Just tell me what is happening and what you want me to do.  This is the common request of most people who need to contribute to a change.  But it is rarely answered in enough detail for a person to know what is happening and what they need to do. Most changes are delivered top down in terms of broad direction with little detail on exactly what a person needs to do to contribute.  Sometimes it is unclear if a person needs to do anything or even if they are affected. TASKey has found that the three key requirements to connect personal contributions to strategic change are: 1.&n... [More]

Work Management is a strategy for planning and getting work done through people.  It involves using technology to organize, automate and synchronize work processes; so people can know what is happening and what they need to do. The overall goals are to reduce costs, increase profitability, and reduce stress by eliminating many manual, time consuming work processes.  When applied effectively, people, processes, and technology work in synergy to streamline workflows to achieve these goals. Key Components Key components to be managed are: ·     &n... [More]

Effective change is essential for most organizations to stay competitive.  Yet most organizations use ad hoc methods (that are difficult to understand and control) to implement change.  Consequently the outcome of most changes is uncertain and unpredictable. Guessing what to do and hoping that changes will be effective is not a competitive solution, especially if competitors have better solutions.  TASKey has developed a change management solution that uses web and mobile software to facilitate change on a 7x24 global basis. The solution uses a simple one page plan template to... [More]

Few people will disagree that clear plans make doing work easier.  If you know what you need to do, the amount of uncertainty and stress you experience is reduced. But how do you know what you need to do?  If you are unclear about what needs to be done, you are forced to guess.  Guessing is made even harder if managers or other people you are working with keep changing their priorities.  This can be described as “moving the goal posts”. Often I ask managers “Do you have a plan?”  The answer is usually “Yes”.  But when I ask to... [More]

After years of research and hands-on experience, I have been asked what can make the greatest difference to work with the least amount of effort.  I believe that solving the following three challenges will make the greatest difference: ·         To make it simple and fast to plan, and to keep the plan up to date; so everyone knows what needs to happen and what they need to do ·         To ensure  that everyone’s ToDo list matches the plans and are synchronized with other people&rsquo... [More]

The TASKey Leadership Platform web software makes leading easier and faster. The Leadership Platform integrates 16 core processes and many sub processes in the background, so you have more time for building and sustaining relationships. The core processes are: 1.      Goal tracking (keeps focus and simplifies task alignment) 2.      Planning & Implementing (makes it easy to plan and keeps plans up to date) 3.      Task organizer (shows relationships between tasks and makes tasks easy to find) 4.  &nb... [More]

Effective management of work depends on people remembering to do what they agreed to do and telling other team members that it has been done.  Productivity is decreased when someone forgets to do something or to tell other team members.  Unfortunately forgetting to do what has been agreed is common in the workplace, so potential productivity is rarely achieved. Common symptoms of forgetting are:  missed deadlines, wasted time and effort, many meetings, tension between team members, interrupted work flows, rework, and frustration and stress.  Current trends of trying to do ... [More]

One of the greatest challenges for a project manager is to close the gap between what people are actually doing and the progress being reported.  In construction projects, this gap is generally small because the project manager can see what is happening. However in most other projects, you cannot see what is happening.  Consequently you need to rely on a flow of information based on reporting progress against tasks and milestones.  Unfortunately most people reporting to you do not have simple management methods that provide a similar discipline to that being employed by the p... [More]

The following is my answer to the subject question in a LinkedIn Project Management Group. After over 35 years project management experience, I believe the standout is poor coordination between project tasks and the work (action) plans used by people to complete project tasks. Where there is no explicit connection, variations in work plans are usually not picked up until a blowout occurs in the project task schedule.  Usually by this time, it is too late for the project manager to recover lost time.  In many cases, work plans are in people’s heads.  Consequently minor ... [More]

Strategies are of little value if they are not implemented effectively.  But implementation is difficult in an already busy schedule.   Unless each follower can see where they fit and what they need to contribute; the chances of a strategy being effectively implemented are low.  The key is to explicitly show each follower what they need to do, when and with whom.  This may sound impossible, but I will tell you how it can be done.   Firstly let’s consider some of the workplace dynamics that work against implementing a strategy: There is not enough time to d... [More]