Inspired Project Teams

Audio:  Act As If [Time - 12:45, File Size - 12 MB]

If you are a regular PBS viewer or a reader of self-help books, you’ve no doubt come across Wayne Dyer’s famous words of encouragement from his book, The Power of Intention: “Act as if everything you desire is already here… treat yourself as if you already are what you’d like to become.”

If you’re like me, you find these words inspiring, encouraging, and motivating! When I hear them, I say to myself, “Yeah! I can do that! I can imagine myself doing a great job at that next presentation, or training session, or marketing call, or whatever.” And for a while, I feel buoyed up by these thoughts, hopeful, and somewhat empowered. And I set about creatively visualizing my performance in that powerful new state of being. Eventually, however, the voice of my skeptic pipes up and says, “Well now… exactly what does this mean ‘Act as if your desires are already here…’ Just what is that supposed to accomplish?”

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Audio:  Do What Your Fear & Grow Stronger [Time - 12:25, File Size - 12 MB]

“Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

“Always, always, always, always, always do what you are afraid to do… Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain… Do the thing and you will have the power.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Audio:  Encourage Right Brain Thinking [Time - 16:30, File Size - 15.2 MB]

“The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind — computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind — creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. These people — artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers — will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys.” — From Daniel Pink in A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future

If you haven’t read Pink’s great book, I strongly recommend you get it and read it! It’s loaded with eye-opening perspectives about the need for, and ways to achieve, a “whole new mind.” In this post we’re going to examine how one of Pink’s key concepts  — what he calls “right brain aptitudes” — can be applied to help create more inspired, and ultimately more successful, project teams.

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Audio:  Shift from Drama to Empowerment [Time - 12:55, File Size - 12 MB]

It’s this simple:  Project teams must create. Whether they are creating a new software product, a new house, an upgrade to an organization’s business operations, or a major motion picture, project teams must create! And to create effectively, they must be synchronized and engaged in that powerful flow that leads to excellence. Unfortunately, many team members find themselves drawn into all sorts of weird interpersonal dramas that can suck the life (and the energy) out of the entire team. So how can you avoid this? The key is to step out of the debilitating drama and into the empowerment dynamic.

In his book The Power of TED, David Emerald compares two very different ways of being: The Dreaded Drama Triangle (or DDT) versus The Empowerment Dynamic (or TED). In this post, we’re going to examine how both of Emerald’s frameworks can be used to help project teams analyze, then transcend, some typical negative patterns of behavior.

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Audio:  Spend More Time in Quadrant 2 [Time - 9:55, File Size - 9.4 MB]

Stephen Covey’s classic The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is one of the best selling business books of all time. Early in my career, I worked my way through this amazing text and also spent a substantial amount of time listening to the audio version, narrated by Covey himself. In these works, Stephen Covey describes a brilliantly simple grid for analyzing, and ultimately changing, the way you spend your time. Covey’s grid may be the best time management tool ever invented! Like millions of others working to become successful, I spent a substantial amount of time applying this grid to my own activities, sorting and reprioritizing them to make the most of my time and efforts. So, on an individual and personal level, I know this tool really works!

But how about applying this grid to project management? After giving it some thought, I’ve come up with some suggestions for how you might use the grid to better focus the time and efforts of an entire project team. In this post, I’ll share these suggestions with you.

Four-Quadrant Matrix Applied to Project Teams

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