It changes the way we behave.

And I firmly believe that when I am positive, it not only makes me better,

but it also makes those around me better.
-Harvey Mackay

A fundamental practice of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is to focus on strengths rather than weaknesses. Doing so enables us open up our thinking to explore our successes and opportunities rather than obsess about our shortcomings or failures. This practice does NOT mean that we sugar-coat or overlook reality. It simply means that we build on our immediate and local assets rather than focusing on what is not there or not desirable.

We all tend to find evidence to support our assumptions and values, no matter what they are. As public servants, we can use this inclination to our advantage in our interactions with both citizens and colleagues. This practice, based on the principles of Appreciative Inquiry, is called finding “the flip.”

This is not the same thing as putting a more palatable spin on a negative topic. Instead, it enables our capacity to recognize any positive assets or attributes that are contained within the hard situation. That’s the positive nugget, the gold. We want more of that.

Consider one simple example. You are leading a staff meeting following a week in which your community experienced conflict or, perhaps, a natural disaster. People are depleted and disappointed, AND there is a lot of work to do. Assume our society and we as individuals share the responsibility in varying degrees for the bad things that happened. Ignoring the weight or reach of the negative experience is not appropriate, and ignoring the work that has to be done today is not an option, either.

Try opening the meeting by going around the table to allow responses to one of the following questions:

• Share one simple action you saw or experienced in the last week that gave you hope for our capacity to act with integrity and compassion, even in challenging situations.
• Our systems were overwhelmed dealing with difficult circumstances last week. Share one small example of a successful interaction with the public that gave you pride in our organization.
• The stressful events of the last week indicate we need to strengthen arenas of both prevention and response. As we begin work to do that, share one practice or asset we have that strengthens our public interactions and should be retained into the future.

By naming that good stuff together first,  we can unleash the potential of that positivity and design the way forward together — a future that includes more of what we desire.

To learn more about using AI in your work in the public sector, join us in Winston-Salem on November 4, 2016, for a one-day workshop on Positive Problem Solving.

The post Appreciative Inquiry 101: Finding “The Flip” to a More Positive Outcome appeared first on The Public Leadership Blog.

Like many organizational issues, this one was not restricted to one department, so she pulled together a cross-functional team of employees to identify the source(s) of the errors and recommend ways to fix them. These were smart, dedicated folks who had a proven track record of getting the job done.

Months later, the team had made little progress. When some team members suggested possible solutions, other members reacted defensively and interpreted the suggestions as criticisms of how they were running their departments. Meetings dissolved into blaming and finger-pointing. The team had virtually ground to a halt.

The assistant manager was considering replacing some team members to jump-start the group. Will that help?

According to recent research conducted by Google, who is on the team is far less important than how they treat each other when they get together.

In 2012, Google set out to discover the secret of how to build the perfect team. The research is described in more detail in Charles Duhigg’s new book Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business (Random House, 2016).

After tracking over 180 teams for several years and measuring every variable they could think of, the researchers found lots of data about what didn’t seem to make a difference.

Factors that didn’t affect a team’s performance include:

• Personality type
• Socializing outside work
• Gender balance
• Length of time working together
• Educational background

And on and on. No matter how the researchers arranged the data, they couldn’t find patterns that indicated that the team composition mattered much.

So what did make a difference? Group norms: the “unwritten rules” of how team members behave toward each other. Specifically, two group norms showed up consistently in the high-performing teams:

1. Conversational turn-taking. On the best teams, everyone got a chance to talk. If only one person or a small group of people spoke all the time, the collective IQ went down.
2. High social sensitivity. Team members were good at picking up on what others were thinking and feeling, based on nonverbals like tone of voice and facial expressions. They noticed when someone was feeling upset or left out.

Taken together, these two norms are important aspects of psychological safety: a sense that the team is a safe place to take risks, and that people won’t be embarrassed or punished for speaking up.

Touchy-feely? When one of the premier data-gathering organizations on the planet finds these results, maybe it’s time to eliminate that phrase from our vocabulary.

The post Worried About Getting the Right People on Your Team? It’s Not as Important as You Think appeared first on The Public Leadership Blog.

The term “project management” evokes images of highly specialized private sector project professionals working in project-based industries such as engineering, power, pharmaceuticals, and tech companies. Can a project manager at a local government or nonprofit agency employ “project management” principles, too? Absolutely!

Regardless of the organizational structure, project management has a place in all public organizations because management of projects has become a powerful way to integrate organizational functions and motivate groups to achieve higher levels of productivity and performance. This post describes the core principles for successful project management and why they are important to effective project management.

What is a project?

A project is simply a temporary effort, undertaken to create a unique service or result. It has a beginning and end. At its core, project management is about creating a structure to manage a process to achieve a project objective. A project manager is responsible and accountable for setting realistic and achievable goals for the project and for leading the project team to complete the project.

