have just gone the technical route and ignored the consulting aspects until asked. All the logistics questions and staff and culture type stuff could have waited. There is some tremendous value in knowing all of that stuff even if at first glance it does appear to out of scope for our project. After all, “how is lunch served around here?” is an important project scheduling point.

But more to the point, what about using those consulting skills to identify architectural detail about the environment, impact to the project (and affecting the defining business goals/requirements) and perhaps dredge up more business? Gees. That sounds awful salesy huh? How about the idea that the design might need to change in mid-project? There is a benefit to having your very own in-house consultant, eh?

We have two approaches to doing what we do. You can be deep technical. You can dive in deep. I know a guy that you can call at almost any hour and pose some bizarre Active Directory or Registry question. Just be prepared to scribble fast because there is no way you will remember the details the forthcoming answer will encompass – but it is going to answer your issue. He knows some serious technical depth stuff.

But you can go too deep and lose your audience. What we do must be tailored to the audience. If a business decision maker is in the room, then you better be including that person in your audience profile. The technical team can wait a bit while you fill in their boss with the business details stuff and make his staff look like they were all over it from the beginning.

In our work, I see a real-life need for a consultant who can get into the technical errata, be able to walk and talk at the same time, and discuss business to the extent of your understanding; all of that without getting into even minor prevarication or truth stretching.

And here is our intrepid Mr. Hotshot fieldling my question tree with answers that meld the technical with the consulting. “Choices made for these reasons which tie to this technical answer and so on to this business requirement.” Or “we discussed the need for expanded storage” and “I expressed my concern that the network might not support the technical solution.” I know he gave those same answers to the customer and guess who was in the room? The customer’s CIO. And Mr. Hotshot is giving me answers like that. The conclusion should be obvious.

We have more work coming from that customer. That makes your work life better.

YMMV

Elevator Pitches

 

There I was eating dinner. A popular activity in my house. This evening was more involved as my wife had a friend in from out of town; this results in the whole event being more structured than the normal goat rope that passes for a meal. Ribs. Check. Mac n Cheese (homemade you clowns, not that box stuff). Check. Corn on the cob. Check.

Sit down, make some small talk while dishing stuff up. Our guest had a strap-hanger so I am trying to be nice (Yes, me, being nice. And no Matilda, hell did not freeze over). Eventually you get past weather, drive times, fashion, weather (again), and food; the conversation needs to address larger items in life like “…and what do you do?”

When that question comes up, and it ALWAYS does, are you prepared? Actually, there are several levels to this question. The first is the concept of “initial impressions” which unfortunately for some of us makes and breaks things. Sometimes there is simply no getting over that first impression. My econ prof used to say “corporate America does not hire Beavis and Butthead” – and while I think that needs to be modified for portions of the west coast, that statement is mostly true. I encourage reflection on how you present yourself and how that presentation might be affecting your life. OK, back to dinner.

Remember that we are chowing down on some good eats, generally having a great time. Do you really know who is who in your initial circle, and possibly the next few layers out? Do you understand the concept of six degrees of separation (and here also)? I will wait right here for you to read up on that.

OK. We are at the moment of truth; out comes The Question. Communications Engineer says I. I get the expected response which is “what is that” and I get to give my little spiel about helping companies envision, design, architect, and implement collaboration solutions [Note: not a word about Microsoft or Cisco, or whoever at this point]. This gets me several questions about the difference between design and architecture; how long have you been doing this, et cetera. Around this point in time I start wondering whether or not this person is simply bright, engaging, and well-rounded, or is simply great at small talk.

Or it could be the OTHER ANSWER. In MY house and at MY dinner table. I will wait while you go back and re-read the six degrees thing up there.

Now it is MY turn to ask The Question. Oh my. It was the OTHER ANSWER.

Sitting at my table was the executive admin to a notable international private investment firm. Oh man. I sure hope I did not do anything. This person has the private ear of the entire executive staff – you know, those folks who make business decisions. For like 16 years. Clearly this person swings a big bat. What I did and said might well result in either a welcome reception or locked doors for our sales team.

