Many people like to dream. Some people manage to make dreams come true by launching a change that brings about success.
Today you will find inspiration from well-known founders and CEO’s who have all dreamed big, people who didn’t let fear hold them back to pursue the big ideas and turn them into reality.
Infographic brought to you by Wrike project management web based software.
By Linky van der Merwe
When you find yourself leading a virtual team, you will often need to take on the role as team coach to facilitate optimum performance. In order to do so properly, a good place to start, is with your understanding of what a team really is.
Much about teams and team performance can be learnt from the authors Katzenbach and Smith. No wonder that their definition of Teams became an industry standard over the years:
“A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.”
Katzenbach and Smith
In an article: “Organisational Culture” published in the Harvard Business Review, Katzenbach and Smith stated that teamwork represents a set of values that encourage listening and responding constructively to views expressed by others, giving others the benefit of the doubt, providing support, and recognizing the interests and achievements of others. They explain further that teams require both individual and mutual accountability. Teams rely on group discussion, debate, and decision, sharing information and best practice performance standards. Teams produce work-products through the joint contributions of their members. This is what makes possible performance levels greater than the sum of all the individual members, also stated as a team is more than the sum of its parts.
A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. The essence of a team is common commitment towards a purpose in which team members can believe. The attainability of specific goals helps teams maintain their focus on getting results. The combination of purpose and specific goals is essential to performance. In essence, goals help a team keep track of progress, while a broader purpose supplies meaning and emotional energy.
In working with teams Katzenbach and Smith have found when a team shares a common purpose, goals, and approach, mutual accountability grows as a natural counterpart. When people work together toward a common objective, trust and commitment follow. Consequently, teams enjoying a strong common purpose and approach inevitably hold themselves responsible, both as individuals and as a team, for the team’s performance. This sense of mutual accountability also produces the rich rewards of mutual achievement in which all members share.
Having the responsibility to facilitate positive change in teams you lead, whether in person or virtually, you have much neuro-science research to back you up according to the Neuro Leadership Institute. How can this help you to coach teams for optimum performance?
Well, virtual team members have differing skill sets and depending on their background also different levels of experience to consider. It is important for teams to have the right mix of skills including technical or functional expertise, problem-solving, decision-making skills and interpersonal skills. Interpersonal skills include risk taking, helpful criticism, objectivity, active listening, giving the benefit of the doubt, and recognizing the interests and achievements of others.
As a team coach it is good to be cognizant of behavioral differences in the virtual team. There are a variety of individuals with an even bigger variety of personalities. Having a basic understanding of personality types, will help you tailor your communication plans. Remember also that virtual team members may be at different levels of engagement and motivation.
The Neuro Leadership Institute teaches us that there are some brain based principles for team coaching. They are:
Christopher Samsa from the Neuro Leadership Institute continues to explain important factors to consider as part of brain based team coaching. They are:
Collective intelligence is the prediction of the group’s ability to perform well. There is a correlation to how group members are social sensitive of one another, if there’s an equal distribution of conversation turn-taking and even the proportion of females in the group that can increase the collective intelligence.
As a team leader and coach you can help the team to be more meta-cognitive, to be mindful about planning out their work, tracking their progress, and assessing their own knowledge.
Collective emotion refers to the ability to empathise and to cooperate with one another. Some factors that come into play are:
Collective performance is about understanding the team behaviour at systemic and habitual level. Look at the culture of the team and figure out if they are generally positive. If they are connected to each other and are they contributing to team performance.
A common tool that many of you are familiar with, is the Tuckman model for teams. The Forming Storming Norming Performing theory is an elegant and helpful explanation of team development and behavior.
The principles to use in order to coach for results are:
In their research, the Neuro Leadership Institute shares another very useful Model, called the Co-create Model. Based on this model you need to remember the following when coaching teams for optimum performance.
Visit the Neuro Leadership Institute for more information about Brain Based Team Coaching.
