Dear Daughter,
Somebody asked me the other day how I make you, Elsa, read all my posts. I told them I tie you to a chair and….jk! I told them I have a sneaky strategy. Of course, by telling you this now it’s not really a secret strategy anymore, but that is a price I’m willing to pay if it means I can teach you the importance of having a strategy and a plan for your career and life. I figured it is a good time to go over this topic since it’s the beginning of the year and perfect time to plan your year.
In my job as a Project Management and Delivery Lead I’ve always been responsible for identifying and implementing process improvements, and being the driver of change. Since no one likes change (except me!) I’ve always had to have a sneaky strategy to ensure I could implement all the updated processes and tools that were needed without making the team overwhelmed. So I know all about sneaky strategies!
To determine my process improvement plan for the year, the first thing I do is to prioritize the improvements needed. Since it can be overwhelming for people to have too much change to their workday I only announce a few of the big updates I am planning to roll out, but I always have a sneaky strategy where my big plan includes a lot more than the big process improvements.
Throughout the year I would ask each project team to start using a new template, or a new step in the process. All small changes that no one thought about or worried about. And when the year was up, I had been able to implement big AND small changes without overwhelming the team. So if you are planning the year from a professional standpoint, start with planning out everything you want to accomplish, and then break the plan apart to determine what is the right mix of big and small changes. If you are working with a team, determine what goals and initiatives you are going to communicate out to them.
So you see, it’s good to be sneaky sometimes, especially if it helps you and your team have a successful year!
Love,
Mamma
