A first experience with NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming)

A good friend introduced me to this concept by suggesting a give it an honest try. I'm in a good place with myself and decided to have at it. Leaving the session on Tue, I felt changes and the next day I noticed those same old, ugly thoughts that had plauged me in meetings, during interactions w/colleagues and bosses, and in home situations were a lots less stressful. It is truly from within that the NLP thing works, I get that. I have to believe and continue to see and act on the transformation, but honest to goodness, I thought this was hogwash at best going in. I had to be completely vulnerable and thankfully I did;).

John Grinder and Richard Bandler founded the NLP methodology, it appears, and I am soaking up bits of it this week from the Web.

My personal style of learning and adaptation has always been through reading, reading, reading, and reading some more....then writing it all down for absorption. I really see now how past experiences that have binding effects on me can be altered - not brainwashed, I guess - bu made to contain these new "resources" rather than the old junk. I guess I harvested out the old garbage and implanted anew. That's the best way I can describe this. The gal I worked with for those several hrs sure knows what she's doing and I appreciate that whole journey.

How do I blog about this stuff, this intimate stuff that's unfolding, and make it apply towards my goals of this blog? I'm starting to figure it out.

I'm halfway through Crucial Conversations...a great text. I'm actually listening to it in audio form. I am not a very good learner in this format, so we'll see. I like to see and feel the words on the page or in a document on my iPhone....nonetheless, this is another bit of homework I've given myself - this book, that is...

Taking myself from adequate to extraordinary

Alright gang...I finally bit the bullet, and I mean bit-down-hard.

I'm officially on a book kick and I've got self-motivation on the horizon where ever I look...So, I'm jumping in with both feet, with the following two goals solidly on the front burner.

• Number 1: Evaluate myself. Where/how can I achieve better results in my personal life and in my professional career? How can I learn more about the inner workings of really being a "Manager". I can only do this with some serious reading - not just books I've read, but a barrage of books on several different levels - books I wouldn't think of picking up one yr ago.
• Number 2: OK, so I finally self-admitted that I need a coach, a Life Coach. No..A Motivational Coach. Well, sort of. A Personality/Attitude Coach....Well, close, I suppose. A Leadership Coach...yes, that sounds closer, I think. Maybe counseling to help unlock my "strong adult" vs. my "child"...hmm, that sounds eery, like a need a shrink or something.......I don't know what this goal is exactly yet, but I know I need professional support, a real person able and willing to guide me on my journey, someone I see biweekly or more and someone I confide in for support.

I'm excited, nervous, slightly overwhelmed, but giddy like that first day back in Grad school in a Dynamics of Social Relationships course. Let's see where this takes me. I've already jetted through a great book and I'm seeking a life coach next week to see if it's the right angle for me...

Opportunity Phase - How can I add value here?

The Opportunity phase - the process of onboarding a client, discussing potential work, generating a proposal, and lastly, subsequent legal contracts to bind a project.

If I were to write a paper on this topic as it pertains to the PM discipline and small to medium sized orgs, it would contain chapters of details on these five key areas of interest.

