Using "red herrings" as bait to catch what you want.

This appears to be a facetious post, but its not. It's nefarious.

Make a list of the proposed projects including the one you favor and the unacceptable one. When you have several options for projects to undertake in your workplace or even in the community. (I learned this trick while working in a City Engineer's office.)  Include at least one proposed project that is absolutely unacceptable to every possible stakeholder (including yourself).

• Put the pros and cons on the list.
• Include your "real" project as second ranked (or maybe 3rd if you have the skill to pull it off).
• Submit the list and sit back until the inevitable firestorm over the first project breaks.
• Ague for the first project until you assess that any further argument will make you look really, really stupid and then cave in arguing that the second (or third) project on the list should then be first..

Two things will have been accomplished.

• You will have vented the energy of those who oppose everything. My dad called those folks the "aginer's" ("I'm aginst it!", those who oppose anything new and have never supported anything)..
• You will have an opportunity to figure out who is for the other options (not yours) and have taken that time to formulate persuasive arguments for your “real” project.

When you drop the proposed project, you will have shown yourself as a very "willing to compromise" and wise individual.

The term of art for this is using a "red herring", a red herring is an idiom referring to a device which intends to divert the audience from the truth or an item of significance (Wikipedia)

A perfect example of this is going on right now between the White House and Fox News (?) Network. The White House accuses Fox of being the mouthpiece and research arm of the GOP. Fox News takes the bait, and spends a lot of time whining about how the White House and President Obama is getting all "Nixon like". The White House keeps throwing gas on the fire, and Fox keeps it up. Fox is so obsessed with this "non-issue" that they ignore real news and influence issues. We get public health care.

So two take a-ways from this posting.

• Learn how to spot a "red herring"
• Learn how to effectively use a "red herring" to get what you want or divert attention

Opportunities for learning and enhancing your resume in these tough times.

Times are tough for all of us out in the hinterlands. Stop looking at the news. Folks in Washington D.C. and New York are dreaming about the good old days and by wishing so, they hope to bring them back.

But I say, good days are for those looking forward not looking back. There are great opportunities for young professionals as the world resets its economic models.

But if times are tight, and my company is not providing training, and there are no opportunities to learn new skills and then demonstrate them to my bosses, what can I do to enhance my future career?

Use your project management skills and knowledge by VOLUNTEERING to manage projects for your church, social group, community, governments, NGO, etc.

In our connected world you don't even need to travel. In 2004 I mentored several project managers who were working on projects in Afghanistan after the war. We met in Hiroshima, Japan to prepare for the projects and then we stayed connected through email, synchronous chats, and regular teleconferences (from Geneva to Phoenix to Kabul). One project resulted in a new girls school for a small village, another project resulted in a rug manufacturing facility.

A particularly good way to help your career is to find a community or charitable project that your bosses have been supporting and then get on board. When my project managers found out I was working with a group planning a "sun deck" for the Sisters of Mercy Hospice, they were more than eager to show their stuff.

One caveat, managing volunteers is the hardest thing to do. (Harder than herding cats, and I herd five cats, twice a day, in my back yard, and one of them is a runner!)

On the flip side, if you can get a project launched and completed with volunteers, you clearly demonstrate that you have leadership, organizational and persuasive skills.

Volunteers can't be fired (except for really egregious behavior and you know what that is) and you can't pay them a bonus. If they are adults, you can rarely bully them, and if you do bully them into submission, you will never have those folks for volunteers again. (and you won't have their friends either).

Volunteer projects are slippery eels, and they are not always done on schedule, within budgets or even to the satisfaction of the recipient. Lots of times, when for reasons beyond our control,(sometimes its the client fault) you fail and your clients don't show compassion or understanding When that happens I just chalk it up to the clients "bad karma" problems and move on. If you think you can fix the problem easily, try to, but don't waste psychic energy trying to make everything perfect, just move on.

After you have successfully completed your volunteer management role:

• You will be in great demand, so make sure you don't over commit.(That's easy to do.)
• Strategically, take on projects that will give you new viewers, new skills and are fun for you.
• Toot your own horn lightly. (Make sure your bosses learn about this in a natural way.)
• Make sure everyone who contributed is acknowledged, even those who got in the way, or contributed less than they thought they did.
• Put the success and the skills demonstrated in your resume.
• Don't get upset if others get the credit.
• Don't worry if the systems you set up are ignored in future projects. Just consider future projects and opportunity for someone else to learn something.

One final caveat that I learned from my wife. Make usre you find suitable roles for yoru volunteers adn never, ever let your volunteers be abused by your clients or other members of the team.

Thats a good way to hurt gentle souls, especially if they care about the project and they want to help.

Confidence for the new project manager.

Confidence, what does it mean and where can the new project manager find it.

M-W.com defines it partially as:
A: a feeling or consciousness of one's powers or of reliance on one's circumstances
B: faith or belief that one will act in a right, proper, or effective way

My students know my motto is "Indolese rapio" so in this case I am going to do a little stealing by just pointing you in a good direction.

How can you gain confidence. One of my favorite improvement web sites is "Mindtools" and click here to see what they have to say about confidence.

There is also a nifty 3 minute video on improving your confidence.

From my vantage point, the most important part of building self confidence is learning new skills, honing and practicing that skill and using it often. Every time you successfully complete a task, remind yourself that you are building confidence.

One thing that confidence brings is the ability to inspire others to want to work with you and to convince clients to let you take the lead. The flip side is over-confidence which is mightily destructive in my view.

So if you are (or want to be a "confident" person, first get competent and then smile a lot.

Confident people are upbeat and smile a lot. They don't go around scowling and complaining.

I once had a Japanese client come to my beach cottage for a weekend. He remarked, through the interpreter, that he now knew why I was so personally confident. I asked why was that?
He said: "You don't worry about the success of work so much, because you are so wealthy:" From his perspective of the cost of a beach house in Japan I must be a multi-millionaire (I was not, it was a cottage not a Macmansion) I told him what I had paid for the home, and his jaw dropped. I then pointed out that my confidence came from my team and my clients who trusted me to successfully get things done for them. I also pointed out that smiling used less energy than scowling.

I am pretty sure that while I am mostly a confident person, when I was not feeling competent I didn't always exude confidence.

But I tried always tried to look confident by dressing well and smiling a lot.

Now that I don't manage so much, I still try to dress at least OK and smile even more.

Its amazing the effect one person can have on a group by being upbeat and confident that the future will be better than the past.

My suggestion to become a confident person:

• Learn a lot of skills and practice them. (be competent)
• Dress well, look good (you don't have to be movie star to project your best)
• Smile a lot (it uses less energy than frowning)  

During these trying economic times, would you rather be working with confident people or gloomy folks. My guess is that if your bosses are half competent they will be looking to hang on to confident people not workplace doomsayers.