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Author: Mark Romanelli

Mark Romanelli is a full-time lecturer in the Sports, Culture, and Events Management program at the University of Applied Science Kufstein Tirol (FH Kufstien Tirol) in Kufstein, Austria. His curriculum includes courses in Project Management and Strategic Project Development. He is a member of the Project Management Institute and a Certified Associate in Project Management.

The Power of the Popsicle – Leadership and Team Motivation in Practice

Written by Mark Romanelli on . Posted in Articles. 3 Comments on The Power of the Popsicle – Leadership and Team Motivation in Practice

Jack Pippin is a manager who specializes in leading change in the leisure sports industry. 

Most of his history is with ski schools, but he has worked in other areas as well.  He has a proven track record of taking over distressed departments and turning them around to create high achieving operations.  He has done this for some of the biggest, and some of the smallest, companies in the industry.  One of the most visible, observable, aspects of his technique is the approach he takes toward team leadership and motivation.  His methods are subtle and unconventional, yet very deliberate and extremely effective. 

One of the tools in his bag of tricks is to buy a few boxes of popsicles and then go around to his team members during the middle of busy, high pressure situations, and hand them out.  His team members gladly accept the popsicles, enjoy them, and then return to work.  If you ask him why he does it, Jack will reply, “Have you ever seen anyone who isn’t smiling when they eat a popsicle?”  This is a small and calculated gesture meant to motivate his staff.  The shift isn’t over and they still have more work to do.  In this industry they are working directly with customers, so a positive attitude is important in order to create a satisfactory experience.  Jack refers to this approach and the result that it achieves as, “The Power of the Popsicle.”

The trick works.  Jack’s team goes back to work with renewed motivation to push through to the end of their shift and to do it with energy and enthusiasm. 

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Positive motivation and creating a personal connection is an important part of team management, especially in scenarios where the industry is filled with competent and highly motivated individuals.  This is often seen in leisure sports industries, but not at all exclusive to this domain.  An approach that is highly effective in such circumstances is Servant Leadership, where leaders work to facilitate the performance of team members to work toward achieving their goals.  An overly simplified, but not entirely inaccurate, description of Servant Leadership is where leaders strive to “serve” their followers, ultimately enabling them to do their best.  Doing this goes beyond seeing that the direct needs of people to perform their jobs are being fulfilled, it also includes looking after the emotional wellbeing of people.  After all, happy people feel better, do better, and are able to contribute more. 

In speaking about Servant Leadership, business guru Ken Blanchard advocates for leaders taking their time to go out of their way to praise team members in a personal way – in a caring way, in his words – for hard work.  According to him, this means, “Walking around and catch them doing something right, then giving a one-minute praising.”   In this context, the popsicle is that praising.  It’s an edible reward. But, just like Blanchard’s one-minute praising it’s the gesture that is most important in this situation.  When done correctly, it works.  And that, is the true “Power of the Popsicle.”

The true brilliance of Jack’s approach in handing out popsicles is how well he has fit the positive reinforcement to the situation.  In other environments, the application of the technique should depend on the location and the specific circumstances.

When leading teams, your ‘popsicle’ can be given out anywhere.  It can be in work groups, project teams, or anyplace where you are in a leadership position and motivation is called for.  The popsicle itself doesn’t always have to be a popsicle.  It can be bagels or doughnuts, it can be a high five, or in a more traditional sense, it can be that verbal one-minute praise that Blanchard suggests.  The key to selecting your popsicle is to know your team.  It is to know what makes them smile and makes them happy.  The gesture itself and the thought behind it is more important that the physical item or action employed.  In some cases, it just might be an actual popsicle. 

One of the metrics on which leaders are often judged is the successful achievement of organizational goals by members of their team.  Knowing how to motivate helps to bring out the best performance from members of the team.  It not only helps to get the task accomplished immediately, but helps to build a good connection and foundation for getting things done the next time as well. 

And remember, everyone smiles when they eat a popsicle.

