When project managers are focused on approaching deadlines and meeting specific goals, it can be easy for team creativity to take a back seat. But allowing room for creativity can result in numerous benefits for the project, like innovative problem-solving techniques, better ideas for the client, or managerial skills that can aid the project manager in completing the project.

As a project manager, it’s your role to balance the time it takes to foster creative thinking to get the optimal results without delaying your timeline. Here are a few tips for encouraging creative thought without wasting time and resources.

Eliminate Common Reasons for Lack of Innovation

Innovation is vital to all businesses. Leaders often adopt the technological and creative innovations from industry leaders or consultants but hesitate to encourage real creativity and innovation in their own organizations. Employees can be restricted in their creative abilities by the culture of an organization, rules and regulations, or their role expectations.

As Chief Learning Officer Magazine explains, many leaders who appreciate innovation may still accidentally suffocate creativity in their own business. The magazine points to a few of the most common ways that businesses unknowingly stifle innovation.

• Don’t think about the “big idea” – Because too many leaders are looking for the next “big idea,” they miss the numerous small ideas that can offer a better competitive advantage than one big one. Other businesses copy big ideas quickly, but small innovations can make a significant impact on a daily basis.
• Focus on creativity, not control – Too many businesses are focused on control and approval, which can limit employees working on fringe ideas that could advance the company. Siloing employees in different departments and restricting budgets can hurt the kinds of small cooperation that encourage new ideas. CLO suggests removing some bureaucratic restrictions to allow for more idea-driven work.
• Don’t limit who can be creative – By assigning only some employees creative tasks, you may get some creativity, but you’re missing out on all of the other employees’ ideas. A widespread culture of creativity can be far more successful.

Instill Creative Discipline

The way to innovation isn’t through letting team members sit around all day thinking. Fruitful creativity requires just as much effort as meeting deadlines. In his book “Creative, Efficient, and Effective Project Management,” Ralph Kliem explains that people frequently underestimate the importance of discipline in creativity. Kliem points out that creativity must be expressed sparingly to keep ideas fresh, and thoughts must be fleshed out so that they’re understandable and logical to others.

As a project manager, strive to create a structured and disciplined routine that fosters creativity within the boundaries of a schedule. Build it into your communication plans and meeting schedules.

Foster Curiosity

Curiosity is often the beginning of innovation. Tomas Chamorro-Premmuzic, Professor of Business Psychology at University College London explains in a Harvard Business Review article that the curiosity quotient (CQ) can be as important as the intelligence quotient when it comes to complex situations. People with higher CQs are able to take a more nuanced approach to ideas and problems, and are much more invested in learning. Helping a team member explore this curiosity can lead to different viewpoints, creative ideas, and a true investment in the project.

With today’s advanced communication tools it’s easier and less expensive than ever for people from different cultures to communicate with one another.

Although business professionals across the globe converse face-to-face or screen-to-screen, it doesn’t mean that their particular cultural mores and language discrepancies won’t interfere with their ability to effectively communicate. In order to manage an international project with multiple teams, complete an acquisition or otherwise manage a prosperous business, it’s critical to be sensitive to other cultures and improve business communication skills to fit the conversation.

A recent article in Chief Learning Officer magazine argues that there are a number of flaws in the way that many businesses undertake their cultural sensitivity training. Improperly designed cultural training programs can create a larger divide by adding to the “us versus them” narrative that the training should dispel. Many programs are more focused on avoiding offensiveness rather than successfully navigating different cultures to advance business goals. The author, Susana Rinderle, advocates for more training that stimulates “authentic relationships” and “effective communication.”

Follow these tips for improving effective communication skills across cultures.

Be Aware of Cultural Timelines

Project managers and other business personnel should be conscious of what their foreign partners’ calendars look like. Certified IT project manager and project management instructor at Merit Career Development Prince Knight explains that project timelines should acknowledge cultural holidays and other periods, otherwise there may be delays and missed deadlines that better cultural awareness could avoid. As examples, Knight notes that the entire month of August as a popular vacation time in Europe, Christmas is an extended holiday period in Scandinavia and in the U.S., and September as a busy back-to-school time.

Knight also advises people to acknowledge cultural differences within their own country, since many U.S. companies have diverse employees from different cultures, religions and ethnic backgrounds.