Let’s review the bidding. Initial impressions count more than you think. Maybe not fair, but it is what it is. You need to have an “elevator pitch” prepared (and practiced!). You need to be thinking through follow-on questions. You may need several versions to cover various life situations. I have the social version and the 9-5 version. You can guess as to which one I used at dinner.

Everything we do counts. We are all in sales at one point in time or another. Everyone we meet and communicate with (any medium) forms an opinion about you, your work, family, and overall value. Bottom line? Be prepared. I learned long ago (1975) that you are always on, and that you can never tell when you might need to turn it up a notch.

YMMV

Vision and Happiness

 

There I was, having a nice talk with my previous manager about life in general. At one point the conversation hit on back when the branch first opened and our culture and how happy I was when I moved into the branch. I cannot remember why the next comment came out, but here it is: “I already knew your vision.”

What is that? And why is that tied to Happiness?

Uhm… Vision, as in Mission & Vision Statement 101? Yes, that’s the one. As in “describe your future state in five years. Where will you be doing what you do?” That sort of vision. You have some personal version of that, everyone does; or at least I hope they do. How close you come to that vision is pretty much how happy you are.

On top of that, there is also a persona that is presented in your workplace. In fact, I am pretty sure that there are some people with personas that are tailored to the social or work occasion. Woot! Not me, thanks, I am trying to have only one vision.

Moving forward, I think I see where having personal and professional visions that match pretty closely could be an important factor in “how happy am I?” answers. Don’t you like it better when things line up neatly? On a business angle, your general happiness in terms of workplace/profession satisfaction will therefore occur when the company vision and execution of that vision come closest to your personal vision.

How well does your personal vision line up with your work? How does that equate to happy for you? It might be that your vision and your execution of that vision serve as a change agent for the good in your culture. Is your vision causing parts of your life to be unhappy? Could it be that the mismatch between personal and work is too large?

There is a solid connection between employee satisfaction/happiness and ability to deliver to their customer. And create happy customers. Who comment to other people they know. Which generates the highest ROI of any sales/marketing plan ever. I will wait right here for you to finish reading.

Well, that’s nice, but what about your vision?

So, great question – and here it is – both personal and professional. I think the professional vision is an outshoot of the personal.

“I want my customer so happy they talk about us on the golf course”

And I will close with this L.P. Jacks quotation that I like:

“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.”

YMMV

Is your Brain Engaged?

 

Have you ever been in a meeting when someone spouted out some ridiculous drivel that was just stupid? Or worse, it was wrong technically. Even worse, it was you! And the customer knows it.

If you are lucky, you can just say “oopsie, that was just wrong of me, how stupid I am, ha ha.” And you get away with it. Unfortunately, “get away with it” is a total gamble, and is successful about 1 time in 9 or 10 thousand.

So, what can you do?

Plan ahead. Practice. Plan what? Practice what? Easy.

First choice: keep your mouth shut! And then, your second choice in responses should be to rephrase the question or inquiry and ask if you understand correctly. You do remember classes on active listening, right?

Your second planned response needs to be phrased in such a manner as to elicit a business or technical response from the customer. Depending on the type of meeting, maybe both.

But, hopefully a lengthy one so that you can get your brain fired up. Your response to the customer question needs to be something like “I am not sure that I understand your question – can you help me understand how you got to that point of view?”

You need to have practiced these two items so that you are comfortable with them. You need to sound smooth. Practice with your spouse. Practice with your cat. Practice on yourself while brushing your teeth. You will look a tad strange talking to yourself, but you need to practice! If you are like me, then keeping your trap shut will take more work. I am sure that my SO appreciates me practicing that particular skill.

Whatever you do, do not ask the customer a question that is phrased in Boolean logic. We will wait while you go Google that one.

Here is the point – you need to be prepared with questions that demonstrate a knowledge of your technical area and concern for satisfying the business requirements. Yes/No questions don’t get you there. Getting the customer to pour out their soul does. And gives you an opportunity to get your brain into gear before engaging your mouth.

Remember two things: Luck is preparation meeting opportunity. Make sure you are technically prepared and be able to demonstrate some business awareness.

