March 2013 Bluegrass Baseline

March 2013
Join Us...
In This Issue:
Join Us
1
The 5 Forces of
Project Management
1
Letter from the President
2
PMI Bluegrass Board List
2
Link-Belt Plant Tour
3
Member Benefit 3
The Trials and Tribulations of
Managing a Star Performer
4
PMI Bluegrass Membership
5
Chapter News
6
Upcoming Events:
March 19, 11:30 a.m.
Kentuckiana Chapter Meeting
Big Spring Country Club
5901 Dutchmans Lane, Louisville
March 28, 11:30 a.m.
Bluegrass Chapter Meeting
DeSha’s Restaurant
101 N. Broadway, Lexington
April 25, 11:30 a.m.
Bluegrass Chapter Meeting
DeSha’s Restaurant
101 N. Broadway, Lexington
Our Mission:
To serve the professional
interests of chapter members
by enhancing expertise
through project management
education, training, and PMI
certification preparation, and
by promoting association and
networking within the project
management community.
For the March PMI Bluegrass Chapter
presentation, Human Resource Risk Management,
by Dianne Leveridge, PMP.
As project managers, we are familiar with cost and
schedule risk management. However, we should
consider risk management of a project involving
more than risk events which could potentially
occur to delay or damage successful project delivery. Another factor
of risk management, which is sometimes overlooked, is managing the
engagement and emotional intelligence of the human resources on a
project team and how engagement, or lack of engagement, can affect
project progress. This brief presentation will discuss human resource
risks and provide some thoughts regarding capturing and planning for
human resource risk management.
Join us for Human Resource Risk Management on Thursday, March 28,
at 11:30 a.m., at DeSha’s Restaurant, 101 North Broadway, Lexington.
The 5 Forces of Project Management
The February PMI Bluegrass Chapter Meetings in Lexington and
Frankfort enjoyed presentations from Michael Galbraith, PMP.
Galbraith’s presentation was titled, “Porter’s Five Competitive Forces
that Shape Strategy: Are There Relations to Project Management?”
Porter’s Five Forces were written in 1979 by Michael Porter and
published in the Harvard Business Review. Porter theorized that
to sustain success and
The Five Forces
profitability, business
strategists must
recognize and respond to
competition.
Managing multiple
projects can often feel like
competing businesses vying
for your attention. Galbraith
shows how focusing
on Porter’s Five Forces
can allow you to better
approach your projects.
Continued on page 6...
Page 1
Letter from the President...
Eric-Stephan Neill, PMP
Your PMI chapter is reaching out to the broader community! Project management is not just for project
professionals, but plays a part in all of our lives – business and personal. As part of this outreach, the
Chapter has taken a membership in Commerce Lexington. Several of your board members attended a
December 2012 event, where we had a display table to help Commerce Lexington members understand
“What is project management?” During that event
we collected business cards for a drawing – the
prize being an invitation to one of our luncheons
as our chapter guest. We are pleased to announce
that Mr. William Fry, Director of Restaurant Support
Services for A&W Restaurants, was the winner. We
will be sending an open invitation to Mr. Fry inviting
him, as our guest, to an upcoming event.
“We invite you to visit
PMI.org to ensure your
profile and contact
information is up-to-date. ”
Last month we mentioned that your board
members would be conducting telephone surveys
of current chapter members to better understand
how we can serve the project management community. To date, we are finding that quite a large
percentage of you may not have your most up-to-date contact information in your PMI profile. The
local chapter uses the PMI profile as the source of your contact information. We invite you to visit
PMI.org to ensure your profile and contact information is up-to-date. You will find that an updated
profile is one way to ensure a more positive networking opportunity. Directions of how to access your
profile are on page 5.
While you are visiting the PMI.org Web site, why not look over the list of Communities of Practice
(CoP)? These virtual communities offer great benefits to members, not the least of which are
additional PDU opportunities when attending their frequent Webinars. CoPs are free to members of
PMI and bring additional exposure to areas of interest that you might have.
