by Belinda Lui | Nov 15, 2013 | Latest, Management
Project management is the ability to manage projects, and it is a true artform.
It seems like such an easy task to do, but it isn’t. In today’s fast paced environment, staying on top of the many demands, isn’t as easy at is sounds. True, some industries are more hectic than others, however, all industries have been impacted by the speed of business. We’ve all heard how “Time is Money” – and it doesn’t make it less true just because you’ve heard it a million times.
This is especially true in a billable hours setting when reporting time-spent on work is an integral part of your business. Clients trust that a business will not undercut them and lie about how much time it took to complete a task, but they also expect that the company they hire will manage projects in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.
This is where being organized comes in: you can be smart, fast, sales-focused and all that jazz – but none of it matters if you can’t stay organized. So before getting certified as a PMP, here are some tips on how to be an excellent Project Manager and manage projects effectively, effortlessly:
1. Understand The Project Intimately:
It is crucial to truly understand the task at hand before delivering any promises to your client. There are several elements that come into play when you are organizing a successful project: budget, logistics, time, labour, suppliers, vendors, revisions, etc. Ensure that you have a grasp of what is involved in order to execute a more seamless project.
2. Create A Workback Schedule:
Working backwards seems unnatural – but when you consider the only inflexible element, the deadline of the project, then you’ll understand why everything stems from there. It will also give you a better idea of how much time you actually have for every deliverable that needs to happen before the deadline.
3. Expect The Unexpected:
Murphy’s Law had it right – if something bad can happen, it will. When you are planning a project, expect that there will be several rounds of revisions; a supplier may not deliver on time; the printer will malfunction. My point is: give yourself some wiggle room in case something (and it probably will) bad happens.
Being proactive rather than reactive is a good skill set to have when you need to manage projects. Anticipate that things will go wrong and always stay on top of every task. Project management is an integral part of being successful, regardless of your position or industry. Manage projects or they’ll manage you.
What are some of the effective methods you have used to manage projects successfully?
by Miriam Hara | Aug 1, 2013 | Advertising, Branding, Latest, Marketing
During the course of my marketing career, I have seen many brands change their marketing strategy, marketing direction and marketing definition on an annual basis or even worse, more often than that! For those of us who have professed the art of marketing, it becomes second nature – even an unconscious behaviour – to resist jumping ship when the water gets rough. It’s crucial for a marketer to support a marketing strategy, position, a brand persona or brand style. A marketer has to stay focused on the chosen strategic direction, even when there’s a storm brewing – and stay the course.
There’s always a new idea, a new marketing strategy or a different approach available for a brand to take.
It may not be wrong, but the true question should be: Is it right for the brand at this time? Marketing is all about putting a stake in the sand. This doesn’t mean being rigid. In fact, for a brand to grow it must be fluid, it must evolve and move in a certain direction. At the same time, a marketer must allow for seamless transitions that will add to its positioning.
There are a few behaviours you can count on when you roll out a brand marketing initiative and determine your marketing strategy. It doesn’t matter if its packaging design (or redesign), an advertising campaign, product positioning or a marketing concept – here are a couple of things you can be sure of:
- Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Respectfully though, not everyone’s opinion should have equal weight.
- Many people, including colleagues, don’t like change. Just as everyone has an opinion, most resist change and will sometimes criticize what’s new or different. Change often makes people uncomfortable.
For any marketer to put a stake in the sand with their marketing strategy, and stand behind it when the going gets tough, they must do their marketing homework beforehand. Here’s how:
- Investigate! Know your market. Know who plays in your market. Know what competitive brands are out there, and what marketing strategies they use. Get out there and do store checks, get price comparisons, look at promotional initiatives, and say yes, even to a one-time Nielsen three-year trend of the market category and segment you are considering.
- Evaluate what you have now. Don’t assume it is wrong. Do your research. Talk to your target audience. Get their take on your brand and on your brand’s positioning. It doesn’t matter what you think, it matters how your brand communicates with its audience. Say yes to market research! It’s well worth the investment. (Notice I didn’t say cost!)
- Quantify the potential. Know what marketing strategy works and what doesn’t. Measure it on a scale that will allow you to accurately assess your marketing stance.