Source:
By Raj Vardhman
Half of today’s workplaces are comprised of millennials, while in the near future, they will make up to three-quarters of the workforce. Generation X, or people born 1965-1979, sometimes need a helping hand in dealing with them in the workplace. They might not have similar mindsets, and they might enjoy different working styles, but should be able to function properly and as a team in the same space.
Managing a team is a complex task, especially if you are leading a group of people with different outlooks on business and life in general. Being in charge can become that much easier just by understanding millennials as employees.
Regarding their employment, millennials tend to keep an open mind – meaning that they strive for more than just a regular desk job with low career goals. By approaching their work as something meaningful, they will feel appreciated and reciprocate accordingly.
Most of them would perform better at a job that promises a learning experience and the ability to grow within the company. The employer should be there to offer a face to face talk with an employee and land a helping hand or an opportunity to educate them further.
If you, as a leader, recognise a team member’s hard work, they would feel stimulated to stay and continue the good work. A simple ‘well done’ goes a long way.
Even though statistics show that they work one hour less on average than Gen-X, millennials are hard workers. Almost 90% of them think that flexible working time makes for a more productive result. People feel motivated to finish their workload and would do it successfully if met with an adequate need.
Furthermore, many consider that working remotely can make a tremendous difference in how quickly a job gets done. So, a chance to work from home now and then can result in flying colors.
Consequently, if offered a dynamic and flexible working time and place while still delivering results, it will set the team and their work apart from the rest of the pack.
Millennials are curious and tech-savvy; they keep abreast of the latest fashions in technology and consider it to be an important part of progress.
Most of them grew up with electronic devices, and they can offer new insight into how tech can be an integral part of communication with co-workers within and out of the company. Being a part of their group chat can be significant. It is also a big advance in thinking innovatively while leading them on a project.
Over 70% of millennials believe that teamwork is necessary for an effective working environment. They think that being able to rely on another person’s opinion helps their thought process.
Having defined roles in a team is a great way not to allow head bumping. It can be quite an advantage for a project manager to hear different ideas while simultaneously counting on millennial workers to accomplish projects successfully and efficiently.
Most millennials will not settle for stagnating in their work. This is a massive problem for not only millennials but any ambitious person. Nobody expects to be handed a promotion on a platter, but people must see an opportunity for growth. By offering a tip or a hint that an employee is heading up the ladder, you would motivate them to work harder.
A leader should not feel intimidated by younger employees with potential but should take upon themselves to train them to become future leaders capable of guiding and being ready for upcoming endeavors.
Having a good perspective on millennials in the workplace, might help project managers to deal better with them. Though not a different species, they are more conscious about the business world around them and how it works, how cruel it may be, and they are always on the lookout. They value hard and honest work, just like any other generation.
A significant number of them require a support system and solid relationships while still being given the freedom to express themselves through their work, whether that’s in an office with flexible hours or not.
Regardless of the negative connotation that sometimes comes with the word ‘millennial,’ they are tireless workers focused on the future and its perks, as well as constant improvement.
About the Author:
Raj Vardhman is the co-founder of GoRemotely.net. He is a WordPress virtuoso and white hat SEO expert with a passion for developing SEO strategies. His experience and work over the years have driven him to give other individuals lessons about taking control of their work and finding remote jobs.
By Jenny S
In many organisations there are distinct criteria that companies use to pick suitable individuals for leading their projects. The job of a project manager is not easy. You need to come up with good project plans, monitor proper execution and ensure that you deliver or exceed the expected results. It is for this reason that project managers require specific qualifications and some years of experience, including the possession of leadership skills. These are the things that often set project managers apart. With good leadership qualities, you will effortlessly lead a team of people who work efficiently. This article will highlight some of the most crucial leadership skills for project management.
