 Recently, I was talking with a group at a networking event about their experiences with their managers and the promotion pathway within their organizations. One point we discussed was about how, too often, a person is given responsibility for supervising and leading others without any consideration of their management or leadership abilities. They advance to that leadership role based on their technical competence and tenure with the company without the requisite leadership competencies.
As often happens for me, the next morning an article about this the very same topic arrived in my inbox.
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 As Robyn Roscoe and through Lyric Management, I deliver teaching and training in project management and leadership skills. I have been teaching again this year as part of the Mohawk College and CARA Research Administration Certificate program. As part of a discussion, the class considers effective approaches to conducting a post-implementation review – a project post-mortem or lessons-learned meeting. These are typically the last meetings a project team will have together before disbanding and moving on to new projects or back to their regular roles. Based on those discussions* over the past few years as well as my own experience, here are some approaches to consider in structuring your own reviews to effectively collect lessons for your next project.
 This is a book that I’ve been meaning for years to read. I was inspired to pick it up and start (again) after completing an iteration of a webinar I do on leadership lessons based on Ernest Shackleton and his Endurance expedition. Like the Shackleton story, Island of the Lost did not disappoint on either the adventure or the leadership lessons.
The story is set in the South Atlantic, near New Zealand, specifically on the Auckland Island group. In 1864, not one but two groups were shipwrecked on the main island.  As leaders, we have to pay attention to each of our team members and learn to hear what they’re saying – even (or perhaps especially) when they are not saying much. If we’re doing a good job of supporting and engaging on an ongoing basis, we’ll get to know our team members’ communication styles and hear about what’s going on for them – at work, at home, in their lives – and can incorporate this into our work with them. When someone who is usually enthusiastic starts to be listless or quiet, we are responsible for exploring that with them.
 I’m revisiting this 2018 assessment (of mine) of the hybrid model for working remotely to consider how the experiences of 2020-21 might revise that assessment and, more importantly, inform how such a model might be effective going forward.
In Part 1 of this series, I reflected on the rapid move to remote working necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In Part 2, I looked at the lessons learned during the pandemic work-from-home situation. In Part 3.1, I looked back at the original four arguments about working remotely and reconsidered the first one – the economic argument and the financial considerations for organizations and employees. In Part 3.2, I considered the teamwork argument and whether co-location is an essential element of teamwork, or not. I concluded that co-location does not guarantee an engaged or productive workforce, which leads neatly to the third and fourth arguments… |
Who is Robyn?
My career as a research project manager is rewarding, dynamic, challenging, and fun. I'm looking forward to sharing my knowledge and experience in communication, organization, and common sense approaches in research management and leadership, and to enabling others to learn and grow in this exciting career. 
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