I listen a lot to people in leadership positions, many of them being senior management in high-tech companies. What they tell me are stories of lack of empowerment, of how they "felt stuck" between "too clear" directions from a powerful GM, CTO or CEO and, on the other side, their Engineering organizations, remote or local. I'm borrowing some of their words here.
In fact, these senior Engineering leaders knew what wasn't working and what needed to happen to move their teams out of burnout, general frustration or acceptance of mediocrity. I'm sure you have experienced or seen situations such as this one. Their main problem was the same as what we see in nature all the time. Things remain as they are for usually a very long time until, one day, something new happens. A different idea, a new concept, a quantum leap. Who knows what I'm talking about?
We've noticed that quantum leaps happen as soon as a "catalyst" comes into play. I won't go into the details whether the catalyst is purely passive (as in a chemical reaction) or on the contrary very active inside the company into which he or she was brought in by the senior Engineering leader who finally has had the courage to step up and yell, at least in his or her imagination, "enough is enough, things have to change now!".
The truth is that action is what manifests a choice. Our world is a wonderful creation of infinite possibilities. As Albert Einstein had already taught us so well about the relativity of all things, even of time and space, I firmly believe that there is no absolute right or wrong. Everything must be seen from one or another perspective and it is futile to look for an absolute or so called "objective" perspective. Out of all the possibilities of how situations can evolve, humans have a tendency of wishing for a change in one way or another. Let's call it a "desire".
There's nothing wrong with having desires, actually this is a good thing since doing so drives imagination. And "imagination is more important than knowledge", as was adequately remarked by Albert Einstein also a long time ago.
So what is the key message to understand here? It is that action, yes, even a simple little action, done consistently from this moment onward, is the first step of manifesting a choice and moving towards a desire which we have. It's that simple: nothing changes from knowledge or imagination alone, but it is action that sets things apart.
The moment that we decide to act despite fear rather than waiting for the fear to go away or for the right moment to come (trust me it never will), this is when we set change into motion. What is it that you as a leader would like to change, specifically, and what are you waiting for?
------------------------------------------------------
Corinne Rattay works with senior hi-tech executives on strategic leadership, breakthrough communication and effective execution, helping her clients to achieve extraordinary results. She can be reached at crattay@crexecutiveconsulting.com or at www.CRexecutiveconsulting.com
More...
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Soliciting Engineering Leadership Horror Stories [Robert Lasater]
Today being Halloween, we are soliciting Engineering Leadership Horror Stories. We'd like your scariest, most frightening experiences as an engineering leader.
There are several caveats. Your story must have some edifying or redeeming quality. We are not soliciting gripe fests or posts that just slam coworkers.
Here are some suggestions for what we would like to see. Maybe you were able to take that terrifying situation and transform it into something at least somewhat positive. Or maybe the situation was too far gone to salvage, but you have insights into how to recognize (and prevent) something similar.
Also, because your story may be sensitive, we would welcome anonymous posting. However an anonymous posting will require a lengthier review process. So if you request anonymity, give us a few days to post your submission.
Please email your Engineering Leadership Horror Stories to rlasater@hotmail.com. We accept Word documents, HTML text and simple text files.
And as always, we reserve the right to edit, modify or even not accept proposed posts.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Lasater maintains the blog for theEngineering Leadership Special Interest Group of the SD Forum.
More...
There are several caveats. Your story must have some edifying or redeeming quality. We are not soliciting gripe fests or posts that just slam coworkers.
Here are some suggestions for what we would like to see. Maybe you were able to take that terrifying situation and transform it into something at least somewhat positive. Or maybe the situation was too far gone to salvage, but you have insights into how to recognize (and prevent) something similar.
Also, because your story may be sensitive, we would welcome anonymous posting. However an anonymous posting will require a lengthier review process. So if you request anonymity, give us a few days to post your submission.
Please email your Engineering Leadership Horror Stories to rlasater@hotmail.com. We accept Word documents, HTML text and simple text files.
And as always, we reserve the right to edit, modify or even not accept proposed posts.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Lasater maintains the blog for theEngineering Leadership Special Interest Group of the SD Forum.
More...
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
True Win-Win Commitment [Corinne Rattay]
In business, people often claim their willingness to offer win-win deals. Whether you're in the market for buying a new car as a consumer as I did last week, or whether you're interested in a specific solution or service from a preferred vendor when you're acting in your professional role, the words of "win-win" sound pretty good, even reassuring in a way. But let me ask you, what is a true win-win commitment according to you, really?
Maybe the question to ask ourselves first is why would anyone want to pursue anything else, such as win-lose or even lose-lose alternatives. I've seen many cases like these and I'm sure so have you. And, in all sincerity, I've probably occasionally acted in such less noble ways, unconsciously or even consciously. We are all on a path towards continual improvement and growth, aren't we after all?
I'd like to get concrete at this point. With our focus on Engineering Leadership what could this situation look like, if I may borrow a real-life case?