PMI Bluegrass Board of Directors:
Eric-Stephan Neill,PMP; President and Past President
Patrick Quirk, PMP; President Elect
Tammy O’Donnell, PMP; VP Planning
Masako Hashimoto, PMP; AVP Planning
Bobbie Newman, PMP; VP Communications
Nicole Morris; AVP Communications
Corey Flannery, PMP; VP Professional Development
Ann McCarthy, PMP; AVP Professional Development
Hardy Utley, PMP; VP Finance
Christy Adams, PMP; VP Programs
Dr. Robert Mahaney; AVP Programs
Natarajan Murugesan; VP Marketing
Anh Nguyen, PMP; AVP Marketing
Metty Joseph, PMP; VP Membership
Sue Knies, PMP; AVP Membership
Page 2
Connie Fryman, PMP; Advisor
Link-Belt Plant Tour
The Bluegrass Chapter of The Association for Operations Management (APICS) has invited PMI Bluegrass
members to the 2013 Plant Tour of Link-Belt Cranes on Thursday, March 21, 2013, at 2651 Palumbo Drive,
Lexington, between Man-O-War and New Circle Road.
Link-Belt is a leader in the design, manufacture, and sales of telescopic and lattice boom cranes, with
headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky. In the recent decade, a dynamic and highly-focused Link-Belt has
emerged as a market leader in crane design and product quality standards by focusing on continuous
improvement and employee empowerment.
Link-Belt’s core production base and center for worldwide operations is its 500,000-square-foot manufacturing
facility. Major expansion plans and continuous improvement philosophies have made this facility the most
modern crane facility in North America.
Space is limited for this tour. You must register before noon, Tuesday, March 19, at www.bluegrassapics.org. The
cost for this tour is $10, and only cash or check is accepted at check-in. The fee includes a box meal provided
by Panera Bread. After registering, please e-mail Monty Northcutt at [email protected] to
specify which sandwich type you prefer: turkey, chicken, roast beef, tuna salad, or veggie. Sign in is 5:30-6
p.m., dinner from 6-6:30 p.m., and the tour will run from 6:30-8 p.m. A brief APICS Board meeting will follow.
Please note, do NOT enter through the main lobby for the tour. Enter through the guard house, only.
Member Benefit
Did you know, that being a PMI member means you are eligible for a PMI Visa® Platinum Rewards Card?
That means you can take advantage of the new custom card, which gives you many ways to earn points and
redeem them!
Card features include:
• No Annual Fee.
• Low Introductory APR on purchases and no balance
transfer fees for 6 months.
• Bonus points towards airline tickets, merchandise, cash‐
back and more at participating merchants.
• Enhanced Visa Platinum benefits, including 24/7
Emergency Customer Service, 100% Fraud Protection,
Auto Rental and Travel Accident Insurance and much
more.
Apply Today!
Page 3
The Trials and Tribulations of
Managing a Star Performer
Based on a PMI Global Knowledge Shelf article by Ajay Widge, PMP
Managing people is one of the key skills required of project managers; yet, people skills are some of the
toughest skills to master and can mean the difference between project success and failure.
Getting people with the correct knowledge base and work experience onto a project team is critical for the
success of any project, but equally important is the ability to knit them into a cohesive team that performs in
the manner required to ensure success in achieving the project goals.
Now, imagine you have a project associate who is bright, hardworking, knows the subject matter very well, and
has initiative; in other words, a real star! This is a nice asset to have on a project that has been mandated by
industry regulators and has tight, non-extendable deadlines.
During my interaction with the “star” subject matter expert (SME), I learned a lot about the baggage a star
performer actually carries, including the insecurities and need for constant stroking.
Star Behavior
My initial interaction with the SME was challenging, because I had to earn his respect on the technical front.
He had an extremely high opinion of his academic background and would challenge anyone who he felt was
not up to the mark or his equal.
The next step was comparing our experiences in the subject of the project, which turned out to be somewhat
comparable.
Having won his respect, the next stage was to “hold his hand” as he transitioned from an SME to a business
analyst. This mentoring process was not easy because it was very hard for him to put on his “operations” hat.
Then it was time to make some contributions to the project itself, and my star truly rose to the occasion.
Behavioral Insights
During that project, I gained some very interesting insights into the psyches of star performers and high
achievers — some were expected and some were very surprising:
Insecurity
Some stars are very insecure people and need constant reassurance of their superiority. Although
competition is healthy and should be encouraged, this constant need to be better than everyone else
leads to friction among team members because they are all working to the best of their ability.
It was important for me to divide the project into work streams and assign responsibility for each to my
team members, based on their skills and experience. Needless to say, the most complex responsibility
was assigned to the star member. This subdivision of the project helped ease the friction that had been
building up, and team interaction became much smoother.
Constant Stroking
Stars need to be recognized constantly! Being recognized once was clearly not enough for my star; he
needed to be reassured that his work was still important and relevant.
Continued on page 5...
