Learning to express

It has been quite some time I don't update this blog. I was busy with a few proposal submissions. The preparation work is always tiring. The deadline is always pressing us to work very hard and long hours. I have to run around the building to have several meetings with all the people involved in a few separate sessions. As our resources are assigned to multiple projects at the same time and these projects require them to be on-site most of the time. It is quite difficult to get all the people sit in the same room for a proposal preparation meeting that is longer than one hour.

Lately, I am involved with one proposal preparation for a new client. The proposal is about setting up a project management office (PMO). My mentor has gotten the lead opportunity through his good work with some public seminars. He is kind enough to bring the opportunity to the company that I am working with. It is a good opportunity for me to learn by working with him to expand my experience in setting up a PMO for a client last year. My company is also happy for the opportunity for business and coaching on work for me. It seems everything is just going to benefit me.

My mentor has massive experience in consulting business. He has work experience at high rank with the big 5 consulting firms. For me to learn from him, I have to work harder than usual. He has higher expectation in preparing proposal such as the style of expressing the ideas, selling the ideas, sellection of diagrams, etc. It took us (me and him) a few hours just to write the Executive Summary.

I have to draw diagrams to clear my thoughts and to make the thinking process more logical before I put down my pen. This has helped me think better. Although the process is much more pressing and tiring, but I believe in the benefits I will get later.

Writing is not easy, in addition, to express well and to impress well is even harder. I am learning. I am reading a book on writing skill. Hopefully, soon, I will be able to be a professional writer.

Creative thinking!

My definition for Creative Thinking is -

To think "how to not to do it myself: To find as many alternatives as possible as options for making decision. The alternatives are not necessarily to be new ideas, but are multiple choices for me to compare and choose from.

When I mean creative in business options, I mean "how can we EMPOWER and ENABLE the OTHERS to provide what we want or we need?" The following options are my examples when I mean "empowering and enabling the others":

to produce the goods for me?

1. to collect the data for me?
2. to analyze the collected data for me?
3. to do marketing for me?
4. to do selling for me?
5. to deliver the goods for me?
6. to collect money from the customer for me?
7. to manage my information system for me?
8. to manage my projects for me?
9. to manage my suppliers for me?
10. to obtain other sources of financial funding for me?
11. to identify good investments for me?
12. to generate income from the investments for me?
13. ...

Now, most of the activities in business are not owned or performed by in-house resources. Most of them are through services provided by other parties. I call this as partnership-oriented business nature which is different from the Chinaman's business nature. The Chinaman's business nature is always related to "one leg kick", "all in one" and "one for all". When we are talking about partnership-oriented business, we are talking about "work together" with others! As PM job is very heavily relying on others, we should always think in "partnership" model!

When you are open for ideas, not emotional, not biased then you may have more choices. When you have more choices doesn't mean you should simply choose one from the options. The final decision has to be made based on certain basis and calculation.

Before a serious confrontation ...

I have got the book: Crucial Confrontation!

It is really a great book. After reading it, I learned a very valuable lesson on how to deal with confrontation - in a better way.

But, first things first, I have to work on myself first:

1. Am I the problem?
2. What is the real problem? Am I dealing with the signal or the right problem?
3. Why should I confront? Is it a high-stake "must"?

It also highlights that, we should open our mouth when we have the following signs:

1. You're acting out your feelings
2. Your conscience is nagging you
3. You're downplaying the cost of not taking action while exaggerating the dangers of speaking up
4. You figure that nothing you do will help

Recently, there is one incidence where a sales person inform the technical personel late enough to come out with a proposal to be submitted to a client. I was the last person informed although I am to provide the cost for the project management services. For me to come out with the cost, I need to work on the schedule given by the technical lead. After I have the schedule, I need to review the technical lead's proposal write-up. For this last minute notification, I was so angry and told the sales person coldly, "I will work with the technical lead, but why you inform me so late? Tomorrow is the due date, and you inform me as the last person ..." But, the sales person raised her voice and asked me to forget about the redtapes, and better get started to work on the costing and schedule ... At that time, I was really angry ....

So, after I put down the phone, I did all the things and finally the proposal due date was postponed. Because, the sales person herself said that she was so busy and cannot work on the proposal. Anyway, my obligation is done. But, should I confront her? If yes, what is the real problem?

