I’ll always remember my first trip to my company’s site in Ludwigshafen, Germany.  The circumstances of my involvement were that I was a local expert in the use of the data collection software application used in our facility.  The same software was being implemented at the German site so that our two laboratory facilities would share a database and thus harmonize business practices.  Prior to my departure, I was warned of the gruffness of our German colleagues, whom we had inherited through acquisition of their company.  The Germans were criticized for passive-aggressively clinging on to their old ways, ostensibly because they feared their site would be divested anyway, and they’d all lose their jobs.  It was in this environment that I needed to form some bonds with my German counterparts to help ensure the successful adoption of the new software.

Even though I had traveled throughout Europe several times after college, I was excited to return and experience a foreign culture again.  I didn’t mind that Ludwigshafen was a mostly industrial city, rebuilt after extensive World War II bombing, that didn’t have much to offer in terms of green space or other urban beauty.  I enjoyed just being there, noticing the subtle differences in architecture, automobiles, public transportation, and how people behaved when walking around.  I brought this enthusiasm to the meetings with our German colleagues.  Although they were somewhat cold and reserved during the initial meetings, things really loosened up after we were able to interact socially.  The Germans were quite eager to show us points of interest in the surrounding area.  We toured castles, churches, breweries, vineyards, and museums, and our hosts were very proud to demonstrate their knowledge of these sites.  Beer was consumed on many a late evening.  I was truly appreciative of their hospitality, and our meetings became more open, honest, and productive because of the fun we were able to share.  Elimination of these barriers helped put the software in place, which is still used by our company.

My bond with our German colleagues remains today, more than nine years after that initial trip.  Trust naturally developed also because they were never laid off as they feared.  I have been able to return the favor of hospitality whenever they visit our site.  Besides our conference calls and WebEx meetings, which are important for our continued collaboration, I find myself frequently calling my German counterpart just as I would do to speak with an American colleague.  We’re able to joke about topics like the Women’s World Cup soccer tournament (the USA women beat Germany in 2015).  Furthermore, I sense something is missing when I don’t check in with my German colleagues often enough.  From these experiences, I learned the importance of building and maintaining relationships with remote colleagues, to ensure success in business.

A recent blog post from the Project Management Institute (PMI) describes the challenges and successes of project managers who traveled to and lived in places far more exotic than Germany.  What experiences have you had in your career with ex-US colleagues, and what tips can you provide for improving collaboration with them?

To me it’s rare that change comes without pain but I have experienced it. For one of my accounts, I noticed that we kept on delivering late to every ship to location. I decided to do a deep dive to understand the root cause and figure out a solution. I started with the “5 Why” and went from there. I worked with our transportation team to get their point of view on the carriers we were using and also with our data management team to make sure the locations were set up correctly. After investigation, the routes for each ship to location were set up incorrectly. This made the system trigger the orders later than needed. Instead of giving our warehouse up to 6 days to ship, we were giving them 3-4 days. I worked with our data management team on the recommended routes and adjusted the system. Now we increased our On Time for delivery from 68% to 97%. This was a huge win because this was a seamless change and didn’t impact the use of carriers or the customers.

Most people who ignore signals calling for change are afraid of change. Change can be scary and difficult to the point where most people just avoid it. They’re afraid the decisions they’re making are wrong and will end up failing. Failure can be a good thing though. You can always learn what didn’t work and move on to the next challenge. Nobody wants to fail, but it’s a part of growth that helps you get to the place where you want to be. I’m sure people think it’s harder to do something different that is more difficult than it is to do something new and less steps.

I was trained to run a report that will inform the sales department of the case fill rate for each account for each month and week. The person who created the report showed me how she ran it and I was to follow her steps. This report was monstrous and complicated but it gave the information needed. In the beginning, it would take me about an hour to run then I had to explain it in an email to the sales force so maybe about hour and half. As time went by, I got better and took me less time to run and send it to the team but still took me about 45 minutes to do it. My co-worker said he had a better way of running the report but I was hesitant because I just nailed down running this report. But I sucked it up and we created a faster easier report and now I love it.

Change can be scary but without it you will never know if something is better.

Water? Yeah it comes out of my sink. I use it to shower. It makes my coffee in the morning. That’s about it…I think.

One of the biggest challenges faced by many water professionals is the lack of public appreciation for the value of water. Most people have no idea about the amount of work (and business opportunity) that goes into treating water, moving water, storing water and distributing water. In this lack of appreciation for the water field, I will expose two key points from my experiences in the water field.