And open what you have two of, and close what you have one of.

YMMV

Problem Solving

 

Einstein is quoted as saying, “If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”

According to Vishal Kataria (www.aryatra.com), problem solving has a synonym in the corporate world…firefighting. The issue here is that staff time at our customers is usually fairly tight. They don’t have time or resources to address small things – small things that often turn out bad and cause the fire alarm. Somebody did something not quite “right” – but it did not cause any problems then…what about now?

The concept of problem solving in most companies today is flawed. “If it isn't urgent, worry about it later,” is the mantra. Eventually, the ignored problem becomes so massive that it calls for – you guessed it – firefighting. This behavior is so deeply entrenched in most organizations that it has become a culture.

There you are on site and a fire breaks out. You might even be involved in it because your project caused it. Typically, in the MS UC world, something that was not an issue before becomes an issue when the project needs to start leveraging the network, load balancers, firewalls, security, remote site, VPN, you name it. When this occurs, what do you do about it? Hopefully, the answer is not “run in circles, scream and shout.”

You need to have a few tools in your head ready to trot out and apply to the situation. The first tool is to start asking WHY. The Six Sigma guidance is to ask WHY five times. Sometimes the root cause will show up before that, sometimes it might take more; but five WHY questions is a good rule.

The second tool is a troubleshooting process. Basically, there are three methods: Start to finish, finish to start, or pick a spot in the middle and work one way or the other. Method #3 is also two subsets – middle to end, and middle to start. Your job, of course, is to figure out which of the actions to take. Deciding which method to use brings up another Einstein paraphrase: “The problem is figuring out what the problem is.” The point is, have those tools. If you don’t like mine, find or develop your own.

Sit and think on that. Use your product and network knowledge. What is broken and where? WHY? What can you do figure out where or what is borked? Break out a fishbone. Break out a decision-making matrix. But resist the urge to take immediate actions without understanding the problem and root cause. Sometimes you can go right to the real issue because you have seen it before. Most times, in the end, you are looking at a new sales opportunity. Are you prepared for that?

Your last tool is to realize that you are supposed to be the adult in the room. Patience and understanding go a long way in our world. Have you kept your axe sharp? A tree is in front of you at this moment. Seneca the Younger (Roman – read up!) is paraphrased “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Your opportunity is right in front of you when the fire bell starts ringing.

Make sure your brain is prepared, your tools are ready, and that you are wearing your adult clothes.

YMMV

Communication 300

 

Project delivery has many challenges. Outside of the technical aspect of whatever the project entails, there are meetings. During the sales process, there are scoping meetings. As the project commences there are kickoff meetings. When the project continues forward, there are technical meetings. As the project hits a snag, there are more meetings. Coordination of disparate task teams generates even more meetings. These meetings might be large, or they might be only a few technical types. What is important to recognize out of all this is that there is, in each meeting, an audience for whatever it is you are trying to communicate.

1. For a meeting with tin-foil-hat types, you need to be prepared to go into the minutiae of the project. Whatever you do in this situation, don’t say anything if you are not 100% sure of your response. I have been in meetings where the question asker already knows an answer and is looking to trip you up. In this case, you need to have a zippy answer ready.

Gosh Billy, what a great question! Did you memorize that from the vendor documentation stack? I am not 100% positive of the correct answer, so I will write this question down and get the proper answer and get it back to you. Will next Monday work for that?” Other than that scenario, you can dive into the 300-400 level answers at will.

2. If you have a technical manager running the meeting, you will need to keep the answers to the 200 (maybe 250) level. If there is a tin-foil type looking to impress their boss with their question depth; fall back to scenario 1 for that question. Otherwise, keep the answers to the technical solution high level details that the project needs. You may wish to include the ties to the business requirement – but stay away from IP addresses, ports, protocols, URL’s, et cetera. Unless, of course, the manager asks for some of that information. If you have a business manager meeting, but still technically focused, you might need to raise the level of acceptable answer (unless details are requested) to the 150-250 bracket.

