THE LEARNING FLASH

Summer means fun, and if you’re like me, you’re looking out at a nice sunny day that seems much more fun than writing a newsletter.   If you think you have the most summer fun, send a picture to info@russellmartin.com and will we feature it on Lou Russell’s Facebook.  If you are already on Facebook, please send me a friend request.  I’d love to share with you.  

Like last month, this newsletter is broken into the following segments of brief articles:

• Project Management Magic - PM tools, techniques and information
• Leadership In the Middle - Thoughts and ideas from the trenches
• Improving Higher Education - Grow student success in higher ed
• Training Truths - Fun, effective ways to facilitate learning
• Technology - The latest news in Information Technology
• Web Wonders - Always amazing what’s on the web – just for fun
• The Contest - Find out who won last month, play this month, win fabulous prizes!
• Come See Us - Visit our webinars, blogs, public workshops, booths and speeches

This Month's Schedule

Growing Resiliency, Elluminate webinar, 6/18 from 2 – 3 PM.  Get more info and to register.

Leadership Alchemy, webinar, 6/20 from 1 – 3 PM.  Get more info and register.

Project Management Magic

Thanks to PMI NJ and Central IL PMI

I had a great time participating, meeting your attendees and speaking at your conferences.  If you’d like speakers for your next PMI outing, please contact. mbrown@russellmartin.com

Are Your Projects Like Plinko?

Sue Ream shared a great metaphor with me today.  She says projects are often like the game of Plinko (check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNd8JaAXHic). In other words, you throw resources at an initiative and see what happens at the end – the middle is a mystery.  If this is your experience, check out Lou’s latest book 10 Steps to Successful Project Management at www.russellmartin.com. Find fast, flexible techniques to improve project communication and success.  Attend our 1 day workshop this month in Indianapolis.

Project Management for Sponsors: Manage Their Expectations

We are proud to offer a new 1 day workshop (live or online) for your project sponsors and stakeholders so they learn what you need from them on a project.

Contact Margie Brown at mbrown@russellmartin.com for more information on these workshops.

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Leadership In the Middle

Lou’s Latest Book Project

I am getting ready to start my dream book “SUPERb Leaders”, a fun and actionable book aimed at people who must lead and do lots of other work at the same time.  Sound familiar?  Chock full of surprises (comics, puzzles), ASTD has agreed to take on this project, as strange as it is!  Thanks, Mark and Cat.

How to De-Motivate and De-Activate Your Staff

Brian Tracy recently shared these excellent ways to NOT be a leader:

1. Lack of direction. This occurs when the person is not completely clear about what is expected of him day in and day out, how he will be measured and in what time period. If clarity is 95% of success, then lack of clarity is 95% of failure.
2. Lack of feedback. Whether weekly, daily or even hourly, the best people need to know exactly how they are doing relative to their goals and quotas to assure maximum performance. The simplest way to give feedback is to pick up the phone or personally congratulate a person who has just done something positive.
3. Lack of recognition. When a person works hard, overcomes obstacles and finally achieves (or exceeds) their goals, yet nothing is said about it, the individual can easily become discouraged. Recognition can take many forms. Praise the top performer in front of the others. "Brag on her" to the executive.
4. Lack of rewards. This occurs when a person works extremely hard to achieve a result … and then receives no special reward or benefit from it. This is easily fixable, and often inexpensive to do.
5. Role overlap. Sometimes companies get into trouble by assigning more than one person to the same task. Role overlap leads to confusion, inefficiency and often resentment. The cure is to make sure that each job is assigned to only one person who is completely responsible for its success or completion (see Project Management section for more on this).
6. Role underlap. This occurs when an essential part of the job—such as following up on delivery or customer service—is not assigned to anyone in particular, but everyone is expected to be concerned about it.
7. Role contradiction. People are often asked to spend the entire day working on something then they are required to fill out overly detailed reports that require them to spend half of the day in the office. They can't do both well.

The Leadership Academy: All Leadership Training is Not the Same

There are many good options for growing leaders, but RMA’s Leadership Academy is different because our attendees say it is.  Listen to what they say they have learned to do from our sessions:

• Do the Hard Stuff (don’t avoid it)
• Learn to adapt to staff, peers, customers and executives as needed.
• Work on the business, not at the business.
• Ask, ask, ask, then check for understanding.
• If you stumble make it part of your dance.

Join our facilitators August 26-28, 2008 at the Children’s’ Museum of Indianapolis for our summer leadership retreat.  Sign up now.

Contact Margie Brown at mbrown@russellmartin.com for more info.

Kudos to Allen County United Way

Big thanks to Kim Johnson, the United Way and the Girls Scouts for a great day on Resiliency. Allen County is lucky to have such dedicated and amazing staff strengthening the hands of the strong. If you are looking for a one day leadership retreat for your teams, contact Margie Brown at mbrown@russellmartin.com.

