germanflores’s posterous

One of the qualities of a project manager is confidence. Successful project managers let their team know that they are confident in the course taken. Confidence is not about lying to your team. If a project is going to fail, the best course is to acknowledge the difficulties, rally around the team, come-up with a good strategy, and stand behind it. These actions show confidence.

A project manager shows-up to meetings first, when appropriate takes the lead, supports the team's ideas, and fosters discussion. The benefits of a confident project manager mean that team members will focus on the job at hand instead of second-guessing the project manager's approach.

At a previous job there was a management change that shook the status quo. Some team members got nervous and suddenly lost focus of their work. The project manager in charge gathered everybody for a quick meeting.

The team held two views in this meeting; the management change was no cause for concern and that their jobs were on the line. The project manager acknowledged the situation, expressed the same concerns that some had and was confident in re-assuring the team that this would not have an impact on their jobs. A positive net result was gained from those 15 minutes. People that were anxious and lost their focus were re-assured that everything would be okay. The teams focus switched back to the project at hand and countless productive hours were saved.

As project managers we walk confident and not much shakes us but we have to have empathy to be able to react to situations where the team needs re-assurance. Being a confident project manager and projecting confidence will make you a strong leader.

Scenario:
Your customer calls and notes that he has been trying to log on to your website and they can't log-in, the password changer doesn't work, and why is he being asked to change his password in the first place. All this in a confrontational, angry tone.

The Call:
Have the facts on-hand, don't make any assumptions, be ready to:
- Introduce your self (full name)
- Apologize for the inconvenience that has been caused
- Thank him or her for calling and sharing their experience
- Listen. You'll be tempted to talk after a few words from the customer, don't. Continue to listen
- Correct the issue or promise to correct it and follow-up

Your results may vary but this usually yields good results.

How to Win Friends and Influence People is a self-help book written by Dale Carnegie first published in 1936 and republished in 1981. I will be reviewing the 1981 edition which is very, very, dated but contains core principals not so much about influence but I would say on how to be a good person. Since I'm not much of a paper book reader this review is for the audio book version.

The book in it's major sections covers how to handle people, things you can do to make people like you, techniques to influence others, and leadership. At first I disliked the dated anecdotes used to drive the main points but after a while they're more of a novelty due to their historical reference than an annoyance. The book structure is: anecdote followed by principle. This format is effective in helping remember the content.

Self-help books proliferate bookstore shelf's and their shier volume can be intimidating and insulting (I'm looking at you Dummy Books). I love self-help books that provide understanding on why people act the way they do. Many of the principles described in How to Win Friends and Influence People are common sense and aren't ground breaking but ground-breaking research is not usually what is lacking when trying to influence people, the problem or deficiency is applying the techniques properly to get the results you desire.

This self-help book contains very good principles about influencing people but as you know all can read but few can apply what they learn hence not everybody can influence. The read will be easy, applying the principles (executing) will the challenge.

Resources:
How to Win Friends and Influence People Principle
Dale Carnegie