Project Leadership – How the Three Skills Approach Applies to Project Management

Written by Mark Romanelli on . Posted in Articles. 1 Comment on Project Leadership – How the Three Skills Approach Applies to Project Management

What does it take to effectively lead a project team? Pretty much the same things it takes to lead any other team in business. 

Project managers are responsible for overseeing the completion of assigned projects.  At times, we are called on to select the right tools and techniques for a particular job.  We need to manage, lead, and motivate our project team members.  We need to keep an overall view of the big picture to know how all the different elements of our projects work together.  Effective project management requires various different sets of skills. 

The Three Skills Approach

Robert Katz presented a model of three skills necessary for effective management in his 1974 article titled, “Skills of an Effective Administrator.”  There are three categories of skills necessary for effective leadership:

  • Technical Skills
  • Human Skills
  • Conceptual Skills

Technical skills address the hands-on, direct skills necessary for accomplishing certain types of tasks.  This means having knowledge about and being proficient in a specific type of work or activity.  Technical skills include specialized competencies, analytic abilities, and the use of appropriate tools and techniques.  These kinds of skills involve hands-on ability with processes, products, and equipment. 

Human skills refer to the people skills necessary to lead and manage.  This means having knowledge about and being able to work together with others.  Good human skills mean being aware of one’s own perspective and the perspectives of others at the same time.  A skilled manager can assist group members in working cooperatively to achieve common goals. 

Conceptual skill is the ability see, and understand, the big picture.  It is knowing how all of the various parts of an operation or organization work together and affect each other.  A leader with conceptual skills works easily with hypothetical notions and abstraction.  This kind of capability is necessary in creating and articulating a vision and strategic plan for an organization. 

Applying the Model to Project Management

For project managers, the skill categories and their corresponding descriptions probably bring to mind the various skills necessary for managing projects of all types.  The skills of an effective project manager can also be divided into these three categories.

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Technical Skills

In project management, technical skills can be further divided into two categories; technical skills involved for the type of project being managed and the technical skills of project management itself. 

Technical skills involved for the type of project being managed address the “How To” details of the discipline area a project is involved with.  For example, if the project at hand is to develop software applications, then the project manager should have a certain level of understanding for software development.  If it involves implementing new medical processes and procedures, the PM should have some medical knowledge.  Even when working with subject matter experts as a part of a project team, a project manager needs to have a base level of knowledge in order to effectively manage the project, even from a purely administrative standpoint. 

Technical skills of project management address the ability to utilize project management tools and techniques.  These are the hands-on skills of project management and involve everything from scheduling, to planning, to execution, monitoring and controlling, resource analysis, and all of the other skills we think of as the skills of project management. 

Human Skills

Any project involving more than one person has a need for human skills in its management.  In dealing with project workers and team members, this includes the knowledge area of Project Human Resource Management.  In interactions with people outside of the project organization, skills in the area of Project Stakeholder Management come into play. 

However it is broken down, human skills are the various abilities in dealing with the people involved in projects.  Sometimes this involves negotiating.  In other cases, it means acting as a motivator.  The vast majority of projects involve more than one person in some way, so human skills are a central part of managing most projects. 

Conceptual Skills

Projects involve a lot of moving parts.  Different areas, both inside and outside of a project organization, need to be connected and coordinated in order for projects to run smoothly and achieve success.  Schedules need to be coordinated with available resources, budgets need to be maintained, equipment and resources need to be procured.  The list of items that come together goes on and on.  In technical terms, this all refers to the knowledge area of Project Integration Management. 

A skilled project manager needs to understand the different parts of the project.  They need to understand how to coordinate, communicate, and integrate all of the interconnected elements. 

The Idea in Practice

Various versions of the Three Skills Approach model offer differing opinions on how the skills mix applies.  Earlier versions prescribe the idea that different levels of leadership require different levels of each skill category.  More contemporary models suggest that higher levels of capability in all three skill areas are necessary for higher levels of administration and management. 

