Leading Economic Indicators are indicators which change before the economy as a whole changes. For example, stock market returns are a leading economic indicator. As the stock market declines or improves, similar changes follow suit in the economy.

I believe there are Leading Project Indicators that alert us if a project is soon to be in danger. For example, a lack of a sense of urgency or questions from the Project sponsor could indicate a potential shift in the strategy or direction of the company. The project may not be written off yet, but it may be a sign that the project is in danger. This results in resources being pulled, funding drying up and the project becoming much harder to complete.

What are some Leading Project Indicators that you look for to determine if a project is soon to be in trouble?

I recently had an experience that many of us are all too familiar with…my flight was delayed by nearly two hours! After the initial disappointment, I began to think about what I could do for two hours. I could walk around the airport and/or eat (for the second time). I could try to get some work done for the upcoming week but realized I was too tired to concentrate.

Then the lemonade idea hit me! I remembered I had recently downloaded a PDU PAK of 5 PDUs on my iPod. I settled into as comfortable as a chair I could find, propped my feet up and began listening to Richard Forbus, Ph.D.’s excellent course about Communicating for Productivity and Buy-In!
http://bit.ly/c4ombo

By the time I landed, I had completed the course, earned 5 PDUs, and made lemonade out of lemons!

Remember the first day you started your job? Everything was new and exciting, every conversation was brimming with opportunity and the days flew by! Fast forward a couple of years and the picture has changed. Many things have become routine, the same conversation has been had a thousand times before, and the days seem to drag.

What happened?

It’s the same job, the same people, and the same place as the day you started, but something has happened. You may have even contemplated quitting your job to start somewhere else so you can experience the same excitement again.

Before you take such drastic measures, consider four things you can do to plug yourself back in and get energized about your position again.

Meet with (Happy) Customers

Let’s face it, the day of a PMP Project Manager is typically filled with putting out fires, dealing with project stakeholders that may be frustrated, and fielding dissatisfied client’s issues and complaints. Day after day, week after week and year after year this type of activity will gradually wear you down. This results in sapping you of the energy and feeling of accomplishment that accompanies a job well done.

What can you do? Go visit some happy customers.

Take a day and go out and visit customers that are using your product or have benefitted from a successful project implementation. Hear what they like, listen to how it saved them money, made their jobs easier, or helps their customers. Reflect on their ideas and suggestions about making things better. You will come back with a renewed excitement about the services you and your company provides.

Think about it this way. When was the last time you called the electric company and said you really appreciate the fact that your electricity has stayed on for a long period of time without interruption? Probably never! They only hear from you when there’s a problem.

As a Project Manager, you are the electric company. It is the rare day when someone will let you know they appreciate their lights being on. Change your routine, take the initiative to visit some happy customers. You’ll feel better after you do.

Pursue a New Certification

If you have things running like clockwork and have some time to spare, why not work towards another certification? If you are a Certified Associate of Project Management (CAPM), you can move toward your PMP. If you already a PMP, work on becoming a Program Management Professional (PgMP).  You can even contemplate Six Sigma or ITIL Certifications.

Most employers will pay for this additional training and certification. All you need to do is come up with a compelling value-add reason of how this will benefit your company. (See the PMI Family of Credentials in the right sidebar for more information).

Unclutter EVERYTHING

One thing that happens when you stay somewhere for a long period of time is that clutter accumulates. This clutter is made up of different things, both literal and figurative. For example, your office may be cluttered, you may not be able to see the top of your desk, or your computer is littered with unused files and shortcuts. There may be orphaned projects that are languishing and just need to be closed out, or broken relationships that need mending.

All of these things need your attention so you can move forward gracefully and efficiently. If you come in each day with the weight of clutter bogging you down, you will find it hard to work on new and exciting things. Clean up your office, rediscover your desktop, close out projects that need to be closed and mend relationships that may be broken. You will feel a great weight lifted off your shoulders and begin to look at things in a new way. (See Spring Cleaning for Success in the right sidebar for an additional perspective on clutter from one of PDUs2Go.com exclusive authors).

