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Index section

1. Welcome to Elements!
2. Independent Consultants –- Surviving to Thriving
3. Whole System Project Management
4. Links: Countries, Translation, CIA, Job Trends, Article on Coaching ROI
5. Coaching Notes: My Progress and Definitions
6. Quotes on Change
7. Events: Decision-making Collaboration Style
8. Newsletter Notes

Welcome to Elements!

Spring was in the air yesterday after a long stretch of frigid temperatures and many feet of snow. Windows were thrown open to catch the 50-degree air and the welcome sunshine. My son hung his head out the car window like a big dog and proudly declared, “I can smell it--Spring!” That first glimpse of Spring brought with it a light-heartedness, a sense of renewal and hope. This month’s Elements brings you a snapshot of what Independent Consultants are doing to survive and thrive during uncertain times, an article that proposes expanded criteria for measuring project success, and some varied and interesting links to check out. In the Coaching Notes section, I offer two definitions of coaching. I find that coaching is such a uniquely personalized experience for everyone who tries it that I have resisted defining it up until now! My preference has been to allow each person to try a coaching sample, usually on the phone, and usually for about 30 minutes. Then I ask them to describe their experience. So if you and I haven’t connected about this yet, please be in touch and let me know how you define what you have experienced in coaching. Here’s to Spring! Star 978 486-4603

2. Independent Consultants – Surviving to Thriving As the economy shifts, so does the landscape for independent consultants.

These are the individual self-employed persons who, like myself, offer services to others. Independent consultants provide a wide range of services, including management training, communication skills, programming, writing, coaching, print and online design and many, many more. Companies hiring consultants in the current economy generally have less money to spend, are very selective in their hiring, and hire for fewer available jobs. The jobs that do exist may be harder to land, last for a shorter period, take longer to implement, and sometimes may even pay less.

There are two classes of independent consultants – the career kind, and others. People in the “others” category vary in their reasons for why they are consulting. Some, if they are temporarily unemployed, use consulting as a way station to a full- time job in the same field. Some others, in the same situation, consult as they explore new fields and possible career redirection. Either way, for these people consulting can be a way to stay current in their field if they want to continue in it, or to simply stay employable (and relatively employed!) until they refocus their career goals.

Here are some of the things that successful independents are currently doing:

--Back to Basics Doing the hard work of writing or preconceiving business plans to make them more meaningful, focused, realistic, and useful.

--Enhancing personal and professional skills Honing marketing, sales/closing skills, refining or acquiring technical, networking, and public-speaking skills. Reading expert materials to keep up with chosen industry and to spark ideas for possible markets, products, and relationships to develop.

--Building Credibility Writing articles, books, creating or enhancing websites, offering courses, giving public presentations.

--Adapting or changing services Based on market needs, customer requests, and best guesses

--Providing One-Stop Shopping for clients Developing and nurturing referrals, partnering, and associate relationships to allow many client needs to be met through the constellation of professional contacts the consultant maintains.

--Selectively cementing current relationships and renewing old ones With customers, partners, experts, and others Success is happening for independents who are being persistent and working harder, and who have a laser-like clarity and focus on their business. They are in a constant cycle of feedback, learning, trying, adapting, changing and doing it all over again to hone their services.  

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3. Whole System Project Management

The role of many project managers has been defined in a way that can easily destine them to failure for contemporary projects. Success for these managers is measured by using the traditional criteria of delivering projects on-time, on-budget, on- quality and on-requirements. This approach to success has an intrinsic heads-down, singular focus for essentially the duration of the project. Surprisingly though, as quoted frequently in project management literature, 70-80% of projects fail based on that criteria. This “singular” focus creates behaviors and attitudes that, while zeroing in on the project itself, tend to shut out the rest of the world. Ignoring and not being able to adapt projects to changes that may be happening all around it can become almost a predictor of failure for a project. A project exists within something larger than itself, a larger context such as an organization, company or group. Every project also represents “change” in some way, even if it is just the fact that by the end of the project, something will be done that hasn’t been done before. Projects are essentially a physical manifestation of some part of the vision of the larger company or entity. To not know or include or respond to that vision may allow a project to succeed using the traditional criteria, yet fail in its overall effect. An example of this could be delivering a quality product on-time and on-budget, yet having the market reject it because of external changes that weren’t taken into account by the project team. By not considering the impact of market changes, not bringing information and suggestions about new market developments into the ongoing work of the project, the project team and its manager have essentially failed. What the traditional and static measures of success don’t take into consideration is that we are living in a changing world—one with market, economy, companies, and organizations in flux, and with people themselves undergoing change within that flux. The truer measure of success for a project is how well it manifests the targeted vision and strategy of a company. Frequently this impact can only be assessed long after the project has been delivered, delayed or canceled. Paradoxically, NOT moving ahead is sometimes exactly the right thing to do to ensure eventual success! For the right reasons, delaying a project, lowering quality standards, offering fewer features, or even canceling the project completely can be the best thing to do if it furthers the larger goals and strategies of an organization. Canceling or delaying a project in this way clearly is a more difficult position to take, and to justify. It requires a very skilled and seasoned manager to do this. Even more difficult after making this kind of project redirection, is helping people to understand it. Expanding peoples’ view of the project in terms of its role within the larger company context can be useful. This allows people to connect to the larger and longer-range goals of the company, rather than just seeing the cancellation as a “screw-up.” It is just human nature to want to find a human reason for changes, and a savvy manager can help people incorporate a larger and more useful view of their efforts. Success measurements for projects must ultimately be based on whether or not the vision and strategy of the larger entity are, in fact, furthered by the outcomes of the project. For this reason, I’m including some suggestions for incorporating awareness of outside change into the planning and ongoing work of a project: a) During the initial planning phase, ensure that the project will have outcomes that are clearly tied to the vision and strategy of the larger entity. b) Put a process in place for a communication strategy should the project need to be redirected or cancelled. c) Plan for regular discussions about on-going events and the effects of possible changes. d) Set out Checkpoints and Milestones to assess and incorporate possible external changes that may need to be reflected in the project’s outcomes.

