Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT I’m a big fan of using the Japanese technique of the 5 S’s to improve productivity with my project teams. The 5 S’s are a way to get your workspace organized. Do these tasks in the following order: 1. Sort – this means go through and get rid of […]
Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT I recently met a young engineer with an exciting job where he gets to travel to remote villages all over Alaska. He was telling me about the challenge of being in the office – meetings. I shared with him my standards for meetings – and thought it might be
Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT In Cheetah’s course “Effective Project Management,” we have students look at how they behave on projects and understand if that behavior is an asset or a liability to their project team. It’s been my experience most people’s intentions are positive even if others see their behavior as negative. People generally
Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT “Trust me” may be the most manipulative phrase used on a project team. Now before you think me a hardened curmudgeon, let me explain myself. It’s been my experience, people who are worthy of my trust, do not say this. Furthermore, they would not even consider saying this. Integrity
Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT No one remembers what you start; they remember what you finish (and how well you finish it). What I’ve seen on various project teams, some people have a different definition of what “complete” means. Done means done in my book. It means the task for which you
Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT In the early 90’s I was working with an organizational psychologist developing curriculum for improving team performance. She said something that stuck with me – “the principal source of conflicts is differing expectations.” While I never verified or validated if this was true, when I dissect it, it
Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT Creating great results with a project team involves using our inherent human nature for our best advantage rather than to become diminished. To better understand human nature I look to the sun and the ocean. With the sun, the same sun shines on all of us. But for some
Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT I’m on a sailing adventure this week with several project team members. I’ve written this blog post in advance as I wanted to focus entirely on the task at hand with my project teammates rather than on staying connected to the office. This adventure came up quickly like
Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT On February 2 every year, Groundhog Pauxitawny Phil comes out of his hole. If he sees’s his shadow, he gets scared and goes back into his hole. Folklore has it there is then six more weeks of hard winter. It got me thinking about the fears of our shadow
Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT Creating delighted customers (of your project) happens BEFORE you start your project. In Cheetah’s Communicating Through Conflict class, students learn the largest source of conflict is differing expectations. Let’s say the goal of your project is to become Project Management Professional (PMP) certified. And you take a course to