Bring in New Blood

If you are in a position to hire people and you need to bring in someone new, bring someone on-board that is different than you. We are all drawn toward certain types of people and personalities. When you look at the team you have assembled, are they the same as you? Do they have the same background, same education, and same experience? Hire someone that is qualified, but also has a different background, different education and different experiences. Bringing in new blood adds excitement back to the mix.

What if you are not in a position to bring someone new on board? You can still connect with people that are entirely different than you. If you are in IT, connect with someone in Marketing. If you are in Marketing, connect with someone in Finance. This can be either inside or outside your organization.  You will find that they may have experienced similar issues as you, but approached it from an entirely different angle. You can bring this energy and different approach back to your routine and become more engaged.

So, you may not be able to bring back the same excitement you had the day you started your new job, but you can come close. Meet with happy customers, pursue a new certification, unclutter EVERYTHING, and bring in new blood all for the purpose of bringing excitement back to your job!

By Rick Forbus, Ph.D.

Before I go any farther with this article I want to make it clear that I know this is an unusual topic for general business leaders. Forgiveness is never easy whether in organizational life, family life or just generally in relationships. It is, however, a relevant topic when it comes to leadership. To forgive someone is a powerful and complex action. It can mean to absolve or clear another of their wrongdoing towards you or others. It may include the next step of freeing that person or persons from the repercussions of their incorrect actions. When we make an emotional decision to exonerate another or to be exonerated by another for our actions, something deeply emotional transpires. 

Leadership has never and will never take place in a vacuum. To be a leader one has to involve others. It is the “involving of others” that brings about the relational challenges. Most leaders, from my experience as a coach, consider walking into another’s office and asking for their forgiveness a glaring weakness. Leaders also often find it awkward to respond when someone forgives them for a wrongdoing. Even though it is difficult to talk about forgiving someone in the corporate setting, what may appear to be a weakness, could be a definable strength as a leader.

Forgive and forget. Easier said than done, right? Well, now studies are showing forgiveness is not only good religion but good medicine as well. According to the latest medical and psychological research, forgiving is good for our souls-and our bodies. People who forgive: (1) benefit from better immune functioning and lower blood pressure (2) have better mental health than people who do not forgive (3) feel better physically (4) have lower amounts of anger and fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression, and (4) maintain more satisfying and long-lasting relationships. “When we allow ourselves to feel like victims or sit around dreaming up how to retaliate against people who have hurt us, these thought patterns take a toll on our minds and bodies,’ says Michael McCullough, director of research for the National Institute for Healthcare Research and a co-author of To Forgive is Human: How to Put Your Past in the Past (IVP, 1997).

I have known for all of my work life that forgiveness played a part in relationship building and interpersonal skills. However, the practice of forgiveness in “real time” is another issue all together. Of course, many leaders think that it is rather inappropriate to hold two co-workers accountable for forgiveness in a setting outside of family, community-based organizations or religious practice. I agree that the act of forgiveness is difficult to manage and assess on a performance review. Recently, after reflecting on one of the business teams Trove had worked with, it occurred to me that the element of forgiveness was probably a key ingredient that was needed for the relational dysfunction apparent with this team. But, I thought, is Trove’s approach too invasive by suggesting forgiveness as an ingredient for their solution? It was not the entire solution but could be a significant factor to the solution.

As we normally do as a coaching team, one of us will begin researching solutions, so I researched how forgiveness was being used to solve some relational divergence in the workplace. The following is one of several articles I found in my research:

Forgiveness as a workplace intervention

Apropos of Monday’s outburst, this came across my feed this morning: 

Improving individual, team and organizational performance is a primary focus of management and human resource development (HRD). However, only in the past decade has the literature begun to report specific research on the effects of many of the psychological and behavioral constructs that influence performance and productivity of individual employees. 

The purpose of this review is to explore the literature related to interpersonal forgiveness in organizations and its possible implications for management and HRD theory and practice. It defines forgiveness and provides a theoretical framework for its consideration within the workplace environment. It also reviews and discusses the benefits and risks of forgiveness, the role of leadership in a forgiving culture, and the literature regarding related business interventions… 

Based upon the reviewed literature, we propose the following integrated perspective of forgiveness: forgiveness is a psychological act, a communicative act, and a social act. 

