Monday, June 22, 2020

3 Skills Needed for Cross-Functional Leadership



Do you want to successfully lead cross-functional teams? I've done it, and here are the top 3 skills you should have:

1. Troubleshooting:  A leader needs to be able to help determine under which area a problem falls.  For example, if the team is not sure if a drop in sales is due to a sales problem or a marketing problem, then the leader can help the team devise tests that the market-oriented team member and sales-oriented member can apply to determine who should have ownership of the issue.

2. Communication:  A cross functional leader needs to be able to understand and translate the language of different areas.  For example, if a programmer on the team explains an issue to a marketer in technical jargon, causing confusion, the leader needs to step in and translate it from technical into marketing lingo.

3. Agility:  A cross functional leader has to be comfortable pivoting his/her team, as information and situations change.  For example, an issue might appear to being caused by a marketing problem but, as the team starts investigating, it becomes clear that it is caused by faulty customer-relation software, then the leader must get the team to pivot the issue to it's technical members.


© 2020 Praveen Puri

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

2020 PMO IMPACT Summit

I will be one of the featured speakers at the 2020 Virtual Summit on Project Management / Project Management Office.

If you're interested in IT strategy, project management, project portfolio management, Agile, etc., I hope you'll attend.





© 2020 Praveen Puri

Effective tips for reporting bad news to a boss or client during a reporting meeting





1. Before approaching your boss/client, double check the facts. Make sure you know the problem, ramifications, and possible solutions / mitigations.

2. The best way to deliver is to summarize the situation concisely, like the first paragraph of a newspaper article. Then, follow up with the top options. Only bring up the data or background narrative if it is asked for.

3. The best way to deliver the news is face-to-face. If this can't be dome in a timely manner, then a phone call. #management #reporting


© 2020 Praveen Puri

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Everything New Emerges from Turbulence | Amy Segami | TEDxWilmetteWomen




My friend, and fellow management consultant, Amy Segami gave this Ted Talk on Turbulence, and how we need to embrace it if we want change and innovation.  As it turned out, it was very timely!


© 2020 Praveen Puri