Dr. Dena MaloneyVice President, CCC and Economic

DevelopmentMr. Peter Bellas

Dean, Economic Development

Project Managementand

Event Planning

Project Management The Art of Managing Partners!How to establish communications with your partner so

you are more  consistently on the same page regarding the project

How to create a shared vision and common understanding of the project goals and outcomes

How to define tasks and ensure there is common understanding of what will occur, and when

How to document decisions so that you and your partner can review them on a regular basis

How to effectively manage conflicts or differences in viewpoints during the course of the project

How to use templates for project planning that can serve as communication tools as well  

Event Management The art of flawless events, every time! How to establish a vision for your event and the outcomes you

hope to achieve How to determine who needs to be involved and to what extent How to work your plan backward How to determine what steps need to be taken, and in what

order How to determine if any steps can be done in parallel with others How to determine the critical steps How to evaluate the progress of the project How to determine when corrective action needs to be taken How to set up a method for timely updates to the project team

and others For recurring projects, how to establish procedures and a project

log so you don’t need to start from scratch the next time

 

What Are YOUR Objectives?Tell us what you want to achieve todayWhat types of projects do you typically

work on with a partner?Give us an example of a project and a

partner you have worked with in the past.

Partnership Management Workshop Part 1

Types of Partnerships

So What?Knowing the nature of the partnership is

important – partnerships must have a purposeAvoid partnerships “in name only” where

neither party has targeted expertise, capacity or a clear goal

You need to know if it is worth pursuingYou need to discern value from the

relationshipThere must be at least one partner who is the

“driving partner” with a compelling reason for the partnership

Exercise #1Analyzing Your Partnerships

Identify a current or recent partnershipWhat are the shared goals?Identify the expertise and capacity you

bring to the partnershipIdentify the expertise and capacity your

partner brings to the partnershipIs there balanced decision-making?

Exercise #2Criteria for Effective Partnerships

What qualities make for an effective partnership?

How do you assess for these in the formative stages of a partnership?

Are there clues to how well a partnership will fare?

What can you do if you sense the partnership potential is not good?

Moving From Concept to Partnership– COMMUNICATE!• Develop a mutual understanding of the problem

to be solved, the capacity and limitation of each partner, and the internal processes which will influence each partner’s ability to execute the partnership

• Make decisions and assign responsibilities/deadlines

• Establish norms you will be using during the partnership - if you do this in the beginning, you will avoid problems down the road.

Communications

• Communicate to ensure that there are no hidden barriers to moving forward

• Don’t assume that reporting information is “communicating”

• Don’t assume that, since no objections have been raised, you have support for the project from your partner

Topics for Initial Discussion

Understanding your Partner

The Challenge of “Partner Code-Speak”

Partner “Code Speak”

•The hidden message behind the words•Much like a marriage – words may mean different things•It’s a “Venus/Mars” dynamic

Partner “Code- Speak”What They Say What They Really Mean

I don’t understand what you are saying.

I don’t like what you are proposing.

Let’s get more data. I don’t want to do what you are proposing.

I will get back to you. I don’t want to do what you are proposing.

Let me talk it over with my staff.

I don’t want to do what you are proposing.

We don’t want to study this to death.

Just do what I am proposing.

Why don’t you think it over and get back to me.

Just do what I am proposing.

We need to talk to other folks about alternatives.

I don’t like where we are heading with this.

That’s not how we have approached this in the past.

I don’t like where we are heading with this

How to Deal with Partner “Code Speak”• Be direct and probe to identify the real issues.• If you are stuck, circle back reviewing your shared

goals and how to best achieve them.• Understand the partner may truly need to:

check with others build internal support get buy off from the leadership at her

organization gather more data to support his case.

• Sometimes you can agree in concept but can’t agree on the next steps - the devil is in the details!

Exercise #3Commmunicating with Your Partner

Think of a time when you were working with a partner but the communications were “off”

What clues did you have that you might be dealing with partner “code-speak”?

How did you deal with the communication challenges with your partner?

Meeting with Your Partner – Planning for Success

What do you want to get out of the meeting?

•Touching base and sharing information?•Providing official updates?•Solving a problem?•Making a decision?•All of the above? 

Meeting Strategies What information will you need at the meeting?Who will create the agenda and document the

results?How does your partner like to process

information and make decisions: Data Driven – send it in advance Emotion Driven – paint a picture Immediate reaction or mull it over?

Have a standard method of documenting meeting results and use it consistently throughout the process – it makes for a smoother project!

Strategies for CommunicationsDesired Outcome Strategy

When first solidifying the project or building the relationship

Face to face meeting

When there is a difficult topic to discuss

Face to face meeting

When tone and/or body language is important

Telephone or face to face

When message is urgent Telephone or email/text

When you need to document the message

Email, memo or text

If you exchange more than 2 emails on a topic, pick up the phone!

Email Strategies • Compose your subject line carefully. • Compose carefully – most people won’t read beyond the first screen.• Place requests up front in the email message.• Give an overview and the number your points for easy reading.• Design your messages for “high skim value” by using headings, lists, and breaking

your message into chunks.

Email Strategies (continued)• Make up for the lack of nonverbal cues by using words such as please and thank you.• Humanize your messages by using the receiver’s name in the first sentence of your email.• If you want your message to be the first one read in the morning, don’t send it at 6:30 the

night before. Write it – then launch it early the next morning.• Always include your contact information in your signature block.• Pause before you send.