1. At the individual (psychological) level it involves letting go of offense even if being offended is justified and the hurt is sustained.
2. At the dyadic (communication) level, it involves letting the offending party know that the offense has been removed or erased.
3. At the organizational/cultural (social) level, it means that the relationship and associations are in balance and functioning effectively. 

“Forgiveness as a Workplace Intervention: The Literature and a Proposed Framework” by Madsen, Gygi, Hammond and Plowman in the Journal of Behavioral & Applied Management, Jan 2009

Another good writing on this is found in a blog site.

Create a culture of forgiveness in the workplace

May 2, 2007 @ 5:15 pm · Filed under Happy At Work 

The theme on the blog this week is forgiveness. I kicked it off on Monday with a tip to forgive someone at work, and followed up on Tuesday with fascinating research from Sarah Warner, which shows that companies with a culture of forgiveness are more productive than companies where people are prone to revenge. 

I’ve since found even more reasons to avoid revenge at work: 

A tit-for-tat corporate culture can also lead to the loss of great workers, said Dr. Everett Worthington, a psychology professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and Executive Director of the Campaign forForgiveness Research. 

Worthington has been studying more than 100 workers in Virginia and Washington, D.C., who were asked to recall incidents of workplace transgressions. 

“(After) conflicts, they no longer liked coming to work,” Worthington said. “They became sicker and missed more work days. In some cases, they even changed jobs.” 

But how exactly can a company foster a culture of forgiveness, rather than one of revenge? Here are my top three tips. 

1: Teach leaders to forgive mistakes

In one company, the CEO was told by a trembling employee that the company website was down. This was a big deal – this company made most of its sales online, and downtime cost them thousands of dollars an hour. 

The CEO asked what had happened, and was told that John in IT had bungled a system backup, and caused the problem. “Well, then,” says the CEO “Let’s go see John!” 

When the CEO walked into the IT department everyone went quiet. They had a pretty good idea what was coming, and were sure it wouldn’t be pretty. 

The CEO walks up to John’s desk and asks “You John?” 

“Yes” he says meekly. 

“John,” says the CEO, “I want to thank you for finding this weakness in our system. Thanks to your actions, we can now learn from this, and fix the system, so something like this can’t happen in the future. Good work!” 

Then he left a visibly baffled John and an astounded IT department. That particular mistake never happened again. 

The CEO might just as well have thrown the book at John and fired him for his mistake. This show of forgiveness, of acknowledging that mistakes happen and that we must learn from them, goes a long way to creating a culture of forgiveness. 

2: Teach leaders to apologize

Leaders make mistakes. Everyone does. But leaders who never apologize for their mistakes create a sense of injustice and unfairness around them. 

Leaders who freely apologize when they screw up demonstrate that making mistakes is OK, and therefore make it easier for people to forgive others’ mistakes. 

3: Make people happy at work

And most of all, make people happy at work. Studies show, that when people are happy at work, they are much less prone to bad or petty workplace behavior, such as revenge. They are also more likely to think the best about others, and less likely to assume that others are out to get them – and thus worthy of revenge. 

What do you think it takes to make people more inclined to forgiveness than revenge at work? 

Found at positiveculture.com/2007

Most of us have some awareness of the healing nature of forgiveness in our personal lives, even if we do not always engage in it! But, in the framework of business, enterprise and corporate culture it is an act even rarer than the expression of authentic gratitude and appreciation. Recently a coaching client referred to the economic situation as the “new economy.” In this new economy, which is characterized by escalating speed of change, increasing alienation, insecurity and a growing search for meaning, it makes good business sense to practice the art of forgiveness. True sincere forgiveness provides a platform for the retention of valued employees, allows for greater originality and innovation, leads to increased profitability, and generates greater flexibility in adapting to changing market conditions.