After you do your homework, you can launch your marketing initiative stocked with objective, “non-personalized” rationales. This will give you the tools you need to ward off those nay-sayers and the ones that resist change! Furthermore, you need to wait it out. It’s amazing how with a little time, a revolutionary idea, or funky package can become comfortable and the good old standby!
by Lisa Wedmann | Jul 10, 2013 | Administration, Business Success, Latest, Management
Before we start let me be clear on the definition of a leader.
Well then again ….. maybe I can’t be clear.
I can’t be clear because leadership is an art not a science.
It’s not easy to pin down leadership characteristics. Regrettably, there is no magic formula you can follow to turn yourself into the beloved leader who knows how to push all the right buttons.
And to make matters complicated, in today’s matrix environments it isn’t always easy to tell who the leaders are and who are the followers.
Gone are the days when a Supervisor sat in his office and overlooked the floor of busy workers who followed set rules and obeyed orders. That old distinction between a leader and a follower no longer exists.
DISTINCTION BETWEEN A LEADER AND A FOLLOWER
Without those clean marks of distinction it can be rough to distinguish where your responsibilities start and where another’s stop. And when leadership responsibilities are not clear, you may wonder is it your job to lead or does the responsibility belong to someone else?
Sometimes there is no straight-forward answer.
It could be the person leading a team or running a corporation. It could be a Project Manager or Head of a Department. In these situations, it’s easy to tell who is the leader. The title defines the status. But more often than not these people will jump in to assist in some way or another or they bring in others to help with big decisions or challenges.
Then what about when those who are leading a specific part of a project? Sometimes identifying a leader is easy. They lead, direct and interact with others and rely on them to help get the job done.
Who’s the leader now? Is it the Manager driving the project, the Project Manager who is leading the team or the specialist running her end of the show?
Consciously or unconsciously different people are in charge at different times and places. For one reason or another they have the responsibility to lead.
SUPERMAN OF LEADERSHIP DOES NOT EXIST
Today’s’ world is dynamic where challenges are too complex for just one person to handle. The Superman of leadership does not exist. Instead we are faced with the dichotomy of Superman and Clark Kent. On one hand we are saving the world and on the other we are heads down in our work.
In reality, we are both leaders and followers.
WE ALL ANSWER TO SOMEONE
This flexible definition of leadership that changes from one minute to the next may not be crystal clear.
But one thing is clear when we are looking for the definition of a leader and that is we all have a boss.
Whether it is a supervisor, a manager, or a customer. Whether it is shareholders, a Board of Directors or the person who signs your timesheet, we all answer to someone.
And at one time or another we have all been the leader where we lead and direct the outcome of our tasks.
Leadership qualities are fluid. One minute you’re the driver, the next minute you are the passenger.
It’s complex.
Or as Mongomery Burns says when he tries to scoop homer’s brain to turn him into a robot, Dammit Smithers, this is brain surgery, not rocket science.
What qualities do you wish to see in a leader? What don’t you like?
by Lisa Wedmann | Jun 26, 2013 | Advertising, Business Success, Creative, Latest
Some guy in a suit is yawning, another guy in the back is asleep, a woman in the front is reading notes, another looks at her nails and everyone else is checking their phone.
And then there’s you, standing at the front of the room, nervous and starting to sweat, trying to hang on to their attention.
You’re feeling frustrated and don’t know whether you should speed up your presentation or slow it down. Maybe you need to add a little humour? You could tell a few jokes, but maybe the topic of your presentation can’t be made light of.
Is it you? Is it your subject matter? Or is it your PowerPoint? You rack your brain thinking about what could you have done differently to be more effective?
All this to say, if it’s your delivery, well that’s an issue for another blog. If it’s your subject matter, there’s not much you can do about that. But if it’s your PowerPoint presentation, I can help.
In fact, I can provide you with two killer tips for powerful PowerPoint presentations.
All you have to do is follow these two simple rules when you create and design your material and your PowerPoint presentations will not only look better, your audience will be more interested and more engaged.