In a project management context, identifying the needs of each skill area can be a good starting point in deciding how to match projects with capable project managers.  Project owners can examine the needs of a project according to the required skill sets and try to select a PM with the necessary skills.  For example, in highly technically oriented projects such as construction, engineering, and biomedical projects, project managers with specialized skills in these areas need to be considered for engagement.  For wide ranging projects that involve sweeping changes for large organizations, higher levels of administrative and conceptual skills are necessary and so project managers with these skills should, therefore, be selected. 

Project managers should also reflect on and be aware of their own level of skills in these areas.  This will help them to select assignments for which they can be most effective, and to identify areas for future development and improvement.  As we develop further in all three skill areas, the better we will be at managing projects of all types. 

Skills acquisition and development is an ongoing part of professional development.  Knowing which skills to develop first can be a good way to make the most efficient and effective use of our training time. 

Sustainability in Event Project Management

Written by Mark Romanelli on . Posted in Articles. 3 Comments on Sustainability in Event Project Management

Sustainability is an important topic in all fields. We use, and hear it used, in a wide variety of areas.

It is easy to agree that sustainability is essential. The question is, how to achieve it? This article provides an overview of some of the fundamental concepts of sustainability for event project management. It examines elements from the topic areas of event management, sustainability, and project management, while demonstrating how the disciplines can intersect to strive for the achievement of best practices in managing event projects. 

Projects have impacts. Of course, there are the direct impacts of projects – the intentional impacts resulting in the form of project output. The extent of those impacts can determine the type of legacy that an event leaves behind.  It can also shape the possibilities to stage future events of both similar and different types. Sustainability, in this context means planning and executing events that avoid depletion of the resources of the various environments surrounding an event. 

Sustainability is a hot topic, but not a new topic. The origin of sustainability is centuries-old and comes from the forestry industry. The concept is that to be able to continue forestry operations into the future, trees can’t be cut down at a faster rate than they are able to be replaced. By striking a balance between cutting, planting, and growing, the supply of trees can be sustained well into the future, thereby allowing future generations to continue to use the resource.  While the concept has grown and evolved well beyond the original concept of cutting down trees to include waste management, recycling, carbon emissions, and a host of other ecologically minded practices, the generally tenant remains the same; the preservation and protection of finite resources for the use of future generations. 

Current thinking on sustainability has grown even further beyond its original roots. Ecological measures are critical, but they aren’t the only element of sustainability. In order to achieve true sustainability, in a way that allows for continued future practice, further considerations are necessary in addition to ecological elements. Sustainability needs to be achieved socially, as well as economically. These three areas – ecological sustainability, social sustainability, and economic sustainability – form the three pillars of sustainability for the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) framework. This framework proposes that true sustainability incorporates these three areas; People (social), Planet (ecological), and Profit (economic).

TBL is usually referred to as an accounting framework for sustainability. Just as most accounting and financial statements include an end result – the bottom line – the Triple Bottom Line framework advocates for the measurement and maintenance of the final result for all three areas. Economic results as the traditional bottom line, plus ecological and social results as the other two. The phrase is attributed to business writer John Elkington in his 1994 work on the topic. It has been applied to a number of various areas in business, commerce, and beyond. 

Social sustainability (people) includes, among other items, consideration of the well-being of the stakeholders of an endeavor. Ecological sustainability (planet) refers to the classical understanding of sustainable environmental practices. Economic sustainability (profit) addresses the financial considerations. All three areas are necessary for true sustainability and cannot exist alone. Conceptually, this approach makes sense.  Ecological sustainability can’t continue at the expense of the human stakeholders involved.  Unless a financial balance is achieved, ecological and social sustainability issues simply won’t be pursued. All three areas are necessary and compliment one another. 

Event projects provide huge opportunities to pursue all three types of sustainability in the TBL. Ecologically, events consume all types of resources in staging. They involve stakeholders of all types, internally in the form of attendees, workers, venders, and suppliers, as well as externally in the form of the communities in which they are held. And, as project managers, we are all keenly aware of the necessity to keep a watchful eye on the finances of all projects, including event projects. 