A little boy visiting his grandparents was given his first slingshot. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit his target. As he came back to Grandma’s back yard, he spied her pet duck. On an impulse he took aim and let fly. The stone hit, and the duck fell. The boy panicked. Desperately he hid the duck in the woodpile, only to look up and see his sister watching. Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch that day, Grandma said, “Sally, let’s wash the dishes.” But Sally said, “Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today. Didn’t you, Johnny?” And she whispered to him, “Remember the duck” So Johnny did the dishes. Later Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing. Grandma said, “I’m sorry, but I need Sally to help make supper.” Sally smiled and said, “That’s all taken care of. Johnny wants to do it.” Again she whispered, “Remember the duck.” Johnny stayed while Sally went fishing. After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and his sister’s, he couldn’t stand it any longer. He confessed to Grandma that he’d killed the duck. “I know, Johnny,” she said, giving him a hug. “I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing. Because I love you, I forgave you. I wondered how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.”

Forgiveness is a freeing act. It is a difficult but rewarding endeavor. I was walking through a souvenir shop once and saw a button that said: To err is human; to forgive is out of the question. Forgiveness is the action probably most avoided when managers deal with dysfunction and divergence in the workplace. This assumption is not supported by data, but is founded in my experience as a coach. What I mean here is that if a team leader asks team members to go and repair peer relationships; forgiveness is usually not an avenue that would be encouraged. It is invasive, personal and emotional. Forgiveness makes most of us feel uncomfortable. 

However, the high emotional risk required to go and forgive a colleague pays substantial dividends. One of my Trove colleagues and I were co-leading some training for a group of managers. I listened as he gave an incredible illustration of human relationship building. He told the managers we were training a story of a top-level manager coming to him in a former company. My colleague served this company as COO. The manager came to tell him that a certain peer was making her life miserable because of his irrational and dysfunctional behaviors. She went on and on about how she could not get along with this guy and needed some intervention by my Trove partner. His advice to her came quickly and swiftly. Have you told this “adversary” how you feel? She said that she hadn’t. My Trove colleague went on to require her to go to the co-worker in question. She became furious! She demanded that he, the COO, deal with this issue. The COO continued to require her to take care of it. So she reluctantly confronted this adversary. The adversary was impressed that she had brought her concerns directly to him. They talked openly and he agreed to make adjustments to his work that was hindering her work. The end of the story is, she forgave him and they became life-long partners and built a strong alliance in their work.

Forgiveness is risky, frightening and an uncomfortable action of the heart and voice. It also reaps incredible dividends most times. Of course, as in any human relational scenario, there are times forgiveness does not bring the desired result. But, the risk is certainly worth the occasional rejection. Do you have some unresolved issues you caused in the workplace? What would the culture be like if you were to take the necessary steps to clear things up by asking for forgiveness?

There’s a Spanish story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad read: “Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father.” 

On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers.

By Don Goewey

Thoughts are your greatest power.  You are what you think you are.  See for yourself.  Spend the day tracking every anxious, fearful, stressful thought you think.  Bring these thoughts into simple awareness.  Observe the emotion each carries. Look at the picture it paints that becomes the world you see. 

It’s the weight on your heart produced by the thought I’m not going to make it that can suddenly diffuse into cold fear, immobilizing you completely.  A moment later the fear can sink into depression that casts a shadow over your life.  The world you will see through this thought-generated-lens will feel unsafe, unkind and seem  hell bent on crushing your dreams. 

The term we give this mind-made picture is “reality.”  It is not some fixed reality.  It is a representation of your own state of mind.

Three out of four of us are struggling with stress and anxiety.  When stress and anxiety are chronic, the brain becomes fear conditioned and wires for fight or flight.  We see life through the eyes of our primitive brain, leading us to believe that we are alone, lost and constantly pursued by predators.  When this part of the brain takes charge, life becomes a nightmare.  It all begins in thought, as Robert Sapolsky of  Stanford University states:

“We humans are smart enough to generate all sorts of stressful events purely in our heads. We can experience wildly strong emotions, provoking our bodies into an accompanying uproar,  all of it linked to mere thoughts.” 

Fearful thoughts cast us into hell.  Neutralizing them can rewire the brain to secure our fair share of heaven here on Earth. The process could not be simpler.  Often, people begin by trying to replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts or affirmations.   A far more effective approach involves extinguishing thoughts that are false, so they no longer have an effect.  Start with the assumption that the vast majority of fearful thoughts are false.  This is exactly what Mark Twain was referring to when he said: My life has been a series of terrible calamities, some of which actually happened.   Our laughter at Twain’s “drama queen” calamities is for our own.  It indicates how often we travel in that direction. 

