Gina Abudi

Enabling for Development Opportunities on the Team

Gina — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:30:53 +0000

I often hear from project team members that they are always utilized for their current skills and expertise but are rarely provided the opportunity to develop skills and grow professionally and personally.

It doesn’t take much effort in planning to enable for growth opportunities for team members, and it doesn’t have to take a toll [...]

Engaging Your Project Team

Gina — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:30:17 +0000

Often when managing projects we forget the need to keep the team engaged. We are so focused on meeting the schedule, managing the budget, and dealing with the sponsor and other stakeholders that we forget about the team and their needs. We just hope they keep moving forward to accomplish their tasks and tend to [...]

Helping Others Adapt to Change

Gina — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:30:53 +0000

You don’t have to be a leader or member of the management team to help others in the organization to adapt to the change and see the benefits and opportunities of what is happening.

Help others adapt to change by following these best practices steps:

Join in the conversations. Talk with your fellow co-workers about [...]

Enabling for Support of Change

Gina — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:30:44 +0000

A short story to consider. Three employees (Jane, Tom and Sarah) are out at lunch. Jane announces to the other two that she is concerned about all of the gossip in the office around an upcoming merger. Specifically, over the last two days nearly nothing has been accomplished in her department because her fellow employees [...]

Using Project Team Charters

Gina — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:30:02 +0000

Team charters provide team members with clarity around the purpose, mission and goals of the team. For virtual teams a team charter adds even more value! It is essential in ensuring understanding of what the team has been tasked with doing for the organization. While the charter should, ideally, be developed in conjunction with your [...]

What’s Up With the Project Sponsor? Part II

Gina — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:30:14 +0000

A Mini Case Study: What the Project Manager Did

Read Part I of the case study for background information.

Often we assume that the project sponsor understands exactly what the role of a sponsor is on the project. But that is a bad assumption to make. In our case study, the sponsor, Jason, understood his [...]

A Negative Attitude on the Project Team – Part II

Gina — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:30:07 +0000

A Mini Case Study: What the Project Manager Did

Read Part I of this case study to get background information and learn how others might have handled this situation.

But first….before we start with the wrap up of the case study – many thanks to all those readers who responded with their ideas on how [...]

Managing an Ethical Dilemma – Part II

Gina — Thu, 02 May 2013 13:30:53 +0000

A Mini Case Study: What the Employee Did

Read Part I of this case study to get background information and learn how others might have handled this situation.

But first….before we start with the wrap up of the case study – many thanks to all those readers who responded with their ideas on how they [...]

What’s Up With the Project Sponsor? He is Doing Nothing!

Gina — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:30:53 +0000

A Mini Case Study

Background

You are working on a global $200 million project that is development and roll out of a key product for the company. The project includes team members from around the globe and there are 15 key stakeholders you must communicate with on a regular basis. These stakeholders must also provide [...]

Anticipation vs responsiveness

David K — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:30:45 +0000

There’s a ton of writing out there on proactive vs. reactive. Whether it is about software development or business development, being proactive and preventing a problem is much preferred over perfecting the ability to deploy resources quickly when a problem erupts.

All of that is, of course, intuitive.

Nonetheless, individuals and organizations still struggle with [...]

Managing an Ethical Dilemma

Gina — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:30:39 +0000

A Mini Case Study

Background

You have been working at a software company for about 5 years. You enjoy the job and have recently applied for a new role (supervisor). You interviewed and felt you did well. Additionally, you believe you chances of getting the job are high because you have been with the company [...]

A Negative Attitude on the Project Team

Gina — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:30:15 +0000

A Mini Case Study

Background

The project is a highly visible project that will impact multiple departments within the organization. It has been in progress for about 2 months and going along fairly well as far as staying on schedule and within budget. The stakeholders seem pleased with progress so far. However, you have been [...]

Communicating with Stakeholders – Part II

Gina — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:30:14 +0000

A Mini Case Study

Read Part I of the story.

In this article, we’ll outline the communication plans for departments heads and other employees in the organization.

The first meeting

In your meeting with the seven department managers, you focused on the 360 initiative and specifically:

The decision behind launching a 360 process (link to [...]

Leadership: It can Make or Break Lean Success

Tony — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 13:30:53 +0000

Leadership has the ability to either make or break a business. Good leadership practices can send a business into uncharted waters of great success and opportunity, while on the other hand, poor leadership tactics may leave a business floundering in a sea of defeat. In most traditional business hierarchies, leaders are usually the staff members [...]

Identifying and Communicating with Stakeholders – I

Gina — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 13:30:13 +0000

A Mini Case Study

In this mini case study we’ll look at a brief scenario and discuss the approach to getting started with identifying and reaching out to stakeholders to get them on board with the project.

Scenario: You want to implement a 360 feedback process into the organization. The organization is receptive to providing [...]

Tactical? Strategic? Make it Both for Success!

Gina — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:30:39 +0000

I was talking with a client recently who is searching for some project management talent to join their staff. He was considering whether they needed more tactical project managers (people who roll up their sleeves and can get the work done, those who work on the details) or more strategic thinkers (people who can [...]

Delegating by capacity

David K — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:30:16 +0000

Why do so many bosses manage according to the principal of “ I do most of the work. You ‘re just here to catch the overflow?”

Delegating is supposed to be about understanding the work flowing through your organization and then assigning that work based on skill sets and availability of the resources within [...]

The Value in Socializing Human Resource Strategic Initiatives

Gina — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:30:03 +0000

Too often within Human Resources, we have so much to get done and we are so rushed to get started on our initiatives, that we forget the need to “sell” our initiatives throughout the organization – from the top down. We shouldn’t assume that executives understand the need to promote what we want to [...]

Best Practices to Increase the Success of Your Virtual Project Team VIII

Gina — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:30:51 +0000

Getting Decisions Made

Decision making on any team can be a difficult process, and managing a virtual team increases those challenges! More coordination and facilitation on the part of the team leader is required to ensure success in decision making in a virtual environment.

Consider the following decision-making styles that you might use depending on [...]

Best Practices to Increase the Success of Your Virtual Project Team VII

Gina — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:30:26 +0000

Evaluating Virtual Team Meetings

Evaluating the effectiveness of your virtual team meetings is essential to ensure that:

Team members felt that they were able to effective contribute to the virtual meeting The team felt comfortable and confident with any decisions made during the virtual meeting The objectives were accomplished to team members’ satisfaction

Use any [...]