Let's say a company's executive team has the dilemma of needing to please a major customer generating $500 million of revenue this year and being requested to add a few vital software features into its current software release due next month. The release without those features is eagerly expected by a large percentage of the company's customer base and is on schedule to function according to expectations. The account team has just informed the GM and EVP that this major customer can only effectively deploy the release with these client-specific features due to certain late discoveries. Furthermore a significant portion of the projected revenue can only be recognized with general-availability software releases which are accepted as functional by the major customer. Sounds familiar?
If you have lived or are living in this kind of environment, some first thoughts may storm through your mind right now.
As a Product Manager your focus will be on initial software requirements coming from the customer and the account team. As VP of Engineering you are worried about the impact of last-minute code additions in sensitive parts of the software and the inability to perform full screening on the modified code. As Regional VP of Sales your concern is your major customer's success and continued business if the features don't make it into this release or if the software turns out to be defective with the additional features. As VP of Operations you are getting headaches but are willing to accommodate within your means regarding the logistical aspects of software distribution. As Program Manager you are seeing an equation now with last minute variables that don't add up with success unless someone puts together a miracle.
If you are a member of the Executive team a few scenarios may come to your mind immediately:
(1) accommodate the major customer, impair all other customers by delaying the release, maintain release quality & predictability of quality
(2) accommodate the major customer, keep the release on time, stretch the Engineering organization, accept reduced predictability of SW quality
(3) release official software on-time, maintain release quality & predictability of quality, work with major customer using additional beta releases in parallel containing these required changes while possibly deferring large revenue projections for your own company to the next fiscal year
(…) and there are more creative ones with the firm understanding that this may only be a one-time exception to the standard process and policies.
Reality, or life in itself, isn't simple. Add to it the wisdom that there is no such thing as a "one-time-only exception" because it will invariably set a new standard for the future inside the company.
So what can this real-life scenario teach us about the topic of a win-win commitment? Why is this concept so crucial in business and even beyond in our personal lives? What is so powerful about the concept of true win-win commitment that people get so attracted to working with other people who make it a habit of practicing this concept? Why does business and money flow so much better in this way?
Over the past eighteen months I've focused extensively on understanding human psychology and leadership in much more advanced and accelerated ways than my previous hi-tech industry leadership experience may have offered me. Healthy humans want to trust and want the other person to be trustworthy. And we would all live in harmony with this idea if many of us hadn't been deceived and over time had derived a world model of scarcity and survival of the fittest. Consider how society in general defines "winning". Whether you look at sports games where we all want to see one team win, this does infer that the other one may need to lose. Isn't this how most people, maybe not you or me, approach life?
Let's come back to our hi-tech company example: should the company's current quarter bottom line win and the executive team decide to implement the custom changes in a rush to keep the projected revenue while shielding obvious process shortcuts from the major customer and everyone else? How may this decision affect the company's reputation once software stability issues are discovered by most customers and they turn out to lose? Should the shareholders lose in the end once the company's reputation has been affected? Should the major customer lose and be blamed for not having specified these additional requirements explicitly? Should the company lose the projected revenue this quarter? Is there really a way that everyone can win in this case?
How do most people make decisions when a win-win deal isn't obvious to all involved parties? May they get emotional and be driven by fear of missing out on a possible gain? What is your personal experience with people you've worked with so far? Some may say "you can't please everybody" and they are certainly right. Some may state that "it would all have been easier if someone had done a better job discovering the issues earlier", effectively pushing responsibility away with blame.
The truth is that there is never an absolute beginning for the appearance of a specific problem. Don't things just unfold naturally until they reach an arbitrary threshold for someone to call it a problem? In life is there really such a thing as perfection? It is my belief that there are just opportunities to grow for the conscious executive and to maintain integrity and hard-earned trust with every single customer, with the various internal teams inside the company and indirectly with the long-term shareholders. His or her role is to be creative while involving true teamwork and openness with the major customer in this case and seek the best for all parties over time.
The readiness to put a significant portion of the projected quarterly revenue at stake when openly approaching the major customer may be the very key ingredient for actually both securing short-term revenue while also gaining incredible future business not even imagined. Add to this the continued trust gained from all customers over the past as well as the long-term gains for the company's shareholders when the executive team continuously meets and exceeds its previously established standards.
If I wanted to summarize I'd say "treat all other people the way you want to be treated even if it may seem at a cost to you. It takes courage, but in the end we all win."
------------------------------------------------------
Corinne Rattay works with senior hi-tech executives on strategic leadership, breakthrough communication and effective execution, helping her clients to achieve extraordinary results. She can be reached at crattay@crexecutiveconsulting.com or at www.CRexecutiveconsulting.com
More...
Maybe the question to ask ourselves first is why would anyone want to pursue anything else, such as win-lose or even lose-lose alternatives. I've seen many cases like these and I'm sure so have you. And, in all sincerity, I've probably occasionally acted in such less noble ways, unconsciously or even consciously. We are all on a path towards continual improvement and growth, aren't we after all?
