Cost cutting measures, funding issues, and other management concerns are ever-present during challenging times, such as the one we are experiencing at present. Thus, it is vital that both short and long term company goals mesh well with each other, with the short goals slightly more aggressive than the long ones.

Determining what types of projects should be included in the mix almost always depends on the company’s overall key objectives. These often tend to be “buckets” that are essentially categories of projects supporting a particular organization-wide goal. While this is important component of building the portfolio, over the set of projects being considered for implementation, there is another consideration – organizational capability – that, in my experience, is often overlooked. Considering organizational capability forces a long-term view of the portfolio.

There is a capability-focused consideration that should always be incorporated into the portfolio management team’s criteria on projects. In fact, it should actually be one of the biggest considerations. For example, there could be research development going on in a particular area is under consideration, at least on a temporary basis, for cuts for economic reasons.

Such an R&D project could also be under scrutiny relative to other priorities related to other opportunities for the organization. What can put such a consideration into perspective is to thinking about how it contributes to the longer term organizational capabilities that will enable to organization to thrive when economic conditions eventually turn around. Research and development on a particular technology cannot so easily be stopped, as it can often mean the disbanding of a team, re-purposing of facilities, and loss of momentum in developing a solution. Often, once processes are stopped, starting them up again is essentially starting from scratch. Often, a continued drive toward the end result is necessary, or the effort and results will be lost indefinitely.

This must also be considered when dealing with processes. Often times, organizations have processes that intermingle with projects. For example, organizational improvement requires a certain flow of projects of a certain type in order to continually advance and improve some aspect of the organization’s operations.

If these projects are cut too much, the core capability of the organization can be weakened. This is particularly true in cases where the subject capability supports a major part of the organization’s value proposition, the cornerstone of the organization’s business model. It is not only the job of manager’s to survive the present, but also position the organization to thrive in the future, and positioning adjustments to business models with precision timing is an important price of that responsibility.

The key assessment that needs to be made, albeit with a lot of detailed homework, is to identify those parts of the cost structure which really do not contribute to the short and long term health of the company’s business model and value proposition. Often administrative costs are among the first to be reduced.

However, even administrative costs can at times be a source of value added, or can be part of the value proposition, within an organization. What is important is to avoid taking a ‘plain vanilla’ look, and determining that all costs must be reduced by a certain percentage. This might work in situations where managers are convinced that there is a relatively constant amount of ‘fat’ evenly distributed throughout the organization. I think that is taking quite a chance, and that the risk can be reduced by undertaking more selective and strategic pruning.

What to do and how to do it is vital. People and processes are in place within organizations to accomplish certain goals. In many cases, even temporary cut backs to core capabilities can lead to the loss of both the people and the processes that are vitally important to the company’s value proposition, and these can be very difficult to recover that for the future. While, sometimes, the projects representing these capabilities may not fit exactly into the strategic initiative buckets that have been determined for the organization, they nonetheless are of strategic importance and need to be weighed heavily.

About the Author:

John Reiling, PMP, has experienced portfolio, program, and project management in organizations of all sizes. John’s web site Project Management Training Online provides numerous courses on these topics for PDUs, PMP Prep, and PgMP Prep. See John’s related article on Program Management , with a nice graphic on the topic, at John’s blog, PMcrunch.com.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/distinguishing-between-long-and-short-term-goals-714228.html

I recently encountered a woman who was repatriating back to the US, having spent much of the past 15 years in Europe. She had extensive project management experience and had her own consulting company in Europe. She said that, as part of her ‘re-integration’ to the US market, she needed a certification, a credential that would carry some weight and open some doors, as many people she was meeting were asking her. We discussed the PMP, but after a few days, she remarked to me that she was aghast at how things had changed in the US during her time abroad. She expressed that she thought this whole certification ‘craze’ was difficult and bureaucratic, and she questioned the value of it.