3. For the final meeting discussed herein, we are talking about a pre-sales or scoping type call, where the primary meeting driver is a business person. This person does not wish to hear details past the 100 level of “yes, this technical solution in this format answers your specific, outlined business need” or “the proposed solution can be accomplished with minimal or no downtime for the end-user” or something of that ilk. I remember a meeting where the business leader asked a question where the answer needed to be couched in risk management terms. The engineer gave a long-winded technical answer, which did not address what was asked. Oopsie! Minus 5 points.

Luckily, people at that level totally understand the answer methodology from scenario 1. Give an active listening (you do know what that is, right?) response, write down the question on the spot, right in front of them, and then follow-up before when you say you will.

If you are a bit confused as to what the difference between a 100, 200, 300, or 400 level answer is, think a bit on this:

100 = Organizational, business requirement. A business issue/problem that needs resolution. Time, effort level, risk, measurable outcomes. The big picture seen from resources, calendar, CAPEX, OPEX, etc. Risk Management, gap analysis, scope, impact.

200 = How is the solution going to work in broad terms? High-level Visio diagrams.

300 = Architecture/design. Think detailed Visio depictions.

400 = The weeds. My standard as-built document is 31 sheets in an Excel workbook replete with FQDN’s, IP’s firewall rules, et cetera. The server install sheet runs about 85 lines down the page.

If you have a meeting where the C’x’O (or equivalent) is present, then make sure your answers to overall questions remains aimed at the business unless you are specifically asked for details. If the meeting is above the technical delivery team, then stay in the 100-200-250 zone. The communication process for each of the outlined levels is the same. Identify the players in the room and tailor your communication.

YMMV

What do I do with my slack time?

"If I only had an hour to chop down a tree, I would spend the first 45 minutes sharpening my axe.”

– Abraham Lincoln.

 

You have free time on your hands. Project delays, slow sales, “it’s that time of year” and other factors mean that we have odd blocks of free time on our hands.

When this occurs, do you sit on your hands or do you turn to your wish list of skills and accomplish something? Are you tied into your branch sales team so that you can offer your free time to help them?

Barring some uber-exciting sales call, you should have a prioritized list of learning tasks, lab experiments, or technical/business reading queued up for just these occasions. Learn something new. Hit up the MVA, read some tech blogs, review Dale Carnegie and Steven Covey.

The bottom line is that you, and you alone, are responsible for keeping your axe sharp. No one else is going to do it. You need to have a plan of action, in advance, for filling in the slack time in your schedule with something productive that will move YOUR career along.

Don’t just sit there watching the paint dry, get ready for the next tree.

Communication, Preferences, and You and Your Career

What makes you tick? What communication method seems to work best with you? An in-depth Myers-Briggs will help you understand what makes you tick, while a DISC workup will help you understand your communication/personality preferences. Without trying to become PhD candidates, and without analyzing the Myers-Briggs (along with Jung) model, we will focus the remainder of this diatribe on communication preferences and general personality profiles that the DISC method provides.

DISC testing reveals general personality and communication needs. And communication runs in two directions per person – in and out. https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc/overview/ has a great outline of what each type prefers. Look at the descriptions and the behaviors. And then consider the following DISC scenarios:

· Low D in a role that needs decision making

· High D in a role that has no input to decisions

· Low C in a role that needs detail oriented work

· High C in a role where no details are needed

· Low I with a project that has you a high amount of leadership attention

· High I in a role with little recognition

· Low S stuck in a group action project

· High S in a role with little or no group action

At this point, keep in mind that how I learned the DISC is a smidge different from what this particular website offers in the way of explanations. While my terminology might be different, the overall flavor is the same.

· D https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc/overview/dominance/

· I https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc/overview/influence/

· S https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc/overview/steadiness/

· C https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc/overview/conscientiousness/

Are you in one of these scenarios? Something that resembles one of these? Has this highlighted something that you need to work on? For me, as a DCSI, my D component combined with my C component means that I need to organize myself when doing projects. I like decisions and schedule and moving forward, and I am not as strong on organization. So, I force myself to slow down and ask the customer what THEY want, and tailor my presentation to that. On the organizational skills side, I have proceduralized (is that a word?) doing documentation so that I can do the same thing each time, with the only variation being customizations per project – but I use the same project methodology each time. And documentation per project follows a set path. I think over the years my C has increased, my D has decreased, both of which make me better – more balanced. Where I am lacking in general is the S and I. I tend to shy away from groups and I do not look for attention (believe it or not).