I'd like to get concrete at this point. With our focus on Engineering Leadership what could this situation look like, if I may borrow a real-life case?
Let's say a company's executive team has the dilemma of needing to please a major customer generating $500 million of revenue this year and being requested to add a few vital software features into its current software release due next month. The release without those features is eagerly expected by a large percentage of the company's customer base and is on schedule to function according to expectations. The account team has just informed the GM and EVP that this major customer can only effectively deploy the release with these client-specific features due to certain late discoveries. Furthermore a significant portion of the projected revenue can only be recognized with general-availability software releases which are accepted as functional by the major customer. Sounds familiar?
If you have lived or are living in this kind of environment, some first thoughts may storm through your mind right now.
As a Product Manager your focus will be on initial software requirements coming from the customer and the account team. As VP of Engineering you are worried about the impact of last-minute code additions in sensitive parts of the software and the inability to perform full screening on the modified code. As Regional VP of Sales your concern is your major customer's success and continued business if the features don't make it into this release or if the software turns out to be defective with the additional features. As VP of Operations you are getting headaches but are willing to accommodate within your means regarding the logistical aspects of software distribution. As Program Manager you are seeing an equation now with last minute variables that don't add up with success unless someone puts together a miracle.
If you are a member of the Executive team a few scenarios may come to your mind immediately:
(1) accommodate the major customer, impair all other customers by delaying the release, maintain release quality & predictability of quality
(2) accommodate the major customer, keep the release on time, stretch the Engineering organization, accept reduced predictability of SW quality
(3) release official software on-time, maintain release quality & predictability of quality, work with major customer using additional beta releases in parallel containing these required changes while possibly deferring large revenue projections for your own company to the next fiscal year
(…) and there are more creative ones with the firm understanding that this may only be a one-time exception to the standard process and policies.
Reality, or life in itself, isn't simple. Add to it the wisdom that there is no such thing as a "one-time-only exception" because it will invariably set a new standard for the future inside the company.
So what can this real-life scenario teach us about the topic of a win-win commitment? Why is this concept so crucial in business and even beyond in our personal lives? What is so powerful about the concept of true win-win commitment that people get so attracted to working with other people who make it a habit of practicing this concept? Why does business and money flow so much better in this way?
Over the past eighteen months I've focused extensively on understanding human psychology and leadership in much more advanced and accelerated ways than my previous hi-tech industry leadership experience may have offered me. Healthy humans want to trust and want the other person to be trustworthy. And we would all live in harmony with this idea if many of us hadn't been deceived and over time had derived a world model of scarcity and survival of the fittest. Consider how society in general defines "winning". Whether you look at sports games where we all want to see one team win, this does infer that the other one may need to lose. Isn't this how most people, maybe not you or me, approach life?
Let's come back to our hi-tech company example: should the company's current quarter bottom line win and the executive team decide to implement the custom changes in a rush to keep the projected revenue while shielding obvious process shortcuts from the major customer and everyone else? How may this decision affect the company's reputation once software stability issues are discovered by most customers and they turn out to lose? Should the shareholders lose in the end once the company's reputation has been affected? Should the major customer lose and be blamed for not having specified these additional requirements explicitly? Should the company lose the projected revenue this quarter? Is there really a way that everyone can win in this case?
How do most people make decisions when a win-win deal isn't obvious to all involved parties? May they get emotional and be driven by fear of missing out on a possible gain? What is your personal experience with people you've worked with so far? Some may say "you can't please everybody" and they are certainly right. Some may state that "it would all have been easier if someone had done a better job discovering the issues earlier", effectively pushing responsibility away with blame.
The truth is that there is never an absolute beginning for the appearance of a specific problem. Don't things just unfold naturally until they reach an arbitrary threshold for someone to call it a problem? In life is there really such a thing as perfection? It is my belief that there are just opportunities to grow for the conscious executive and to maintain integrity and hard-earned trust with every single customer, with the various internal teams inside the company and indirectly with the long-term shareholders. His or her role is to be creative while involving true teamwork and openness with the major customer in this case and seek the best for all parties over time.
The readiness to put a significant portion of the projected quarterly revenue at stake when openly approaching the major customer may be the very key ingredient for actually both securing short-term revenue while also gaining incredible future business not even imagined. Add to this the continued trust gained from all customers over the past as well as the long-term gains for the company's shareholders when the executive team continuously meets and exceeds its previously established standards.
If I wanted to summarize I'd say "treat all other people the way you want to be treated even if it may seem at a cost to you. It takes courage, but in the end we all win."
------------------------------------------------------
Corinne Rattay works with senior hi-tech executives on strategic leadership, breakthrough communication and effective execution, helping her clients to achieve extraordinary results. She can be reached at crattay@crexecutiveconsulting.com or at www.CRexecutiveconsulting.com
More...