Strive Toward Universal Communication

To ensure effective communication, businesses should work toward succinct, universal speech and writing that is consistent and identified so that all team members understand. Many companies conduct business in English or other major languages. However, fewer problems arise from language issues than from idioms or expressions that are “lost in translation” or misunderstood. A famous gaffe involved American and British businesspeople negotiating an agreement. All was going well until the Americans attempted to wrap things up by asking for a “John Hancock” on the document. The British were confused. “Who is this, John Hancock?” they said.

Frequently checking with cross-cultural counterparts and recapping the conversation can help ensure that everyone is on the same page and there won’t be misunderstandings, but it’s also smart to eliminate some common mistakes.

• Cut the small talk - Although chit-chat is common in offices around the U.S., small talk in another culture or language may just become confusing and not the ice breaker you’d hoped for, Boston World Partners explains in an article posted to Boston.com. “The weather is not the catch all topic you think it is, neither are sports,” the article advises. “Both are a favorite way to start a meeting here in Boston (It’s 100 degrees! Did you see the game last night?) But if you’re doing business in a climate with very little variation or extremes, the weather is probably not something people naturally discuss. It’s also worth noting baseball is a sport where we play a world championship against ourselves and possibly Toronto. Once you leave the continent, most people just don’t care.”
• Avoid idioms, analogies and phrases - Speaking of sports, there are a number of sports analogies that can easily play into casual business conversations, but when you’re working with other cultures where a given sport isn’t popular, talking about “hitting a homerun” can come off as confusing or—worse—potentially insulting. Before you try to explain your thoughts or ideas, think through what you’re going to say and filter it for any https://www.businessenglishresources.com/learn-english-for-business/student-section/business-vocabulary/most-common-business-idioms/. It’s also a good idea to do some research on the other cultures’ common phrases and misconceptions—there’s a lot to learn from past business embarrassments.
• Prepare for varied emotions or behaviors - Just as different cultures have various expressions for common thoughts or events related to popular culture, people also express themselves and their body language differently. The University of Colorado’s Conflict Research Consortium explains that in some cultures behavioral constraint expectations can make “reading” another person difficult, while in other cultures people may react more strongly when arguing or debating than expected based on the cultural norms.

Analyze Differences

One of the most effective ways to improve cross-cultural communication is to take an analytical look at what makes two cultures different. Merit Career Development’s 2-day Cross-Cultural Communications course tackles this head-on by exploring the Big Five culture differences exposed by business: time, space, things, friendship and agreements.

By looking at these differences in small groups and analyzing their effects on thought, emotion and communication, people are more truly culturally sensitive and can have a more fruitful dialogue with other cultures.

"Business Ethics” is a dangerously murky term with real and profound effects. Ethics are a vital part of every decision, not just hiring practices and the handling of corporate resources.

With the prevalence of social media and the ease of accessing information through technology, training your employees on ethics is more important than ever. Every single decision has the chance to drastically affect how the public perceives a company.

Companies that have invested in ethical compliance education for their entire staff have achieved praise from critics and fervent support from consumers. Conversely, companies that have shirked this responsibility have been met with exorbitant legal battles, vocally dissatisfied customers, and critical condemnation.

Although many aspects of business ethics seem obvious, every decision made has an ethical component. Without a clearly defined and understood corporate code of ethics, seemingly insignificant decisions can lead to enormously expensive legal gray areas.

You can never take it back

In an attempt to solidify his core demographic, Mike Jeffries, the CEO of clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch, publicly belittled the people he felt did not fit the company’s image. During an interview, he casually condemned those who did not meet the brand’s image as being unworthy of wearing their clothes. Consumers found this statement to be offensive and unethical, resulting in a 15% drop in sales and a 10% drop in share price. However, the remarkable part of this incident is that the backlash came six years after the comments were made.

In 2013, social media websites brought the CEO’s comments to a much larger audience than imagined at the time of the interview. The permanent and public nature of social media and electronic record keeping changed a forgotten comment into an irreversible and hugely expensive PR nightmare. Almost every major news outlet picked up the story and these articles still appear prominently with a simple Google search of Abercrombie & Fitch.

The CEO’s unethical comment, along with ethical issues of racial discrimination in hiring practices, have resulted in millions of dollars in legal fees, a diminished clientele, and highly expensive restructuring of ethical training and policies for A&F. However, offhand remarks or discriminatory hiring practices are by no means the only unethical actions with drastic tolls on businesses.

Who Owns the Information?

