5 Questions to Clarify a Project

Here are five questions to set the wheels of your next discovery project in forward motion:

1.    What’s the issue?
2.    Why does it matter now?
3.    To whom?
4.    Toward what end?
5.    By when do you need the information?

Never underestimate the impact of knowing which direction you’re heading, why it matters and whom you need to bring along. Don’t assume you know what’s going on in the mind of the person who asked you to dive in, and don’t sit back when the answers to these questions reveal what might be an alternate or preferred path to move things along in the best interest of your organization.

People are the Powerful Core of Organizations

It's hard for many people to think about what's possible and approach life building upon strengths, rather than obsessing on weaknesses. Yet, it can be so much more energizing and rewarding to focus on potential rather than power.

Marcus Buckingham’s comment that “the experience of the team trumps the experience of the company” reinforces the incredible power of people as the core of organizational performance. Imagine the possibilities for growth when managers engage them, support them, recognize them and frame things in a way that is meaningful to them. Such exciting potential for those of us devising means through which to do just that in helping managers make it happen (i.e., first us with them, then, they with their staffs).

Yet, it cannot be forced. It's been said that people don't resist change, they resist coercion. Offer it. Model it. Shape it within the construct of things that are meaningful to those you are seeking to persuade. Help them find the relevance and demonstrate some rigor in why it matters. You just might be amazed at what happens.

The Ties That Bind

An approach focused on human capital management speaks volumes for soulful sustainability. Organizations reflect their leadership who influence the employees who inform stakeholders. A lack of understanding about how human competencies are fed and nourished damages those connections and cracks the chains that bind them.