Undoubtedly there are some frustrations and challenges with certifications today, as there are processes, procedures, and rules to consider. However, I think that is only ‘one side of the coin’. Yes, you have to work hard to get certified, and you need to make the effort to remain certified. You also need to five careful consideration and identify which certification(s) make the most sense for your career.

At the same time, most of us can easily identify individuals who are not certified that arguably are better at what they do than some who are certified. But, in all honesty, it would be hard refute the statement that certifications in general raise the level of personal performance, and that they also raise the level of collective or organizational performance.

The ‘other side of the coin’ for professionals, I think, is that certifications present an opportunity for you to take charge of your own career. Times today are different that the ‘pre-certification’ era, where professionals generally had steady, long-term jobs with a single organization that often provide training and indoctrination in their way of doing business.

While that is great in many ways, and it worked for those times, there was less control and mobility among professionals. A lot of people who operated in such an industry had experienced painful layoffs, particularly when the workplace rules had shifted. The changing rules of the workplace are a good place to start thinking about the ‘other side of the coin’ regarding certifications.

Getting more control over your work life is what the ‘other side of the coin’ offers. And the world demands it today. You are more likely to be in a profession than a company for the long term. And, if you desire, you have the opportunity to transition among various professions, in part by leveraging your ability to earn certifications. Here are 7 quick positives that I see on ‘the other side of the coin’:

1. A certification can provide you with a degree of job security.

2. A certification can provide you with a gateway to independent consulting.

3. Certifications will help determine what the minimum skill levels are.

4. Certifications help to promote collegiality among professionals, creating for you a network based on a common background.

5. Certification can help you make a career change.

6. Certification can provide a career ladder, where you might not be climbing an organizational hierarchy.

7. Certification can very definitely enhance your skills!

So, how can you translate those listed positives on the ‘other side of the coin’ into real life for yourself? Here are some more examples of how certification can help you as a professional, no matter what stage of your career. These 5 examples show some different individual situations, and you may see yourself in one or more of these situations. Career paths, certification decisions, and options are personal and depend on your background, interests, and goals:

1. An individual with PMP certification might enhance their skills by earning the PRINCE2 certification, and thus learn a different and more ‘prescriptive’ approach. The mix is reputably powerful.

2. A PMP working in the IT Department in a large organization might find that they can enhance their skills, credentials, and value for their specific area by earning an ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) certification.

3. An application developer might be certified in specific technologies, such as Java, Visual Basic, C , Oracle, and more, but might desire to more toward a managerial role. The CAPM or PMP certification might offer a structured and realistic way to acquire those skills and credentials to be in position for those opportunities.

4. Someone who has earned the PMP might be asking “What’s next?” Certification provides alternatives, like earning the PgMP (Program Management) or Six Sigma certification.

5. A CAPM certified professional might be gaining experience, but might also want to accelerate their progress while they gain experience. An alternative like the Business Analyst (ABAP) certification might make sense to them.

The key is to develop your own customized plan for the future, and get pretty specific about the next few years. Like so many other successful people, you can leverage the reality of certifications in today’s world as an opportunity to advance your own career.

About the Author:

The research for this article was provided by Project Management Training Online, a leader in online project management training. For details on the statistics, see “What Are PMP Candidates Looking for In Online PMP Prep Training?” at PMcrunch.com.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/certification-crazy-check-the-other-side-of-the-coin-772713.html

Being in the project management realm often means inheriting projects once a property of stakeholders. For instance, within an organization, a sales team first handles a project that later goes to a manager. Most projects in institutions are sold to key shareholders and top executives. This simply entails that selling does not stop — it simply spills over to the project manager who eventually takes over. Because of this reality, the Project Manager must to some extent use sales skills and continue to build (and even sometimes repair!) the relationships with the stakeholders. Most projects have numerous and diverse stakeholders. One of the first tasks of the Project Manager is to identify those stakeholders and establish a working rapport with them. The starting point must be to clarify expectations, initially set when the project was “sold”, and to refine those expectations for the next phase. The Project Manager, in the end, must ensure that stakeholder needs are understood and will be met. In addition, systems must be put into place to ensure that they are providing regular input and feedback in the process of delivering the project.