Poorly drafted IT policies regarding the ownership of information created on company computers can also place a business at risk of being perceived as unethical. The lack of clear policies and workforce training regarding the content of e-mails, accessing social media, and personal communications on company computers create easy opportunities for issues of harassment. Only proper training in ethical use can help shield a company from liability.

Ethical decision-making has a direct and profound impact on a company’s brand and can result in substantial expenses if not handled properly. Taking ethical compliance education seriously, drafting and implementing clear policies and guidelines are of vital importance in today’s business.

With successful startups like Uber, giants like Comcast, A&F, and the Livestrong Corporation being crippled by unethical behavior, business ethics are a pressing need in every workplace.

Interested in safeguarding your business from ethical issues? Click here to learn more about Merit Career Development’s business ethics training courses and consulting services.

In order to get the most out of your training investment, project managers should use fun, engaging teaching methods that employ interactivity. Here are four examples of training techniques that help teams learn better.

1. Involve Corporate Culture

Every business has a specific culture among its employees, services and leadership. Training that doesn’t take the organization’s culture into account can come off as boring and out-of-touch. Chief Learning Officer (CLO) magazine recommends that managers engage employees through understanding and adopting the corporate culture as their own.

“Understanding a company’s cultural strengths, then effectively tapping into the energy and emotional commitment those strengths engender in employees, provides incredible momentum to accelerate transformation,” CLO explains. “Learning leaders can instill a sense of employee pride and commitment. Look for ways to connect workers to something larger than a new policy on paper.”

Using culture as a tool is a subtle but powerful leadership technique that can bring people into the conversation. This can mean appealing to pop culture—a marketing firm implementing metaphors or examples from “Mad Men”—or the office culture. Integrating culture into training reinforces a sense of community, but it can also be played for humor. Does the office have a notoriously small kitchen? Is there a row of coveted parking spaces in the lot? Use these as corporate “in-jokes” to reinforce the content of your presentation.

2. Take Advantage of Simulation Training

It doesn’t matter how important the information being taught is if it’s put into practice. Simulation training allows you to teach, test, and improve your team’s habits for quick decision-making in high-pressure situations without the risks of an actual crisis.

Customized simulation training solutions engage a team more than standard presentations because they force employees to learn and apply the information in real-time. With multiple team-based training sessions, simulations they’ll work under accelerated timelines. For example, by turning weeks into minutes within the realm of the simulation, the ticking clock function of simulations allows employees of a pharmaceutical company to balance Food and Drug Administration approval deadlines with website redesign projects ahead of launch within a span of a few hours. This allows employees to have real experience about prioritizing one project over another and managing time and resources.

3. Leave Room for Improvisation

While practicing a training exercise or presentation is important for effective execution, Tom Yorton, CEO of Second City Communications, explains in Training magazine that leaving space for improvisation in your presentation can be an excellent tool for engaging a diverse team. Yorton suggests starting light and negative. Discuss ten bad team management ideas that people have experienced. This can be fun and will bring people into the conversation. From here, you can talk about why these didn’t work and bridge the conversation to new ideas that will work. Everyone’s brains will be firing on all cylinders as they improvise fresh ideas.

By using the same techniques that improv comedians use, Yorton argues that corporate managers can think better on their feet, be more receptive to new concepts, and come up with cost-effective solutions that are out-of-the-box. This method can help engage employees because it’s focused on participation from everyone and thinking about concepts from different angles.

4. Incorporate Cross-Training or Cross-Teaching

It’s important for team members to understand their own roles. Set some time aside during your training to allow each member to teach or explain their role and how it affects the other employees. Not only will this improve tolerance among team members, but increased understanding can help streamline tasks through the project. Rather than burdening the project manager with questions, team members may be able to better communicate issues directly among one another.

Cross-training or cross-teaching improves engagement among team members in multiple ways. Not only do they get a chance to learn about other positions, but they’re also involved as presenters within the training session.

Think back on the most memorable lectures, classes, or training sessions you’ve experienced. Chances are, they engaged you because they shared certain qualities: Entertainment, a feeling of inclusion, hands-on practice, or improvisational exercises, to name a few. Take these qualities to heart and make them a part of your own memorable management training.

No matter how informative the content of a project management training session is, employees won’t benefit from the content if it’s not engaging. In order to get the most out of your training investment, project managers should use fun, interactive teaching methods. Here are four examples of training techniques that help teams learn better.

