Category Archives: Meetings

It’s Out! “Time Zone Meeting Coordination” Free Ebook Published!

Posted on May 29, 2012 | Comments Off

UPDATE: This ebook is no longer available automatically. However, if you’d still like to receive a free copy of it, please sign up with your email in the column on your right, and after you receive my free video presentation, please email me back asking for it and I’ll send you the link to download it. 

I just finished writing and publishing my new ebook and I’m pretty excited about it! The ebook’s title is:

“Time Zone Meeting Coordination in 7 Easy Steps: How to schedule virtual team meetings across different time zones without losing your hair”

I wrote this specifically for project managers who lead virtual teams given that I know how frustrating it could get while managing multiple team member schedules.

The ebook is a simple 7-step guide which is full of screenshots that will help guide you through the process of time zone scheduling.

It also includes a Free Microsoft Excel “Time Zone” Template that will save you some time in creating your own spreadsheet (I reference this template in my ebook).

Here are a couple of sample pages from the book:

I’m giving the book out for free (no strings attached ;) )

If you’ve subscribed to my newsletter, then you should have already received a link to download the ebook and template.

If you have not yet subscribed, you can get a copy by entering your email below (underneath the “share this” section) or in the column on the right, and clicking on the “Free Instant Access” button (you’ll receive the download link after you confirm your email address) then please sign up by entering your email below or in the column on the right, and after you receive my free video presentation, please email me back asking for it and I’ll send you the link to download it.

Cheers!

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Posted in Meetings, Productivity, Project Management

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How To Increase Confidence and Reduce Stress in 2 Minutes Using Simple Power Poses

Posted on April 19, 2012 | 2 Comments

I just watched this video and thought it was remarkable.

Professor Amy Cuddy from the Harvard Business School conducted research on “Power Poses” and the impact they have on your confidence and stress levels.

Apparently, doing simple power poses (like standing with your hands on your hips or putting your feet up on a desk) for only 2 minutes before a meeting, presentation, or performance could give you a significant confidence boost that makes you perform at a much better level.

It’s incredible how simple changes in your body language could greatly affect how you behave or feel.

Watch the short 6 minute TIME video here:

The next time I’m getting on a call with an executive, I’m trying some of those  poses out on my desk!

In the meantime, let me know if they work out for you :)

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Posted in Meetings, Phone, Presentation, Productivity, Project Management

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“Explain this to me like I’m a 15-year-old”

Posted on April 12, 2012 | 3 Comments

I love this quote.

It is a line from Denzel Washington’s character, Joe Miller, in the movie “Philadelphia,” and it is hands-down the best comeback to use when you are confused about a complex situation that someone’s trying to explain.

In my job as a senior manager, I have to deal with different people from many different backgrounds, especially engineers who are a lot smarter than I am. So when I need to make a decision about a complex problem, I always ask my team members to “dumb down” the facts for me by using that statement.

In the movie, Denzel actually says 2-year-old instead of 15, but I like to use 15 because it is not as intimidating :)

Here’s the scene from the movie (scroll to the 4:40 min mark).

 

I think the phrase works for a couple of reasons.

First, it forces the person talking to you to avoid using any major technical words that an average person wouldn’t understand. Second, it’s self-deprecating, and people always empathize with a person in need.

Try it out and let me know if it helps.

Oh, and make sure you’re prepared for someone replying back with “maybe this is a bit too complicated for me to explain to a 15 year old” – which did happen to me once :)

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Posted in Meetings, Productivity, Project Management

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What Matters Most in Online Presentations (Podcast)

Posted on March 28, 2012 | 7 Comments

Here’s what I think matters most in an online presentation (click on the podcast player below to listen to me talk about the 4 things that will help you present better).

Podcast Duration: 4 min
 

Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below or on my Facebook Page!

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Posted in Meetings, Phone, Presentation, Productivity

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How to Listen like a CEO (and a great parent)

Posted on February 8, 2012 | 2 Comments

“You’ve spent years learning how to read and write, years learning how to speak. But what about listening?” – Stephen Covey

So true. Whether you listen as a salesman, a consultant, a CEO or a parent, you’ve probably spent very little time honing your skills as a listener.

In Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which I just re-read after reading it around 13 years ago, the chapter on Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood (which happens to be my one-sentence summary of the book), he focuses on the art of listening, and has some interesting insights about it.

Before getting into that, I thought I’d share a quote a very smart person once told me:

According to Covey, there are 5 levels of listening :

  • Ignoring (no idea what you just said)
  • Pretending (you think I’m listening)
  • Selective Listening (I hear part of what you’re saying)
  • Attentive Listening (I’m paying full attention)
  • Empathic Listening (I fully understand & feel what you’re saying)

The empathic level is the hardest, but this is the level most effective business leaders and executives function at. It’s about putting yourself in the other person’s shoes, and really feeling what the other person is going through. As Covey puts it, it’s getting “inside another person’s frame of reference.”

The key to empathic listening is to repeat what the other person is saying, which any experienced manager or parent would agree with. However, according to Covey, this repetition has 4 different developmental stages (I’ve quoted Covey’s examples of a conversation between a child and his father that explains each stage):

The idea is that if you practice Stage 4 on a regular basis, of reflecting feeling and rephrasing content, then you’ll be very effective at really understanding what the other person is saying, and can make a deeper connection with them.

I’ve been trying this for a while, and even though I can’t always perform at that level of concentration & empathy, training my mind to be aware of it has brought on some pretty phenomenal results (both professionally and personally).

As a side note, in a virtual team environment, it’s quite important to focus on words that cover the Stage 3 part (reflecting feeling), mainly because unlike face-to-face conversations, your body language and facial expressions cannot do that part for you.

Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below or on my Facebook Page!

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