1. Help mold the process of onboarding a PM into the Sales process. If you're far detached from the land of SOW's, see if it makes sense to collapse the walls and share the knowledge between account mgmt and project mgmt. And manage the Opportunity phase. BizDev runs around with its head cut off trying to make a sale, meanwhile, everything from BBQ's to widgets to the Grassy Noll is being suggested as scope for a potential project. Get yourself pulled into the process early, not too early since this phase is usually an org's investment and looks like lost revenues when things run amok. Run the gamut - line up proper meetings, task your team and the clients with tasks and make expectations on when things are due. Drive to req's, not assumptions. Don't be a receiver of the SOW, step up and desire to own this process, put together a contract that you personally own, be able to honor that contract since you wrote it, carry the whole project through to delivery. It will make you a much stronger individual, and strengthen your PM skills.
2. Know the technologies in your LOB. Using Project Mgmt in a software org demands a high level of expertise. Don't put off learning the inputs and outputs of your technologies because you think you're fine with your PMI cert, your college business courses under your belt, while you sit and "control" (man, I hate that word) your project in your four inch binder. If this is your persona, then read no more. But if you want to experience more of an org's business, particularly software development, and climb the corporate ladder, you need to well round your self. I'm frequently irked by those with a PM title in software development that haven't the faintest clue of what they're managing. Become an unblocking tool for your team - it's cheaper for you to know the answer than it is to bug Joe who is knee deep in a project of his own. In the Opportunity space, nothing shows credibility than having a PM speak the language, or at least keep up with the demands from the client while trying to put together a proposal.
3. Don't ditch what you think you know and what you think the client knows. Reiterate the obvious to avoid confusion, make use of a work session with the client to assure that everyone verbally hears the demands of the stakeholders and the minutia of what you and your team intend to provide. It's like a good back massage, you can't be expected to leave satisfied if you don't start from the top and work your way down. Learn to become a vehicle of information - not an AMC Gremlin, but something much faster. Data is cheap, it's information, the right information, that gets the sale and turns the opportunity into a project. Help Sales to understand the severity of the situation. Don't dabble in ideas, come to the table with solutions.
4. Don't craft a contractual document just because you think it's time to make a first proposal. Huge waste of time. Make it simple and construct a sturdy, short slide deck, or equiv, that will convey your proposal to the client. Focus on the meat - goals/vision, approach, engagement model, deliverables, and costing. Here, it's a freeform, informal, non-legal binding collection of intentions. Iterate here with your clients until you reach accord. Then, spend the time to craft the contractual document. Focus on this document as a deliverable - an artifact that will get at least a verbal go-ahead to proceed. In line with these thoughts, don't waste time building the project plan, or allocating resources. Too often this happens here, and the thing isn't even sold yet. Time is money!
5. Become interested in client negotiation techniques and contract law. Is creative writing for you? Do you like to put narratives together, vision statements, user scenarios? If so, and if there is a marriage between the Project Mgmt house and Account Mgmt or Sales, consider taking a dual roll. I find no greater satisfaction in generating my own contracts (by way of your internal legal group, of course). The more you write, and try to honor in the Execution phase, the smarter you'll get. Sooner than later, you don't have to try to honor a SOW, for instance. You'll know from experience that a particular piece of language will fly. Who wins? You do of course, since you've boosted your skills. But, the org really wins, since time is money and margins should increase. This one certainly isn't easy to attain without some help, nor is it for everyone. But, if you want to climb the ladder, understanding the details of onboarding a client through a service agreement, generating software licensing agreements, service contracts, subcontractor agreements, change orders, or the trusty Statement of Work (SOW), etc., you'll get entrenched on how the business is run at least from the Services side of the house. Lastly, nothing shows class more than a PM who is very client friendly and a good negotiator. Seek out SOW samples, take a class on contract law...read lots of books on the topics, and see if you can shadow someone to pickup on others' styles. Negotiating is not for the meek, but again, it's truly the means to operational wealth in the org.

In summary,

• Expand your technical knowledge and reach in your LOB.
• Consider familiarizing yourself on the account mgmt side of the house - learn sales negotiating, contract law.
• Become a leader in the realm of onboarding new projects from opportunities.

Save the juicy stuff for a phone call, right?

You have matters to deal with for your project, you're short on time, and you want to make a big splash into a long couple weekend. So, drop a bunch of long winded VM's to your clients; they'll love it, right? Nonsense! They'll hate you for it. a voice mail full of information and demands makes no one comfortable, especially when we've all got a lot going on, perhaps managing multiple gigs, and find it easier to react to an email than to deciphering someone's unplanned, gibberish on the phone.

...and while you're at it...

Spend quality time getting the week's status report out for your projects via email. Give your team a high five for a job well done - make 'em feel loved and excited for some much needed down time. Do you know where all of your folks are going? Who's working which days? Who's on point to provide any support, if needed? You did inject non-working days into your contract, yeah, if you intend to disappear for the rest of the week...and lastly, don't be a slimy Holiday junkie, spamming every client you've ever known with another Happy Holidays mail.

Those of us who really do intend to step away, hang up the iPhone, and chill will have enough emails to attend to on Mon morning.

Happy Holidays!
-Paul