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Training versus development

When it comes to leadership development, you can't "train the leader." Leadership requires too much contextual differentiation, innovation, and innate skill. These are qualities that can be developed, but not absorbed from a training session.

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Managing with blinders on

Most managers today have blinders on when it comes to solving the problems of complex projects: They are lost among the trees, and can’t see the forest for what it really is. Too many project managers are focused on the day-to-day problems of the project and have lost sight of their overall strategy. So, with KPMG telling us that nearly 70% of projects are failing to meet their goals, what's the real solution? What's the one thing that's going to make the most difference?

Thinking creatively by taking your ideas to trial

You can put your ideas to the test by putting them on trial. A very successful team building and idea vetting exercise is to literally organize a mock trail, with prosecuting and defending teams and even a jury. Not only is it fun, but it can be eye-opening: "It was one of the better things we’ve done in a long time," says Richard D. Fain, chairman and C.E.O. of Royal Caribbean Cruises.

Asides

• Oops, sorry folks -- looks like something changed over the holidays, and our RSS feed was broken for a little while. It's back online so please resubscribe by visiting http://www.rational-scrum.com/feed -- and sorry for the inconvenience. We'll have a few great articles coming out this month so stay tuned. #
• Every enterprise, big or small, knows that cloud computing is going to be part of their business. Small companies use it every time they turn to QuickBooks Online, Google mail, or a hosted Exchange server. Large companies are increasingly being attracted by the promise of zero hardware costs and ease of deployment. Yet there’s still fear about moving into the cloud, mainly because of the changes a business must address in order to embrace virtualization. Change hurts, and it hurts businesses more, at least in the short term -- and businesses will always be concerned about the cost of change versus the benefits. In this article, take a look at how companies are coping with the cloud revolution. #
• Jay Goltz' article in The New York Times is spot on: "[Einstein] said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Too often, I think that’s really the definition of small business. Whether it is continuing to hire the wrong people because of a bad hiring protocol, sticking with the same marketing plan even though it isn’t working or thinking we are going to become more profitable by underpricing our competition, many business owners stick to what they have gotten comfortable doing and hope it will start producing better results. Why?" #
• Is being too wired destroying creativity? Research shows that multitasking employees who are constantly bombarded with information are less creative and less focused. The solution may be letting your employees unplug sometimes, according to this recent Economist article. I couldn't agree more. In fact, look at your work environment. Can your employees take the time to focus on one task without distraction? If not, consider making changes that will let them. You'll see remarkable increases in efficiency! #
• Mike Monteiro, co-founder and design director at Mule Design, recently gave a talk on getting paid and the value of having a well designed contract. As he says in this entertaining and very informative, spot-on talk: "Excuses vary – from 'We ended up not using the work' to 'it’s really not what we were after.'" He replies to all of them the same way: “F*ck you. Pay me.” This talk, explaining the philosophy and co-presented with his attorney Gabe Levine, is geared toward the creative services industry, but should resonate with any small business owner who has problem clients. #
• Tammy Erickson's recent blog post in the Harvard Business Review on Rethinking Performance Assessment is a spot-on article. She focuses on the value of team-based reward systems and how such systems only work if team feedback is part of the process. The article points out research suggesting that simply moving to a team-based reward system is an insufficient and possibly even counterproductive strategy -- chiefly because there is no correlation between perceptions outside the team and internal team perceptions regarding individual contribution. In other words, a team's supervisor isn't going to know who's working hard and who isn't. Only the team members themselves have that kind of detailed knowledge -- thus the case to build team feedback into the reward system. #
• Hyrax International and One Source Alliance have put together a great evening venue for a seminar on Business and Technology Trends of 2011. The seminar will be hosted at the Westlake Village Inn in Westlake Village, California, the evening of March 29. The session includes networking opportunities and will focus on OEM or B2B businesses and contrasting trends of small to medium versus large businesses, with supporting information on how technology changes coming in the near term support or enable these business trends. Register before March 23rd to get discounted seats (the price goes up to $35 after the 23rd). #
• Pawel Brodzinski makes a very succinct and key observation regarding the differences of Scrum and Kanban (and also links to a handful of opposing views by Ken Schwaber, David Anderson and Mike Cohn). If you want to figure out how Scrum and Kanban differ, this is a great starting point -- be sure to check the referenced articles to get both (or, all three, or four) sides of the story. #