PPP 031 | Leading Teams with Meaning, with Dr. Adam Grant

Total Duration: 29:30

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I'm in Las Vegas this week, speaking to leaders from hundreds of companies from around the world. Las Vegas is certainly an intriguing place on many levels. It's an economy that thrives on tourism and in order to keep those tourists happy and coming back, organizations out here need reliable, skilled, engaged workers.

The truth is, the need for engaged, motivated employees isn't just a Las Vegas issue.

I've long felt that the most dangerous employee was not the one who has left the company. It's the one who has left the company but they haven't left the company! It's the people who are just checking in and checking out, day after day, taking up space and leaving a huge amount of productivity on the table. Whether you lead a team of software developers, salespeople, accountants, or doctors, much of our organizational success comes down to how engaged and motivated our front line employees truly are.

I'm staying at a very nice, well-known hotel in Vegas. To be honest, I'm not impressed with the front line service. And you know what? I intersect with enough companies to recognize this isn't just an issue at Caesar's Palace. Chances are your organization could use some insights on how to further engage your employees as well.

In recent years I've enjoyed following the employee engagement research and writings of Dr. Adam Grant from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. I had the opportunity to catch up with Adam recently and look forward to sharing that interview with you in this episode.

Project management podcastIn the interview, Adam recommends the following books for follow-up:

I strongly recommend each of them as well.

A proven way to help engage your team members is to invest in their development. Budgets don't always allow for you to send them away for training but that doesn't mean training has to be put off for a year.

Clearly you already know the benefits of podcasts. Some of the best free learning available these days comes from what you're doing right now—listening to casts such as The People and Projects Podcast.

Well, starting in July of this year we are launching Premium Subscriptions for our podcast. You and your teams will still have access to our free episodes. But we are going even further with the Premium Subscriptions to help you develop and engage your teams.

Project management podcastHere's an example of how you can use our Premium Subscription: Have members of your team listen to an episode of The People and Projects Podcast before a team meeting. Prior to that meeting, you download the premium content for the episode. This will typically be questions you can use to facilitate a discussion on the topic. In addition, there are usually links to additional resources such as recommended books or articles for follow-up learning. All this makes it easy for you to develop practical project management and leadership skills on your team without breaking your budget.

Beyond that, Premium Subscribers are automatically entered into drawings for books and other resources throughout the year. And, as a special bonus, you get free admission to webinars that I lead throughout the year. Visit here to learn more about how to develop your team with a Premium Subscription.

One last thing! Would you take a moment to let a friend or colleague know about The People and Projects Podcast? I'd love to pour into them as well, to help them lead people and deliver projects.

Thanks for joining us for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

PPP 030 | Wired to Care, with author Dev Patnaik

Total Duration 25:50

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What comes to mind when you think of empathy?

Do you think of someone who is highly sensitive and compassionate--maybe even too much? Or does that description sound more like sympathy, where empathy isn't quite as emotional?

Empathy remains a hot topic in leadership. It's difficult to lead people without some measure of empathy in your approach. Yet I've observed from plenty of executive coaching clients that there's some opportunity to better understand what empathy is--and isn't as we seek to deliver projects and lead teams.

Project mgt and empathyOne of the freshest voices on empathy today is Dev Patnaik, CEO of Jump Associates. Dev recently authored the book Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy. I had the opportunity to talk with Dev and look forward to sharing that interview with you in this cast.

Make sure to get a copy of Dev's book Wired to Care. And check out the book's website (wiredtocare.com) and Dev's organization Jump Associates.

Thank you for joining us for this episode of the People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

PPP 029 | The Project Success Method, with author Clint Padgett

Total Duration 22:04

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Click here to get your copySo when it comes right down to it... what can you do to better ensure that you successfully deliver the projects you're managing? 

It's a question I love working with our clients on, and it's a question that is directly addressed in Clint Padgett's book The Project Success Method: A Proven Approach for Achieving Superior Project Performance in as Little as 5 Days. I had the opportunity to talk with Clint recently and look forward to sharing that interview with you in this episode.

To learn more about Clint and his organization, I invite you to check them out at projectsuccess.com.

Do you have an upcoming company meeting or retreat? We have keynote presentations that can inspire and motivate your teams to successfully deliver the projects and lead their teamsContact us at 866-884-5323 to learn more.

Thanks for joining us for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

PPP 028 | Influence Without Authority Scenarios, Part 2

It's one thing to know there's a model for influencing without authority. But how do we implement that model, as leaders and project managers? That's what we tackle in this second part of my interview with Dr. Allan Cohen, author of Influence Without Authority.