Negotiating with your Partner• Negotiating with your partner on the desired outcomes, shared and individual

responsibilities, how often and in what ways you will be communicating, and how you will divide the benefits/rewards of the partnership is a key process in forming the partnership.

• The difference between “hard” and “soft” negotiations.• The difference between “positional” and “principled” negotiations.

Hard Negotiations

•Participants are adversaries•Goal is victory.•Demand concessions as a condition of the relationship•Distrust others search for the single answer: the one you will accept•Try to win a contest of wills •Apply pressure

Soft Negotiations• Participants are friends. • Goal is agreement. • Make concessions to cultivate the relationship. • Be soft on the people and the problem. • Trust others. • Change your position easily. • Make offers. • Search for the single answer: the one they will accept. • Insist on agreement. • Try to avoid contest of will. • Yield to pressure.

Negotiating on Positions versus Principles Positional focuses on starting point and

concessions.Principled focuses on mutual interests.Dangers of “Positions”.

Positions tied to ego. Negotiators locked into positions. Less attention devoted to meeting the

underlying concerns. Agreement requires concession. Contest of will. Anger/resentment may result.

Principled NegotiationsFour key steps

Separate the people from the problem.Focus on interests, not positions.Generate a variety of possibilities before

deciding what to do. Insist that the result be based on some objective

standard.

From “Getting to Yes” 1981

A Final Word about Negotiations

Negotiations are not always a formal process.

Negotiations are not necessarily adversarial: Reaching agreement on roles/responsibilities. Reaching agreement on timelines. Reaching agreement on outcomes/benefits to

each partner. Reaching agreement on cost/contributions of each

partner.Negotiations should often focus on long term

relationships rather than immediate results.

Your Experience with Negotiations

• Think about a time you had to negotiate with a partner• What was the nature of the negotiation?• Was it a “Hard” or “Soft” negotiation?• Were your negotiating on positions or principles?• What was the outcome?• What would you do differently if you could?

Exercise #4

Event Management Workshop Part 2

Developing the Event Plan• The team should create the event plan• Start with “the end in mind” – visualize

successful event and work backward • Identify the major tasks that must occur

and then fill in the steps under those tasks• Some tasks can be done in parallel and

some tasks must be done sequentially• Determine the “critical path” to project

completion

Developing the Event Plan• Use meeting management tools to identify the major tasks to be completed (brainstorming, small group discussion)• Group and sequence tasks to be done • Identify project risks and associated strategies - build those into the plan• Set timelines and milestones – build in time for addressing risks• Assign tasks to team members and establish meeting dates• Leave with a project plan – send it out and update it regularly• Use the project plan to communicate with the team members

“Critical Path” Analysis• A task that is a gateway to progress on all other

tasks that follow• Sometimes the task appears unrelated to other

steps along the way• Some tasks must be done sequentially while

others can be done in parallel – a critical path analysis reveals the relationship among the tasks

• A task may not appear to be a critical step in the project until it is too late!

“Critical Path” to Project Completion

Some tasks must be done sequentially:

ProjectLaunch

“Critical Path” to Project Completion

Some tasks can be done in parallel:

ProjectLaunch

“Critical Path” to Project Completion

Some tasks are “critical” to other tasks:

ProjectLaunch

Step 4 must be done in order to move forward with Step 5 and 6

Critical Path Analysis1.How can you and your team identify the critical

path in your project?2.Is there more than one “critical path” in the

project?

Example of Star Party Work Plan

Date: May 21, 2010 - 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Task Responsible Party Date Needed Comments/InstructionStatus

Select Date and TimeMaloney/Falconer

CompleteDate selected based on visibility of Saturn and Moon

Complete

Identify and Form CommitteeMaloney

CompleteTom Falconer, Joe Gerda, Jamie Milteer, Jasmine Foster Complete

Identify LocationCommittee

Complete Carl A. Rasmussen Amphitheater Complete

Determine Guest List

Committee

Complete

Community members, Advisory Board members, COC faculty, staff, Grades 4-6 Sulphur Springs SD Students, high school students Complete

Contact PIO for Publicity

Maloney

Complete

Ads in magazines, article in CC Magazine May issues,Radio spot, press release, flyers to Sulphur Springs SD, set meeting with PIO Complete

FlyerMcElwain

Complete PIO to design/use last year's design Complete

Dissemination of Information to Schools

Maloney

N/A

Send flyer to advisory committee and schools, along with Advisory Committee. Email blast to the campuses Complete

Send Out InvitationsN/A

N/A No invitations will be sent for this event N/A

Accept RSVP'sN/A

N/A No reservations required for this event N/A

Risk Analysis and Budget Control

• Throughout the project, make risk analysis and strategy development a standing item on team meeting agendas

• Maintain and update the project budget • Keep Fiscal Services staff informed on

changes to the budget• Send out updates frequently to project

stakeholders

Communication is Key• Hold regular team meetings – use

technology to assist in communications• Establish a standard format for project

updates within the team - use this to keep everyone informed on project progress

• Ensure you are communicating effectively with team members and stakeholders

• Maintain an issues log and use team meetings to solve problems

After the Event – What Happens Next?

•Closing out an event•Celebrating with the team •What should go into a event de-briefing? •Identifying unfinished items and how they will be handled