Source: Pixabay
One thing that often ruins projects before they even start is the lack of patience of individuals involved. Patience is among the essential leadership skills for successful project management. You need to be patient with everyone involved in the project, including stakeholders, suppliers, your employer, and your team members. The moment you lose patience and start rushing the project, is the moment you start making errors. Such errors will ultimately lead to project failure and thus you need to move at a consistent pace.
Being a project manager involves a flair for team management. A good project manager has to make sure that the entire team works in synchronization in order to deliver positive results. They should be able to organize the team in such a way that it functions efficiently and are able to ensure that the plan is executed in a coordinated way. A good project manager should keep in mind that high performing teams deliver better results.
Source: Pixabay
Every project manager should have knowledge about risk management regardless of the project type. Such expertise enables you to identify potential problems, identify mitigation strategies and risk owners. You need to consider what the best mitigating actions are and implement them. This ensures that the risks don’t affect the continuity of the project. Your ability to efficiently plan for and respond to any risks, will help you lead your team through complexities that may occur throughout your project. A strategic project leadershipshort course can help you achieve this.
Any experienced project manager will concur that projects requires excellent communication skills. That is because you want team members to understand their roles and responsiblities clearly so that there is no misunderstanding about what is required of them and how to achieve this. You also have to be able to communicate with any additional stakeholders involved to ensure they understand what the project entails, how you will be implementing the project, and what your deadlines are. Remember that project managers spend the majority of their time collaborating with others to keep them engaged and informed about the various aspects of the project.
Source: Pixabay
Effective project management also relies on excellent negotiation skills. It is among the best project management skillsthat any project leader should possess. The question is, why is this skill essential? First, project management involves leading a group of people from different backgrounds. That means conflict could arise at any time. Thus, it is vital that you are able to negotiate with the parties involved in the conflict so you are able to diffuse the situation before it escalates. Negotiation skills could also help obtain the best possible agreement with your suppliers, which will enhance the overall outcome of the project.
Source: Pixabay
Critical thinking is a skill that enables leaders to make the best possible decisions in any situation. You need to be able to think critically in order to come up with appropriate solutions to any problems that may arise throughout the duration of your project. Critical thinking skills can also help you create working solutions to impeding problems that will help prevent them from occurring.
The application of the above leadership skills, will help improve your project management capabilities. By developing and practicing these skills you are ensuring that a project runs smoothly and effectively from commencement to completion.
Please let us know in the comments which of these leadership skills do you consider important and what other leadership skills would you add?
Jenny is a passionate writer and guest blogger. Writing helps her to improve her knowledge, skills and understanding about her industry. She loves to educate her audience about education and technology via her writing skills. Apart from writing, she loves traveling & photography.
by Dr Eben van Blerk
Prior articles in the Emotional Intelligence series:
Emotional intelligence has become one of the top predictors of success in life, in the office and at home. Emotional intelligence can be learnt and can be improved over time as we continue to learn from our daily experiences in life. Improving your emotional intelligence will probably be one of the most difficult personal challenges. You will not become more emotionally intelligent without practicing these skills. You have to believe there is room for improvement in managing your own emotions. Developing emotional intelligence skills is not easy. It requires commitment to the cause, ongoing hard work, persistence and acute self-awareness.
How do you know you lack self-awareness? Some of the tell-tale signs of a lack of self-awareness may be as follows:
· You are not able to easily read a room and pick up emotional signals
· You find it difficult to put yourself in the shoes of others
· You do not know how you come across to others (and you do not care)
· You do not know who you are and how your behaviour impacts others
· You find it difficult to admit and take responsibility for your mistakes
· You do not react well to feedback and often become defensive
· You often do not know what you are feeling and why you are feeling that way
Where does one start? First you have to get to know yourself in order to start understanding how you are coming across and when and how to manage your emotions. Self-awareness is the basis of our relationships with others. Once you have the self-awareness to know when and how to manage your emotions, you can develop the empathy to put yourself in the shoes of others and truly understand their feelings. This will be the ideal position to build and manage interpersonal relationships, manage conflict and effectively collaborate with others. The problem is often people do not know how to develop their self-awareness.
