doug smith training

Does it ever feel like your project has one problem too many? Just when you're about to solve one problem another pops up and keeps you from your goal. Just when we seem to have everything under control something else slips out of view and into trouble. One problem too many just means that it's time to find the help you need. Maybe someone on your project team has the answer. Maybe your project sponsor knows what to do. Maybe the customer has an idea that will take ten problems off the table and help you focus on the goal. Asking for help not only gets you closer to solving those project problems but it also energizes your team. The help is out there. We just need to ask. -- Doug Smith doug smith training: how to achieve your project goals

When is the best time to be working on your project goals? Right now, of course. Now is the time that we have. While we might be easily distracted our project goals are waiting for us to take action. There is no better time than right now to work on your project goals.  Act relentlessly on that project plan. Find the goal that's ready for the next action. Then, act! -- Doug Smith doug smith training: how to achieve your project goals

Do you have a favorite solution? I've misapplied solutions sometimes simply because they were my favorite answers. Need more flexibility? Take all the flexibility you need. Or not. The answer that first pops into our mind is not always the right answer. It's just the answer we know best. That big problem might be easier to solve once we let go of that ineffective solution so deeply imbedded in us. We might be conditioned to pick that idea. We might be in a pattern of dysfunction. We might be wrong. Can you let go of an imbedded solution long enough to make room for something new? You can always come back to your favorite idea if it turns out to be the best one. But it often isn't. Solving project problems usually means creating something completely new. Where do your best NEW ideas come from? -- Doug Smith doug smith training: how to achieve your project goals

How sure are you that the people on your project team are clear about the project goals? I've often made the mistake of thinking that just people I was clear about the project goals that everyone else was also clear about them. They may need to hear about them more than once. Probably at least five times is the minimum that a team member needs to hear about the goals before they truly understand them. As clear as they may be, you need clear understanding as well. The more clear and direct your project goals are, the more likely you are to achieve them. How clear are your team members about your project goals? -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership:  Training Supervisors for Success doug smith training:  how to achieve your project goals

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by how much there is to change? I know the feeling - there are so many big problems to solve that it can crush expectations and send me into a zone of retreat. But, that's not where I belong. That's not where any of us belong. We belong involved in the work that makes life better. Better for us, better for our customers, better for our team members. Even (gasp!) better for our competitors and enemies. There IS a lot to be done. No single one of us will be able to change everything. What we can do is change what we can change. We can work constantly at learning, developing, improving, growing, caring. If I can't change the world I can at least change a moment at a time for the best. We can build great moments. One moment at a time. What will be your greatest moment today? -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership:  Training Supervisors for Success doug smith training:  how to achieve your project goals

Have you ever noticed that a business you are dealing with suddenly offers a better deal to NEW customers than what you already have? How does that make you feel? Big data has produced so much specific stratification in our customer worlds that it is now possible to only give our best to those customers who are most profitable. It is possible to overlook those customers who have been loyal (and have gotten us to where we are) in favor of recruiting new customers. It is possible to treat different classes of customers differently. Does that feel intuitively right to you? What if you're a member of a class that's treated with lower quality than another? Chances are, that IS happening to you in one transaction or another. Do we really want to keep building a society where those who pay more are treated better? What about offering everyone our constant best? That doesn't mean that we stop using data to identify our best opportunities or serve our best customers exquis

Do you answer your phone? I do, but then most professionals in my generation do, too. There probably aren't as many generational differences in the workplace as people focus on, but I've noticed that one difference is how we treat the phone. A phone call means different things to different people, even different generations. A phone call is still important. Even as we rely more on email and text messages and other ways of communicating online, a phone call provides a type of immediacy that can only be gotten in person or on the phone. It's vital for establishing and supporting customer relationships. It's critical to achieving your goals. People who don't answer the phone are missing great opportunities to connect with customers, clients, and possible partners.  Don't leave this very human element of relationship building unattended. Don't let your call-prompting system screen every-single-call so that no one can actually build a dialogue with you. A