Major Factors Influencing Project Success

Several factors influence project management success, including:

• the composition of the project team (having the right people on the bus)
• the authority granted to the project manager (let the driver make the call on how to best get there)
• the broader enthusiasm around the project (we want to take this journey together)
• the scope of the project (where are we going and when do we need to be there)

Give the Project Manager Authority

The organization needs to explicitly give the authority over the project and its personnel to the project manager. This is increasingly important when those people serving on the project team have several lines of authority and the project is only one piece of their day-to-day responsibilities.

For example, a project aiming to produce a new comprehensive vehicle policy for a municipality may include team members from the police, fire, public works, and finance departments, as well as from the manager’s and the attorney’s office, all of whom directly report to different managers. In this situation, the project manager needs to have a strong communication plan in place with the functional managers of the project team and must ideally have final decision-making authority within the parameters of the project.

Apply a “project framework” to each project

Project management employs a ‘project framework’ that can be applied to any number of projects from creating a vehicle policy to a revitalization plan. The framework is built upon a set of key knowledge areas that address ‘facilitative functions’ and ‘core functions’. By outlining and considering these items in advance the project manager will start the project better equipped to move things forward.

Understand the difference between “facilitative” and “core” functions (you need them both). The facilitative functions are about coordination, support, and communication—keys to getting the right people, right funds, and right processes in place. For example, in the case of a new vehicle policy how will the right team be identified (should it be people from departments with the greatest use of public vehicles or people that monitor and budget for use- most likely it is both) and how will you ensure team members are engaged? Additionally, how will communication be coordinated so that all team members are getting and providing all the needed information in a timely and efficient manner (and if this is in the form of meetings how will employees like fire who work shifts be impacted by this decision)?

The core functions involve establishing the parameters to effectively control the project in terms of issues such as defining the scope, cost, and time. Both functions are important for project success but also involve different skills. For example, how the project is defined and how long is needed for completion? What will be the direct and indirect costs that need to be budgeted for the project and who is footing the bill? Finally, how will the team respond if the scope of the project changes?

To learn more see the Public Management Bulleting “Project Management Principles for Use in the Public Sector: Tools for Everyday Project Managers”. This bulletin provides additional discussion of the project framework as well as example pre-project checklists, a project charter template, and example tools for managing a project schedule. (http://sogpubs.unc.edu/electronicversions/pdfs/pmb09.pdf)

The post Effectively Managing a Project appeared first on The Public Leadership Blog.

I’d rather have a root canal! More than half the respondents (60%) said they spend more time planning for status meetings than they spend in the meetings themselves. Such meetings undermine productivity. Nearly half (46%) say they would prefer doing any number of unpleasant activities, such as watching paint dry, getting a mullet hairstyle or commuting 4 hours to and from work, than sit in a status meeting.

Consider setting time limits for meetings. The economic principle, Parkinson’s Law, says work will take as long as the time made available. So if you plan two-hour meeting, your meeting will take two hours. Plan a shorter meeting and the meeting will be shorter.

Effective meetings don’t just happen. They are planned and purposeful. If you are in charge of a meeting, here are some tips for making your meetings more productive.

In advance of the meeting:

• State clearly the purpose of the meeting.
• Develop an agenda in advance and circulate it to attendees ahead of time along with any relevant articles or reports.
• Select a space that fits the group. People should be able to sit so that everyone can see each other. A U-Shaped, circular or semi-circular arrangement is best.
• Have a white board or flip chart where you can record decisions, tasks and questions. Consider having a place for people to write down questions that are unrelated to the topic at hand but important. A “parking lot” for tangential issues can help keep the meeting on track.

During the meeting:

• Start and end on time
• Prepare a quick icebreaker to start. Ask a question, such as “What is the funniest movie you’ve ever seen? What is the most unusual food you have eaten? Or where was your favorite vacation spot?” to relax the group.
• Follow the agenda.
• Encourage discussion using open-ended questions but keep the conversation focused (use a “parking lot” for topics that are off track.) Don’t allow a few people to do all the talking.
• Keep minutes of the meeting. Minutes should reflect decisions reached, actions to be taken, and who agreed to be responsible for what.
• Ask people to share one idea or take-away at the end of the meeting.
• Summarize and check to make sure people agree on what has been accomplished.
• Set the time and place for the next meeting.
• Be a role model of good meeting behavior. Express appreciation for participants and acknowledge people who helped make the meeting a success.

After the meeting:

• Use an end-of-meeting evaluation with just a few questions—What worked? What would improve the next meeting?
• Distribute minutes and ask for corrections.

Well-run meetings can be part of successful organizations. Make sure your meetings are adding value. Your colleagues will thank you!

The post We Have To Stop Meeting Like This! appeared first on The Public Leadership Blog.