You have to start this journey of self-development because you want to and because you are convinced that there is room for developing your self-awareness. Developing these skills does not happen overnight. If you are not committed and dedicated it will take longer and in all probability lead to frustration with very little personal growth.
Before you can learn the skill to manage your emotions, you need to know what you are feeling. Compile a list of feeling words (emotions) and use the list to label emotions as you experience them. Examples are angry, hurt, inferior, jealous, irritated, happy, frustrated, insecure, anxious, motivated and concerned. Extend the list as you learn to identify your feelings and expand your emotional vocabulary. When you are able to name your feelings, it is easier to start managing your emotions that lead to unproductive behaviour and negatively impact others.
Once you have built a level of emotional vocabulary, you need to know why you are experiencing the emotions you listed. This will help to manage your emotions. Get to know your personality. An easy way is to complete some of the many free personality tests on the internet. This will provide you with a good overview to start. Also, start observing yourself in the moment, during happy times and during conflict. What are you feeling in the situation and why are you feeling that way? How do you respond in the situation and how does your body respond? Additional to a personality test, ask others for feedback on how you come across.
Ask family members, your spouse, colleagues and friends with whom you have a trusting relationship to give you feedback on how you come across. Ask for honest feedback on what they think of you and your behaviour. How they experience you when you are on top of the world as well as in the moments you are not that proud of? Compare your self-perception with your reputation with your colleagues and your circle of friends. Take their feedback to heart. Reflect and use their feedback as part of your development journey. Continue to ask for specific feedback as you work on specific development areas.
The idea of writing your own eulogy may seem grim and make you uncomfortable initially. This could however provide you with valuable insight to live a more fulfilled life. Take time to reflect on your life. Consider how much you mean to other people, what you do for others and what kind of person you are. Think of what have you accomplished thus far in your life. What will you say about yourself if you had to deliver the eulogy? What do you think others will say? Consider what you want to be remembered for and what you want people to feel and say about you after your passing.
Now that you understand self-awareness better and you have the steps to improve your self-awareness, it becomes easier to commit to growing your emotional intelligence. You will find that improved self-awareness will provide a better understanding of your motives, behaviour and thinking. This will enable you to start making informed choices towards healthy and productive relationships with others.
About the Author:
| Eben van Blerk, a Doctor of Technology, has more than 25 years’ practical team work experience. He has published articles and book chapters on leadership and emotional intelligence in local and international publications. |
Contact him on LinkedIn if you need a speaker or workshop facilitator on emotional intelligence for your next team engagement. His emotional intelligence talks and programmes are popular in the corporate and private sector. It will equip your team with knowledge and tools for improved communication, effective conflict handling and managing their emotions towards a more productive and fulfilled business and personal life.
The remote work employment model started from an idea of motivating the employees towards higher productivity levels by granting them many conveniences otherwise unavailable in their office spaces. This model proved to be very successful, with many industries and branches putting in great efforts to embrace it fully.
Remote work, as previously mentioned, gives the people full flexibility with time management, amount of work input, work hours, etc. If your job starts early in the morning at a distant office, with remote working, you’re cutting off the time needed for transport while saving money for the gas.
As the day progresses, you choose what time of the day is the most productive for you to work, when you want to have a lunch, what part of the day you want to commit to yourself and your loved ones, etc. Around 99% of surveyed Americans employed in all branches stated they want to work this way for the rest of their professional careers.
Several industries are leaders in converting their work from the 9-to-5 model to remote work. Some of these industries and branches include information technologies (IT), transport and freight forwarding management, media, design, finance, and legislation, with many more joining every year. With this many people leaving office spaces, employers cut office costs enormously.
Most importantly, this change in the working model vastly raised productivity levels in workers. As the employees start spending more time with their loved ones and taking care of themselves, the surveyed ones reported up to 82% less stress and anxiety posterior to their office days, with a better sleeping, eating, and exercising schedule, improving their overall wellness and health.