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Magical Thinking and the Zero-Sum Roadmap [Rich Mironov]
Recent conversations at several clients highlight an often-repeated set of magical thinking: beliefs by internal clients that development resources are infinite, and beliefs by product managers that prioritization can convince anyone otherwise. Both are wrong, but seductive. Here goes…
The starting point for this conversation is the typical product roadmap: crammed full of prioritized work and heavily negotiated with the development team. Almost every optional item has been postponed, and there’s still some risk of delay. This is a product plan with no “white space,” no large chunks of unallocated engineering capacity, no slop or slush funds or hidden treasure.
More...
The starting point for this conversation is the typical product roadmap: crammed full of prioritized work and heavily negotiated with the development team. Almost every optional item has been postponed, and there’s still some risk of delay. This is a product plan with no “white space,” no large chunks of unallocated engineering capacity, no slop or slush funds or hidden treasure.
More...
Monday, October 4, 2010
How to become a successful Leader, and how to get started from where I am right now? [Corinne Rattay]
Humans admire successful leaders. From the well-known names of history to specific people in our industry, or maybe even inside the company we are currently working for, there are people we simply admire. If I asked you who holds such a special place for you, at least one person’s name would pop up in your mind within the first 10 seconds, wouldn’t it?
This is the Engineering Leadership Special Interest Group (ELSIG) of the Software Development Forum (SDForum). So I’ve decided to write about leadership, a topic which is very dear to my heart. You’ll understand more once you get to know me.
In my managerial hi-tech career I’ve had to lead teams of over 100 engineers across Silicon Valley, US East Coast and India towards putting out the best possible version of Network Operating Systems under tremendous time and budget pressure. Those of you who are at VP or director level can relate to this. What had never been done before needed to be approached boldly. And I’m sure your responsibilities may even be more challenging and exciting. Yes, excitement is an important driver isn’t it?
Maybe you have dreamed of engaging into a bigger leadership role at your present level in your career, wanting to become a little bit more like some of the inspiring leaders you’ve observed in your industry or company. I have at least, to be completely honest with you. I’ve wanted to become a successful leader myself for a long time. Not necessarily to play at the same level as the ones I admired, but at least become a better leader than I considered myself to be at that time. And I’ve struggled, as you can imagine. So, did that mean that true leadership wasn’t for me?
With your permission let me make in innocent guess here: I could assume that the people who have become successful leaders in our surrounding environment (i.e. company, industry, personal sphere, …) have all had a clear vision, clear goals and somehow were either incredibly skilled or fortunate to be on a path filled with success after success. It somehow looks like it, doesn’t it?
If you’re like me, you may object intellectually that this assumption isn’t reality. So how did these successful leaders get to where they are today? What is it that you or I had to or have to do differently compared to before this moment of decision?
Maybe you are an influential leader already and are merely reading this out of curiosity (which successful leaders typically do) or you are experiencing some resistance at this point in your life and I may simply share with you what I have learned over time which would have made life so much easier for me back then.
The first thing you should know about me is that I’ve made many mistakes and learned greatly from them. The truth is that I didn’t even have a clear vision of what successful leadership was really about. I’m not embarrassed to say today that a few years back I equated “successful” with “me” being successful, with “me” being “significant” (yes, let me cut right to it) in just the ways I saw successful leaders as being people “significant” to me in my eyes.
If I could only share one key insight with you, it would be that I’ve learned that successful leaders don’t focus on their own significance but on the significance and success of what they stand for. What they envision is so much bigger than their individuality in their own eyes. That’s why they succeed in making things so much better for everyone.
Ok, but let’s get back to where you and I may be right now. So can we grow towards the character, charisma and passion that come with the role of a successful leader? Yes, you probably know intellectually that this is indeed a possibility. How to get started though when one doesn’t have a clear vision, clear goals and the necessary skills (yet)?
I’ve learned a few crucial insights through personal experience, which I’d like to share with you in order to assist in whatever way may be useful on your journey if you choose so. In summary the most crucial ones I believe are below:
Skills of course are important also to become a successful leader. The key to really understand here is that they are not what is needed first on this journey. Speaking in front of a large audience, speaking up in a tense meeting and disagreeing for the sake of something bigger at stake, you name it. The truth is that you’ll acquire all the needed skills along your path as I have and am still doing.
In fact, this is a never-ending journey of personal and professional fulfillment once we’ve understood what life really is about.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Corinne Rattay works with senior hi-tech executives on strategic leadership, breakthrough communication and effective execution, helping her clients to achieve extraordinary results. She can be reached at crattay@crexecutiveconsulting.com or at www.CRexecutiveconsulting.com
More...
This is the Engineering Leadership Special Interest Group (ELSIG) of the Software Development Forum (SDForum). So I’ve decided to write about leadership, a topic which is very dear to my heart. You’ll understand more once you get to know me.
