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

Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT In the last post I talked about Project Stakeholders, today I’m going to talk about Project Sponsors.  The Project Sponsor is the person who sets the project in motion, often securing the funding and resources required and handling many issues outside the control of the project manager.  In many

Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT According to the Project Management Institute  “A Stakeholder is an individual, group, or organization who may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project.” Most projects have a variety of stakeholders, many with competing interests. Sometimes these interests can derail your