The Project Manager must continue to be attentive to stakeholder needs throughout the project, and there are a number of techniques for doing that. One way that Project Managers can leverage sales skills to establish stakeholder relationships is to think in terms of features, functions, and benefits. Typically, there is one and occasionally a few stakeholders that are critical to the project. They may have a major benefit related to the core benefits of the project. In all likelihood, the Project Manager will be in touch with these select stakeholders on a very regular basis, and they will be included in most communications.

The Project Manager keeps in mind the driving benefits that they want, and continuously communicates about the delivery of those benefits. Since there are typically many other stakeholders, there often is a stakeholder who is not necessarily going to be one of the top beneficiaries of the project. By contrast, many stakeholders will benefit in peripheral ways, or, if they might benefit by avoiding integration issues that could result when the new project is implemented. Perhaps there is a data interface to that system that will enhance the system, or will at least permit the application to continue to be effective and relevant. One way to think about these secondary stakeholder, like the primary stakeholders, is to think in terms of feature, functions, and benefits.

Core stakeholders may see these features as covering all of the project’s potential results; for the peripheral stakeholders, however, these features may be only a couple to a few. In order to properly understand this pattern of thinking, first determine what features are directly related to the shareholder, and then whittle these down to just the key points. Finally, further break down these salient points into benefits that are tangible and very clear to the stakeholder. As a first step, all stakeholders need to be identified, and their needs must be understood. With this information at hand, the key then is to think through the features, functions, and benefits of the project to each and every stakeholder, and to communicate that to each stakeholder. A side benefit is a much deeper understanding of the project, and even an expansion of the broader benefits of the project to the organization.

By thinking in terms of features, functions, and benefits for each stakeholder, a Project Manager can train himself to think in the terms of the stakeholders. This helps to recognize specific issues that need to be communicated to specific stakeholders, and also helps to identify the issues that are unimportant to stakeholders. Thus, it will helps to always think and speak of your stakeholder needs or interests. Thinking like a salesperson can be very helpful in dealing with the stakeholders on projects.
About the Author:

John Reiling, PMP, has experienced portfolio, program, and project management in organizations of all sizes. John’s web site Project Management Training Online provides numerous courses on these topics for PDUs, PMP Prep, and PgMP Prep. See John’s related article on Program Management , with a nice graphic on the topic, at John’s blog, PMcrunch.com.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/effectively-selling-feature-function-and-benefit-to-project-stakeholders-786714.html

Recessions means projects are shut down, initiatives are cut down and several employees are gone. With reducing budgets and struggling CIOs to keep few initiatives floating, I was wondering why should organizations continue to invest in Quality & Process Improvement initiatives.

Therefore, I brought it out in a Linkedin group and here is the brief extract of the discussions:

No matter how well quality and process improvement initiatives progressing and achieveing results, unless they are reported timely and properly, all such efforts will prove to be first candidate for ‘cost reduction’ initiative.  

Few words about QA Reporting

-          Top Management Buy-In  Getting a buy-in from the Top Management about QA reporting is one ‘The Most Critical’ step. though its important to explain what QA report contains, however, ‘business value‘  and ‘business benefit’ of ‘QA’ is key for getting Top Management Buy-In

-          Demonstratable & Tangible QA report should clearly demonstrate the tangible business impact of risks associated with non compliances & issues highlighted in the QA report.

-          Objectivity & QA reporting  Objectivity & QA reporting go hand in hand. Want to keep other valuing your report? Then DON’T try to prepare a report without much subtance.

-          Be Fair  No Witch hunting please…. Don’t make this report to settle personal scores. Its tempting, doable and mind you its also suicidal. After getting top management buy-in, do you want to spoil it?