Who would you become if you extinguished fearful, stressful thinking before it paints you into a corner?  How would the world look?  Which of your problems might begin to reveal solutions?  It is worth exploring through a simple practice.

Here’s all you have to do for a week:

1. Be aware of anxious, stress-provoking thoughts whenever they occur. Notice the way these thoughts give rise to negative emotions that produce a perception of threat.  Don’t try to change these thoughts or feelings.  For now, simply observe them.  If you criticize or condemn yourself for thinking or feeling this way, simply observe this as another stressful thought.
2. Tell yourself: This thought, this feeling is in me, not in reality. I choose not to believe it.  Let the thought disappear completely. 
3. In the spaciousness that opens, ask yourself: Who am I now, without this fear to limit me?  Then go forward and be that person.

Don’t be concerned with finding the thoughts that are true.   Remove what is false and the truth will find you.  You’ll know it by its effect.  It will arrive as a mind grounded in peace, inspired by joy and in love with life, turning to face the world with the fearless attitude that moves mountains.

By Linda Henman, Ph.D.

1. Forget being liked. You’re the boss, so your job is to make tough decisions, not popular ones. Results, not harmony, are the goal. Effective outcomes will always trump collaboration.
2. Forget you’re a woman. Maybe things happen to you because you’re a woman, but maybe not. People behave badly just because they do, not because of you. It isn’t personal. Sometimes people don’t like you, your product, your service, or your company. It doesn’t mean you should change.
3. Stay off thin ice and quit admitting your limitations. When you’re on thin ice, don’t carry a blowtorch. Everyone has limitations and insecurities. Keep them private every chance you get.
4. Take advice only from trusted advisors. People will line up to give you feedback that has far more to do with their need to say it than your need to hear it. Seek advice only from those who have actually achieved what you strive to accomplish. Would you take ski instructions from someone who had never been on a slope? Then why consider the opinions of those who want to tell you how to do what they haven’t done?
5. Associate yourself with the best and brightest in your industry. Some will be women, some won’t be. All female groups don’t necessarily represent thought leadership, and they discriminate. We’ve fought too hard and long to be a part of discrimination of any ilk.
6. Reject victimization. Some things in your life haven’t been fair, so what? No one has a life free of unfairness, adversity, or conflict. Get over it; move on; take charge. It’s not what happens but what you do about it.
7. Focus on the problem in front of you. Learn to compartmentalize. Compartmentalizing involves the process of simplifying things. When you have a worry or distraction, learn to put it in another part of your brain. You can deal with it later.
8. Avoid “woman’s work” duties. Don’t make the coffee, clear the table, or volunteer to act as the secretary. You will not be seen as an equal or peer.
9. Use power language. Steer clear of tag questions such as “Isn’t it?” or “upspeak,” which involves inflection at the end of a declarative sentence. Talk about what you think, not what you feel.
10. Strive for gender neutral non-verbal behavior.  Have a firm handshake; don’t smile when you’re not pleased; don’t nod unless you agree; and don’t play with jewelry or put on lipstick in front of others.

By David Ryback, Ph.D.

When it comes to laughter, it appears that what is important here is the social context in which it occurs.  So what is said prior to the laughter determines the effect more than any other single variable.  In terms of social context, what matters is the sex of the individuals involved (same or different) and whether they’re friends or strangers.  The laugh of a female who approaches a male who is a stranger will most likely have sexual overtones.  A female’s laugh in a mixed group such as a business cocktail party will likely have flirtatious overtones.  That exact same laughter, as heard by a nearby female, may result in an aggressive or withdrawal reaction which we might characterize as jealousy or competitiveness. 

As mentioned earlier, the context of laughter determines its effect.  In a business setting, the dynamics of a gathering of people, small or large, are even more influential.  Is the boss in the group or within hearing range?  Are there political dynamics inherent in the group involving competition or strategizing?  Perhaps that’s why laughter isn’t that common among business groups, unless the leader initiates the appropriate context.  The mark of an effective motivational speaker is his or her ability to get the audience laughing.  Then there’s a chance they’re all on the same wavelength and the speaker has a better chance of influencing the audience to higher motivation, if that’s the purpose of the meeting.

