3 Tips to Make Projects Work Better
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my Free Facilitation Skills eCourse - "Get People to Open Up : 5 Effective Ways for Audience Participation" or to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
We all seem to get involved in projects. But how to make projects work better?
Sometimes by asking questions we get ‘arrowed’ and other times we are ‘volunteered’ by others. Best when we volunteer as we really believe in the project or cause. No matter how you got into the project, here are 3 tips to help you survive and even thrive while working on your projects.
Projects Work Tip # 1) Realistically plan for the time the project will take from your schedule. Most of us have a tendency to underestimate the commitment in time. If you fall short of time, chances are, your success will be diminished and your stress level will skyrocket. Better to say ‘no’ and have people think you might be selfish than say ‘yes’ and have them convinced you are incompetent.
Projects Work Tip # 2) Minimise the texting, emails, phone calls and paperwork. I’m currently chairing the Raise Your Game event. I set all Action Team members (not committee members) up on a BCC list for announcements, updates and action items. This way, members cannot hit ‘reply all’ and send drivel to everyone, bogging the entire process down. This also shields them from the inevitable contrarian who must argue with everything and ultimately destroys the fun of the project for all. Further, for help and input, I rely on two co-chairs who give me quick and insightful feedback on all key issues so it’s just not me making the decisions. If they have any trouble with an Action Team member, they refer that person back to me, maintaining their enthusiasm and keeping the project moving forward.
Projects Work Tip # 3) Short but regular meetings. Keep most meetings to under 2 hours and maybe even one hour or less. This ‘pressure cooker’ keeps long winded members under control and produces more results in less time. Phrases like, “Back on the agenda…” and “If we can refocus on…” help to turn the discussion back to the relevant topics at hand as do ‘mile makers’ of how much time is left for the meeting.
Projects are fun and rewarding if handled well. They can be hell if you let them get bogged down in minutia, politics, in-fighting and private agendas.
Smile Makers: Interesting thoughts:
• If Vegetarians eat vegetables. What do humanitarians eat?
• “A sure way to make your car run better, is to look up the price of a new car.” David Koutsoukis
• Steven Wright once asked, “What is another word for thesaurus?”
• If you do not expect much, you will never be disappointed. You will also never achieve much.
Got comments or questions about how to make projects work better? Just leave your comments here.
Upcoming Events
Public Speaking as easy as ABCD!
Public Speaking Seminar with Michael Podolinsky CSP in Singapore (25 - 26 March 2010)
You will learn to speak confidently, articulately and eloquently.
Raise Your Game 2010 (1 March 2010)
100% of the profits will go to Singapore Cancer Society