I recommend you check out the accompanying website for Dr. Cohen's book, which you can find at www.influencewithoutauthority.com.

Are you interested in learning how to develop your influence skills? How about your team's ability to influence? Give us a call to learn how we can help you become more influential, even in situations you don't have authority.

Please join me in the next episode when I’m joined by Clint Padgett, President and CEO of Project Success Inc, and author of The Project Success Method: A Proven Approach for Achieving Superior Project Performance in as Little as 5 Days.

Thanks for joining us for this episode! Have a great week!

Duration 19:37

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PPP 027 | How to Influence Without Authority, an interview with author Dr. Allan Cohen

Episode Duration 29:53

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One of my leadership heroes is Ken Blanchard, who is on record of saying, "The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.

I wholeheartedly agree with Ken, that developing your influence skills is critical to success in today’s business environment, especially when a growing number of project managers and other leaders have an increasing amount of responsibility but not necessarily a corresponding amount of authority to go with it.

Many listening to this cast are in positions where they have to influence without authority and to help us improve our skills in that area I got in touch with the author of one my favorite books on the topic, Dr Allan Cohen, who wrote Influence Without Authority.

In this cast we walk through the influence model that Allan developed with Stanford professor Dr. David Bradford. In the follow-up cast I have Allan walk through a couple specific scenarios relevant to our audience, to apply the model in practical ways.

You'll notice part way through the cast that our recording system introduced some background interference due to a technical issue that occurred during my discussion with Dr. Cohen. I apologize for the annoyance, trusting you'll glean many lessons from the interview despite the distraction.

I recommend you check out the accompanying website for Dr. Cohen's book, which you can find at www.influencewithoutauthority.com. Please join me in the next episode when Dr. Cohen applies his influence model to two specific scenarios that I’m confident you’ll find relevant to your role.

And, one last thing! Would you take a moment to let a friend or colleague know about The People and Projects Podcast? I’d love to pour into them as well, to help them lead people and deliver projects.

Thanks for joining us for this episode! Have a great week!

More Articles ...

  1. PPP 026 | How to Offer, Give, and Receive Help. Part 2 of an Interview with Dr. Ed Schein
  2. PPP 025 | Corporate Culture Survival, with Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus, Dr. Ed Schein
  3. PPP 024 | PDUs for PMPs, with guest Cornelius Fichtner, PMP
  4. PPP 023 | Steve Martin and Andy Kaufman on Influence
  5. PPP 022 | Who's Got Your Back? An interview with bestselling author Keith Ferrazzi
  6. PPP 021 | The New Year Money Episode, with author and speaker Matt Bell
  7. PPP 020 | Accountability That Works! An interview with author and speaker John G. Miller
  8. PPP 019 | Making New Year's Resolutions StickK! An interview with Jordan Goldberg, CEO of stickK.com
  9. PPP 018 | Project Management Beyond PMI, an interview with Bill Duncan, primary author of the original PMBOK(R) Guide
  10. PPP 017 | Take Back Your Life! An interview with author John Wittry
  11. PPP 016 | World of Thanks, a special Thanksgiving podcast episode
  12. PPP 015 | Is Failure an Option? An interview with Ralph Heath, author of Celebrating Failure
  13. PPP 014 | How to Know What You Don't Know, an interview with author Michael Roberto
  14. PPP 013 | Managing Politics and Conflict in Projects, with author Brian Irwin, PMP
  15. PPP 012 | Why Feedback Doesn't Work, with Charles Jacobs, author of Management Rewired
  16. PPP 011 | Fierce Leadership, an interview with author Susan Scott
  17. PPP 010 | Managing Generation Y, an interview with author and speaker Bruce Tulgan
  18. PPP 009 | Why New Systems Fail, an interview with author Phil Simon
  19. PPP 008 | Managing Extreme Projects, with author and consultant Doug DeCarlo
  20. PPP 007 | Leading and Delivering with Virtual Teams, with guest Dr. Karen Sobel Lojeski
  21. PPP 006 | Getting More Done with Less Stress, with guest Jason Womack
  22. PPP 005 | How Engaged Are Your Teams? Got Conflict? A conversation with Kenneth W. Thomas, author of "Intrinsic Motivation at Work"
  23. PPP 004 | Increasing Your Charisma, with guest Dr. Nick Morgan, author of "Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma"
  24. PPP 003 | The Myth of Multitasking, with guest author Dave Crenshaw
  25. PPP 002 | Project Sponsorship, with guest Alfonso Bucero, PMP
  26. PPP 001 | Why Social Networking Matters

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