1. Involve Corporate Culture
   
   Every business has a specific culture among its employees, services and leadership. Training that doesn’t take the organization’s culture into account can come off as boring and out-of-touch. Chief Learning Officer (CLO) magazine recommends that managers engage employees through understanding and adopting the corporate culture as their own.
   
   "Understanding a company’s cultural strengths, then effectively tapping into the energy and emotional commitment those strengths engender in employees, provides incredible momentum to accelerate transformation," CLO explains. "Learning leaders can instill a sense of employee pride and commitment. Look for ways to connect workers to something larger than a new policy on paper."
   
   Using culture as a tool is a subtle but powerful leadership technique that can bring people into the conversation. This can mean appealing to pop culture—a marketing firm implementing metaphors or examples from "Mad Men" - or the office culture. Integrating culture into training reinforces a sense of community, but it can also be played for humor. Does the office have a notoriously small kitchen? Is there a row of coveted parking spaces in the lot? Use these as corporate "in-jokes" to reinforce the content of your presentation.


2. Take Advantage of Simulation Training
   
   It doesn't matter how important the information being taught is if it’s not put into practice. Simulation training allows you to teach, test and improve your team’s habits for quick decision-making in high-pressure situations without the risks of an actual crisis.
   
   Customized simulation training solutions engage a team more than standard presentations because they force employees to learn and apply the information in real-time. With multiple team-based training sessions, simulations can give your team experience by testing how they’ll work under accelerated timelines. For example, by turning weeks into minutes within the realm of the simulation, the ticking clock function of simulations allows employees of a pharmaceutical company to balance Food and Drug Administration approval deadlines with website redesign projects ahead of launch within a span of a few hours. This allows employees to have real experience about prioritizing one project over another and managing time and resources.


3. Leave Room for Improvisation
   
   While practicing a training exercise or presentation is important for effective execution, Tom Yorton, CEO of Second City Communications, explains in Training magazine that leaving space for improvisation in your presentation can be an excellent tool for engaging a diverse team. Yorton suggests starting light and negative. Discuss ten bad team management ideas that people have experienced. This can be fun and will bring people into the conversation. From here, you can talk about why these didn’t work and bridge the conversation to new ideas that will work. Everyone’s brains will be firing on all cylinders as they improvise fresh ideas.
   
   By using the same techniques that improv comedians use, Yorton argues that corporate managers can think better on their feet, be more receptive to new concepts and come up with cost-effective solutions that are out-of-the-box. This method engages employees because it’s focused on participation from everyone and thinking about concepts from different angles.


4. Incorporate Cross-Training or Cross-Teaching
   
   It’s important for team members to understand their own roles. Set some time aside during your training to allow each member to teach or explain their role and how it affects the other employees. Not only will this improve communication among team members, but increased understanding can help streamline tasks through the project. Rather than burdening the project manager with questions, team members may be able to better communicate issues directly among one another.
   
   Cross-training or cross-teaching improves interaction among team members in multiple ways. Not only do they get a chance to learn about other positions, but they’re also involved as presenters within the training session.
   
   Think back on the most memorable lectures, classes or training sessions you’ve experienced. Chances are, they hooked you because they shared certain qualities: entertainment, a feeling of inclusion, hands-on practice or improvisational exercises, to name a few. Take these qualities to heart and make them a part of your own memorable management training.

Managing Different Generations in the Workplace: Part Two

In the first article of our four-part series on communicating with employees of different generations, we examined the unique characteristics of Generation X. Following the determined and work-driven perspective of the baby boomers, Gen Xers enjoy a happy learning medium of experience and ingenuity. But what about Generation Y, the age group often referred to as Millennials?

Generation Y has proven to be vastly different from its predecessors, carving a distinct niche for working millennials. Let’s discuss how to communicate with these tech-minded individuals.

Growing Up with Technology

Born between the years 1981 and 2000, millennials have a strong grasp on the kind of hardware and software currently utilized in today’s workplace. Unlike the baby boomers and Gen Xers, Gen Y has had its fingers on the pulse of technological advancements from an early age. Because of this, the best way to coordinate training with these learners is through mobile or Web-based platforms. Millennials feel more involved and digest information at a faster rate when it’s shared electronically. Training magazine recommends engaging and improving effective communication skills with Gen Y by conducting quick research by smartphone using polls and quizzes.

However, remember that Gen Y employees are bombarded with digital information every day, and they’re adept at weeding out what's pertinent and what’s "spam." Whether you’re designing training materials or constructing presentations, make sure the information is concise and to the point.

