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Archives for January 2021

Does That Mean…Yes? Or No?

January 18, 2021 by abuttiglieri

Man walking dog on leash

The other day my husband Steve asked if I was ready to go for a walk. I replied, “And the dog’s more than ready!”

He said “that’s not what I asked. Are you ready?”

This tends to happen to us. He’ll ask a question. I’ll read into it and give a reply that assumes the answer.

But if he doesn’t hear the actual answer, he can’t interpret what I’ve said. And that is frustrating for both of us.

If I’d simply added 1 word, if I’d answered “Yes! And the dog’s more than ready!” he would have understood and been able to receive the further information. Instead, I assumed he understood that my “and” covered the answer.

We all know what happens when we “ass-u-me”.

As I have a tendency to do this at home, I need to be extra careful to avoid “assuming and extrapolating” at work, too.

Communication with our stakeholders should be concise, as we all have full plates already. In an effort to be brief, to not waste our reader’s time, we naturally make assumptions in our emails, documentation, reports, etc. However, being too concise increases the chance of misinterpretation.

Here are three key methods to keep your communication clear:

  • Answer the question first. If you’re replying to an email or writing a summary report, there was an initial question or intent you’re responding to. First answer the question, and only then add relevant information
  • Use formatting techniques. Specifically, use bullet points to group together information. But here’s the key: use a header topic to explain the information. (For example, these bullet points are under a header topic that says the grouping is all about clear communication.)
  • Re-read your document for assumptions. Do you remember your elementary school teacher telling you to write like you’re explaining to “someone who has never heard of the topic”? That remains good advice! Especially in our distracted world, our team members don’t always pay attention to the details. This is a good way to orient them to the subject before you give them important information

Clear communication takes effort. It’s a balance between data and human nature. If we are going to respond to a question, we must answer it in a way that the person asking can understand and absorb. No assumptions.

Am I ready to walk the dog? Yes. Is he excited, too? Absolutely! Time to get his leash…

Filed Under: Communication, Effective Leadership, Leadership Skills, Project Management, Team Leadership Tagged With: communication, leadership skills, project leadership, project management, team communication, team leadership

Practice Makes…Perfect Practice

January 4, 2021 by abuttiglieri

Brent Keane from Pexels

Last week I wrote about starting to run Facebook Lives and how uncomfortable they feel. But, knowing that this is the only way to get better at them, my attitude must be “practice makes perfect” and press on.

Well, I had a comment about my post from Brent, who said that “practice actually makes perfect practice.”

He clarified that practice can only take you so far. You need the experience in a real-world situation.

I agree!

When you lead a meeting, for example, you can prepare for every contingency you can think of, but you just can’t predict everything your team will ask or what objections they may have.

Here’s another example: eventually need to stop running scenarios and actually go Live with your project. There is a point at which you stop reducing technical risk and simply increase the cost of delay. No project is perfect. Something unexpected will happen!

My take is this: when we practice, we eliminate the biggest risks. When we prepare for questions or complete all required testing, we take those issues right off the table. Then, when we’re in that real-world situation, we can focus our attention on the smaller group of unknowns.

So it is actually your practice that makes it possible to better deal with the unknown.

At the end of the day: prepare, execute, adapt.

Prepare as much as you can to eliminate risk.

Execute as you prepared.

Adapt to resolve new issues.

Filed Under: Effective Leadership, Leadership Skills, Project Management, Team Leadership Tagged With: project management, team leadership

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