Coming from this perspective and facing the emotional states in yourself and others in the moments you share a laugh or two means that the laughter you laugh is in a sensitive context of people with whom you have connection.  The authenticity you express will have the effect of making your laughter more connective with others.  To the extent that one of the effects of laughter is to bring others into a synchrony of emotion (when it’s preceded by authentic communication), then you and your associates will share a closer sense of community, and this can bring a greater sense of joy and meaning to work, not to mention a more successful outcome.

By Mac M. Martirossian, CPA

How many times have you stayed at a hotel and walked up to a boring and character-less coffee station?  You yawn as you grab a cup of coffee and get frustrated with where to drop your used stirrer and empty sugar packets.  Who could possibly improve this scene and make it a “point of differentiation” and a source of conversation and promotion?

On a recent visit to the Epic Hotel in Miami, the creative folks at Kimpton Hotels have completely re-invented the way to present something as dull, mundane and ordinary as free morning coffee.

Even the sign for identifying the milk containers was replaced with a snorkel mask with “whole” and “skim” written on each goggle.  The morning coffee bar had become the “water cooler” for hotel guests to gather, meet and take photos.

Innovating is difficult to do, because it takes enormous energy and thought.  When done right, it is priceless. 

As consumers of services or products, we LOVE creativity and as producers, more often than not, we stand back and wait for someone else to take action….and then we say “Why couldn’t I have thought of that?”

Here are some points to consider:

• We all have the gift of innovating.  Don’t let others define who you are, but categorizing who with right and left brain comparisons.  Innovation can be learned, and if you exercise your mind enough around new concepts, you will be surprised at the results.
• Welcome innovation and don’t be threatened by it.  Human nature is such that we are comfortable with “the same old thing”.  When something new is created it can take us out of our comfort zone…which is the best thing that can happen, because it makes us grow and forces us to come up with an even better idea.
• Where is the ROI for the new idea?  Engage in and associate yourself with projects and ideas that have a Return On….Innovation.  There needs to be a return on the energy you expend in creating a new process, a new spin, a new concept that monetizes your effort.

Use the imagination of a child and…convert your coffee bar into a beach scene.

By Pamela A. Scott

I just got back from three days of workshops led by people who are very successful in their fields.  Here are some words of wisdom that may help you and me reach their level of success.

1. Use a spreadsheet to capture ideas of the moment while you are working on other projects.  This is how it works for Jeanette Cates.  She cuts down on distractions by having a spreadsheet file on her desktop. When she is working on a project and gets a thought about a different project, she flips over to the spreadsheet file and notes the idea.  At the end of the day, she reviews the ideas she captured and plugs them into her schedule.

2. Use spreadsheets to keep your lists on.  One page is your daily to-do lists, another page is your daily tasks, another can be improvements you need to make to the filing system, and another sheet is reserved for expenses.

3. If you do an activity three or more times, automate it. Create a template for that type of report to speed you up the next time you prepare one.  Or go to sites such as rentacoder.com or scriptlance.com and find a software geek who can create a simple program for you to automate the task.

4. Each day set three goals that you can accomplish in 10 minutes of concentrated time.  Then just do them—in the 10 minutes you set aside for the tasks.  This builds muscles so you can take action.

5. Make action a habit!

6. Make 1-minute decisions!

7. Great question: Why am I not as successful as I want to be?

8. If you have 10 things that you’re doing, stop 9 of them.

9. Capture your ideas by calling on Jott.com. This really cool site gives you your own phone number that you can call and leave a message on—such as reminders to call Bill and changes that need to be made to a plan. Jott then transcribes the message and emails it to you.

Google Voice will be coming out soon. It also provides a host of services to link email and voicemail and transcription services.

10. Want to save a few keystrokes when entering a URL? Type the main word, such as “Google,” then hit Control + Enter. That will add the “http://www” and “.com” to your entry.  Saves you a few keystrokes.