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In planning, managing, and executing event projects and operations, there is no clear, single, set of guidelines for achieving sustainability. However, we can start by looking toward the three pillars of sustainability in the Triple Bottom Line framework as we manage events. The first step is to consider some of the elements presented here when planning event projects.

People

Project managers should strive to design event projects with social sustainability in mind. This goes beyond giving consideration to the needs of the output consumer (event audience) to consider the needs of other stakeholder groups as well. Are measures being taken in consideration of the local community where the event is taking place? Do supply procurement practices give preferential consideration to area venders? Most of all, this means being able to answer ‘yes’ to the question, “Is this event project a good neighbour?” 

Planet

Event projects can consume a lot of resources and create a lot of waste. This is both bad for the environment and bad for the balance sheet. Events should be planned in consideration of the use of ecological resources. Asking a similar set of questions is another good first step toward reducing the environmental impact of events. How can we reduce the amount of waste generated by the event? Can re-usable items (cups, flatware, cutlery, etc..) be used for event catering? How can the use of public transportation be promoted for getting to and from the event? What is the plan to reuse or recycle materials after the event? 

Profit

Cost management is an important part of managing every type of project. The financial benefit of event projects needs to strive to go beyond looking solely at the positive balance aimed for by the event organizers. Profit itself should be sustainable. That is, not only in the hope of achieving positive income for this instance, but in the future as well. Are stakeholders looked after in a way that encourages future contentment with the presence of such events? Are the environmental efforts affordable financially, or will they cause cost overruns that are unmaintainable? Based on the financial outcome can the organization do this (or something similar to this) again in the future?  These are all some of the first questions to ask in consideration of financial sustainability. 

Practical Implementation

Every project is unique and different, so therefore the sustainability needs – and opportunities – for every event project will also be unique and different. Event project managers can start thinking about the practical implementation of sustainability measures across all three TBL pillars by considering an eye toward sustainability in all areas of the event project life cycle. Sustainability should be a goal when initiating an event. Planning should also consider sustainability, including how it is to be addressed in event execution. Monitoring and controlling already considers costs, but environmental and social impacts should also be measured so they can be maintained to achieve pre-established targets. Finally, sustainability lessons-learned should be considered in event project closing so as to carry them forward into the future and allow for continuous improvement. 

Altogether, a good balance should be striven for. As the TBL model tells us for true, workable, sustainable endeavours, all three pillars of sustainability need to be maintained. On top of that, constant improvement should be striven for. There are always going to be ways to do it better. While consideration and expertise are a great way to start, some improvements can only be realized with learning and experience. 

Initiatives and achievements in sustainability can also carry over from event project management into event marketing. When true efforts are made and successes realized, it’s ok to brag about them in promoting events. Especially when hard work is documented in the form of awards, recognition, and certification for event sustainability. Green event certification is available from various organizations globally, and can serve as a marketing tool. When this is done, it can help to roll efforts back into the other aspects of sustainability in the TBL framework. 

 

About the Authors:

Dr. Susanne Gellweiler ([email protected]) and Mark Romanelli ([email protected]) are both full-time lecturers in the Sports, Culture and Events Management program at the University of Applied Science Kufstein Tirol (FH Kufstien Tirol) in Kufstein, Austria. Dr. Gellweiler lectures and researches in Events Management. Mr. Romanelli teaches courses in General, Strategic and Project Management. He is a member of the Project Management Institute and a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)®.

Teamwork Accelerated

Written by Mark Romanelli on . Posted in Articles. 6 Comments on Teamwork Accelerated

Teamwork is an important part of any project consisting of more than one person.

The ability of a project team to work efficiently and effectively together has an impact on the final outcome of a project. Facilitating this type of group collaboration is one of the responsibilities of a project manager. As more organizations move toward project management models of operation, this becomes increasingly important.

Sometimes the nature of project work makes this a unique challenge for project managers. Very often, project teams are temporary. Short project life-cycles can also complicate things, with cross functional teams coming together for relatively short-term projects lasting only a few weeks. How much time can realistically be spent on team building?

