Transcript Empowering the teaching professional through project

Trig Ghosh, PMP
Functional Manager
CGI Federal
March 13, 2012
Symptoms:
 State of mental impasse
 Unable to respond to a situation or need
 Unable to find the drive to complete a task
Impacts
 Loss of individual productivity
 Loss of team productivity
What do I do next?
Get a beer !
I am just not good at Math
Get some practice !!
Gee ! I know the stuff, but I don’t know
about the test
Get a life !!!!
 Intimidation
 Lack of Knowledge
 Confusion
 Boredom/Distaste
 Complexity or appearance thereof
 Lack of Self-Confidence
 The techniques for overcoming mental
blocks fall into these categories:
 Physical
 Intellectual
 Emotional
Causes of Mental Blocks
Case Studies
Your Experiences – Do you relate?
Techniques to overcome
50 : 50
AWARENESS
Will all of your mental blocks disappear?
NO !!
But they will be more fun !!!!
The pilot of a plane has a heart attack
and is unable to fly the plane. A
stewardess gets into the pilots seat in
an attempt to land the plane.
How would you feel?
Level:
Physical ?
Intellectual?
Emotional?
A project manager is face-to-face with ten
members of senior management including
the CEO and the CFO, and has to explain
why a multi-million dollar project failed.
How would you feel?
Level:
Physical ?
Intellectual?
Emotional?
A project lead completed writing
performance reviews for eight of his
reports. The next review is about an
extremely poor performer. Though the
PM has all the facts he needs to write
the review, he finds it extremely difficult
to work on the task.
Is this an example of a mental block?
How would you feel?
Level:
Physical ?
Intellectual?
Emotional?
 Think of a situation where you had a mental
block.
 Which of the above reasons can you attribute
it to?
 How did you overcome it?
Create changes in your physical and
mental environment, by simple actions, in
order to improve the clarity of thinking.
 Take the first step !
 Relax
 Brainstorm
 Organize your thoughts
 Set Goals
If you practice things that are new and
difficult, the capacity of the brain to do
those new things increases. In technical
terms, neural networks re-organize
themselves, and newer networks develop to
support the newer ways in which the brain
is used.
 Transform information into knowledge
 Lateral and vertical thinking
 Welcome change
Edward de Bono popularized lateral thinking – an
unorthodox way of arriving at solutions to seemingly
intractable problems in ways you would not logically
think about. Lateral thinking encourages looking at
problems from different perspectives you would
typically not think of pursuing.
While lateral thinking focuses on generating a
wide variety of ideas, vertical thinking focuses on
the depth of thinking and analysis on a selective
set of ideas. The selected set of ideas is analyzed,
accurate conclusions are made and further
analyzed to arrive at the solution.
“You cannot look in a new direction by looking
harder in the same direction” – Edward de
Bono
“It is not the strongest of the species that
survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one
most responsive to change” – Charles Darwin
1. If you have two coins totaling 11p, and one of the
coins is not a penny, what are the two coins?
2. If you were alone in a deserted house at night, and
there was an oil lamp, a candle and firewood and
you only have one match, which would you light
first?
3. What can you put in a wooden box that would
make it lighter? The more of them you put in the
lighter it becomes, yet the box stays empty.
Symptoms:
 State of mental impasse
 Unable to respond to a situation or need
 Unable to find the drive to complete a task
 Unable to perform at your full potential
Impacts
 Loss of individual productivity
 Loss of team productivity
 Accomplish less than you can
By far, the subtlest and most powerful
impacts to performance come from
psychological attributes that are typically
intangible and subjective. Developing these
attributes will go a long way in helping you
overcome intimidating situations.
 Attitude
 Emotional Intelligence
 Self-confidence and self-worth
 Ownership
 Incentives
Attitude is defined by how you would
naturally react to a situation. An example
would be, when faced with a daunting task,
would you react as “There is no way I can
do this” or by “let me give it my best shot
and see what I can achieve”.
“The trick is in what one emphasizes. We
either make ourselves miserable, or we make
ourselves strong. The amount of work is the
same” – Carlos Castaneda
EI dictates the way in which you choose to
respond to a situation that challenges your
emotions. If you are interrupted repeatedly
by a client when you are trying to make an
important point, would you become irritated
and shut down, or would you take a step
back, try to understand his point of view
and re-phrase what you are saying?
“You’re most unhappy customers are your
greatest source of learning” – Bill Gates
“The higher you go, the more your problems
are behavioral”
- “What got you here won’t get you
there” by Marshall Goldsmith
People who have a high self-esteem and know
their self-worth can face challenges head on,
make big strides in their careers and command
higher salaries. Both of these attributes can be
developed by willingly taking up bigger
challenges and overcoming them. Typically,
when faced with a sink or swim situation,
people are able to call on their inherent abilities
they did not know existed and find that they are
able to swim.
A feeling of ownership magnifies the
commitment people have toward a task
manifold. Ownership dissipates mental
blocks by creating an urgency to complete
tasks and brings out the ingenuity required
to accomplish those tasks.
Incentives give you the drive to overcome
any negative emotions or physical hurdles
associated with a task.
What incentives drive you to put your best
foot forward?
Think of a daunting task you completed
successfully. What was your driving force?
What would you like to do if you did not
have any constraints?
Is anything holding you back from achieving
your dreams? Are you limiting yourself?
“In all realms of life it takes courage to
stretch your limits, express your power, and
fulfill your potential. It’s no different in the
financial realm” – Suze Orman
THANK YOU
Please keep in touch
Linked In: Search Triguna Ghosh
Email: [email protected]