The Opsimath

Have you got the right skills?

In a recent job survey, 20% of employers reported that they have faced difficulty in hiring the right candidate for a job. When asked why, the general consensus was said to be that there is a lack of high quality IT candidates in the market; and professionals just don't seem to posses all the relevant skills required to fulfil the role.

Which skills are suffering the most?

• IT Managers (19%)
• Project Manager (28%)
• Database Administrator (21%)
• Software Developer (26%)
• IT Support (21%)

were the skills cited by hiring managers as amongst the most difficult positions to recruit for.

In an era where skills shortages are becoming increasingly apparent, it is paramount for the organisation to take the responsibility to train and develop their staff from the outset. To face these supply and demand issues head on, employers need to refine their expectations of potential candidates.

Likewise, candidates looking for jobs in today's markets need to ensure their skill set is the sharpest that it has ever been.

Time to Twitter (Tweet?)

O'Reilly and Milstein's book tell me that there are now 10 million avid users of Twitter (besides Stephen Fry), and colleagues and friends tell me that it is an important - vital - communications tool.

So, I guess it's time to jump in and start tweeting.

If you are in this game ahead of me, then you will find me with a username of johndedmonds. I'm off to read the book...

Those who teach...

Do high-performing practitioners make the best teachers?

After all, they are at the 'top of their game', fully able to perform at a high level - who better to learn from, to model successful behaviour?

But the best performers do not, in fact, make the best teachers - often far from it. One the one hand they have forgotten the learning stages and they are actually unaware of how they carry out their tasks, how they perform their area of expertise..

Also, they can be struggling with the 'curse of knowledge' - actually unable to imagine the world as perceived by their 'trainees'.

A great teacher or trainer is able to perceive and relate to the experience of the trainee.

There is a derogatory phrase sometimes used to describe teaching - 'Those that can, do; those that can't, teach.' At its heart, this demonstrates a lack of understanding of the role of teaching. It is not an escape from the real world, it is its own 'real world'.

In our team of training consultants, the crucial skill is that of inspirational teaching. Yes, there is subject matter expertise, and yes there is practical experience, but great teaching is first and foremost delivered by great teachers.

Let those who teach, teach.

Defining Moments

This morning, on television, I saw Barack Obama expressing his thoughts about his US election victory. One of the phrases that he used was that this was a "defining moment" in the history of his country.

I've heard the phrase used before, and I warm to it as an expression of those times in our lives when something happens that causes us to take a different direction. It could be described as the opening of a window of opportunity or as a transforming idea or as a 'fork in the road' of our life. 'Defining Moment' says all those things to me.

But how can we best position ourselves to be ready to recognise and then respond to a Defining Moment?

Let me suggest three things:

1. Maintain a teachability in your life - be a lifelong learner, and be open to learning from all sources. Everyone you meet may have things to teach you, no matter what age they are or experience they have. Create in yourself an openness to new ideas and concepts, and do not fear challenges to your existing ideas and beliefs.
2. Be in the moment - or as someone said, 'wherever you are, be there'. We miss so much of life because we live either in our past or we live longing for our future. Today is our reality. Be alert to possibilities and do not be restricted by what you believe to be your life or career 'master plan'.
3. Be prepared and willing to respond to the Defining Moment. Consider your view and approach to taking risks - remember, at the end of our lives we will have more regret about the things we failed to attempt than about those things which we attempted, and failed.

Defining Moments do just that - they define the shape that our lives will take as we move forward from that moment. Today is a defining moment in the US. And for very different reasons, today might be a defining moment for you or me.

I need to see your face ... and you need to see mine

Distance Learning has a great number of benefits - for example it enables learning to take place at the pace of the learner, whenever and wherever the learner wishes it to happen. But there is something that it can never do, something that good, old-fashioned 'classroom' training can do, and do well.

Face to face contact. One human being in the same room as another human being and helping them with their learning experience. It's a benefit of classic 'classroom' training that is difficult, if not impossible, to replicate.

I was reminded of this recently while running a workshop. I had explained an important aspect of the workshop to the group and had covered all the necessary points. Job done - except that it wasn't.

It was clear from the looks on the faces of the group members that all was not well; the important point had not been assimilated, in fact they were more confused than they had been before. No one had spoken, but it was evident from the facial expressions and the body language that I needed to re-visit that training intervention and try again. Which I did, this time successfully.

But it was only by seeing the faces that I knew that it had happened. And it was only through them seeing my face that they knew that I knew it hadn't worked and that I was going to correct it.

Face-to-face contact - you can't beat it!

The Genius of the "And"

A few days ago I posted a blog about how one can use PRINCE2 and 'Agile' methods together, and I finished with the phrase "It's the strength of the AND we need, not the tyranny of the OR."

I am often frustrated by the way that some people always appear to be seeking the 'either/or' solution.

Shall we use PRINCE2 or shall we use 'Agile'? Is PMI best for our organisation, or should we use PRINCE2? Do we need to focus on project management or programme management?

This is what I meant when I said "the tyranny of the OR" It is limiting; it stifles creativity; it fails to make best use of the solutions available to us.