Goremotely.net has put together an infographic to inform you about remote work and everything it provides.
Enjoy, there’s a lot of information that could be useful for potential ventures into remote work. Let us know what you think in the comments!
by Dr Eben van Blerk
The concept of Emotional intelligence (EI) has captured audiences across the globe since the publication of Daniel Goleman’s research on the topic in 1995. Irrespective of the large body of scientific research published on the topic during the past two decades, there are many misconceptions about this field. EI is extremely important in modern day leadership, but it’s unfortunately easily misunderstood.
Here are 7 common misconceptions about Emotional Intelligence:
EI and IQ is not the same. EI is often referred to as EQ or emotional maturity. Just as IQ is the measure of our cognitive intelligence, EQ is a measure of how emotionally intelligent or emotionally mature we are. Our EI indicates our ability to recognise and handle one’s own and the emotions of others. It determines how we interact with and treat people. On the other hand, IQ indicates a person’s ability to learn, recalling learned information and using it to reason and solve problems. The better we are at applying these abilities, the higher our IQ is expected to be and the better our chances of achieving high marks in school. It is possible for a person to have a high IQ but low EQ.
Probably the most well-known urban legend is that women are more emotionally intelligent than men. Women are not more emotionally intelligent than men and men are not better at understanding and managing emotions. In general, men and women are more similar than different when it comes to EI. Too few research studies regarding EI and gender have been done during the past two decades to conclusively state that one of the sexes is superior to the other. EI is definitely not a touchy-feely female attribute. Both men and women can be highly emotionally intelligent or seriously lack these skills.
EI is often only associated with being empathetic or nice. Empathy is a core part of EI but not the only ingredient. Being emotionally intelligent does not mean being nice; it requires empathy for us to recognize the feelings of others.
EI starts with strong self-awareness and self-control skills to understand and manage our own feelings. In addition, it includes assertiveness to help us build and maintain constructive and healthy mutually beneficial relationships.High empathy together with other underdeveloped EI skills can do more harm than good.
IQ is an ability we are born with and typically develop until we reach our teenage years when our brain is fully developed and remains the same thereafter. EI can however be learned and can be improved over time as we continue to learn from our live experiences i.e. as we mature. The sooner we start developing our ability to recognise and handle our own emotions and the emotions of others, the sooner our EI will grow and help to building and maintain healthy and collaborative relationships in our lives. Developing emotional intelligence skills requires hard work. You also have to believe there is a need for change and you have to be in it for the long haul. Developing your EI will probably be one of the most difficult challenges you will ever face.
There is no easy fix and you will not become more emotionally intelligent if you do not practice these skills. Conscious effort and practice will lead to increased EI. It is also easy to fall back on old habits. Working on your EI is therefore a continuous effort. EI is not dependent on our genes and it is not just common sense.
Having EI skills does not equate to an unwillingness to solve conflict or deal with difficult issues due to being too nice. Emotionally intelligent individuals are capable of dealing with conflict. Their ability to listen, understand, recognize and manage their own and the feelings of others, makes them highly successful in dealing with the issue at hand. They embrace and effectively solve conflict.
The world of work is emotional. You cannot leave your emotions at the door when you walk into the office. Due to the physical structure of the human brain, emotions are a core part of our being. Emotions unavoidably inform our thoughts, actions and decision making and influence how we respond to others. The behaviour of others for example can influence how we feel and our emotions can influence our performance. Not being able to understand and manage our emotions in the workplace is often the cause misery and could potentially lead to losing our jobs or not getting promoted. Increasing research evidence the past three decades have shown that managing our own and the emotions of others can significantly influence our work performance.