Page 4
Hand Holding
Surprisingly, in non-technical matters, my star needed his hand held far more than I was prepared for. It
started with my reviewing his emails (which were being sent out of the project group) and ended up with
him being in my cubicle most of the day, asking for all communication and documents to be reviewed,
even as they were being drafted.
Advice to People Managers and Team Leaders
•
•
•
Be accessible to the team
Spend an equal amount of time with all team members
Set aside time for team-building activities
This experience was an amazing lesson for me and provided tremendous insight into human behavior.
This article is based on “Star Light, Star Bright: The Trials and Tribulations of Managing a Star Performer” by Ajay Widge, PMP, an
article posted on the Knowledge Shelf. Knowledge Shelf is a growing (more than 250 articles written and reviewed by your peers)
online resource for categorized project management knowledge.
PMI Bluegrass Membership Report
February
Current Numbers
Total Chapter Members
Members Holding PMP & PMI-ACP
Members Holding PMP & PMI-RMP
Members Holding PMP Members Holding CAPM
Members with PMP & CAPM
New Members in February
Renewals in February
Welcome New Members
213
2
1
144
3
3
4
16
Melissa Rose Anthony Joined February 3, 2013
Jenny Sutton-Amr
Joined February 8, 2013
Debra Combs
Joined February 13, 2013
Kristina Bolin
Joined February 24, 2013
Welcome Back Renewals
John R. Burke
William Douglas Burton, PMP
Marsha Duncan, PMP
Michael Gerard Galbraith, PMP
Daniel A. Gilbert
Nathaniel T. Gilbert, PMP
Jonathan D. Goins, PMP
Carla Hawkins, PMP
Tiffany L. Jones, PMP
Scott R. Marsh, PMP
Mitchell E. Smith, PMP
Yvonne L. Stutesman, PMP
Ron Thorpe, PMP, PMI-ACP
Billy J. Watson, PMP
Patricia L. Wheatley
Kenneth L. Wilson, PMP
Is Your Information Correct?
Has your contact information changed?
Make sure we can reach you and provide
you with the best PMI Bluegrass experience
you can receive! Visit pmi.org, under Login/
Register, enter your username and password,
select My Profile, Edit My Profile.
If you do not remember your username or
password, please follow the PMI prompts to
reset them.
Page 5
5 Forces...Continued from Page 1
Rivalry Among Existing Competitors
Current projects, both your own and others’, are competitors for resources for every PMP. Recognizing how
other projects may affect yours is key to avoid headaches and missed deadlines.
The Power of Buyers
Project stakeholders can demand more service or quality, as well as play various project participants
against each other. Understanding those dynamics well is an important part in successfully managing a
project.
The Power of Suppliers
Team members, shared resource suppliers, and subject matter experts provide materials and knowledge.
Project managers must have an understanding of the power these people have over the outcome of the
project.
Barriers to Entry
New competing companies, agencies, or projects could cause a barrier to a successful project, preventing
your ability to find sufficient resources. Any PMPs already working on projects using those resources could
retaliate against any new entrants.
Threat of Substitute Products or Services
Project managers face being substituted by new technology when decision makers do not understand
the benefits to a PMP. PMPs must ensure they are able to communicate their worth, and deliver on the
promises.
Porter’s Five Forces improve the value of project management because it helps to understand where
competitive forces about project elements threaten on-time, on-budget, and on-point delivery. The Five Forces
also help recognize problems and formulate solutions where profits are threatened.
Mr. Galbraith has 20 years of experience in planning. He is a member of the Project Management Institute, the
American Institute of Certified Planners, and the Institute of Transportation Engineers. The PowerPoint from Mr.
Galbraith’s presentation is available on the PMI Bluegrass Web site.
Chapter News
Join In
The PMI Bluegrass Chapter is in need of an AVP of Finance. If you are interested in learning about the position,
please contact Eric-Stephen Neill, PMP, Chapter President, at [email protected].
Other volunteer opportunities are listed on the PMI Bluegrass Web site, under Get Involved, many of which are
very small time commitments. Help make the PMI Bluegrass Chapter the best it can be, get involved today!
You Can Contribute!
Do you have a project that went well (or not so well) that taught you a thing or two? Please share your insights!
Articles of any length are accepted and will be included in future editions of the Bluegrass Baseline. Don’t think
you’re a wordsmith? No problem! We can help you polish your piece so it is something you can be proud of. To
contribute to Bluegrass Baseline, please contact Nicole Morris, AVP of Communications, at
[email protected].