In my managerial hi-tech career I’ve had to lead teams of over 100 engineers across Silicon Valley, US East Coast and India towards putting out the best possible version of Network Operating Systems under tremendous time and budget pressure. Those of you who are at VP or director level can relate to this. What had never been done before needed to be approached boldly. And I’m sure your responsibilities may even be more challenging and exciting. Yes, excitement is an important driver isn’t it?
Maybe you have dreamed of engaging into a bigger leadership role at your present level in your career, wanting to become a little bit more like some of the inspiring leaders you’ve observed in your industry or company. I have at least, to be completely honest with you. I’ve wanted to become a successful leader myself for a long time. Not necessarily to play at the same level as the ones I admired, but at least become a better leader than I considered myself to be at that time. And I’ve struggled, as you can imagine. So, did that mean that true leadership wasn’t for me?
With your permission let me make in innocent guess here: I could assume that the people who have become successful leaders in our surrounding environment (i.e. company, industry, personal sphere, …) have all had a clear vision, clear goals and somehow were either incredibly skilled or fortunate to be on a path filled with success after success. It somehow looks like it, doesn’t it?
If you’re like me, you may object intellectually that this assumption isn’t reality. So how did these successful leaders get to where they are today? What is it that you or I had to or have to do differently compared to before this moment of decision?
Maybe you are an influential leader already and are merely reading this out of curiosity (which successful leaders typically do) or you are experiencing some resistance at this point in your life and I may simply share with you what I have learned over time which would have made life so much easier for me back then.
The first thing you should know about me is that I’ve made many mistakes and learned greatly from them. The truth is that I didn’t even have a clear vision of what successful leadership was really about. I’m not embarrassed to say today that a few years back I equated “successful” with “me” being successful, with “me” being “significant” (yes, let me cut right to it) in just the ways I saw successful leaders as being people “significant” to me in my eyes.
If I could only share one key insight with you, it would be that I’ve learned that successful leaders don’t focus on their own significance but on the significance and success of what they stand for. What they envision is so much bigger than their individuality in their own eyes. That’s why they succeed in making things so much better for everyone.
Ok, but let’s get back to where you and I may be right now. So can we grow towards the character, charisma and passion that come with the role of a successful leader? Yes, you probably know intellectually that this is indeed a possibility. How to get started though when one doesn’t have a clear vision, clear goals and the necessary skills (yet)?
I’ve learned a few crucial insights through personal experience, which I’d like to share with you in order to assist in whatever way may be useful on your journey if you choose so. In summary the most crucial ones I believe are below:
- a clear direction you feel compelled moving into will do perfectly in the absence of a fully developed vision; you can refine and make things concrete along the path.
- get in touch with the person you want to become; catch yourself acting like him/her every once in a while and rejoice yourself; be passionate about it.
- getting started is not a matter of skills but of clarity of the path you want to pursue and the level of motivation for yourself; have absolute clarity of why you want to be on this path and what you’ll need to give up if you don’t.
- take one step at a time instead of overwhelming yourself; don’t try to swallow the entire mountain or elephant in one bite; let things unfold, make one thing better than it is today through your own action and keep doing it consistently.
- adopt a “responsibility vs. victim” attitude; whatever happens around you, understand that you still have the freedom of choice of how to respond.
- cultivate your value system; develop integrity, trust and passion for what you do and for the people you’re interacting with
Skills of course are important also to become a successful leader. The key to really understand here is that they are not what is needed first on this journey. Speaking in front of a large audience, speaking up in a tense meeting and disagreeing for the sake of something bigger at stake, you name it. The truth is that you’ll acquire all the needed skills along your path as I have and am still doing.
In fact, this is a never-ending journey of personal and professional fulfillment once we’ve understood what life really is about.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Corinne Rattay works with senior hi-tech executives on strategic leadership, breakthrough communication and effective execution, helping her clients to achieve extraordinary results. She can be reached at crattay@crexecutiveconsulting.com or at www.CRexecutiveconsulting.com
More...
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Whose English is it Anyway? [Kimberly Wiefling]
My work takes me from my home in the San Francisco Bay Area, where more than 50% of the people living here don’t speak English at home, to Japan and elsewhere around the world nearly every month. I have the distinct honor and pleasure of working with people from all over the world, and recently had an incredible adventure with 37 people from 12 different countries who all came together as a global team to propose the future direction of their company. It’s an incredible experience to work with such a diverse group, and a heck of a challenge due to the most basic of reasons – we all speak different languages.
Even though all members usually speak some version of “English”, it might as well be Klingon. There’s the traditional British English, and many more, including Australian English, New Zealand English, South African English, Canadian English, English of “the islands”, African English, Singapore English, East Indian English, as well as heavily accented versions of Spanish English, German English, French English, and the worst of the worst – American. Without modifications, or an interpreter, no sustained meaningful communication is possible among these disparate groups.