-          Team  Lets not deny. It’s the people. Always take care of the most sensitive aspect. Select right people for the job.

Click here to view the complete discusssion and get involved.

It is a fact of life that not every project succeeds. Sometimes the market changes and the product is no longer viable. Sometimes the budget or time constraints are untenable. Sometimes it is simply a case that somebody has made a mistake.

How do you deal with the failure of your project?

• Identify causes, not people

It may be the case that your boss has been unsupportive from the start, or that your customers have changed their minds once too often, or that your staff are undermotivated. Nevertheless, if you start blaming people (It was Jimmy’s fault) rather than causes (The unrealistic alterations that we promised the customer).

Identifying causes rather than people will also rescue you from the trap of self-blame. When a project fails, it might be the responsibility of the Project Manager, but it is not the Project Manager’s fault. By understanding that your decision to allow your staff to miss a crucial deadline (and not you yourself) caused project failure, you be better able to learn the lessons of the failure.

• Apologise

If the project is your responsibility, then it is up to you to apologise to those who have invested their time, money and energy into the project.

You may feel that others owe you an obligation, but being Project Manager is not about owing and demanding apologies. It is about taking professional responsibility for actions and results.

For the same reasons, do not over-apologise. State the causes for project failure, if appropriate, and offer sincere apologies for the disappointment. Do not lay blame, but do not grovel either. Your investors will respect you more for it.

• Learn from the failure

There are lessons to be drawn from every project, but especially from those that fail. This is all part of identifying the causes of failure. Recognising why a project fails helps you to avoid failure the next time around. Sharing the lessons with others on the team shows people that failures is not an end but a process.

• Move on

If identifying the causes of the failure is the most important thing you do, then moving on is a close second. You must be able to put this project behind you and engage with the next. Moving on to the next project will show your team and your managers that you have resilience, energy and dedication to your job.

Identifying causes, apologising, learning and moving on turn project failure into a fruitful process that can provide material for the growth of the project team and the project manager.

About the Author:

Simon Buehring is a project manager, consultant and trainer. He works for KnowledgeTrain which offers training in project management and PRINCE2 trainingin the UK and overseas. Simon has extensive experience within the IT industry in the UK and Asia. He can be contacted via the KnowledgeTrain PRINCE2 project management training website.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/project-management-articles/how-to-dealing-with-project-failure-759544.html

Are you achieving all the success you want in your life; if not, do not expect success to fit into your current habits. You are going to have to adopt and develop new habits.

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

When you come to the realization that your current behavior has not brought you all the financial success, the loving relationships, the perfect health or the spiritual knowledge you desire it can be a pretty scary place to be. Life goes along, we believe we are doing all that we can and then we realize those dreams and goals we had when we were younger are still a dream – What Happened?

We are not taught how to encourage ourselves to become the giant success we dream of when we are kids. We are taught to go to school, get a good job and work for the next 40 years. However, many of us have come to the realization that is not the path to financial freedom or living the life of our dreams. 98% of people are retiring dead broke relying on others in order to survive in their retirement.

What can you do in order to live the life of your dreams? My solution to you today is to change your habits. Do not expect success to fit into your current habits, because if you had the habits you needed you would already be there!

You need to develop a blueprint for your life. A blueprint gives you hope that what you dream can come true. Can you imagine a construction company attempting to build a skyscraper without a blueprint? You’re right! It would be a disaster! Most people attempt to build their life without a blueprint and we need one, badly.

Once you have your blueprint you can then use your imagination to put yourself into the picture. You can go on-line, find or create pictures that represent your blueprint to you and then post them around your environment so that you see them on a daily basis. My coach John Di Lemme calls that the “construction zone” because you are constructing your life. Once you see that picture, it is actual evidence that it can come true. Then you can start to build the faith in yourself that you really can make it happen.

