1 – Designate a single point of contact. It’s hard to control what comes out of people’s mouths, so appoint just one person as the authorized media contact and strictly admonish the rest of your team that they aren’t allowed to speak with any media representatives. Be sure your designated contact has the experience and savvy needed to successfully work with the media.

2 – Release the right information…and nothing else. Journalists and reporters can ask any questions they want—it’s up to you to respond in your project’s and your organization’s best interests. If you aren’t sure what information should be released, check with your executive team for final approval.

3 – Avoid informal conversations. Remind team members that sensitive discussions should only take place in secure areas. Lunchtime gab fests in a public restaurant could spell disaster if a reporter is dining incognito at the next table.

4 – Focus on safety. Good job site practices require the right safety tools and equipment, but compliance is sometimes lax. Don’t let a team member be caught on camera without the protective gear they need, and be sure your work location is tidy and meets all applicable regulations.

5 – Maintain appearances. If it’s likely that TV cameras will visit a job site or work location, advise your team to be particularly careful with their appearance and demeanor. Appropriate clothing and protective gear (if needed) are a must.

6 – Be prepared. It’s helpful to have a couple of media-safe photos, sketches, timelines, and team member bios handy. This keeps your team’s focus on the project with while still garnering the kind of publicity that will benefit your organization.

PMAlliance uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project office development services.

Thinking creatively

“I’m just not creative.” Sound familiar? Some of us seem to be creative by nature, while others have to work at it. If you’re the type that could use a little push, try these tips.

Take your time. Give yourself a chance to really think in-depth about your problem without the phone ringing or the e-mail alert popping onto your screen. Your office is full of distractions, and probably isn’t the best place to do your most innovative thinking. Instead, take a walk at lunchtime or make your commute more productive. Use a voice recorder to capture the flow of ideas, or bring along a notebook if you aren’t comfortable blurting out your thoughts.

Ask for help. Don’t be shy about asking mentors or colleagues for ideas (but don’t expect them to do all the work). You may find their varied experiences and different perspectives give you just the right nudge toward an entirely new solution to your problem. As always, remember to keep confidential or potentially sensitive information to yourself.

Encouraging creativity within your team

A few basic activities—done the right way—will give your team a creative boost.

Old-fashioned brainstorming. A variety of techniques are available to manage and facilitate brainstorming sessions, but the most important thing to remember is that now is not the time to stifle anyone’s creative juices. Banish egos, hierarchy, and the tendency to critique from every brainstorming session, and you’ll have moved your team forward in their quest to find the perfect solution. Any idea is welcome at this point, so encourage bad ideas, wild ideas, unworkable ideas, and just plain “what are you thinking?” ideas. Among them you’ll find a gem, but first you need a whole bunch of possibilities to sift through.

Question everything. Is your team making assumptions that are unnecessarily limiting, or just plain wrong? Are resources really set in stone? Is the project’s objective as specific as it sounds? Have assumptions from previous projects been unconsciously carried over that are no longer valid? Your team can’t possibly devise a good solution if they’re starting with incorrect assumptions, so examine your situation and the problem with new eyes.

Change perspective. How would your nearest competitor tackle this problem? Would a very small or very large company have a different approach? By viewing the problem from a different perspective, you may hit upon new and innovative solutions that a conventional mindset wouldn’t have yielded.

Checks and balances

Your solutions need to stay within some boundaries, such as those imposed by your organization, regulatory agencies, and local laws. Once your team has put together some potentially good ideas, it’s time to stack them up against your project’s parameters.

Write them down. The first step is to identify your team’s boundaries. Resource limitations such as staffing, funding, and time are good places to start. From here you can weed out solutions that can’t bend to meet your needs.

Push back. Once you’ve zeroed in on your project’s limitations, it’s time to determine which are solid and which are malleable. Can additional funding be secured? Could consultants stand in for some badly needed in-house expertise? Knowing how firm each limitation really is will help you formulate the perfect solution.