Some questions that could be useful to discuss with the project leaders, the team, and the company vision and strategy holders are:

1. How is this project furthering or changing our company’s strategies or overall vision?
2. What processes do we have in place for adapting to outside changes--in the market, the economy, in vendors, and in people?
3. What lessons might this project have for us about the vision and strategies that we operate under? 4. How will what we learn from this project be incorporated into our process, or next project, or daily operations?
5. After the project is delivered how will we track its impact?
6. How will we know if this project has furthered the long term vision of this organization? Companies need to develop a culture where it is acceptable for projects to be canceled or changed as a rapid and intentional response. One way to do this is to purposefully redefine and enlarge the criteria for a project’s success.

4. Links

 www.manchesterus.com/executivecoachingyieldsreturnoninvestment.html
This is an article frequently quoted by coaches. It claims to be one of the first studies done to prove that the investment in coaching realizes an average return on investment of almost six times the cost.

 www.freetranslation.com/index.htm
This site translates text and web pages from and to each of these languages: English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Portuguese, German, Italian, and Norwegian.

 http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
The CIA world fact book. Select a country and click for basic and up-to-date information on the people, the economy, communications, disputes, the military and more.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/oco2003.htm
This is an interesting article from the USA Bureau of Labor Statistics about tomorrow’s jobs. It includes many charts and graphs to support their analysis of the trends.  

5. Coaching Notes

How I’m Doing, and Definitions I’m halfway through the coaching certification program and still love it! We dig deeply into each area of coaching skill and practice it over and over with new variables and nuances. I learn, and learn more wonderfully, about myself, my clients and the skill of coaching. Coaching Defined -- Frequently I’m asked to define coaching. Here’s one description I’ve used: Coaching is partnering with a person or group to discover, clarify and achieve desired changes and goals. It is about learning and taking actions. And here’s coaching described in a more visual way: Draw four circles nested within, each other. The smallest circle is the core or vision or authentic self. The next circle is values and beliefs The larger middle circle is behaviors, habits, actions and goals The outside circle is the outside world, communities, and other people This circle diagram can be used to identify and represent the same four levels of “being” for a company, a team or an individual. Coaching is the process of exploration and discovery that leads to action and learning within each ring of the circle. The energy of learning is a powerful one, and the forward movement from learning creates change that impacts the whole, and that can lead to increased fulfillment when all of the circles become consistent, aligned, and in balance. And because learning and growth are organic, there is no set determination of where an exploration or activity should begin. Each group or person involved in coaching starts their exploring and taking action from their own unique perspective and place within the circle.
 

6. Quotes on Change:

“I change not by trying to be something other than I am. I change by being fully aware of how I am.” Richard D. Carson, Taming your Gremlin.

“You can live a lifetime and at the end of it, know more about other people then you know about yourself.” Beryl Markham

“We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started. And know the place for the first time.” T.S. Eliot

7. Events –- Decision-Making Collaboration Style

Information Technology and Training Conference Center in Newport, RI For more information see: www.ITTConference.org Monday June 23, 11AM, Rhode Island. Please join us! Making a decision implies choices that cannot fail to have an impact on the area in question. IT and related technical decisions often get derailed from having to include multiple and differing levels of information. Decision-making is a process that can be collaborative, interactive and sometimes even fun! This interactive session teaches a decision-making process that can result in substantially better decisions—ones that are clear, will stick, and ultimately have an impact. Using project management, coaching and facilitation techniques, the participants will step through five stages of a collaborative decision-making process: 1 – Clarity about the decision – What are we deciding, really? 2 – Mechanics – How will we make the decision? 3 – Inquiry – Do we have all the information we need ? 4 – Analysis – What conclusions are we coming to about this decision? 5 – Moving to action – What are we going to do as a result of this decision? Come to this session prepared with a decision recently made, one that needs to be made, or just follow along with the group’s real life examples. This workshop is available for on-site delivery to teams and companies.

8. NEWSLETTER NOTES

Elements March 2003 Written by: Star Dargin Edited by: Diane Johns Advertising will be accepted.

Contact Star for rates at: stars@stardar.com Personal submissions will only be published with permission from the submitter, who is responsible for ensuring rights to the material. Based on your preference, submissions can be published anonymously. To subscribe or unsubscribe send email to stars@stardar.com The opinions expressed in Elements are the author's viewpoint. While every effort has been taken to verify the accuracy of the content, such information is subject to change without notice. Elements is not responsible for inadvertent errors. Star Dargin is an independent coach, consultant and trainer and is a partner of Shared Learning International: www.sharedlearningint.com As a professional coach and consultant she collaborates with individuals and teams to provide focus and balance in achieving personalized results. Diane Johns is a freelance writer, editor and indexer with longstanding interest and experience in the human potential movement. She has been involved with business publishing & marketing, as well as instructional design for many years, and considers her work with words--especially how they can allow others to shine--as the way she makes a difference. She can be reached at dianeji@usa.net.