This phrase originates with Jim Collins, the author of 'Good to Great' and 'Built to Last'. He says,

"Many get caught up in what we call "The Tyranny of the Or," the belief that you cannot live with two seemingly contradictory ideas at the same time, that you can have change or stability, you can be conservative or bold, you can have low costs or high quality -- but never both. Visionary companies all operate in what we call "The Genius of the And," the ferocious insistence that they can and must have both at once."

The word "AND" has genius, it has strength, it empowers us. We should allow the word to challenge us - how can I make the best use of this method AND this approach together?

PRINCE2 - time to Re-Register?

A few days ago I posted about how much I had enjoyed a

PRINCE2 Re-Registration Workshop.

I have just heard that all the delegates passed their exam, which is great news, because they all deserved to!

These were professionals from sectors such as Banking, Logistics, Utilities, Education Software and Systems and the Public Sector. All of them committed to investing in their careers by ensuring that their PRINCE2 knowledge (and accreditation) was bang up to date.

PRINCE2 is recognised as the de facto standard project management method in the world. If you have that qualification, and it is time for your re-registration, please do not let it lapse. Now, more than ever you need the qualification and the knowledge and skills to use PRINCE2 well.

Why not get in touch?

The Mental Crib Sheet - a summary

If you've been following our recent posts, you will have read our emergent findings from our initial research study into the idea of the 'Mental Crib Sheet'.

If you haven't seen those posts, I suggest that you start with the introductory post that I made on 30th June and then follow the trail between my subsequent posts and Patrick Mayfield's posts.

From the initial phase of our study three patterns are emerging. Together the three patterns lead us to some initial conclusions about the way that project, programme and portfolio managers construct their mental landscape. The patterns that have emerged are patterns of thinking, and we have named these three patterns:

1. Self-awareness
2. Bias towards relationships
3. Making Margins

As you may have read, we first presented these initial findings at an event called "The Best Practice Showcase", yet what we consider to be one of the major implications of this study is that if we focus on best practice and best practice alone then we are missing an important piece of the jigsaw. In fact we are suggesting that it is Best Thinking that drives Best Practice.

Encouraged by the feedback we have received both at the presentation and since, we are planning to continue our research to see where this takes us.

Are you interested in being involved? We would like to hear from you if you are a practicing portfolio, programme or project manager and you would be prepared to share your ways of working and thinking with us.

In the first instance please respond to either this blog or to one of Patrick's.

Thanks to everyone for your emails so far - we look forward to working with you and discovering more about this fascinating topic.

CPD - now is the hour!

Last week I had the pleasure and privilege of running a refresher workshop for people looking to renew their PRINCE2 Practitioner status. (The PRINCE2 project management Practitioner needs to re-register every 5 years or so.)

So, the delegates on this workshop were engaging in something that I consider an absolute must - Continuing Professional Development (CPD). This is all about taking ownership of your learning and growth; keeping your knowledge and skills up to date.

In pearcemayfield we have a value of 'Lifelong Learning', so it's something that we take seriously too, which was why the workshop was a pleasure to be leading.

I think that CPD is particularly valuable right now. When times are uncertain we all need to ensure that we are right up-to-date with our personal and professional development. Don't let things that matter lapse, and your learning status really does matter.

Now is the time - now is the hour to check on your CPD!

Mental Crib Sheet Part 3: A Bias towards Relationships

This is the third post in which Patrick Mayfield and I have began to publish our interim findings on this research over our two blogs. For the last post see: The First Emergent Pattern: Self-Awareness

_________________________________________________________

So, where is the pro-activity that Patrick discussed in his blog being deployed?

The second major finding that is emerging from our Mental Crib Sheet research is that alpha-trait managers have a distinct bias towards developing and maintaining relationships. We are seeing a correlation between the pro-active time that is being built into the working week of our managers and the time spent in managing relationships.

The self-aware, pro-active manager seems to believe that relationships are central to success. They are thinking about their mental landscape, and on that landscape they see the vital importance of stakeholders.

This bias towards relationships is seen in the amount of time that is dedicated to communicating with stakeholders. Alpha-trait managers are committing between 60% - 85% of their time to communication. We know that's what the books tell us we should do - but they are doing it!

They are not just 'ticking boxes'. One respondent  who, as a result of the study, recognised that they had not proactively developed relationships described their approach to managing in this way:

"I've just done it in a sort of auto-pilot mode...".

The pro-active managers are thinking about their relationships in a real and active way.

Another point is also emerging here. we are seeing managers who are not just using the formal line structures of their projects and programmes, but instead are looking to understand the political landscape, use the informal structures and develop their extended team. We are calling this the use of the tribal network.

Research from Harvard has indicated that personal performance is actually predicated on being part of a team. Individuals that were performing at a high level (stars) experienced a drop in that performance on joining a new team.

This leads to questions about whether we really understand the role of the manager in extended teams, and again whether we are focusing in the wrong areas.

We can measure the maturity of our organisation; we have the means to carry out health-checks on our projects, programme and portfolio; we give a lot of attention to the individual practitioner's performance. All these are valid areas of focus. But are we missing a vital ingredient, are we forgetting the role of the extended team, the tribal network? It seems our alpha-trait managers are not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the next part of our findings - the third emergent pattern - see Patrick's blog at http://pearcemayfield.typepad.com/patrick_mayfield/