Tom Catalini

Key players

April 3, 2012 By Tom Catalini Leave a Comment

Key players make a team successful. They’re the ones that go the extra mile. They bring enthusiasm and dedication. They tackle the mundane tasks with fervor. They are consistent.

They also have the best sense of the big picture. They know how all the pieces fit together. They appreciate the various perspectives on how and why certain things need to be done in a certain order or in a certain way. They have a “feel” for the project – they have a grasp of the stuff that’s not easily identified or articulated.

They’re also well-supported. One person can only do so much. Which is why real key players also have the ability to inspire others, to lead by example, and to help gather and focus a team’s energy in the right direction.

That’s a lot. And it’s rare. Which is why key players are so valuable.

Photo credit: onwardz

Filed Under: Leadership

Tell me what it’s like to me

March 25, 2012 By Tom Catalini 2 Comments

For some reason advertisements for new cars either tell you nothing or they tell you a bunch of technical details. We see some abstract buy stylish video of the car zooming through a dreamlike landscape, always with the “professional driver, closed course” disclaimer. Or we get a rundown of technical features about the horsepower, fuel economy, powertrain warranty and so forth. Neither tells me what the car is like, to me, as I might use it.

A Bunch of Bananas

Which is why I liked this particular review I came across recently. It’s not an advertisement, but a review. Unlike other reviews, it’s got a real sense of practicality. Sure, that practicality is brought about in a silly way – through remote control cars, bananas, pineapple, and a melon. But, it gets the point across in an understandable and memorable way. Check it out.

Sailing into the wind

March 23, 2012 By Tom Catalini Leave a Comment

Sailors sometimes need (or want) to go in the same direction that the wind is coming from. With only wind to power their movement, this may seem like a losing battle. And it is – if you take it head on.

Instead, sailors tack into the wind. They aim slightly to the left and leverage the wind to push them toward their goal, albeit in an askew fashion. Then, they tack to the right, bringing them back toward their goal and then askew to the right, overshooting it a bit. This continues over and over until they reach their destination.

This indirect course is longer, but it achieves the goal.

Sometimes the best route to your goals is indirect. Try a little tacking next time you get stuck taking something head on.

Photo credit: jhbdel

Filed Under: Strategy Tagged With: beating to winward, project management, tacking

Repetition

March 20, 2012 By Tom Catalini Leave a Comment

“People like it when you repeat things.”

That’s a funny phrase, isn’t it? But it’s funny because it’s true.

You don’t often think about people liking repetition, because we think of repetition as boring and tedious. After reading that phrase that challenged my intuition, I realized that it’s right in many circumstances. Particularly in communication.

I might rephrase it to say that people appreciate repetition, though. And they appreciate the repetition of ideas, not necessarily strict repetition of a message again and again.

When you put your message forth several times, using different words and phrases, talking about the idea behind it from different angles, abstracting it in different ways, and using different mediums, it works. So the people who want to get your message, who want to understand your idea, appreciate all that effort.

Want to take it to the next level? Take that repetition and turn it into a two-way conversation. A conversation that continues in many iterations over time. Not only does that add to the power of repetition, but the learning becomes bi-directional and magnifies immensely.

Photo credit: Charles Collier

Filed Under: Communication Tagged With: communication, ideas, learning, message

Take the opportunity

March 13, 2012 By Tom Catalini Leave a Comment

People will give you opportunities. All the time, in fact.

If you look around, people are leaving room for you. Leaders, peers, and others leave gaps. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes not.

All those gaps are places you can step into and make a difference – move things forward, shift them in a new direction, prevent a catastrophe. Those gaps are opportunities. Opportunities you’ve been given, but also opportunities you need to take.

Photo credit: dan taylor

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: leadership gap, opportunity

Iterating the project design

March 7, 2012 By Tom Catalini Leave a Comment

Your project launches with a great deal of enthusiasm. A goal is established, a team assigned, and some resources aligned. It’s time to go, to get things moving.