The SI components are clearly where I need to focus development and constant attention for improvement. That means finding some means of including others, and creating recognition for others – because my preferences don’t lean that way, which by extension means that I don’t offer that to others – because I am not wired that way. Hence, I need to recognize that in myself or others that are wired that way will think that I am Mr. Jerk (and who knows, they might well think that anyway no matter what I do). But I can only change myself, there is no changing others.

Do you feel unsatisfied at work? If your projects always have you involved at a level where your preferences are not being met, then you will not be happy – or you could be happier. Have you pondered this at some level? I just had a great discussion with a team member who (very brightly) has clearly looked at some of these aspects and his analyses were spot on with mine – happiness at work has many facets. This team member can clearly identify personal needs, position in the team, what is wanted in life, what the employer is offering, and goals and how they match up with life in general. Mo’ perfect!

Are you not achieving whatever it is that trips your trigger? Can you say that you are that team member previously outlined? If not, then perhaps some time spent watching the paint dry on the nearest wall can give you some insight as to where you are, where you are headed, and how you might be achieving that which you desire in life. I know from personal experience that the happier I am with my lot in life, the better I can serve my customers. Which makes me a better consultant because I am not constantly fighting nature, I am working with it and within it.

What personal development emphasis do you need to foster to move your needs closer to what you get from the workplace? We did DISC tests when the team formed. You all know where you are. How does that match up with the DISC scenarios outlined above? Can you see where your preferences might cause issues or where they might be a strength upon which to build?

What changes would move your employment closer to your native preferences? Knowing that you can only change yourself, you could still be examining what types of project scenarios to which you are better suited. And then ask for assistance in getting those projects. Everyone can and does adjust but getting what you want or need makes the adjustment smaller and makes you happier. But you must figure it out and then ask.

If you need a refresher, take the test again. If you want some help understanding, let me know. In a previous lifetime, I was a certified (yes, I know I am certifiable, but that is different topic) trainer for the DISC process and I could possibly have some insight for you. At the very least we can identify your strong and less strong areas and suggest development avenues for your exploration and exploitation.

YMMV

Are you a flashlight or a laser beam?

I was discussing life with a friend the other day. At one point, he made a very poignant comment, and I paraphrase, “I used to be a laser beam, now I am a flashlight.” Apparently his SO had made that observation when he was re-tooling his professional life to move into a more cloud-focused, Azure-centric posture. What he meant was that his professional goals in life at one point had been very focused, and now they were not.

This lack of focus was causing him untold amounts of angst, job-hopping, and general dissatisfaction with any position offered. He was flailing in every aspect of his professional life.

What can we learn from this real-life episode? You must have a plan. Your plan needs to be specific. Plans must be in writing – what my friend had done at one point was to veer off his written plan, and he never re-worked the plan – which resulted in his having a scattered approach. The scattered approach resulted in his having no clear path to success.

So, the lesson is to have a specific written plan for your life – and part of that plan is periodically reviewing the plan, along with adjustments to the plan. Sounds just like you are running a project, yes? And you are, it’s just that in this case, the project is you! What could be more important than that? And the skills you bring to your customer projects are the same skills you can exercise on yourself.

As a reminder, "SMART" objectives are:

• Specific

• Measurable

• Agreed/Achievable/Attainable

• Realistic/Responsible/Receivable

• Time-bound

If you need some help in getting your life and professional goals written, take a look at this: SMART GOALS. If you are looking for some light reading about goal setting, refer to Stephen Covey, Stephen Covey again, Brian Tracy’s SMART goal worksheet, and then look at the big picture from Peter Drucker, which should also get you thinking about another concept known as Management by Objective (MBO) or Management by Results (MBR). You can read about MBO here, and MBR here. The aphorism "what gets measured gets done," is aligned with the MBO philosophy.

