So what exactly is Kerfuffle Planning? And what does it have to do with Risk Management?
Traditional risk management involves anticipating the business implications and conducting anticipatory planning for activities to reduce the probability or impact of those implications. However, in practice risk management frequently does not focus on the “people side” of the equation. How will your TEAM react to a significant risk event or events?

While traveling recently, I overheard a couple of my fellow passengers saying “you need to expect the unexpected when traveling.” Their calm demeanor, I thought, was not typical of many who face the challenges of cancelled flights, lost luggage and uncooperative weather conditions. Will your project or business analysis team be calm if major project risks occur and a “kerfuffle” is the result?

Understanding the disposition of your team members is critical to ensuring they continue to be productive in the face of a crisis. Will you need to calm them down? Will you need to SLOW them down because they will be too quick to act? Will they run and hide?

The wise project or business analysis leader will, via observation of past performance or discussions with team members, anticipate what their critical team members will do in “kerfuffle moments” and understand how they need to react to ensure the team stays together and rallies to move the project forward. This Kerfuffle Plan can be the difference between successfully weathering the storm or falling apart in challenging times.

People rarely react the same way under pressure as they do under everyday conditions. A Kerfuffle plan – probably not written down, but thought out in the mind of the project leader, is a good item to have in the arsenal of an astute project leader.

Do you know what you will have to do during “kerfuffle moments”?

In some project environments, project managers and business analysis get bogged down because they expect their managers, sponsors or other key stakeholders to take some action and it doesn’t come to fruition. As a result, projects that would otherwise succeed come to a screeching halt.

Resilient project leaders who engage in Intelligent Disobedience understand that what will push any project forward is substantial purpose. Short of moving forward without knowledge of a significant stakeholder’s requirements, the smart business analyst or project manager will face the reality of an unresponsive senior leader – whether it is due to time pressures, project knowledge or priorities – and proceed anyway. A project that has a genuine and meaningful purpose for the organisation will find its way to completion, if the project leadership team takes initiative, makes decisions themselves and communicates them, and seeks out other project supporters for their wisdom, experience and judgement.

The most successful people in life do not wait for others, nor do they hang their happiness on the actions or reactions of others. Intelligently disobedient project leaders embrace the same mantra; they are willing to take risks and move forward, as long as the purpose for a project is sound, pragmatic and reasonable.

• Are you waiting for someone to make a decision when you feel confident you can make the decision and you know what you would do?

• Do you have the capability to provide valid, sponsorship level input to the organisation, but are holding off and waiting for the “actual sponsor” to do so, and waiting is delaying your project?

• Can you confidently represent the business and articulate risks, but are waiting for approval from others?

If any of the above is true, are you unduly delaying your project? Could you not document your decision with the direction you are taking, and ask for counter direction if it is desired for you to proceed differently? You may want to consider this – the purpose of your project may depend on it!

When most senior business analysts or project managers think of a sponsor, they immediately think of “the person who funds the project”. Funding is a vital function provided by the sponsor; however the most important resource that a sponsor needs if they are to be an effective sponsor is TIME.

Time has many facets: there’s taking the time to understand the project, the project manager and the challenges they face; and there’s having the time to fully grasp the risks that the project team and the customer will encounter through a change process.

Although other factors, such as holding the financial control for the project are very important, a sponsor without time to deal with the project won’t readily provide the finances that are needed anyway, in most cases. They simply won’t be as effective as they could be.

Conversely, the sponsor without financial control but who has time can work with the project manager to reach and obtain finances from the appropriate managers in the organisation.

In an ideal world, our sponsors would have the financial control, they would have control over portfolio prioritisation, management of the required resources, knowledge of the business processes being changed by the project, the ability to help direct scope for the project AND they would have TIME. Unfortunately, that does not happen often enough.

Does your project sponsor have time for your project? Should you be asking your sponsor to delegate to others who actually have the time so that they can assist with the project sponsorship and all that it entails?

Help is now here!

Mindavation is offering a workshop on Successfully Managing Sponsors that discusses working in various sponsorship structures and how to deal with various sponsorship challenges, including the challenge of time. For details, email us at info@mindavation.com. You can learn about all of the Mindavation offerings at www.mindavation.com or www.mindavation.com.au.

Recently, we have heard leadership “experts” present two completely opposite pieces of advice relative to managing senior stakeholders. Says one expert – the person who is bringing a problem to a senior leader should present the issue, then stop and listen for any feedback, questions or recommendations. On the other hand another expert advises to never bring an issue to a senior stakeholder without a recommended action, or a resolution activity already launched.

So which of these recommendations are appropriate?

