Re: 25 Ways Project People Can Train Their Mental Flexibility

JoeBindeman — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:35:16 -0000

Thanks for sharing your interview with Esther Derby on Self-Organized
Teams. Esther says these teams may be responsible for tasks,
cross-training, membership, and setting direction. She points out that
they must exist within context of organization. The role of a manager is
still vital to set boundaries, establish goals that make sense, provide
guard rails, and the freedom to do what's needed... They also observe,
provide help out of the "stuck places", provide coaching and skills
training, and get involved in difficult situations. She acknowledges
that it is a failure to abandon the team - I agree. It is leaders who
provide the context in which any team works, self-directed or otherwise.
Interpersonal effectiveness certainly begins with intrapersonal
effectiveness: "Know thyself" and know your team. Some tools I've found
to be effective in these areas are the DISC Model of Human Behavior from
http://www.personality-insi... and the Kolbe Index from
http://www.kolbe.com/kc08/i....

Joe Bindeman, PMP
PMO Liaison to Project Managers/EDS Ahold Account

EDS, an HP company
Project Management Delivery/ASFO-A
1080 W. Entrance Dr
Auburn Hills, MI 48326

Tel: +1 248 370 1493
Fax: +1 248 754-2436
Mobile: +1 586 524 5449
E-mail: joe.bindeman@eds.com

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so you can deliver on yours.

Re: 25 Ways Project People Can Train Their Mental Flexibility

JoeBindeman — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:55:41 -0000

I agree that it is very important to stay mentally flexible and offer some balance to the implied call for being free (from rigidity, rules, processes, procedures, "artificially imposed images ", etc.) When I see an idealistic phrase like "The world moves on with or without us, so should your project" I think, "No, leadership matters". Yes, the world moves on but I have a responsibility to influence my portion of it. Does my project move on with or without me? Not likely. Without leadership it might just be a good idea that never gets implemented.
For example imagine a tomato vine. Left alone it surely grows taking the path of least resistence and becoming a sprawling clump of mangled branches sometimes smothering the fruit/vegetable beneath. Under excellent care it is instead propped up with stakes, fertilized, watered, and spread out to achieve maximum light, growth, and results. The structure, used wisely and flexibly(ex. scaled), provides the best environment for the all the natural elements to achieve their desired results. The seemingly burdensome rules(processes, procedures) actually provide "freedom" to thrive. They were designed to prevent the painful lessons of being "free"(no rules, no structure, chaos).

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Re: 25 Ways Project People Can Train Their Mental Flexibility

Re: 25 Ways Project People Can Train Their Mental Flexibility