1. Am I angry because of the fact that she is not respecting us?
2. Am I angry because I don't have sufficient time to complete the work within normal office hours?
3. Am I angry because she was instructing me to do my work?

Now, I am still thinking ... am I creating imagination for above issues? Am I finding excuses to confront her?

Finally .... my decision is ... let me finish the whole book first before I decide :-)

The most difficult people I have ever dealth with ...

Based on my experience, I have come accross the following types of people:

1. The bully. They just want other people do things following their way. They want you to keep quiet and listen to their talk. They will use their authority or their boss' authority. The worse thing is, some times these people will just use very bad tone or manner when they talk. They make you feel like you are nothing. And they like to show their "power" in front of the public to make them look good, but bad on you ...
2. The sniper - They like to stab you from the back! In front of you, they will say all the good things to you. When you are not careful enough ... your blood is leaking ...
3. Everything can; but come to the end, everything cannot!
4. Everything is no. Before you finish your explaination, the answer is already in his mind -- No!
5. "Let's do it! You go first, I will come after you ..." This kind of people will talk like a leader, but when come to problem solving ... you are on your own ... they already start digging another hole somewhere else ...
6. "I know it cannot work. But, don't ask me why!" This kind of people, always got their own assumptions and start with something negative. He will criticise whatever you say, but no solution is recommended. He can always say, "you are the consultant, so you should know what is wrong! Don't expect me to pay you and tell you the answer!"
7. "The things already in my blood! I will never be wrong! Don't ever try to say something stupid to me!" This kind of people just remember the old good days in their time ... whatever they have done was perfect, the best ... they won't admit that there are better ways out there ... They always believe that their experience and skills will never expire ...
8. "I already knew that it won't work ..." This kind of people will criticise how fool you are only after all you have done and tried. They were quiet when you were doing the planning even they were part of the planning team. When something goes wrong, then only they say "I already suspected the things will not work ..." Their "wisdom" always comes only "after" other people failure!
9. Smoker! This kind of people like to "smoke" your view, they paint the wrong picture to cover up what they have done wrong. For example, they will start talking loud on your issue to distract people attention on his late attendance to the meeting ...
10. The Great Pretender! This type of people will be the "nice" people all the time. They will appologize for their fault, their mistake ... but will do it again and again ... It is like they slap on your face and then say sorry for it ... again!
11. The Micro-Manager! This type of people are very thourough. They can always find the "fish bone" in an "egg"!

Do you have the same problems?

Related links:

Dealing with People You Can't Stand: How to Bring Out the Best in People at Their Worst

Books Recommendation - Crucial Confrontations and Crucial Conversation

PowerPhrases - Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say, Don't Be Mean When You Say It

Meeting procedures

All meetings need to be properly minuted. Here are some guidelines to follow for taking minutes and reviewing pending items.

Here is another guide for chairing a meeting.

The Last Evening Talk in Year 2005

Finally, I was lucky to get my boss approval and sponshorship in hosting the evening talk on December 14, 2005 at our auditorium for PMIMY (Project Management Institute Malaysia Chapter) and MNCC (Malaysia National Computing Council). It was a nice event and there were about 90 attendees that turned up. It was the first evening talk that I organized after I come back to Kuala Lumpur. When I was away to Johor Bahru for my PMO project at Johor Port, I missed many sessions of evening talks that were quite good. Now I am back to KL, so more opportunity for more exposure :-)

Are you one of the in-house resources?

Usually, most people will relate "in-house" to "under the same corporate umbrella" so, everything can be compromised ...

Under the same umbrella, your customer can be your boss or those people who are having higher access to your boss directly. It will have direct "impact" on your career. It is quite hard for you to say "no!" There is "almost" no way for you to reject unreasonable request and yet you can't run away from being "blamed" if your project is not delivering what is "expected" by the stakeholders. It is even worse when the cause of the failure is not directly under your control ...

In-house usually implies that you have the "obligation" to be "competent" enough to be kept "in-house". It is often that when you are "in-house" resource the expectation on you is even greater compared to external resources. Transparency (how your work is watched) is also very high.

It is also interesting to note that "in-house" give others theperspective of "sunk cost resources" therefore most of the jobs are considered "inclusive" within the "salary" package you are getting.

So, are you one of the in-house resources?