You own the title deed to your life, it’s yours, quit giving it away. You can stop giving it away by creating a blueprint and constructing that dream on a daily basis.

Just because you cannot see something does not mean that it does not exist. Evidence and confirmation surround you – it exists somewhere, you just aren’t seeing it. When you make a reservation for a flight for an exotic vacation, with just a confirmation number alone you have faith that you are going to be able to get on a plane and fly off. You cannot see gravity, only the result of gravity and we all have faith that gravity exists, as a society we no longer question it. You need to learn to develop that kind of faith in yourself; that yes, you can achieve the life of your dreams.

Develop your blueprint, construct the pictures that support the blueprint, and create the habits that will generate faith in yourself. Take that first step, start the journey. It is well worth it.

I would love to hear about your blueprints, what will your like your life to look like in five years? Will it be the same or dramatically different? Send me an email Carla@RetireWithCarla.com, I would love to hear from you.

And to help you get started on your journey to create the discipline that will allow you to achieve all the success you desire , I’d like you to claim your Instant Access to My Teleclass Recordings by visiting http://www.RetireWithCarla.com

About the Author:
Carla McNeil a HR Consultant. She spent 20 years in the hospitality industry she realized that if she continued doing what she was doing she would retire dead or dead broke just like 97% of the population. Carla has now discovered the beauty of a home based business. http://www.RetireWithCarla.com

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/leadership-articles/are-you-disciplined-for-success-793509.html

In our current crazy business climate, managers and executives are becoming obsolete and are being replaced by leaders. The new manager/executive must be an expeditor and leader rather than an order giver and manager of people.

In this article, I have documented what I have found to be the leadership skills and abilities that are valued in leaders today. If you are looking to build a high performance team or company, these are the leadership traits that you and your managers should be focused on to improve personal and business performance.

1. Vision

Leaders have the ability to see things as they should become. Defining the organization’s direction, the leader defines the organization’s future.

2. Communication

Leaders are able to get others to share in their vision. They communicate in a clear and powerful way. Whether in large meetings or personal discussions, they never miss an opportunity to pass along their message.

3. Flexibility

Leaders are willing to learn. Leaders will be committed to furthering their own knowledge as well as making sure others keep up with the demand for a better educated workforce.

4. Action Oriented

Leaders know that it is not enough just to gather up the good ideas of others. When new ways of doing things can be implemented, putting them into action will fall on the shoulders of the entire team.

5. Bottom Line Thinker

Leaders know the financial conditions and limitations of the organization. Once they have the same information as senior executives, it is expected that they will reach the same decisions.

6. Builds Rapport

Leaders let the person or group know they understand their viewpoint, whether they agree or not.

7. Listening

Leaders have a mutual interest in the matter under discussion. Letting the other party speak first shows they are thought of as equals.

8. Respect

Leaders do not talk at people, they communicate with them. They treat them with respect. Do not patronize them. Leaders help them remember that they have an equal stake in finding an acceptable solution.

9. Focus

Leaders focus on the emotional issues that connect them with their followers. Leaders always stress values shared by their employees, enlisting their employees in a mission that gives their work purpose and direction.

10. Innovative

A leader can think on his or her feet. In critical situations, they have to come up with the answers, not look in textbooks.

11. High Expectations

Leaders have found, higher expectations from their workers, the better results achieved.

12. Passion

Leaders hate bureaucracy and all the nonsense that comes with it.

13. Change

Leaders stimulate and relish change. Do not become frightened or paralyzed with fear. They see change as an opportunity, not a threat.

14. Energy

Leaders have an enormous amount of energy and the ability to energize and invigorate others. They understand speed as a competitive advantage and see the total organizational benefits that can be derived from a focus on speed.

15. Support

Leaders surround themselves with competent, responsible, and supportive people.