Millennials need more than competitive salaries and rewarding work experience to be satisfied - this generation needs to be more engaged in the training process. Leverage this by having millennials take the lead in new training programs. Gen Y is a valuable resource for guiding more senior colleagues in using tablets and Internet systems, the Philadelphia Business Journal explains. Allowing millennials to help train their peers creates an environment that breeds trust and communication among co-workers.

Bridging the Communication Gap

Gen Yers have been maligned by some researchers as possessing a "very inflated sense of self" and being "a pampered and nurtured generation," according to Psychology Today. This misconception may stem from millennials’ understandable desire for consistent and meaningful feedback on their work. Acclimated to the immediate feedback loops of social media, video games and other interactive platforms, millennials thrive in responsive environments. As a result, email becomes very useful for managers. Not only does it allow for a responsive environment, but Gen Yers are characterized as more likely to respond to electronic correspondence than phone calls or physical meetings.

Gen Yers are a group of unique individuals that like to interact with peers and lean on creativity to get tasks done. Fueled by collaboration, Generation Y thrives from active training lessons that bring them together in a room to chat and role-play. Managers must use this to their advantage by designing exercises that feed into the social and improvisational strengths of millennials, as opposed to the self-reliant, structured approach of Generation X. Stick with us to learn about millennials’ not-so-distant cousin: Generation Z.

Project managers deal with numerous factors impacting success, including budget constraints, stringent timelines and technical issues. Yet one of the most common issues is communication breakdowns among different personality types on the team. By identifying and codifying different personality types, project managers can enhance the effectiveness of their teams, balancing team member strengths and weaknesses, and improving the overall project outcome.

Based on the work of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is the most widely used personality assessment tool. It enables people to identify their natural preferences that guide decision-making, determine how they gather information, structure their lives and understand how they derive their personal energy.

To determine their MBTI type, individuals complete a multiple choice questionnaire that asks them to choose their preferences in a wide variety of situations. The results translate into a four-letter type, based on four dimensions, each with two preferences: Source of Energy (Extraversion or Introversion); Information (Sensing or Intuitive); Decisions (Thinking or Feeling); and Structure (Judging or Perceiving). For instance, in terms of how one makes decisions, some people use a more logical, objective thought process (called “Thinking”) while others focus on the impact the decision will have on the people involved (called “Feeling”).

Navigating personalities

The brain dictates how an employee engages with projects and approaches his or her responsibilities. Psychological type preferences can either complement each other, actively supporting success, or interfere with progress by clashing with one another. We’ve all been on teams where one or two personality types dominated; it can be very unpleasant and undermine the success of team’s effort.

But it’s not just about individuals getting along. Preferences don’t only clash or mesh with one another - they can have degrees of harmony or dissonance with the project itself. For different types of projects, different personality types can be a real asset to the team. In her article "Optimizing Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Training: Practical Applications," Jennifer Tucker, Ph.D., outlined the ranging personalities that can impact success.

For instance, some projects are more externally-focused, and can draw on the strengths of extraverts. Other projects may focus more on possibilities, not just the facts. Intuitive types are a real boon in those situations. Likewise, having Feeling types on a project that focuses on the consumer can help the team really understand the end-user in a way that a Thinking type - who relies on logic and objectivity - might miss. A project in the beginning phases can benefit from the Perceiving type, who is open to new information, and resists quick decisions. But, then again, when you need structure and closure, the Judging type is your go-to person.

Planning projects around personalities

For leaders, the trick is to discover the balance that benefits the project and mitigates risk. Managers have to decide how to utilize each personality to their project’s advantage. For example, teams that lean toward introversion may lack the continual communication needed to maintain support from senior leadership. On the other hand, projects heavily influenced by Perceiving types might struggle with expectation management, such as meeting proposed deadlines. To find the right balance, managers should pick team members that bring both preferences to the table, engaging stakeholders while making swift project decisions.

While leaders can benefit by applying personality types to project management, the MBTI isn't the only tool for determining team selection. With the right balance of personalities and effective communication skills, managers can identify individuals who bring the necessary experience for a successful project.

Managing Different Generations in the Workplace: Part One

The eclectic mix of employee personalities and working styles can be challenging in itself. However, with roughly three different generations working together at one time, multiple perspectives, and varying levels of experience, compound the complexity of training.

Generation X - birth dates ranging from the early 1960s to the early 1980s - has worked for more than two decades. With Generations Y and Z entering the fold, what's the most effective method of communication with this cohort? As the first of a four-part series, let’s break down Generation X.