ONE, ONE, TWO
It’s an easy rule of thumb: One idea, one slide, two minutes. It’s the most basic formula. 1+1=2. Simple to remember, easier to use. The reason for this is also simple. When you create content heavy slides with more than one idea per slide, your audience is unable to determine what message you want to deliver. Your slide is high in noise and low in message.
Your audience is thinking to themselves, “And the point is…?”. The result: Yawning and nail inspection.
Ideally, you need to design your presentation so that you spend approximately two to three minutes per slide. Yes, that means you must know your subject matter well. Any more than three minutes and your audience will get bored and end up losing interest in your presentation.
THIRTY-SIX OR TWENTY-FIVE
I can’t count the number of times I have seen PowerPoint slides with far too many words. Oh yes, I can count. More than 36 words per slide is too many.
The slides are there to support your comments, to act as reinforcement and to keep you on track with your presentation; they are not there to chronicle your entire speech. No, they don’t replace the index cards of the past.
I know we all hate presenting, but If you’re reading this it means your career is dependent on giving presentations at some level – so you’re going to have to get over it. I digress, back to the presentation and the number of words…
There are various rules for the number of words per slide but one of the easiest to remember is 6 x 6. That means six bullets each with six words for a total of 36 words. Some will even say 5 x 5. You can decide which makes the most sense to you. So, another simple formula: 6×6=36 or 5×5=25.
If you must have a slide with more than 36 words, take a few well chosen words from that slide and consider putting additional information in the Appendix that you leave behind. The audience can read about it more in depth at their own convenience and without yawning in your face.
THOSE WHO CAN COUNT
These two rules are very simple, but rarely will you find anyone who follows them. But as I always say, there are three types of people in this world, those who can count and those who can’t.
by Miriam Hara | Jun 25, 2013 | Branding, Business Success, Latest
It’s hard to separate personal persona from your brand persona. If you are in charge of marketing for a brand or business you are probably passionate about what you do and how you do it. Being in charge of a brand and its performance can be intoxicating. However, like everything else in life, too much of one thing may be counterproductive. (Who said that?)
Having such a strong connection with the Brand, or as you see it your Brand, can make it very difficult to separate yourself. But you must. As a Brand Manager you are responsible for a brand’s marketing strategy by deciding what makes the most sense. You are the keeper and caretaker for brand character which involves everything from brand and logo guidelines, brand tone, brand voice and brand style… including brand body language. SO… the big question is, how do you as a brand manager separate yourself from the Brand? Chances are, during the course of your marketing career you will be fortunate enough to handle many different brands, even competitive brand. They can’t all be you! Here’s a quick checklist on how to separate yourself from your Brand.
Pleased to meet you: I have always thought of a Brand as a person. When my team and I first come on board to develop campaigns for a brand that we don’t know, we get to know it. We are respectful. We learn about its past, how it came to be, how it evolved, who its friends are and who its foes are (competitors). We discover where it lives and where its market is… and where the Brand needs to be.
Not all change is good: Understand the Brand’s character and its potential to evolve within that character and tone. Too often I have seen new Brand Managers come into an organization and change everything without any thought to the Brand’s franchise, community, marketplace or its potential. Remember it’s easy to judge what you think is right or wrong when you are new to a Brand. But making changes too soon can lead to market confusion. It takes time to nurture a Brand and for it to attain its rightful place in its community and market space. Brand making isn’t cookie cutter… sure, tactics can be interchanged, but brand personality and character need to stay the course in order to prevail and be a Brand.
Brands evolve: Take a very open view of a Brand that you’ve lived with for a long time. Just because you’ve tried a tactic in the past that hasn’t worked, doesn’t mean that same tactic with some tweaks, won’t work today. By the same token, keep your eye on the future. Find out what’s new and what’s exciting, maybe it’s just the thing to rejuvenate your Brand. Make sure you always place the Brand first and always evaluate. If a Brand is its own entity then it has its own style.
Be impartial: Separate your own likes about colour and style from those of the Brand… especially when working on brand creative. Ask yourself if the concern you have is really going to make or break the communications. Don’t strangle the creative process… and don’t confuse what you like with the Brand’s style… you will doing it a big disservice.
Be passionate. Be respectful. Be mindful.
After all, it’s all about the brand persona, Brand’s success… and yours.