For additional information and resources go to http://www.executivebusinessadvisers.com/

About the Author:
Dennis Sommer is the founder and CEO of Executive Business Advisers, a management consulting firm that specializes in improving business performance. http://www.executivebusinessadvisers.com . Contact Dennis at 800-627-6512.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/leadership-articles/15-critical-leadership-skills-needed-today–794847.html

We are a society of rules. We have rules for everything from how we drive to how an NFL team can spy on another team. So why would you think there are not rules for communication? You didnt know, you claim. Try that defense the next time you are stopped for speeding!

 The more rules you know and the better you know the rules, the more you will have the ability to use communication to move your business or your career forward. You2019ve sat through them a thousand times: a panel, a speaker, a presentation. Nothing better than a good one, nothing more painful than a boring one. Whether it’s a presidential primary or a sales presentation: to whom much is given, much is expected.

 When we give people our time and the opportunity to have the spotlight: we have the right to expect much. In my work as a Communication Coach, I have identified 50 Rules of Communication. Let2019s look at the first ten rules and how and why each rule affects your success as a speaker. (For the entire list of the 50 Rules of Communication, visit electricimpulse.com)

       1. There are Rules

The first rule to know is that there are rules. You don’t have to follow these rules as long as you are willing to live with rule #2. All rules come with choices and consequences. Along with the choices you make come the consequences.

      2. There are Consequences

In any kind of speaking, you have the right to implement or not implement any rule . . . as long as you are willing to live with the results. For example, you don’t have to use a microphone. The consequence is that much of your audience will not be able to hear you and will lose interest.

      3. There is Value in Clarity

The value in a successful 21st century communicator is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple.

      4. Begin Where You Want to End

It seems natural to begin a presentation at the beginning. Once you understand the rules of communication, you understand that you want to begin at the end. Begin where you want the audience to be when you finish,

 the end of the presentation you will know.

      5. Know the Criteria by Which You will be Evaluated

You don’t need a professional to tell you whether or not a speaker was good. What you may not know is why. When a speaker is effective, that means that they are fulfilling 7, 8 or 9 criteria well. Do you know the ten criteria for any speaker: do you know what you do well?

      6. Implement the Three T2019s

Ronald Reagan credited his success to the way he was taught to organize a speech in elementary school. Sometimes it is referred to as the Three T’s: tell them what you want to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you told them. Each part of the presentation has a job to do and so do you

      7. Tie the Conclusion to the Introduction

This rule often separates amateurs from the professionals. The test of an introduction is not how good it is: how well it gets attention or previews the speech. The test is if the introduction will lend itself to being tied to the conclusion. Think of your presentation as a gift that you tie together with a bow from introduction to conclusion.

      8. The Rule of Even Though

This rule applies as much to parents talking to teenagers as it does in a formal speech. Very simply, nothing that comes after the words even though changes what came before it. 

      9. Your Audience Drives Everything

Know your audience: what do they want to hear, what do they need to hear,  what will comfort them, what is their educational background, and so much more.

      10. Practice Correctly

Practice only counts if it is out loud. The only way to correctly time the length of a presentation is to practice out loud. Practice in the actual venue at the same time of day as you will give your presentation.

The Rules of Communication are Clear and Finite. To whom much is given, much is expected. When you are given the spotlight of visibility, much is expected. Do you know the rules?

About the Author:

A communication expert, Leslie ignites clients and audiences to believe in the singular conviction that they are their own best solution. As president of Electric Impulse Communications, Inc., she helps individuals and corporations supercharge their leadership performance. She can help you identify your competitive edge to improve individual and company performance.

“Nobody can do it better or makes YOU better than Leslie Ungar,” says Lynda Hirsch, nationally syndicated columnist and TV guest.

Ungar hosts a monthly Time/Warner television show called Civic Forum. This show and her work within the corporate world provide access to executives and how they think. She writes a monthly column for the Florida based magazine Affluent, and is often interviewed and quoted frequently in regional and national media.