The Concept of Authority

According to annual surveys administered by the Longitudinal Study of American Youth, Gen Xers are defined as people who are highly educated, active, balanced and family-oriented. The study gathers data using various questions and responses from roughly 4,000 participants who were surveyed each year from 1987 through 2010.

The LSAY is a project funded by the National Science Foundation that began in 1985 and is designed to measure the development of student attitudes toward achievements and career paths in a range of subject areas. The participants are surveyed during middle school, high school and the first four years of post-high school.

Forbes magazine explained that Gen Xers view their superiors as experts whose work experience and skill levels demand a high level of consideration and respect. They believe that being an authoritative figure in the workplace is a substantial achievement and earned through hard work and dedication. They also like structure and direction from senior leadership but are self-reliant when completing a task.

The Perception of Balance

According to Training magazine, Gen Xers strive to find a balance between the office and home. Because baby boomers are usually loyal to their workplace, Gen Xers might view their older colleagues as workaholics who are afraid of change and lack adaptability. Being brought up during a shift in technological advancements, Generation X learns from a range of modalities – from traditional, instructor-led training to online classroom environments.

Leaders should understand how Gen Xers operate and incorporate various methods to effectively engage them in the training environment. These include a mixture of visual activities, like PowerPoint presentations combined with virtual quizzes and polls. The best communication balance for managers is to provide adequate feedback to Gen Xers: It can serve as a viable motivator for continuing - or improving - their strong work ethic.

The Power of Engagement

Caught in-between two very different generations - baby boomers and millennials - Gen Xers are a blend of the old and new guards. They can endure the nitty-gritty grind of completing projects, but they also appreciate working autonomously on various assignments.

Knowing this, managers should leverage the Generation X motivators and accommodate their unique perspectives on the workplace. Direct and immediate feedback keeps them engaged and happy, contributing to the company’s success and maintaining high employee morale as well. For example, exploring monetary bonus plans for completing assignments can provide Gen Xers with the encouragement they need for optimal performance.

To work efficiently on bolstering productivity and engagement, managers need to understand the characteristics of Generation X. But with Generations Y and Z in the workplace as well, they have to accommodate for varying personalities. Stay tuned for our next feature on the Millennials and their own specific intricacies.

Review a course list or contact Merit today for more information.

The difference in project plan outcomes with and without a good communication plan is a real eye-opener for managers. When well-executed, the workflow of a project can advance seamlessly among stakeholders and break down departmental communication silos. Managing project stakeholders is critical to the success of every project. The first step to developing an efficient and effective communications plan is to assess the individuals on the team to determine who are the most essential team members for the project.

Building the Grid

Throughout their training and certification, project managers learn about the communication plan process and the role it plays in effective project management. Without a plan, communications can be disjointed and fractured, creating the potential for conflict and miscommunication. Because stakeholders often consist of contributors from different disciplines and functions, managers should conduct a thorough analysis of their team to determine the right talent for each aspect of the communication plan.

One technique is to build a plotted grid that conveys each stakeholder’s relationship to the project. Doing so facilitates the categorization of individual employees, determining where his or her efforts will be most effective for the project. In the grid, the X axis identifies the level of interest, or how much the stakeholder will be affected by the outcome, and the Y axis signifies influence, or how much he or she can impact the finished project. Each quadrant, measured from low to high, would help measure the specific value of each project team member and develop the framework for the communication plan. Using the grid, leaders measure how much members of a team will contribute to the success of the project. Employees with high levels of interest and power would be more effective than members with lower levels of these attributes, while those with mixed levels can still positively influence the assignment. From there, managers must decide who will be included in the project.

Managing Stakeholder Expectations

Stakeholders can vary in terms of influence and interests. While the team assignment itself could drive completion, many factors can impact the project's success. Several warning signs can point to project management trouble, such as missed deadlines and conflicts among stakeholders. To combat these challenges and break down communication silos, project managers must actively follow their communication plans to the end. It is the only way to keep stakeholders in check and ensure that the project's needs are met in an efficient manner. Regular meetings - both virtual and in-person - can keep everyone up to speed on progress and serve to better manage stakeholders' expectations.