One of the best known models for team development comes from Bruce Tuckman’s research into group dynamics. “Tuckman’s Stages of Group Dynamics” (1965, 1977) provide five stages of group development. Those stages are briefly summarized below:

Forming – This is when a team first comes together.
Storming – The group sorts itself out and starts to gain trust in one another. Opinions are voiced and status is established
Norming – People stop being polite and start to get real. Disagreements are surfaced and resolved. Personality clashes are sorted out and tolerance of differences takes place that would otherwise hinder productivity.
Performing – The team is able to get down to the task at hand. Roles are established and norms are set, so teams can start to focus their energy onto the productive tasks at hand.
Adjourning – This stage occurs when the task is complete and the team breaks up.

The model holds true for most project teams. The challenge is to get teams to move forward from the “forming” stage to the “performing” stage as quickly as possible. The performing stage is where the work gets done and the team is functioning in its most productive way. As a project manager, it is where you want your team to be.

Teambuilding, as a discipline of its own, provides no shortage of tools and techniques for bringing together work groups of all types and sizes – everything from short group exercises to week long outdoor survival courses. Unfortunately, most projects don’t include the time and expense budgets to indulge the more extravagant options. Lower costs opportunities can also be effective and the challenge lies in finding the right ones to use.

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Formal suggestions include activities such as developing team contracts or charters. While those can be useful, that level of structure and convention isn’t always necessary. The following options present three, project team centered, activities that can be done on site and are useful for just about all types of project teams:

  1. Developing a Project Mission Statement
  2. Creating a Team Name
  3. Designing a Team Logo

Developing a Project Mission Statement

In this exercise, the team is tasked with developing a mission statement for the team or for the project. The mission statement can be serious, modeled after other more formal documents such as the scope statement, or more relaxed, drawing on elements of personality or humor. Unlike most project tasks, the instructions for developing a mission statement should be as undetailed as possible, providing the minimum amount of instruction as is necessary. This way, the working function of the team members will remain as creative and unconstrained as possible. In most cases instructions can be limited to something like, “Take the next 90 minutes and develop a team mission statement for the project. The mission statement should reference what you are trying to achieve and the personality of your team.”

Creating a Team Name

Like the Mission Statement, a project team name can be serious or humorous. Whatever the result, more emphasis should be placed on the process than the output itself. Once again, instructions should be as limited as possible. The process of selecting a team name can involve several interactive activities; proposing names, writing down the suggestions, evaluating the suggestions, discussing adjustments, and selecting a final name are just some of them. These activities should be conducted in order to get project team members to work with and amongst one another. This exercise is best done under the direction of the project manager, so he or she can facilitate and moderate the discussion and interaction in order to get the most out of the session activity.

Designing a Team Logo

Creating a team logo is the graphical equivalent of coming up with a team name. Like any good logo, a team project logo will include specific elements representative of the team, its members, its values, and its objectives. In addition to producing the logo itself, the group should – together as a team – be able to present the logo and explain its symbolism and meaning. The end result doesn’t need to be of the highest graphic design quality in order to achieve the goals of getting the team to start working together.

All three exercises can be done individually or in combination. The main goal of them is to provide a quick, collaborative, output-generating task that’s non-central to the project itself. When done correctly, each activity should allow for interaction and teamwork, which are the key factors in moving teams upward through the stages of team development.

It is true that these tasks are not direct productive time put toward doing work on the project. Rather than being thought of as time lost, these activities should be considered an investment in efficiency in the life of the project.

Project Intelligence (PQ) – Components of skills development for effective project management

Written by Mark Romanelli on . Posted in Articles. 5 Comments on Project Intelligence (PQ) – Components of skills development for effective project management

How much is enough? How much is too much?