Now a member of the National Speaker’s Association, her interest in the role of communication began in the sixth grade. She wrote a play about the role that the lack of communication played in Custer’s Last Stand, and her best friend played the role of Custer’s horse!

Ungar serves as adjunct faculty at The University of Akron. Her undergraduate and Master’s Degree are both in Communication and Rhetoric. Her dad still wants to know what rhetoric is!

There are a lot of various programs and books out there that claim they can eliminate all negativity. And while they are all well intentioned, they cannot deliver on that promise because negativity is a natural, ingrained thought process. You can’t get rid of it. Not completely, anyway. Even if you are able to miraculously suppress all your negative thoughts, negative things will still happen to you. It would be like claiming they can eliminate all sickness, war, and death from the world. It’s just not possible. But you can manage the negativity in your life. To manage negativity you need to admit that it exists and that it’s a part of life. Stuff happens. How we deal with that stuff is the key. Life isn’t always going to go as planned, so we need to learn how to play the cards we’re dealt, not hope and wish we had different cards. So how can we manage negativity?

1. Find the value. Everything has value. Everything. If you have fears, worries and doubts, it’s your brain telling you “Hey! This could be trouble!” Take a look at why you have those fears or worries. Understanding the cause can often neutralize it. Fear is not always a bad thing. Fear tells you to run out of a burning building. Fear tells you to put on your seat belt. Fear tells you to double check your work. Being cautious and avoid problems before they happen is a good thing. You need a few negative thoughts to keep yourself balanced, protected and prepared so if things don’t go as planned, you’re not blindside. Jumping into a situation without a backup plan can be catastrophic just as getting bogged down with too many horrible scenarios is ineffective too. A positive attitude combined with some negative thinking can lead to success. Isn’t that why people say “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst”?

2. Take action. And I certainly don’t mean taking action for action sake. That’s just silly and usually leads to wasted time and effort. But take action when negativity comes into play. It is when fear and negativity gets out of our control, stops us from taking action that it becomes an issue. Remember, side-stepping a problem, is still action. It may not have been “moving forward” (a mantra used much too often. Sometimes when you’re moving forward you step off cliffs), but a lateral move can sometimes be more effective. Why spend extra time and extra effort trying to correct mistakes we could have avoided with just a little foresight. Risk assessment is a huge part of our world. Taking a moment to think what could be the drawbacks of an idea is just as valuable as thinking of the rewards. It’s better to take a moment to think an idea through than rush a flawed idea into a major mistake.

3. Allow yourself the opportunity to fail. We can’t be all things to all people and we can’t accomplish every task we set out to do. Too many people strive for perfection when most tasks only require completion. By accepting the occasional failure, you won’t be as afraid to try. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but allowing yourself a chance to fail opens up unexpected results. While directing his mega-hit Jaws, Steven Spielberg discovered, a bit too late, that his mechanical shark wouldn’t work very well in the open water. It also looked obviously fake. Because of that failure, he had to shoot the film in an entirely different style. Instead of great shots of a ferocious monster throughout the film, the way he wanted, Steven (Yes, we’re on a first name basis, even if he doesn’t know it yet) had to completely change the style and feel of the movie since he couldn’t show you the shark. This breakdown of equipment made the movie more suspenseful and an instant classic!

Negative thinking can be a huge advantage to those who manage it properly. By finding the value in it, taking action and accepting the possibility of failure, negative thinking can have some very positive results. It can increase productivity, prevent problems and open up new, unexpected pursuits. Life is constantly about balance. And if you’re only allowing one side of your natural self to be used, while constantly trying to eliminate another, you’ll always be out of whack.

©Craig Price 2008

Craig Price is a speaker, trainer, and consultant. He specializes in taking your natural thought processes and turning them into productivity. Visit his website at Price Points
or his blog at
http://www.thepowerofnegativeblogging.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craig_Price
http://EzineArticles.com/?Managing-Negativity-in-the-Workplace&id=1699415