The World's Best Book Summaries
What is a vision document in project management? What are the key qualities of strong vision documents? According to Scott Berkun’s book Making Things Happen, creating a vision document is an important part of the planning phase for any project. In the book, Berkun offers some tips to help you make a motivational vision document for your project. Read on to learn what a project vision document is and how to make one, according to Berkun.
What are the common mistakes to avoid when project scheduling in project management? Why are most managers bad at estimating schedules? According to management expert Scott Berkun, project scheduling is notoriously one of the most difficult aspects of planning any project. In Making Things Happen, he describes the most common mistakes in project scheduling and how you can avoid them. Read on to learn the top mistakes made in project scheduling and Berkun’s tips for project management.
What is the design phase in project management? How should the project manager handle this stage of the project? In Scott Berkun’s book Making Things Happen, he explains what a manager can do during each phase of a project to ensure its success. During the design phase in project management, he says it’s important for the manager to foster the design team’s creativity. Read on to learn Berkun’s tips for handling the design phase in project management.
What are some avoidable project management issues? What should you do as a manager when a problem occurs? In Making Things Happen, Scott Berkun explains how good project leaders are able to avoid or mitigate project management issues by following some best practices. He argues that being accountable and making a plan of action are the keys to handling most project issues. Read on for an overview of Berkun’s advice for avoiding or handling project management issues.
What is a culture of fear like at work? What are the problems with leading with fear? In The Fearless Organization, Amy C. Edmondson says that, despite the clear benefits of psychologically safe workplaces, many companies don’t install them. Instead, they continue to take a fear-based tactic that comes with two key problems. Continue reading to learn the problems with a culture of fear in the workplace.
What is Amy C. Edmondson’s definition of psychological safety? What are the benefits of psychological safety? According to Amy C. Edmondson, psychological safety in the workplace means workers feel encouraged to speak up and make mistakes without fear of reprisal. Her book The Fearless Organization explains how a psychologically safe work culture is superior to a fear-driven one. Let’s look at what psychological safety is at work.
Is your business emotionally toxic? How do you create psychological safety in the workplace? If workers are in bad moods or afraid to speak their truth at work, you might have a psychologically unsafe environment. Luckily, Amy C. Edmondson’s book The Fearless Organization says you can turn this around quickly. Learn how to create psychological safety in the workplace in no time.
Why is important for leaders to pay attention to themselves? How does systems awareness help a leader? According to Daniel Goleman, leadership is one of those major life areas where our deployment of attention is particularly impactful. He discusses three directions of attention—inner, other, and outer—in the context of leadership. Continue reading to understand where leaders should direct their attention and why.
Do your employees just nod and listen? How can you get employees to speak up? The Fearless Organization by Amy C. Edmondson says that leaders must create a safe space for employees to ask questions, engage in debate, and learn from one another. Building psychologically safe work cultures enables workers to tap into their creativity and innovate, which in turn improves their engagement and performance. Find out how to encourage employees to speak up below.
What is systems awareness? How can it help us solve global problems such as climate change? In his book Focus, Daniel Goleman outlines three main directions you can aim your attention: inward, toward others, and outward. He connects each direction to certain skills. He associates an outward focus with the skill of systems awareness. Keep reading to learn how tackling the biggest problems requires systems awareness and learn some concrete steps we can take to achieve it.