Dennis Stevens » Leadership http://www.dennisstevens.com Enabling the Agile Enterprise Thu, 17 Mar 2011 01:54:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 The Role of Conversations in Projects http://www.dennisstevens.com/2009/03/04/the-role-of-conversations-in-projects/ http://www.dennisstevens.com/2009/03/04/the-role-of-conversations-in-projects/#comments Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:23:39 +0000 Dennis Stevens http://www.dennisstevens.com/?p=70 This is a slightly updated presentation of a talk I gave at Atlanta’s Project Developer Days a few years ago. After attending a two day training session with Jeff Sutherland, I believe that this concept is relevant to the Agile and SCRUM Project Management conversation.  From my experience, improving the performance of the conversations on your projects greatly improves the performance of the project team. When we say we want to get better at communications, I believe we want to improve the quality and effectiveness of the project conversations. The project managers job in leading projects requires us to be good at recognizing what conversations need to take place, and facilitating them to a successful conclusion.

The Role Of Conversation In Projects

]]> http://www.dennisstevens.com/2009/03/04/the-role-of-conversations-in-projects/feed/ 1 2009…The Year of Leadership and Innovation http://www.dennisstevens.com/2009/01/01/2009%e2%80%a6the-year-of-leadership-and-innovation/ http://www.dennisstevens.com/2009/01/01/2009%e2%80%a6the-year-of-leadership-and-innovation/#comments Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:10:00 +0000 Dennis Stevens http://www.dennisstevens.com/?p=22 Times are tough for many businesses. Often, when the economy gets tough, management becomes very conservative. Everyone needs to buckle down and get in line. No one is going to rock the boat and point out flaws in an organization or management when there is a real risk of being laid-off. No one is going to strive for innovate behavior when management is so risk averse. People are afraid and feeling threatened – and will behave accordingly.

But that isn’t what is needed for businesses to thrive today. We need innovation and leadership in companies. We need to find innovative ways to drive down costs and meet the needs of customers. We need to focus investments into product, technology and process innovation that advanced the company’s strategy – not where it is politically expedient or at the squeaky wheel. When companies need to cut jobs, it takes leadership and vision to make the cuts that will best position the company for the future – not the cuts that easiest to sell or that don’t upset the order of things. Then we need inspirational leadership to overcome fear and to increase employee productivity.

There is no room for reckless management. This is not the time to operate from fear. The companies that figure out how to become stronger over the next year and position themselves for growth in the near future will be the winners. 2009 is about Leadership and Innovation. 

]]> http://www.dennisstevens.com/2009/01/01/2009%e2%80%a6the-year-of-leadership-and-innovation/feed/ 0