In developing the new division for Darley, there are challenges we face internally and externally.

Internally. Trying to change the old school mindset that Darley is more than a fire company. These new markets have different mind sets, different demands, different regulations. With all these “different” factors, we needed a top to bottom reformatted approach to how we think about the market. How should we phrase our marketing? How should we present information? How much is too much information? What does the market want? Who is the actual customer? How can I reach these new customers?  How should I be spending my time on a daily basis?

Darley experienced many failed product launches and marketing efforts because we did not adapt our thinking to the new marketing opportunity. Therefor as a team, our marketing and web department came together to sit back and think “What is our water identity and how can we best portray this to the market?” By bringing together our internal resources, this has allowed Darley to define our position to the marketplace and work as a team to grow sales to the industry. Darley is working better as a team to support the new market endeavors and this has allowed me to focus more on water partnership and business development.

Lessons learned: Tap into internal existing resources. Allow yourself to utilize your time most effectively. Cut the cord on a bad marketing effort before you sink too much time into it.

Externally: The water market is ruthlessly competitive; and it’s only starting to heatup. Based on market studies, the Water industry is expected to grow into $375 Billion dollar industry next year. Because of the growing nature of importance for water in every industry sector, many new companies are emerging and more companies are adapting into the water world. Due to this growing shift to water, this highlights the importance of two things: 1) find a niche 2) make sure our products are doing what we say they will do.

1) In finding a niche (such as military, disaster response and humanitarian) we can focus our resource on small segments of the water sector as opposed to casting too wide of a net.

2) In dealing with the water sector, we are entering a world where the end user is going to consume the end product. This requires a high level of oversight to ensure that the product is producing clean water and meeting industry standards. We may have been to relaxed when first encountering this water quality issue, but fortunately nothing bad happened.  We have since implemented many more quality control issues. The last thing we want is an unhappy (potentially dead) customer.

Lessons Learned: Be different. Fight for the niche market. Don’t take anything you say to the public lightly in regards to capabilities because it could come back to haunt you.

This article highlights the challenges of the industry and what companies should do to focus on building market opportunities. http://www.wateronline.com/doc/the-biggest-challenges-facing-the-water-industry-0001.

FINAL Food for thought:  Have you ever thought about how water affects your industry?  Is water important to your company (your personal life)? What if your company had a supply chain shock of no access to water?  How important is water to your business?

I interviewed our Director of Operations who is a Project Management Professional, certified through the PMI.  During our interview she explained to me that the most important skill set for a project or program manager to have is people skills.  It is imperative to have good people skills as a PM because much of project management is building relationships and motivating team members to complete their tasks as efficiently and timely as possible.  Ingrained in the mentality of a PM should be the mindset of working together to achieve the goals set forth in the vision of the project.  If a PM is rough around the edges or has a way of putting people off, they may discourage open communication.  If a PM is a pushover and does not have authority and the respect of the team members, nothing will ever get done.  A PM must be able to share responsibilities and hold people accountable through the dependencies others have on them.

I was thinking about this and various teams I have been a member of and it reminded me of certain program managers that I avoid at all costs.  Some of their characteristics which are unsavory are an inability to plan appropriately, threats, inability to see high level (bogged down in details), inability to drive results, poor budgeting, poor communication, and the like.,  Seeing as we spend so much of our time working and working with others in team settings, being surrounded by those who have deficiencies can be painful.  Characteristics of good people skills include being a good listener, being able to refocused the group when led astray, air of authority which is non threatening, ability to delegate, proper identification of group members skills and talents, good communication, ability to problem solve, and a ability to motive.  I appreciate the times when I am able to work with a well functioning team; one which makes progress and works together to achieve goals.  Being a good team member is also important but the ambiance is set from the PM and if they are not effective it is easy for the team to get off track or not be able to overcome hurdles.

I’m not sure how much of this can be taught.  My Director of Operations told me that part of the classes she took for the PMP certification included a class on leadership and teamwork.  She told me she learned a lot from that class.  Just having one class can be problematic.  PMs need training and experience to be able to navigate choppy waters and lead the team straight.  If that can be done in one class, then great, but that seems unlikely.  Behavior needs to be reinforced, which takes time and willingness to accept consequences.

I happen to agree with the Director of Operations for my company; people skills are first and foremost.  This is clear to me in daily work environment how important it is to cultivate relationships but having these in place on a project or program is critical.