Each job requires basic entry level technical skills and a level of IQ. On a daily basis as we operate in the trenches, we pick up more specialized knowledge and skill. We need this technical expertise to get the job done. Technical expertise alone however is not enough for superior performance. High IQ professionals often fail in their careers due to low EQ. They find themselves in trouble because they are not able to apply their expertise through productive collaboration with others. High IQ and technical expertise together with the lack of emotional skills to manage relationships often make clever people stupid. It is the emotional competence that adds the edge and contributes more to superior performance than IQ and technical expertise.
Also read: “What Emotional Intelligence (EQ) really means and how it can be a good predictor of success” by Dr Eben van Blerk.
About the Author:
Eben van Blerk has more than 25 years’ corporate experience and he holds a Doctor of Technology degree in ‘the role of emotional intelligence in information systems work‘. Eben has published articles and book chapters on leadership and emotional intelligence in local and international publications. His emotional intelligence talks and programmes are well received by the corporate and private sector.
Contact Eben on LinkedIn if you need a speaker and workshop facilitator on emotional intelligence for your next team engagement.
Your audience will be captivated by his emotional intelligence insight, strong interpersonal skills and practical teamwork experience. It will equip them with knowledge and tools for improved communication, effective conflict handling and managing their emotions towards a more productive and fulfilled business and personal life.
by Dr Eben van Blerk
Which qualities do we need to be successful in life? Above average cognitive intelligence (IQ) and academic achievement are traditional measures of success in life. In fact, companies often focus on technical skills during recruitment and project staffing and ignore the human aspects. IQ, technical skills, academic qualifications and certifications alone however are not enough for success anymore. We are measured against a new yardstick. How we behave, get along with others and work together as a team, have become critical for success.
Much has been written about Emotional Intelligence (EI) the past two decades since the publication of Daniel Goleman’s 1995 book by that title. Research linking EI to performance at work has proliferated. Emotional competence is linked to performance in a variety of jobs, organisations and cultures [1].
The world of work is emotional. Most of us have experienced moments in our lives where we are caught up in daily challenges which distracts us from achieving our goals. Our energy is often drained by peak hour traffic, a difficult client or colleague in a project meeting. We start the day with best intentions but soon we find ourselves in the opposite direction we had in mind. Our emotions have surpassed all sense of reality, leaving us in denial and regretful about our behaviour.
The behaviour of others can influence our emotions and our emotions can influence our performance. Emotions can either help us to achieve our goals or contribute to us not being successful at all. Increasing research evidence suggests that learning to become more aware of our emotions and becoming better at managing our emotions can have a significant positive influence on how effective we are at getting things done. [2,1,4]. Research has shown that EI exceeds IQ when it comes to success. EI has become one of the biggest predictors of success at home, at the office and life in general. [3].
Understanding the concept of emotion will add more clarity. An emotion is a physical reaction or change in our body based on what we experience in our environment, e.g. something we see, hear or think. An emotion is a trigger for our body to act. The basic emotions are anger, sadness, fear, enjoyment, love, surprise, disgust and shame. Each emotion is accompanied by a biological signature. With anger heart rate increase, fear leads to sweaty hands and enlarged pupils, surprise causes the eyebrows to lift and with shame, blood often rushes to the face.
Emotions are often referred to as matters of the heart. The human brain however is central to our emotional and rational life specifically two of its components, the limbic (emotional) brain and the rational brain. The limbic brain records everything that happens in our lives. It serves as our emotional memory and controls all emotional related matters and biological signals such as tears of sadness. It is the centre of our fight or flight responses and stores a repertoire of possible reactions when triggered. As we grow older, with life experience this repertoire of responses, is extended. Our response to each emotion is also influenced by our experiences, upbringing and culture. The limbic brain is key to our survival as humans. Our rational brain on the other hand is responsible for problem-solving and decision making.
