Kelly Project Solutions – I don’t think I’ve ever worked on a project where everything went off smoothly from start to finish. That’s not to say they haven’t been successful projects. I am convinced, that by their very nature, projects are unpredictable and often provide numerous reasons to nitpick the work done by members of the team. Unfortunately, this isn’t a management behavior that fosters an environment of creative problem solving or productivity. When team members are worried about whether or not their work is going to be “nitpicked” they aren’t creative and can’t do their best work. What’s more, nitpicking behavior isn’t limited to project leaders. Sometimes it’s a colleague on the team who feels it’s his or her responsibility to nitpick everyone’s work.  This personality isn’t reserved for senior members of the team either, I’ve even seen new members of the team start off with nitpicking the work done by their new project team

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The Problem With Nitpicking

Kelly Project Solutions – I am a lover of great literature. One of the most fascinating theories (to me) about literature and story-telling is what David Leeming (influenced by Joseph Campbell) called the “Monomyth,” or the “Voyage of the Hero.” This theory suggests that all the stories ever told can be simplified into one single archetype – meaning, all stories are the same basic story, told in different ways with different characters, influences, and twists. Theoretically, every story’s “hero,” goes through the same basic stages of the hero journey. The other day, I started thinking of projects in the context of a monomyth. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the life cycle of a project, which typically begins with the initiation of a project and ends with a post implementation review (and some projects, unfortunately, don’t even live to see that part). But, when I really think about it, I think the project life cycle story is missing two vital pieces. What I’m suggesting is not a mere life cycle where a project is born with initiation and dies at completion

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Adventures in the Project Journey

Kelly Project Solutions – In a perfect world, everyone on the team gets along and there are never any problems with performance. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. That’s even true where I work (shocking, to be sure). Yesterday, along with several colleagues, I spent the day with a delightful consultant, Sue, from Interact Performance . Over the next twelve months, every manager at AtTask will be going through this training. My group was the first to start the training (we’ll finish up with another day of instruction next week).

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Performance Problem Solving

Kelly Project Solutions – Over the years we’ve all worked with great (and not so great) people on our project teams. Sometimes their greatness is obvious—but not always. In an economy where it’s critical that we create an environment where everyone on the team can maximize their contribution to success, maybe we need to start looking at the individuals on the team  and see if there are some common denominators that make team members remarkable. Earlier this week I stumbled upon an article written by Jeff Haden that might shed some light on how to spot greatness. “Forget good to great,” says Haden. Here’s what makes a great employee remarkable.” I think we all have a pretty good idea about what makes a good team member. However, in addition to their technical skill set and work ethic, what makes someone remarkable?

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What Makes a Great Team Member?