Consistently Stick to Your Values - and be Totally Flexible

The people you lead need to understand what you stand for; they need to understand your values. (This comes after YOU have consciously decided what your values are!) Any decision you make or position you take needs to be consistent with your values if you are to be happy, be it at work or with your family and friends.

People who consistently have the respect of their family and their co-workers share the characteristic of being solidly consistent in presenting and sticking to their values. At the same time they appreciate, support and encourage others to have their own set of values. In support of those values, they encourage the development of approaches and habits in the workplace that support those values.

Successful leaders share the characteristic of having very standard and repeatable approaches to managing their projects. They do learn and change, but they do so in a controlled and purposeful fashion.

By the same token, individuals with this conviction also understand that others don't have to share their particular habits in order to be successful. Their focus is on the RESULT, rather than the process. They can inspire others to develop their project management skills by giving guidance and coaching, in an effort to make them successful. Thus, the person handles the paradox of having a distinct and rigid set of expectations for the result (which is communicated to others around him/her), but flexibility as to how those expectations are met.

"Playing" at Work - and Encouraging Your Project Teams To Do So, is Serious Business

If you were like most kids, you had "energy to burn." Our parents spent a considerable amount of time getting us to calm down - that is, be more quiet and reserved. I am not questioning the intent of those who raised us, but it does set examples for us to overcome. Keeping us quiet and calm ultimately suppressed what we viewed at the time as "play". Combined with the edicts and examples that were passed to us, "work hard" and "become financially independent", we have had very particular thought patterns impressed upon each of us. For many people, work and play have greatly different meaning. Play is associated with leisure time, and is usually considered frivolous or a way to escape and treat ourselves. Work, in contrast, is viewed as "toil". We are taught that it is something that takes great effort, and consumes part of us. Have you ever sat back and reflected as to why work is that way? Also, why does "work" have to be the antonym for "play"?

What elements of the things we find playful could we incorporate into our project environments? Are you purposefully assigning your project team members to things they find enriching? Are you even aware of the things your team members find enriching? Are you taking responsibilities for tasks in your projects that YOU find enriching and stimulating? Fully capitalizing on the skills and desires of your team, as well as your own fulfillment will go a long way to increasing morale and productivity on your project teams. Take a survey of your team members, and seek to give them tasks to perform that they find enriching - and don't forget yourself in the process. "Play" is very productive - the more you can sprinkle items that feel like play into the workplace, the more productive you and your project team will become.

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