P.S. Be careful about buying the MBO philosophy wholesale – there are some leadership factors that make MBO work or not work.

YMMV

Consulting 102

Marvin Bower (1903-2003) outlined the criteria for an outstanding consultant: “Mental equipment -- the successful consultant has outstanding analytical skill and the ability to synthesize his thoughts readily in reaching conclusions, He is a quick and effective learner -- imaginative and creative.”

Why does a company hire a consultant?

Your next project resulted from a company making a decision about a few things. A decision to implement a given technology starts the process. Then the company looks at their staff and asks a few questions.

Does our internal staff have the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) to accomplish the project successfully? If the staff has the KSA, do they have the time? If the KSA and time exists, do we want our staff to make the effort to tack on yet another skill set in a specific area – a skill set that might not ever be used again? Perhaps the time element is viewed another way – the project is a high-burner – it must be done and now!

Maybe management doesn’t trust their staff. Or maybe that same management just wants some outside perspective. Sometimes the answers are clear cut; other times the decision path is not so clear. And then, you can always compare my thoughts to some famous thoughts on business consulting – while we might be tech-oriented, make no mistake, we are in business first.

At any rate, here you are going into an unknown environment to accomplish a set of tasks and you may or may not have the support of the internal staff. In some cases, you might be facing classic passive-aggressive staff behavior. This is especially evident when someone’s favorite application or system is being replaced. Oftentimes this threatens a job. Or the perception of losing a job. At this point you may wish to educate yourself on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – and then apply that concept to what you might see as a consultant on day one walking into a new project.

What is the point here?

If, like my current project, the internal staff is bending over backwards to help and be successful, then you should have no issues provided you don’t start lying to them. You can just do the Honest Abe thing and work your process. A couple of things you should always do:

Make it clear to the client staff that you cannot be successful without their participation – after all, they know their environment, not you.

For email, create a local DL in your email and use it for EVERY email that is project related – then EVERYONE knows – and no one person is singled out.

But what if you run into the opposite scenario?

The Bad News

There is no silver bullet for the bad scenario. But, some preparation can help you overcome the obstacles this scenario will place in your way. At the delivery level, you must make every effort to quickly become part of the internal team, and a leader of that team. But there might be times when a customer is simply dysfunctional at echelons above the project team level. You can be a great part of the project team and still have a miserable experience.

What to Do?

Never argue. State your case in technical terms. Make sure that your communication process is not “personal” – the use of pronouns needs to be replaced by the company entity. The “team” is accomplishing, not you, and decidedly not a single individual in the client company.

Obviously, having your technical and project process firmed up will assist because you won’t have to think about those aspects. Know your DISC and Myers-Briggs. Work on your skills there to identify the different behaviors and personality types. Perhaps a simple change in communication style will smooth things out. My boss in Korea was a HUGE C (as in DISC). It took me a few head-butts, but I eventually figured out how to communicate with him, and after that, no problems.

Focus on the technical, let the PM handle the other parts. Communicate with your PM. If you are having “issues” then the PM is the first person who should know about it/them. Have you run into the aforementioned dysfunctional management? Let the PM handle it. Or turn to your manager and beg/ask for help and guidance. After all, that is why they exist.

Issues that arise can almost always be blamed on bad hardware, the vendor documentation stinks, or some other lame excuse, but NEVER blame a customer staff member- even if they are to blame. However, another NEVER is to accept blame for something that you did not do. Rolling over does not make things better – it just causes whatever it was to occur again.

A twist on that is to deliberately give credit to the individual(s) who are resisting the project whenever you can. That way they start looking like a project hero, which makes everyone feel better about themselves; and because it came from the Object of Hatred, they are more likely to back off.

What’s the Bottom Line?

Evaluation of personality styles, and how to communicate with those various types. Personal integrity counts very high. Knowing why you are there, and what it is you are doing as part of the project team. Back in a previous lifetime, this was known to me as “be tactically and technically proficient.”