How to Stop Wearing Underpants Outside Their Trousers

From a blog entry at www.slowleadership.com:

“Our obsession with macho management is leading us into a systemic pattern of pushing people into egregious promises that only increase pressure and anxiety - to the point where cultivating ethical blindness seems not just a reasonable response, but likely the only way out. When this happens, the hapless manager may find him or herself trapped in a nightmare of pressure to live up to promises that never should have been made.

It’s no true leadership to demand subordinates do what is not possible. Setting unrealistic targets is easy. So is believing the silly myth that accepting “big, hairy, audacious goals” is both motivating and somehow magically going to bring them about.

Being caught in fraud and deceit is going to deliver a nasty dose of reality, but only when it’s already too late and careers are destroyed. It would be better to accept a cold shower of realism earlier - even if that means walking away from firms whose idea of leadership is based on asking everyone to wear their underpants outside their trousers and act as if they can fly.”

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Improving Higher Education

Join us at CCA in Vegas This Month

Come by and visit us at booth #655 June 25 - 27 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

We will be collecting school supplies for Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth.  (You can drop off booth left-overs as well.)  This organization is the only youth service provider in Nevada with a continuum of care extending from street outreach and 24-hour crisis intervention services to a full-time drop-in center and an independent living program.  Their web site is http://nphy.org/index.html.

EDUCAUSE Current School IT Issues

Since 2003, the top-three issues in terms of strategic importance to an institution have been Administrative/ERP Information Systems, Funding IT, and Security.  This year, Security is number one, Administrative/ERP Information Systems is number two, and Funding IT has dropped to number three.   These issues collectively continue to be the critical touchstones for IT in higher education. When any one of them falters, whether through major data-integrity breaches, system implementation glitches, or budget cuts, an institution's or system's strategic health is threatened.

Review the Survey

Issues that move into or fall out of the top ten are a key measure of what is on IT leaders' radar.  Change Management appears for the first time (number 8) in 2008, while Strategic Planning drops off the list of issues critical for strategic success (Question 1). Change Management has two dimensions, one in the larger sense of culture change and the other in developing a process for handling IT changes that are made on a regular basis—patches, upgrades, replacements—that can be very disruptive if there is no Change Management process in place. Indeed, Change Management also appears for the first time in the top-ten issues with the potential to become more significant in the future (number 10, Question 2), and among those on which IT leaders are spending most of their time (number 5, Question 3).

Do you know that L+EARN has training and consulting services in IT Change Management focusing on project dashboards?  Contact Leah Colville at lcolville@lplusearn.com for more information.

States and Their Community Colleges  

Every state offers community colleges as the first rung on the ladder of higher education. They prepare students for four-year colleges, educate key professions like nursing and firefighting, offer job training and basic skills, and bolster economic development. But a new report from the Rockefeller Institute finds that the 50 states differ widely in the extent to which they use their community college systems.

Virtual Graduation 

How do you help online students feel a part of a brick and mortar university?  This article shares how the University of Missouri held a virtual graduation.  Also interesting, the honorarium given to the commencement speaker, a NASCAR driver who actually had dropped out of the university was in dollars to apply to credit to complete his degree.  If you would like some innovate ideas for retaining students, especially in an online environment, please contact Leah Colville at lcolville@lplusearn.com.

High School Presentation

Did you know we have a new High School Recruitment Presentation packaged for your high school reps to teach potential students project management?  It’s not too late to get their attention for a summer or fall start.  For a free trial, contact Leah Colville at lcolville@lplusearn.com.

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Training Truths

Tips to Improve Your Learning Self

Sunday - Relax. Try meditating, taking a walk in a natural setting, or reaching out spiritually or through prayer. Quiet reflection, alone or in the company of others, can improve your state of mind, strengthen your sense of self and community, and give you time away from a hectic schedule to collect your thoughts and re-energize for the week ahead.

Monday - Make a plan. Decide what tasks you need to complete for the week and make a plan for when and how to do them. If you are over scheduled, decide what can wait a week or two. If you don’t have much on your schedule, plan some activities you’ll look forward to.

Tuesday - Surround yourself with supportive people. Make plans with family members and friends, or seek out activities at which you can meet new people, such as a club, class or support group. Reconnect with someone you have lost touch with and create new memories.

Wednesday - Take care of your body. Taking care of yourself physically can improve your mental health. Be sure to eat nutritious meals, avoid cigarettes, drink alcohol only in moderation, drink plenty of water, get enough sleep and exercise regularly.

Thursday - Give of yourself. Volunteer your time and energy to help someone else. You’ll feel good about doing something tangible to help someone in need—and it’s a great way to meet new people who share your interests and compassion.

Friday - Broaden your horizons. Create a change of pace or expand your interests. Explore a new hobby, plant a garden, plan a road-trip, try a new restaurant, take dance lessons, or learn to play an instrument or speak another language.