When faced with danger, the rational brain will start the problem solving process evaluating all relevant factors to devise a plan of action. While this is happening, the emotional brain will consult its repertoire of stored responses and send out the necessary fight or flight instructions to the body. The emotional brain reacts much faster than the rational brain and in effect hijacks the rational brain and simply takes over. Before we can rationally think what to do, our emotional brain decided and our body reacted. This is often where afterwards we struggle to understand why we acted in a particular way since “…this is not me, I am not like that…”.
EI in essence is the ability to manage the above emotional hijacking that happens in our brain. In layman’s terms it translates to acting appropriately in any given situation. From an academic perspective, EI is a “set of skills relevant to how we perceive, understand, reason with and manage our own and others’ feelings” [5].
If we recognise and understand what we are feeling and why, we can intelligently manage our emotions and use it to our advantage in decision making. Without this ability, our emotions can often be a source of great misery in our lives. The good news therefor is that EI can be improved, if we have the desire to do so. Self-awareness can help us to understand how our emotions influence our behaviour. This insight can assist in rewiring our limbic brain to ensure that our behaviour is more in line with our intentions and values.
This is the first instalment in a series on emotional intelligence. Further articles will unpack the business case for EI, how EI is measured as well as the difference between EI and IQ. Each of the emotional competencies that combine to make up emotional intelligence will be discussed in further detail. South African research on the role of emotional intelligence in project management will also be shared.
Please subscribe to Virtual Project Consulting not to miss any future updates!
About the Author:
Eben van Blerk is a Manager and Senior Business Analyst with more than 25 years’ corporate experience in information systems. Eben holds a Doctor of Technology degree in the role of emotional intelligence in information systems work. He has a keen interest in the role of emotional intelligence in performance at work and a passion for assisting individuals, through coaching and mentoring, to become more emotionally intelligent. In addition to presenting industry talks and facilitating emotional intelligence workshops, Eben has co-authored articles and book chapters on leadership and emotional intelligence in local and international publications.
The trend of having virtual teams collaborate on projects while working in different physical locations have been growing for the past few years. I remember working on a few such projects in the past 5 years. Distributed teams are always more challenging to work with as a project manager. From coping with different time-zones, to culture and language differences, as well as the ever-present technical tool challenges – like team members having bad internet connections with poor audio quality to calls dropping, background noises etcetera – are the typical scenarios you will have to deal with on a daily basis. Add to that how difficult it is to build healthy relationships with team members who haven’t met in person yet and therefore will take more time to build trust and mutual respect, and you have all the ingredients for a stressful project experience. Unfortunately, this is the situation many project teams find themselves in as part of the ‘global economy’ we live in.
Today, enterprises are expanding their reach by taking advantage of telecommuting, with workers plying their trade based out of different offices, countries and even their own homes. Thanks to the Internet, modern professionals are enabled to work from virtually anywhere.
Some advantages of working as part of virtual teams, is the exposure to experts from outsourced companies and team members having more opportunities to engage with professional peers who reside anywhere around the globe.
Still, the effective deployment of virtual project teams, is challenging for enterprise leaders. For instance, a Deloitte study found that 66-percent of virtual workgroups failed to meet clients’ expectations. Further studies revealed that many professionals believe that virtual communication is not as effective as face-to-face meetings. They also expressed feelings of confusion when using new teleconferencing technologies.
Despite these sentiments, one study found that successful virtual teams outperformed employees who completed projects while working out of traditional office settings. Other studies found that virtual teams improve productivity, with some consulting firms experiencing performance gains of up to 43-percent. Although research has shown that virtual project teams can produce improved outcomes compared to teams operating out of traditional offices, the experience can prove just as stressful if not more difficult than working in normal office settings.
In this type of work environment, there are obstacles to productivity. To begin with, some workers may never meet in person or even live in the same country. Furthermore, it may prove difficult for project leaders to coordinate team members who live in different time zones.
For this reason, project leaders of virtual teams should establish policies that deal with these kinds of issues up front. Another important aspect is mindfulness, which means that you as the leader take responsibility for your words and actions. The team members are also made mindful and are careful of their words and actions; they don’t let their negative emotions impact the others around them.