If you’re a native English speaker, working in a global team, you need to stop speaking English. Stop speaking YOUR English, that is – if you want to understand, and be understood by your colleagues. Delving a bit more deeply into the various versions of the so-called “shared language” called English based on my own personal experience:
Americans – Strictly speaking you don’t speak “English”. You speak “American”. It’s different. Just listen to someone from New Zealand speaking English and you’ll know exactly what I mean. Or catch a couple of idiom-laden blurbs of British English from a person from the UK. You won’t understand what they’re saying, and they’ll be horrified when you start talking about your“fanny pack”.
UK People – For people who didn’t grow up with British English as their native language, no one will have a clue what you mean when you start complaining about the “tallback” that delayed your arrival at work.
East Indian Colleagues – As an American Native English speaker, I reluctantly admit that I can’t understand more than 70% of “Hinglish” because the emPHAsis is on a difFERent sylLAble than I am accustomed to.
Singapore – “Singlish” is musical and beautiful, but – unless I watch your lips every moment, and assure that my attention doesn’t drift in the least – I can only understand about 50% of what you are saying.
Australians – It’s not as bad as listening to someone from Texas or Georgia, but it’s pretty tough to understand you, mates!
New Zealand Colleagues – Really, I get such a headache focusing on what you are saying that it makes the Australian accent seem almost easy to understand. As I mentioned previously, listening to you is not quite as challenging as understanding people from my own country who hail from Texas or Georgia, but it’s pretty darn demanding.
There are other examples, but you get the idea. I don’t want to beat a dead horse (sorry, I couldn’t resist).
The former CEO of ABB, Percy Barnevik, stated that the official language of the company was “bad English”. I almost agree, but I reject the negative connotations of “bad English” in favor of “Global English”. And a CEO of a Korean company advised his people that it’s more important to speak badEnglish than good Korean.
Although I’m sure that most people assume that they are perfectly understandable to others when they speak English (especially my American colleagues!) in my experience they all might as well be speaking entirely different languages. The solution is not to speak English. The solution is for ALL of us to STOP speaking English and START speaking GLOBAL English.
I’m not a linguist, but here’s a few things I’ve learned about effective communications among global teams:
- Do your L.A.P.S.s.s.s!
- Loud – Speak loudly so people can at least receive the soundwaves.
- Attention – Make sure you visually make contact with the person you’re talking with before starting to speak to them. Eye contact varies greatly across cultures, and can be uncomfortable, but is critical to beginning a conversation.
- Pause – Many non-native English speakers are “translating in their head”. Although not ideal, it’s a reality that they will need a few seconds to grock (sorry!) what you said.
- Slow – Speak slowly . . . painfully slowly. Imagine you are speaking in molasses, then slow down even more.
- Simple – Use simple words. Native English speakers use over 5000 different works, but non-native speakers use something like 500 – 1500. Don’t go showing off your vocabulary if you want to be understood.
- Short – Short sentences. No long-winded phraseology, with obscure references to previous clauses.
- Smile – If they can’t understand you, at least they’ll like you!
- No idioms, slang, obscure references.
- Don’t never use no double negatives!
In my experience, it’s not just European, Asian, South American or African people who need to change how they communicate. EVERYONE needs to adopt Global English in order to assure that 21st century global company teams can understand each other.
STOP speaking English. If you are a so-called “native” English speaker, DEFINITELY stop speaking English! START speaking GLOBAL ENGLISH. It’s better for you, it’s better for your colleagues, it’s better for your company, and it’s better for your business profitability.
If we truly are going to realize the dream of a global economy where we collaborate across time zones and cultural boundaries for mutual benefit, we ALL need to change the way we communicate. Let’s not wait for “other people” to change so that it’s easier for us to communicate. Let’s all share the responsibility for improving communication and moving toward a truly global economy.
It’s in ALL of our best interests to make the pie bigger instead of arguing over who gets the crumbs. That win-win scenario begins with speaking a common language, and it's not as easy as just saying "English". It's GLOBAL English. Give it a shot (sorry again!).
Originally published on CareerShorts.com where Kimberly has been invited to contribute blogs periodically on global leadership and project management.
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Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Project Manager Meets The Steering Committee [Glen Gage]
Situation: You, the project manager, have just been called to represent your project at the next IT Steering Committee meeting, a meeting that includes the CEO and is held once every three months.
It can be daunting to be called before a group of 'C' levels, VPs and other executives when you aren't used to it. When you are used to it it's even worse because any naive thoughts you may have had of a group making reasoned business decisions based on open dialog and fact have long since evaporated. Steering Committees are some percentage true to their charters and the other percentage a hot bed of corporate politics. The percentages vary from company to company and within companies, from month to month.
Your first thoughts upon receiving the invitation were mixed--pride and fear. Good. Appropriate. The devil on your left shoulder whispered in your ear "Don't worry, it's no big deal. You know what's going on in the project, just relax and go to the meeting. They just want to tell you what a good job you're doing." The angel on your right shoulder whispered "This is a big deal. Get prepared, thoroughly prepared."