Saturday - Value yourself. Treat yourself with kindness and respect, and avoid self-criticism. Take stock of the qualities you like about yourself, your accomplishments and abilities. Take some time every day to relax, reflect and rejuvenate.

From the Indiana Mental Health Association

Presentation Tip

Here’s a great Thiagi technique when you have things you have to lecture on, but you don’t want to lecture:

1. Ask your participants to read the pages of information you want to discuss, underlining anything they read that they agree with (or as a variation, anything they currently do or think is important) and putting a question mark next to anything they don’t understand.
2. Ask everyone to share their question marks with their team, and try to resolve the confusion within their team. 
3. Ask anyone with a question mark remaining to share it with the group.  If no one can explain it, you can.

Find more presentation ideas in Lou’s books The Accelerated Learning Fieldbook and Training Triage both available at www.russellmartin.com.

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Technology

The Freedom to Say 'No'

Why aren't there more women in science and engineering? Controversial new research suggests: They just aren't interested.  When it comes to the huge and persistent gender gap in science and technology jobs, the finger of blame has pointed in many directions: sexist companies, boy-friendly science and math classes, and differences in aptitude.  Women make up almost half of today's workforce, yet hold just a fraction of the jobs in certain high-earning, high-qualification fields. They constitute 20 percent of the nation's engineers, fewer than one-third of chemists, and only about a quarter of computer and math professionals.  

Over the past decade and more, scores of conferences, studies, and government hearings have been directed at understanding the gap. It has stayed in the media spotlight thanks in part to the high-profile misstep of then-Harvard president Larry Summers, whose loose comment at a Harvard conference on the topic in 2005 ultimately cost him his job.

Now two new studies by economists and social scientists have reached a perhaps startling conclusion: An important part of the explanation for the gender gap, they are finding, are the preferences of women themselves. When it comes to certain math- and science-related jobs, substantial numbers of women - highly qualified for the work - stay out of those careers because they would simply rather do something else.

Read the entire article by Elaine McArdle

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Web Wonders

The Guys' Rules

At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down. Please note....these are all numbered "1" ON PURPOSE!

1. Men are NOT mind readers.
1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down.  We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.
1. Sunday sports.  It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.
1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.
1. Crying is blackmail.
1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work!  Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!
1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.
1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it.  That's what we do.
Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.
1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 Days.
1. You won't dress like Victoria's Secret girls; don't expect us to act like soap opera guys.
1. If you think your fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.
1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.
1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both.
If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.
1. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.
1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color.  Pumpkin is also a fruit.  We have no idea what mauve is.
1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," We will act like nothing's wrong.
We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.
1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine.  Really.

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The Contest

Last month’s Puzzle Winners: Dan Brandon, Sandra Connor.

June’s CONTEST Iron Chef

Send us your recipes for summer cook-outs.  They must include zucchini!!  We will post the entries for all to see and everyone will win fabulous prizes.  The final winner will be selected by our readers for a grand prize.  Send your entry to info@russellmartin.com.

June’s SECOND Contest

Last month, Leah Nelson dared me to include “underpants” in the subject line, which of course meant finding a reason to have it there!  Send me your dare (rated G, please), and look for it in future subject lines.

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Come See Us

Spring Into Webinars

• Growing Resiliency, Elluminate webinar, 6/18 from 2 – 3 PM
• Leadership Alchemy, webinar, 6/20 from 1 – 3 PM
• My Team:  Can’t Live With ‘Em, Can’t Work Without ‘Em, webinar 7/29 from 1 – 3 PM

Join us at a Public Workshop

• 10 Steps for Successful Project Management - Indianapolis Childrens’ Museum, 6/26 from 8:30 – 4:30
• Leadership Academy - Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, 8/26-28 from 8:30 – 4:30
• ASTD Project Management for Trainers Certificate - 2-day workshops on July 21-22 in Chicago, September 8-9 in Alexandria, VA and October 23-24 in Atlanta

Lou’s Blogs

• It's the People
• Project Management Mania
• IT Leadership Alchemy
• LplusEarn

Add these to your reader!

Lou is Podcasting

I have been playing with podcasts, and have three new podcasts.  Watch for more new 10 Tips in 10 Minutes editions this month.   I also recorded a small promotional piece for the ASTD certificate workshop Project Management for Trainers which you can listen to at their website (see above for more info about these workshops). Big thanks to Lindsay Blamire for continuing to help drag me into this decade with all her amazing technology ideas.  Do you have a topic you’d like me to record a podcast about?  Just let me know at lou@russellmartin.com. 

Where the RMA Staff Will Be in June

Lou Russell

• ASTD International, June 1, San Diego, CA
• PDS ’08, June 10, Vienna, VA
• CCA Annual Convention, June 24 – 27, Las Vegas, NV

Leah Colville

• CCA Annual Convention, June 24 – 27, Las Vegas, NV

Deirdre Gengenbach

• 10 Steps to Successful Project Management, June 26, Indianapolis, IN

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