Blog Posts
Innovate for Success – Now
Your career, your day-to-day approach to things, your contribution to your organization, your life: success will come from innovation and to the innovative.
Family Trumps All
On these days leading into Thanksgiving for our American friends and families, I wish you and yours my best wishes for a wonderful, family-filled celebration.
Have You Started Your Personal Strategic Plan?
(First published January, 2015) Every year my wife, Karen, and I sit down and start the process of revisiting our Personal Strategic Plan. This is something that we’ve been doing
Who is Your Greatest (Professional) Achievement?
Who is your greatest achievement?
Do You Have the Right Team to Execute the Plan?
You need the right people and the right team in place to make any critical plan work – especially if it produces change for the organization, its customers, key stakeholders and employees.
Delegation is a 3-Way Street
Delegation is not easy, but if we look at the benefits right up front, the effort it will take seems well worth it.
Strategy Execution – Without Organization-Wide Commitment – Don’t Even Try
“Targeted tools, processes and rewards will help you generate and nurture commitment from employees.
Synergy Drives Strategy and Project Execution
Synergy is linking it all together. It’s ensuring teams and units have the right infrastructure and structures to get the job done.
Clarity – A Key Element to Execution Success
The key to success? Well, there are many but one of the big ones is Clarity. Just like a project execution plan or a strategy execution plan, at the core, we need clarity.
What’s Holding Your Organization Back from Execution Success?
There was no one clear reason that everyone could agree on but what they did agree on was that strategies do fail, often, and that without care, attention and a lot of work, they will continue to do so.
What Is the Most Important Role of a Project Manager?
First published Feb 15, 2017 That answer is easy. Produce great schedules! Don’t be too shocked please. This is not what I really think but that is what many people
How Do You Recover from a Screw-Up?
The new product is due for delivery within a few days. Right at the last minute you discover that someone on the team has really messed up. This mistake may
Managing Expectations – The Key to a Leader’s Success
Setting expectations is all about trust, communications and honesty.
Strategic Planning Does Not Work
…unless you have an execution plan. I was at a picnic recently on a beautiful island in Georgian Bay and chatting with an employee of one of the world’s most
What Does Accountability Look Like?
We can’t just hope and assume. We need to hold people accountable with review sessions, check-in points and simple offers to help. These touch points offer opportunities to support, praise and encourage.
Do You Know Your Limitations?
An exhausted, stressed-out, burnt-out, ‘meeting’ed’-out leader is no good to anyone. Don’t go there.
3 Steps to Good Judgement and Decision Making
Next time you have an important decision to make, step back, create a plan and execute well.
6 Tips for a Great Sales Pitch
It doesn’t matter what we do for a living, we all sell. We are all faced with that moment in time when we are standing (or sitting) in front of
Are You Ready to Take the Next Step to Leadership?
Now that the baby boomers are finally retiring – and doing so in huge numbers – we are facing a dramatic void in willing and able people to take up those positions. This is a problem for many organizations but an opportunity for many of us.
Is there a Role for Business Analysts in Strategic Planning?
Yes and the sooner we get them involved the better.
Do You Know an Accidental Project Manager?
Do You Know an Accidental Project Manager? Barb works for a local financial services company. Her title is Manager, Operations and Support. I can tell you all about what she
It’s Time to Ask ‘Why?’
If you are a professional like me or an organization of any size, this is the time of the year when many of us should be asking why?
Do You Have a Sense of Humour (Humor)?
stop being so serious every hour of everyday. Come on down into the trenches and help lighten it up.
The Project Manager’s New Frontier – Strategy Execution
“You’ve got to think about big things while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.” —Alvin Toffler “Good business leaders create
Do You Motivate or Inspire?
I was working at the PMI Region 3 meetings in Boston this week when Ron MacDonald, PMI Chapter Partner, got me into a discussion about the difference between motivation and
Do You Have a Career Plan?
Do you have a plan for your career or are you just winging it? This post comes to you via video. Click here to view this week’s video blog post.
“I Try to Avoid Hiring PMPs”
Let’s start to think outside the box and focus on the business.
Is Agile an ‘all or nothing’ approach to project management?
Is Agile an ‘all or nothing’ approach to project management? No! The Agile methodology has its place – at the right time for the right project in the right environment
Tools I Use to Stay Organized
Last week I wrote about staying organized, suggesting I relied on three things… Goals Process Tools I outlined the first two. Today, I present my favourite tools. I love technology, but
How Do You Stay Organized?
Business is booming. Many of us are crazy busy and staying on top of it all can be very tricky. I have a fairly busy life. I blog every week,