Learning from Experienced Professionals

At Merit Career Development, courses are customized to provide flexibility and meet an organization’s needs. In its experience running effective project management training, Merit has found that many managers were not creating a communication plan, endangering the success of their projects. To illustrate the impact ineffective communication plans can make, Merit had managers run a simulation of a stakeholders meeting without a communication strategy in place. The inefficiencies of this non-strategy were apparent from the start. Merit then had the managers run through the same scenario with a communication plan in place. The differences were dramatic. There was a marked improvement in performance as managers realized the indispensable benefits of effectual planning and were able to better coordinate efforts among the team. Teaching project managers the essentials of developing effective communications plans has become an important component of Merit’s project management training. Merit actively looks to turn on the light bulb for project managers so that the value of efficient communication is crystal clear for them. The solution lies in getting the participants to struggle in the first hour of training in order to understand the benefits of the second hour and the importance of a plan. This can help save time and reduce errors, repetition and confusion among stakeholders and lead to better financial gains for the business. To learn more, review Merit’s course list or contact Merit today.

Within every organization, employees range in personality types from professionally outgoing to socially reserved. Managing a mix of extraverts and introverts can be a challenge, but encouraging each personality type’s strengths and encouraging both groups to understand these dynamics is key.

Extraverts

By nature, extraverts are energized by being around others and that enthusiasm translates as an outgoing personality. Roughly 75 percent of the US population is extraverted.

Common extravert traits:

• Directed outward toward people and things
• Relaxed and confident
• Gregarious, want to be with others
• "What you see is what you get"
• Process outward: Speaks to think ("shoots from the hip")
• Seek variety and action
• Often act quickly, sometimes without thinking

Introverts

On the other hand, although introverts can interact with people skillfully, over time their energy will deplete faster than an extravert. They then need "down time" to "recharge their batteries."

Common introvert traits

• Directed inward toward concepts and ideas
• Reserved and questioning
• Seek quiet for concentration
• Need time alone to recharge and think
• Have valuable contributions, but may hesitate to speak
• Process inward: Thinks to speak
• Likes to think a lot before acting, sometimes without acting!

Understanding different perspectives is critical to effective team building

Extraverts often see themselves as actionable people who work successfully with others but they can be quick to implement tactics that are untested or poorly thought out. Introverted employees often view their extraverted counterparts as noisy and impulsive, actively working to solve a problem, but making many mistakes along the way.

Introverts often perceive their thought processes as more complex, and they often think deeply before sharing their thoughts. More outgoing employees might think their quiet coworkers aren’t spontaneous enough or are slow to respond, leaving them hard to integrate into solution-oriented discussions and team projects.

Because each personality type has a different perspective of the environment, managers should approach meetings with each in separate manners to promote success. Catering to both introvert and extravert tendencies serves to facilitate teamwork, creating better-prepared employees, communications and outcomes.

So how do you manage these two different types of personalities?

Extraverts: Let 'em talk

When meeting with extraverts, managers should allow time for discussion without the necessity of reaching conclusions. Extraverts learn and retain information better when there are active conversations. They tend to "think out loud."

During a team meeting, managers should greet everyone as he or she comes into the room and conduct introductions. Because extraverts typically think faster - although not thoroughly -and tend to have shorter attention spans, it's useful to break up presentations with questions and answer or discussion periods and other exercises. After it's over, leaders should allow time for feedback and conversations with presenters to encourage input.

Additionally, putting extraverts into groups and planning active outings can facilitate their professional development.

Introverts: Let 'em think

Contrary to extraversion, managers should allow introverted employees more time before expecting an answer. Because introverts spend more time reflecting before responding, team leaders may want to hold back before asking for possible solutions. Instead of forcing introverts into groups, leaders could sit one-on-one with them.

To ensure that the opinions of introverts are captured during meetings, managers should provide all participants with an agenda and conduct polls before the meeting, especially regarding important matters. Anyone who hasn't responded in discussions can be prompted for input with lead time to encourage eventual participation. Once the meeting has ended, leaders can summarize the next steps and distribute the materials via email.

A useful tip: Always call on introverts last when soliciting comments during or after a meeting. This gives them additional time to consider other participants' responses and formulate their own with more confidence.

Finally, it's important for managers to realize that people who are outgoing aren't always extraverts, and shyness doesn't necessarily indicate introversion. Most people display a range of these characteristics, although they lean toward one type or the other. The optimal brainstorming teams are comprised of people with diverse skills and perspectives.

It's up to managers to engage each type of team member, regardless of personality, to ensure their optimal contributions are realized.

For more information about how Merit Career Development can help with your teams, please contact us.