PMAlliance uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project office development services.

Make communication a priority. Be sure that everyone on the team knows how to contact you and other members. Volunteers are more likely to bump your project down on the priority list when things get busy, so it’s critical to provide them with a quick way to communicate any change in their availability.

Maintain comprehensive task lists and schedules. Depending on the project or organization, turnover among volunteers may be higher than is typical with employees. Shifting responsibilities between members will probably need to happen more often, and detailed project plans will help keep the project moving forward without interruption.

Reassess your personnel needs. With all the other things your volunteers are juggling, it’s prudent to assign more people to a task than usual. This conflicts with the typical corporate scenario, where staffing is lean and team members are expected to carefully manage their time and workloads. Think tomorrow’s envelope-stuffing event needs two people? Bump the team to three and you’ll be in a better position to absorb any last-minute problems or absences.

Consider the expertise available. Remember that volunteers are usually proficient at the tasks they’ve offered to do, but it’s likely that they aren’t experts. Be flexible in setting goals and measuring results, and look for signs that a task requires someone with true expertise.

Reward freely. Volunteers don’t receive traditional compensation for their hard work, so hand out as many perks as you can and express your appreciation for their efforts often. Folks who help out regularly should get special recognition.

PMAlliance uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project office development services.

1 – Do it quick. Once a project is officially dead, immediately switch to “kill” mode. Don’t expend any more energy or resources on the project than are necessary to complete the cancelation process. Quickly shift existing personnel to other projects, leaving only the minimum level of staffing needed to decommission the dead project and perform any shutdown activities.

2 – Do it publicly. Notify your team first, and then let business partners, collaborators, vendors, suppliers, end users, and stakeholders know the project has been canceled. Don’t assume that folks are already aware of the project’s demise—even senior-level stakeholders may be surprised to learn their pet project is pushing up daisies.

3 – Do it thoughtfully. Evaluate your obligations, which could be numerous and expensive. Which contracts or work agreements need to be terminated, what are the costs associated with terminating those contracts early, and how long will the project continue to require some level of support—either funds or staffing—to complete the decommission?

4 – Consider your next actions. Whatever your project was designed to do—improve a work process, add new equipment, expand a critical piece of software—it’s time to evaluate how operations will continue without the project’s objectives being met. Are there vendor agreements that must be renegotiated to continue or restart services that were halted as part of your project’s implementation? Were temporary stopgap measures in place that now must be refitted to become long-term?

PMAlliance uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project office development services.

Stay in touch. Forward your office line to your mobile, or have another team member transfer important calls to you. Get a laptop with built-in wireless access, use a cellular carrier’s wireless card, or sign up for the hotel’s in-room Wi-Fi access (be sure it’s secure or use a VPN). Check e-mail and voicemail regularly, and activate an out-of-office message if your schedule won’t allow for frequent logins.

Delegate. Focus on your trip’s objectives and your core responsibilities, and assign as much of the other stuff as you can to the rest of your team. If critical-path activities will occur while you’re away (visits by inspectors, the arrival of new equipment, etc.), bring a fellow team member up to speed before you leave and delegate the entire task to them. They’ll expand their skill set while you put your energy into other aspects of the project.

Seize downtime. In-transit time is perfect for tackling tasks such as reviewing and commenting on documents, responding to e-mail and voice messages, evaluating vendor proposals, watching or listening to educational material, drafting new project plans, and reviewing any presentations you’ll be giving during your trip. It’s also a prime opportunity to relax and recharge with a good book, or even an in-flight massage.

Pack light. Stick to carry-ons to avoid the hassle of lost/delayed bags and hanging out in baggage claim. You’ll be more flexible when hit by last-minute schedule changes and delays, and hopping into a cab in the rain is less of a chore, too. Consolidate your electronics (fewer power cords!), invest in multi-use clothing, and bring only what you need.

PMAlliance uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project office development services.