Blog

Seeing the Path Sometimes Takes an Accountability Partner

This describes AJC’s value of Foster Accountability. We have executed projects and change before and can help our clients’ teams create and visualize the path. At first, all they need to worry about is visualizing working with our team. We will help them create and follow the path so that over time, they will be able to see the path for themselves and can execute on their own the next time.

Four Common Misconceptions of Project Management

Leaders think that Project Management will just “happen” even without a designated Project Manager. We talked to an Executive the other day who said that most of the details for 75% of their initiatives aimed at developing capacity to manage their explosive growth, were “in the head” of their President. The Executive asked us if they should consider a Project Manager to handle these projects?

Servant Leadership: Is it True, Is it Kind, Is it Necessary?

It is very important to note that helping others succeed does not necessarily feel good in the moment. Helping others succeed sometimes means having uncomfortable conversations. We are fans of having these conversations in an empathetic way. This is pretty nebulous because it’s hard to quantify what “an empathetic way” really means. Here is a pretty simple way to check if one is in an empathetic frame of mind when discussing uncomfortable topics.

Saved by “Plan B:” The Importance of an Effective Project Manager

This story from one of AJC’s clients shows how an effective project manager can save more than nine stitches in time, particularly when Plan A doesn’t go according to plan. We also share these three Reasons to Hire an External Project Manager: 1. Experience anticipating and preparing for contingencies 2. Objectivity 3. Saving time and costs

Thinking Deeper about Communication and Responsiveness

Many of us have had the experience of asking for something specific, and not hearing back – for a “long” time, or sometimes ever! Great leaders, such as Pat Gelsinger of Intel, give advice to leaders, especially in a pandemic, to “Communicate, Communicate, Communicate.” At AJC, we are keenly aware of the frustration and stress …

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What Differentiates a Great Project Manager?

Good Project Managers identify project milestones and articulate the steps required to accomplish each one.  They ensure that everything is documented, and plan scheduled tasks to move the project through each phase.  They will facilitate meetings, track actions, and send summaries. The differentiator between a “good” Project Manager, and a “GREAT” Project Manager, however, is …

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Meet Angie Glawe – Project Manager and Agile Consultant

You have a Project Coordinator and Agile Consulting background, tell us about the importance of those in an organization.   Projects are complex by nature. The Project Manager, or Coordinator, plays a key role in pulling the details together and communicating those details. This includes tracking project milestones and due dates, providing support to make sure all project …

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How to Handoff Like a Team

Do you have handoffs in your company?  A handoff is when one group transitions work-in-progress to another.  For example, your awesome sales department has signed a specific contract or scope of work with a client, and now it is time for the project execution personnel to deliver.  Or Engineering has designed a terrific product and …

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What’s in a Form?

The problem is that often we abuse the basic tenet of value-added form use by adding more or expanding forms without thinking why we need the information contained within them at all.