The leader who is exercising intelligent disobedience will see these as alternatives that may actually be executed, but will approach the senior leader conversation having prepared something altogether different. In our Influencing without Authority workshops, we regularly examine the power of questions as being as crucial (if not more crucial) than any particular solution that is brought to the senior leader.

Well formed multiple choice questions are powerful for the leader who has significant influence or the employee who does not have a position of power within the organization. Multiple choice options which include pros and cons for each alternative suggested can reflect a broad and balanced view of the organization, and a degree of business savvy. When combined with rationale for a recommended option, individuals with little or no organizational power can leave a good impression and assert influence over decisions made.

Are you taking the time to construct crisp and reflective multiple choice questions when bringing a decision forward to senior leaders? Are you taking opportunities to increase your influence through the questions you pose to senior leaders?

Note: Mindavation delivers a two day workshop on Influencing without Authority that incorporates the concept of capitalizing on well crafted multiple choice questions. For details, email us at info@mindavation.com. You can learn about all of the Mindavation offerings at www.mindavation.com or www.mindavation.com.au.

One of the primary concepts of engaging in Intelligent Disobedience is to be true to one’s self. Intelligent Disobedience is acting in a way that often counters what is expected, but is in the best interest of the business at large. Equally important, however, is understanding that acting with Intelligent Disobedience is often required to be true to yourself, your ethics and to validate your role in your business, your family or amongst your friends.

So our idea for a New Year’s resolution is not to decide to DO something…it is to decide to strive to BE something in 2012. And, it is not to be anything different…it is to BE yourself. It is to accept, value and support who you truly are. Be true to yourself and enforce this “selfness” by the approaches you take and the decisions you make this year. For example, if you truly believe the status of a project is red, and management is wanting you to state it is amber because they don’t want “undue attention” paid to the project, don’t just accept that direction. Push back – state your case and strive to maintain your integrity towards your profession and more importantly, your SELF.

Taking this approach with a full understanding of your personal strengths and weaknesses can help improve your professional and personal life. (And you don’t need a scale to measure it!)

Can you think of things that you did (or did not do) during 2011 that were not in support of who you really are? What could you do different in 2012 to enhance your “support of self?”

Note: Mindavation provides a number of workshops and keynotes that incorporate the concept of Intelligent Disobedience. For details, email us at info@mindavation.com. You can learn about all of the Mindavation offerings at www.mindavation.com or www.mindavation.com.au.

The Projectmanager.com.au website published an article last month asking the question “Do Sponsors Need to be Qualified in Project Management?” (http://projectmanager.com.au/blogs/sponsors-qualified-project-management/) An interesting question but one that raises another question…if qualifications for sponsors were mandatory, would we have any projects to deliver? Maybe more distressing to project managers; would they really want their sponsor questioning every project management technique they applied?

Project sponsor involvement is certainly pivotal to success, and the project manager has a role to play in educating and defining the role of the sponsor in the project. Any education or qualification for a sponsor would not replace this activity; different project requirements, different approaches from sponsors and project managers make this process mandatory for successful project delivery.

Understanding if the sponsor wants overviews or detail, what priorities apply to the triple constraints, how to manage financials and the management reserve and a number of other items lie with the project manager to advise and negotiate with the sponsor.

So, do sponsors need qualifications? YES, – on the processes they and the project manager will use on each and every project. Have you worked with and gained agreement with your sponsor on the processes you are using on your project?

Note: Mindavation provides a number of workshops and keynote that address sponsor engagement, most notably the Preventing Troubled Projects keynote presentation. For details, emails us at info@mindavation.com You can learn about all of the Mindavation offerings at www.mindavation.com or www.mindavation.com.au.

After seeing an advertisement in the Australian Institute of Project Management’s (AIPM)  magazine this month (http://www.aipm.com.au/html/project_manager_magazine.cfm) for a university that has masters degree programs in both “Project Management” and “Project Leadership”, we got to thinking…what do we think is needed most – the technical aspects of project management or the leadership components?

As we work with companies around the world, we frequently see significant gaps in project management skills; risk, scheduling and scope management techniques are sometimes non-existent. However, the real deep-seeded problems seem to lie in a lack of leadership at the project manager level, and at the level above the project manager who have the mission of driving change. Many leaders (and project managers are leaders!) do not understand the organisational, political and cultural elements of driving a project change initiative. It is leadership of projects where the vacuum exists. It is vital that project managers have a breadth of leadership skills and education to fill this vacuum and provide guidance to their management team to successfully implement their project deliverables. In short, we need more project leadership personnel.