Project management is, among other things, a quest for efficiency. That quest should extend to the amount of project management knowledge, skill, and ability for the job and task at hand.
Projects come in all shapes, sizes, and levels of complexity. That’s part of why project management certification and training is available in different levels. While knowledge is a great thing, seeking out the highest level isn’t always the ideal direction to pursue. PM skills should be a means to an ends, not the ends themselves. Not every project needs to have a leader with PMP or Master Black Belt credentials. Acquiring skills that a person doesn’t have the opportunity to use and practice them is most likely going to result in those skills to become rusty and forgotten, to the point of being useless. Selecting the right tools for the job starts with knowing and understanding what level of expertise is needed for the type of project work one plans to do.

The term “intelligence” is often thrown around and added to various topics in order to create a deeper understanding of underlying components; emotional intelligence and cultural intelligence are two examples. The same convention fits here when discussing the components of skills development necessary for identifying the right levels for effective project management. Welcome to the concept of Project Intelligence.

Project Intelligence (PQ) in this context is a framework for identifying and acquiring the right abilities for project management as part of an overall, complimentary skill set in your professional tool box. It can be thought of as a four-step process for acquiring the amount of project management skill for a particular position. It starts with examining the situation and concludes with putting a right-sized repertoire of abilities into action.

Developing PQ involves the examination and consideration of the following components:

  1. Drive
  2. Depth
  3. Development
  4. Deployment

Drive

PQ drive involves asking and answering the question of why someone wants or needs to develop project management skills. Presumably, it’s because they plan to work on projects. But what is the motivation, or ‘drive’ to it? Is this person going to occasionally work on projects as a member of a cross-functional team? Will they need to act as project managers regularly as a part of their job? It can also be the case that someone needs to be able to show project management knowledge in order to be eligible for their next promotion. What drives a person to acquire PM skills can be as diverse as the various types of projects we can think of. That drive will also directly influence the types of skills necessary to achieve their project management goals.

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Depth

A little, or a lot? How much project management knowledge is the right amount to satisfy the needs corresponding to the motivation? This is the question of depth. Determining the depth of knowledge required for project management can be compared to selecting the right set of tools for the job.
In this step, an individuals need to determine the type of knowledge that they need and how much of it is necessary. This way, they can focus their efforts on learning what they need to know. For example, the person occasionally working as a team member of cross-functional project teams will need to know the basics of the methodology they will be working in. Key concepts like deliverables, success criteria, sprints, and documentation procedures are what will help this individual the most. The regular project manager will need more extensive knowledge of the methodology, as well as details for team coordination and procedure implementation. The person interested in acquiring PM skills for their next promotion might want to consider CAPM or Yellow-Belt certification to document and demonstrate their knowledge.

Development

PQ development means learning. Once a person knows what project management skills they need, the next step is to go out and get them. With the necessary skill set identified, an individual can find the training to acquire those skills. This is the development step in the process, where an individual goes out and develops the project management competencies they identify for the depth of skill they require.
Once of the great things about the field of project management is the vast availability of resources for education and training. Of course higher qualifications and official certifications have specific and strict requirements, but for most types of education and training, there are options available for various needs, budgets, and schedules. Where there’s a will, there are usually a number of different ways.

Deployment

With the new project management skills learned and developed, it’s time to put them into practice. Theoretical knowledge that can’t be used is nothing more than useless information. In the deployment stage, individuals can take their newly acquired knowledge back to their professional settings and put them to use. This means managing project, working on project teams, overseeing project portfolios, or any other activities where the new project management skills will be useful and beneficial.
Also important in the deployment stage is to look out for repetitive opportunities. These are chances for people to use their project management skills again, and again, and again – pausing in between each time to look for chances to improve. Every new endeavour is an opportunity to learn and progress, but only if we take the time to use it.

Developing the right level of project intelligence is a dynamic process. As work environments are constantly changing with new challenges and situations, it’s important to regularly revisit and reassess the types of skills you need. By focusing on the immediate and near-future requirements, a person has the chance to learn not only the skills they need for the moment, but the skills they will actually have the opportunity to use, practice, and master. So when the time comes to move further up the ladder once again, they will have a strong foundation to start from before taking the next step.