But it’s also time to establish parameters, to make decisions, to get sign off on the detailed plan. Establishing the objectives, defining the critical success factors, and defining the scope are key to getting things off the ground properly – and to avoiding confusion, frustration, and wasted time by the team and the project sponsors down the road.

While the mission may seem obvious and the sense of urgency may be driving a lot of tactical action, iterating the project design now will save a lot of time in the long-term. Those “next level of detail” conversations with project sponsors and stakeholders will keep the channels of communication open and the feedback loop going during this critical phase of the project.

A few productive conversations now can replace a lot of frustrating ones down the line. And save a lot of time.

Photo credit: Etwood

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: project management

Momentum

March 6, 2012 By Tom Catalini 4 Comments

In the beginning, you have no momentum. The toughest part of your project is to get it going, to get it “off the ground.”

At that point it is crucial to get people on board, to get things going in the right direction, and to garner the time and attention of those directly and indirectly involved in your new initiative. You’ve got to build momentum.

An object in motion tends to stay in motion, and so will your project – for a while. But a lot of your time and attention will be required to keep things on track. To keep the energy levels up. To keep attention on the tasks at hand. To shape the direction. You need to keep the momentum.

Near the end of your project the Pareto Principle kicks in – a tremendous amount of work is required to make that final dash to the finish line. All that momentum you’ve been building must be harnessed and then magnified. You need the full time and attention of everyone on the tasks at hand, and all the new tasks, issues, and problems that arise as your project nears completion.

And here’s the key. You need to keep the momentum going after you cross that finish line. After the project is done, there’s always more to do. Perhaps some of the most valuable work is to be done now – evaluating the project, process, team, and lessons. Revisiting the original objectives and assessing the impact of your initiative now that it is up and running. Learning, adjusting, revising. Keep some momentum going for these things that matter tremendously for this project, and your next one.

Photo credit: tuchodi

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: momentum, project management

Picking teams

February 24, 2012 By Tom Catalini Leave a Comment

Sanjoy Ray leads an IT Innovation team at one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. The team’s projects are ambitious, risky, and by definition, upsetting to the entire organization. It’s their job to rock the boat by introducing new technologies that change the way things are done.

The teams that form around each initiative are dynamic, with members enlisted from various parts of the organization. They are established, work hard toward their goals, and then are disbanded as innovations ultimately become a part of standard operations. Establishing and running these teams is a huge element to getting this work done. Doing it right is a critical success factor.

Sanjoy’s insight here is useful for all of us – pick teams based on enthusiasm for the task. When faced with a choice between bringing the most skilled and experienced person or the most enthusiastic person onto the team, go with enthusiasm. As Ray explains:

This approach has led to extraordinary performance and commitment, even under challenging conditions, solely because all involved have outperformed in ways which were driven largely by their sheer excitement about the experiment.

I couldn’t agree more. Enthusiasm can make all the difference in the world.

Photo credit: jankintza_ikastola

Filed Under: Strategy Tagged With: enthusiasm, innovation, team building, teams

Communication is more than words

February 22, 2012 By Tom Catalini Leave a Comment

Discussions carry more information than words. Facial expressions, tone of voice, mannerisms and gestures are part of the conversation. All those things convey information and meaning. Stripping them away changes things.

That’s precisely the point of this great letter written by Mark Twain back in 1888, in which he disallows future pulitzer prize winning writer Edward Bok from publishing their interview.

“Spoken speech is one thing, written speech is quite another. Print is the proper vehicle for the latter, but it isn’t for the former. The moment ‘talk’ is put into print you recognize that it is not what it was when you heard it; you perceive that an immense something has disappeared from it. That is its soul.”

Twain goes on to explain, as only he can, the tremendous challenge of capturing spoken words accurately. It’s a great reminder that the medium matters. Translating the written word to a speech and the spoken word to text must be done with care and consideration. Communication is more than words.

Photo credit: Joel Washing

Filed Under: Communication Tagged With: interview, speech, writing