A quick internet search yields a plethora of Masters of Project Management programs but very few programs for Project Leadership. Certainly, many of the project management programs include leadership courses, but where is the emphasis? In a sidebar article on the “Top Traits of Future Project Managers” in the same AIPM magazine, 6 of the 9 traits mentioned are leadership versus management skills.

Are you placing the appropriate emphasis on your educational and advancement as a project leader/manager? Where do you see the greatest gaps in your organisation?

Note: Mindavation provides a number of courses on project leadership, most notably our Critical Judgement workshop. You can find details at www.mindavation.com or www.mindavation.com.au, or e-mail dpalm@mindavation.com and we can arrange a presentation for you and your team on Critical Judgement.

In celebration of International Project Management Day on November 3rd, we are adding another communication resource to inform and entertain our blog readers!

In the essence of Intelligent Disobedience, we are doing something different with the intent of sharing information or presenting something thought provoking, while having a bit of fun at the same time. We are recording short podcasts – about 2 minutes each – that we will be posted on the Mindavation website. You can listen to our first podcast at
http://mindavation.com/?p=1641

Enjoy!

The book we reviewed for the May 2011 Mindavation newsletter was Employees First, Customers Second by Vineet Nayar. (http://mindavation.com.au/?page_id=53 to view the newsletters). In that book Nayar mentions that new knowledge or a shift in perception only comes about through ‘memorable, extreme or experimental’ communications. At an Intelligent Disobedience keynote presentation in the United States, one of our attendees shared a great example of extreme and experimental communications, and it saved a major project they were running.

A team of business analysts were working on the requirements for a new patient care system at a major metropolitan hospital. Despite pressures from senior hospital administrators to progress the new system, the administrator’s team members were not diligently attending requirements collection and analysis reviews. As a result, the project schedule was slipping and risked falling farther behind. The Business Analysis Manager had escalated the issue to the sponsor (one of the aforementioned senior administrators) multiple times. After the escalations, attendance at the requirements sessions would improve, but only temporarily. It was apparent another way of communicating to the senior administrators was necessary so the team tried a very different approach.

As the hospital administrators held their next monthly meeting, the business analysis team went into action. They collected a patient “crash cart” and connected it to a cardboard mock up of their project mascot (a running cartoon character to symbolize speed in getting patient data to physicians). They then brought the cart into the administrator’s meeting, turning the cart on as they entered. The device made the very familiar high pitch squeal, accompanied by the “flat line” appearing on the crash cart monitor. The business analysis team made an announcement to the meeting attendees that the patient care system project was in “critical condition”.

This notable means of communication got the required attention from the administrators to result in substantive change. Business representatives were added to the project team, requirements were collected and verified appropriately and the project ended up being a notable success for the hospital and the community it serves.

Note: This blog entry on communication demonstrates a great example of intelligent disobedience.  If you or your organisation wants to learn more about intelligent disobedience and the value it can bring to your environment, check out our Inteligent Disobedience workshop which addresses many approaches to communication and influencing others. You can find details at www.mindavation.com or www.mindavation.com.au, or e-mail us at info@mindavation.com and we can arrange a presentation for you and your team on intelligent disobedience.

The concept of a change manager is growing in popularity, with the role becoming a standard part of many organisations, the Change Management Institute is gaining membership and Communities of Practice for Change Management are dotting the specialist landscape.  Providing focus to this area is long overdue; there is a terrible history of repeated failure with projects that require cultural or significant procedural change.

Out of one of those change management meetings came a question, posed a bit facetiously, but warranting some thought. What about establishing a “Stability Manager” role? When people are experiencing change, they seek something more familiar. When moving to a new city people look for stability.  Joining clubs that promote similar interests, becoming part of professional associations that are part of one’s profession or attending a church are examples of seeking stability in the midst of change. Why don’t we employ this role in change management initiatives, appealing to what we as humans do in other areas of our lives?

A Stability Manager could arrange specialised communities of practice, emphasise what is NOT changing in the midst of business churn and provide coaching on the process of making change or allowing change to occur in one’s life, versus just how to respond to a specific change posed by the business and its priority project. It could well be a very useful and much-needed role, making significant change easier to bear, with a title that has more appeal.

Maybe it is time we do think of stability factors as well as change factors. In your current projects, what stability factors could you emphasize in your organization alongside the changes you are imposing?

Our thanks go to Michael Davies from the Australian Department of Human Services for asking a GREAT question about the concept of a Stability Manager.

Note: If you or your organisation requires assistance with change and stability management check out our Critical Judgement workshop which addresses change via the “leadership lenses” of rational, organisational, political and cultural. You can find details at www.mindavation.com or www.mindavation.com.au, or e-mail us at info@mindavation.com and we can arrange a presentation for you and your team on how to increase your change (and stability) management capability.