The first thing you did right when your manager told you your presence was expected at the next IT Steering Committee meeting was to ask why. When the answer was vague (your manager isn't on the committee) you did the second right thing, you arranged a few minutes with the project's sponsor (who is on the committee) to find out why and ask a number of other questions.
The answer to 'why' might range from "Project Managers are invited randomly so that they get the experience of executive level dialog and exposure to the management team. It is all a part of our employee development program" (not likely) to "This is a critical project and not everyone feels they have a handle on it." (whoops, is your communication plan not working?) to any number of reasons. The important thing is to find out why they want you there so that once you are there you can satisfy them.
I'll tell you now that you performed well because you listened to the angel on your right shoulder and because you knew in advance not only why you were invited, but what senior executives want in general.
What do they (Executives) want in general? They want the project finished and the benefits on which it was sold accruing. You and others may want the project for the project itself, after all its your job for the moment. They don't, it's a means to an end, full stop. What they want from you: competence, in control, working to achieve the benefits for the company promised by the project (vs. the details of the project.) Be aware that they look at project managers as commodities. One PM isn't working swap another in. It can't be that hard to learn MS Project, right? I don't think this way but most of them do.
Let's look back on your performance and see why it went well...
The sponsor told you you were invited because Sales was questioning the importance of the project, especially in light of the recent three month delay. You also found out where you were in the agenda, who else would be there, what they thought of the project, how to dress, how early to show up, the fact that it would be a good idea to have a few slides to show and a hand-out, and that your sponsor was a good guy and would support you. Then you were on your own.
You prepared your message and you visualized the end result. You practiced over and over in your mind driving to work. You did a dry run with your spouse. You prepared simple materials to hand out--bullet points and pictures, the detailed information planned for verbal delivery, detailed documentation written in case you had to distribute something. You made sure your project binder was up-to-date and indexed and you brought it to the meeting.
During the meeting you kept your cool and always appeared attentive and interested, but never cock-sure. You watched the body language.
Here is what happened:
You were introduced by the chair, the CIO. You had barely started when the VP of Sales interrupted. "These damn IT projects are like the pork and barrel Congress. Full of fat and low on delivery. For example, look at functions 12.1.4.5 and 12.1.4.6, if I can navigate this requirements spec properly! Where the hell did they come from?" You wanted to say "Then why did you sign off on the requirements document, you monkey?" but you didn't. Instead, you went to your project binder, found the data, and were able to say "Those functions were proposed by Mr. Bell A. Whistle at the user workshop held in Atlanta last month. The full group approved them as items with significant business benefit but not essential for version one. The development cost was estimated as low so they were included in the User Requirements Document for version 1." Then you stopped talking. Good, you answered his question. Everyone knows the Sales VP signed off and everyone knows he was represented at the workshop.
You continued with your presentation. The delay in your project was due to a change request from Sales that took several weeks to clarify, and this was your next topic. Your sponsor had coached you on how to phrase this part of your presentation. After your brought up the delay and why, the room went nuts--finger pointing, accusations, red faces. You did your job, you stayed out of it. As project manager you need to navigate politics, but it is not your job to resolve it, certainly not at the level you saw being played out before your eyes. You soaked it all in and kept an expression that communicated interest and professional concern. In fact the argument had little to do with your project.
When the dust settled you had an action item to modify the functionality of the software slightly and the direction that if the supplier gave you a hard time you should refer them to the sponsor. You began to finish your presentation but it was clear from the expressions in the room that the reason you'd been invited had been taken care of. You asked if there were any questions. There weren't. You thanked everyone and went back to work.
End note:
This little tale had a happy ending. Sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes there isn't anything you can do about it. In my tale there is an assumption that your project was approved because the steering committee 'power field' leaned toward supporting it. Sometimes, very rarely, but in my experience, projects are approved to discredit the sponsor. If that had been the case in my tale above you would still have survived because everyone (who counts) would know why your project was crushed, and everyone would respect the fact that you kept your cool and professionalism.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Gage is an independent consultant with extensive international and cross-industry consulting and line management experience. Getting the highly unlikely done is the hallmark of his career.
Mr. Gage teaches a variety of project management classes in partnership with Fog City Consulting. These classes count toward Personal Development Units (PDUs) with the Project Management Institute (PMI). Links to these classes can be found on his web site https://sites.google.com/site/gageinnovation
I would love to hear from you. If you found an article interesting or not, please comment. Thanks in advance!
Contact information for Mr. Gage can be found on http://www.linkedin.com/in/glengage
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Glen_Gage
More...
It can be daunting to be called before a group of 'C' levels, VPs and other executives when you aren't used to it. When you are used to it it's even worse because any naive thoughts you may have had of a group making reasoned business decisions based on open dialog and fact have long since evaporated. Steering Committees are some percentage true to their charters and the other percentage a hot bed of corporate politics. The percentages vary from company to company and within companies, from month to month.