A well-planned project will ensure employee mental health and optimal productivity. Moreover, by teaching team members to understand each other’s cultural nuances, team leaders can create inclusive and cohesive work environments where staff members respect each other and, ultimately, are satisfied with their roles.
To find more resources for mindfulness at work and what employers can do to help,check out this employee mental health guide developed by Maryville University’s online degree program.
The purpose of this article is to help Project Professionals better understand the meaning of Cognitive Computing and how it’s disrupting business today.
CC describes technology platforms that, broadly speaking, are based on the scientific disciplines of artificial intelligence and signal processing. These platforms encompass machine learning , reasoning , natural language processing , speech recognition and vision (object recognition), human–computer interaction , dialog and narrative generation, among others
Wikipedia definition of Cognitive Computing (CC)
Cognitive computing makes it possible to process data much faster than humans according to research done by Ohio University. If you allow cognitive computing to transform your business, there are certain principles to adhere to, factors to consider for adoption and ways to integrate it into business.
Humans and computers are now interacting. In business, robots could help professionals as follows:
According to IBM, Artificial Intelligence (AI) should serve a distinct purpose. This purpose, whether it’s used in systems, products, or services, must always be under human control as AI exists to assist humans, not replace them.
A layer of transparency is required. For AI to work, business leaders need to trust the results. This means there must always be clear answers to AI usage, the data the AI handles, and AI is protecting the data and its insights.
Worker skills need to be enhanced. AI doesn’t work without humans, so business leaders need to support them by ensuring workers have proper training to work with AI in a safe, secure, and efficient manner.
Businesses using cognitive computing will likely have to create or be subject to various policies. This can be viewed as an extension of policies around data and privacy, which are continually evolving. In this case, proactively preparing policies could help combat fear, uncertainty, and doubt.
IBM offers some ideas for adopting Cognitive Computing.
An integration approach needs to consider a few things.
Below you will find an Infographic that provides a good summary of Cognitive Computing.
By Linky van der Merwe
Recently I finished reading a fascinating book called: “The art of possibility: Transforming professional and personal life” The book is full of positive stories to attempt to change your perspective in life.
It’s about drawing a different frame around a set of circumstances that seem to block us in our daily lives, and seeing new pathways come into view. It’s about finding the right framework so that extraordinary accomplishment becomes an everyday experience. Ultimately, it describes a new practice for bringing possibility to life in an intellectual, but entertaining way.
My favourite parts of the book were the interesting stories about music and orchestras from the conductor who is also the writer, which beautifully illustrate his points. For the purpose of this article I want to share a poem and a story, but I would recommend reading the book as well.
The words of Marianne Williamson:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,
Our deepest feat is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous –
actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people
won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some of us: it is in everyone
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”
Frameworks for creating possibility are illustrated throughout the book by means of stories. I particularly liked this story about Truth and Reconciliation because it took place in my country, South Africa.
Under the leadership of the Nelson Mandela government, The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was formed as a framework for the possibility of the integration of all aspects of society, with Archbishop Desmond Tutu as its chairman. The TRC offered amnesty to individuals who were prepared to tell the whole truth publicly and could prove that their violent deeds had been politically motivated.
The vision of the TRC: “a need for understanding, but not for vengeance, a need for reparation but not for retaliation, a need for Ubuntu (brotherhood) but not for victimization.” The Truth Commission served as a framework for possibility because the more truth was revealed, the more connection and deeper understanding emerged. It became a framework for the possibility of social transformation.
Mandela believed that the TRC helped to move away from the past to concentrate on the present and the future. It left the society free to take the next step.
After reading the book, I found myself looking at work problems differently, especially with project challenges and teams having difficulty to always cooperate smoothly. The frameworks in the book provide various lenses through which to look for alternative solutions to problems. Of course this can be applied to personal problems as well. I would encourage you to read it and find out for yourself.
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