Your first thoughts upon receiving the invitation were mixed--pride and fear. Good. Appropriate. The devil on your left shoulder whispered in your ear "Don't worry, it's no big deal. You know what's going on in the project, just relax and go to the meeting. They just want to tell you what a good job you're doing." The angel on your right shoulder whispered "This is a big deal. Get prepared, thoroughly prepared."
The first thing you did right when your manager told you your presence was expected at the next IT Steering Committee meeting was to ask why. When the answer was vague (your manager isn't on the committee) you did the second right thing, you arranged a few minutes with the project's sponsor (who is on the committee) to find out why and ask a number of other questions.
The answer to 'why' might range from "Project Managers are invited randomly so that they get the experience of executive level dialog and exposure to the management team. It is all a part of our employee development program" (not likely) to "This is a critical project and not everyone feels they have a handle on it." (whoops, is your communication plan not working?) to any number of reasons. The important thing is to find out why they want you there so that once you are there you can satisfy them.
I'll tell you now that you performed well because you listened to the angel on your right shoulder and because you knew in advance not only why you were invited, but what senior executives want in general.
What do they (Executives) want in general? They want the project finished and the benefits on which it was sold accruing. You and others may want the project for the project itself, after all its your job for the moment. They don't, it's a means to an end, full stop. What they want from you: competence, in control, working to achieve the benefits for the company promised by the project (vs. the details of the project.) Be aware that they look at project managers as commodities. One PM isn't working swap another in. It can't be that hard to learn MS Project, right? I don't think this way but most of them do.
Let's look back on your performance and see why it went well...
The sponsor told you you were invited because Sales was questioning the importance of the project, especially in light of the recent three month delay. You also found out where you were in the agenda, who else would be there, what they thought of the project, how to dress, how early to show up, the fact that it would be a good idea to have a few slides to show and a hand-out, and that your sponsor was a good guy and would support you. Then you were on your own.
You prepared your message and you visualized the end result. You practiced over and over in your mind driving to work. You did a dry run with your spouse. You prepared simple materials to hand out--bullet points and pictures, the detailed information planned for verbal delivery, detailed documentation written in case you had to distribute something. You made sure your project binder was up-to-date and indexed and you brought it to the meeting.
During the meeting you kept your cool and always appeared attentive and interested, but never cock-sure. You watched the body language.
Here is what happened:
You were introduced by the chair, the CIO. You had barely started when the VP of Sales interrupted. "These damn IT projects are like the pork and barrel Congress. Full of fat and low on delivery. For example, look at functions 12.1.4.5 and 12.1.4.6, if I can navigate this requirements spec properly! Where the hell did they come from?" You wanted to say "Then why did you sign off on the requirements document, you monkey?" but you didn't. Instead, you went to your project binder, found the data, and were able to say "Those functions were proposed by Mr. Bell A. Whistle at the user workshop held in Atlanta last month. The full group approved them as items with significant business benefit but not essential for version one. The development cost was estimated as low so they were included in the User Requirements Document for version 1." Then you stopped talking. Good, you answered his question. Everyone knows the Sales VP signed off and everyone knows he was represented at the workshop.
You continued with your presentation. The delay in your project was due to a change request from Sales that took several weeks to clarify, and this was your next topic. Your sponsor had coached you on how to phrase this part of your presentation. After your brought up the delay and why, the room went nuts--finger pointing, accusations, red faces. You did your job, you stayed out of it. As project manager you need to navigate politics, but it is not your job to resolve it, certainly not at the level you saw being played out before your eyes. You soaked it all in and kept an expression that communicated interest and professional concern. In fact the argument had little to do with your project.
When the dust settled you had an action item to modify the functionality of the software slightly and the direction that if the supplier gave you a hard time you should refer them to the sponsor. You began to finish your presentation but it was clear from the expressions in the room that the reason you'd been invited had been taken care of. You asked if there were any questions. There weren't. You thanked everyone and went back to work.
End note:
This little tale had a happy ending. Sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes there isn't anything you can do about it. In my tale there is an assumption that your project was approved because the steering committee 'power field' leaned toward supporting it. Sometimes, very rarely, but in my experience, projects are approved to discredit the sponsor. If that had been the case in my tale above you would still have survived because everyone (who counts) would know why your project was crushed, and everyone would respect the fact that you kept your cool and professionalism.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Gage is an independent consultant with extensive international and cross-industry consulting and line management experience. Getting the highly unlikely done is the hallmark of his career.
Mr. Gage teaches a variety of project management classes in partnership with Fog City Consulting. These classes count toward Personal Development Units (PDUs) with the Project Management Institute (PMI). Links to these classes can be found on his web site https://sites.google.com/site/gageinnovation
I would love to hear from you. If you found an article interesting or not, please comment. Thanks in advance!
Contact information for Mr. Gage can be found on http://www.linkedin.com/in/glengage
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Glen_Gage
More...
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