Greeting Cards, Menorahs, Presents and Project Communication

Robert McGannon, PMP

Happy Holidays! This time of year is rife with well-wishes and good cheer. But it manifests itself in bizarre ways. At no other time of year does it make sense to blend warm milk products with rum and spices. The rest of the year doesn't normally involve the lighting of ceremonial candles to acknowledge sieges more than a thousand years past. The cards. The lights. The jolly old elf in the middle of the shopping mall, listening to children's deepest confessions. It's a pretty weird time of year.

As project managers, we should be using this time as an object lesson in communication. It's the one time of year when everyone is expected to talk with everyone else. It's a time when old problems are set aside to open the communications channels. There is enough significance in this to restore lost relationships and rebuild associations.

Each of the common elements of the holiday season has a project lesson to teach in how it's implemented and understood.

Greeting Cards
No doubt as you read this, you've already received at least one holiday card to acknowledge the season. It was sent by a close friend, corporate ally or marketer. It came with a message of the peace, love or joy of the season. It came with encouragement to affirm or build a relationship. The effort was designed to clearly state that during the most frenetic time of year, you were being considered. Your interests matter. As you read the sentiment, you also may get the sense that you were not the only one to get the message. Sometimes, these messages come brimming with pre-printed family letters or a lovely gold-embossed stamp "From your close friends at…." Do you throw the cards out as quickly as you would any other missive? For most, the answer is "no." We collect them through the season, seeing how many are amassed before the holiday decorations are pulled down.

The collecting of holiday cards is a compelling phenomenon, and one that project managers can learn from. We keep the cards because they're a part of the culture. We keep them because they come but once a year. We keep them because they represent someone's efforts to get in touch with us. The lesson we can learn is that when we take the time to express a personal interest – even in a standardized format – it's noted, welcomed and accepted. But that only happens if it's done in a cultural context. Over time, cultures have built up around the annual holiday drive of snowflake-covered chunks of thin cardboard. We have learned to anticipate them, accept them and encourage them.

This relates to our efforts to build project teams and enhance communications in a variety of ways. For one, we need to establish a clear culture of caring and open communication. All too often, it's assumed that the communications that exist within a team or an organization will continue to occur. There's little or no affirmation that these communications are important, save for the occasional "attaboy/attagirl" at a meeting. E-mail traffic affords small refuge from this environment, as there is a host of superfluous e-mail that waters down any personality from those messages. What makes a real posted card so special? It's different from the standard post we receive. It's a completely different look, feel and texture. And it's expected only on rare occasion. There are few, if any, analogous elements in the project world.

Yet if you look at the former "Project-Manager-in-Chief" George H.W. Bush (Bush 41), you actually find someone who recognized the incredible power of a few well-considered lines on a card. The book All the Best, George Bush details a life history in notes and reminds us that some people can actually move up the ladder in part by virtue of the intimate personal contact created by a thoughtful note.

How can we take an implementation step away from this experience? Consider the "Bush 41" experience. Acknowledge the small project victories with a card or personal note. When someone tackles a challenge, give them the accolades they're due – in writing. Handwritten post has become far more unusual than any other type of correspondence. A $10 investment in a box of note cards may have a phenomenal yield in terms of the tighter bonds generated in your project relations.

The Menorah and the Advent Calendar
While Hanukkah is considered a minor Jewish holiday by some, the event it commemorates is significant. It's the victory of the Jews in their battle with the Greeks. As the story goes, after their victory, they went to find their temple a shambles. When they restored the menorah (a special lamp) to their temple, they found out they were short on oil to keep the lamp burning. But the small flask of oil that should have lasted only a day actually lasted for more than a week. With the lighting of the menorah each day, the memory of that miracle is invoked.

Construction organizations have taken this lesson home for years. They commemorate each "safe" day, or day without an accident. They flip the card to acknowledge one more day of achievement.

In Christian tradition, advent calendars often serve a similar purpose. They mark the ordinary passage of time leading up to the advent of Christ. It's a way to keep small children from bouncing off the walls while they wait for Christmas day. Whether the calendars include small presents, pictures, stories or candy, each day is acknowledged with the ceremony of opening the door. It's a shared moment of simply saying "another day has passed."

On our teams, we should find ways to celebrate that "one more day" experience. The daily milestone (or "inchstone" as Gregg Garrett calls it in his book World-Class Contracting) provides a sense of achievement and progress, albeit incremental. By celebrating the small accomplishments we make in project life, we acknowledge them as special and as true achievements.

Santa in the Mall and Twinkling Lights
The other trappings surrounding the holidays (which, in some places, went up moments after Halloween passed) are a reminder of the noteworthiness of the time. This is not a suggestion for stringing up "Project Lights" or adorning a "Project Tree," but instead points to the trappings of project management. The WBS! The Responsibility Matrix! A Visit from the Sponsor! If we can evoke even a marginal amount of the holiday paradigmatic zeal to greet these trappings, we will make inspired gains in team attitudes toward the project. That means these things need to be "hung by the chimney with care." They need to be out, and visible, and celebrated.

In greeting the holidays, we need to remember that these times are often referred to as that "special time of year." Projects are special, too. And we can take some powerful lessons learned from thousands of years of acknowledging achievement.

Carl Pritchard, PMP, is a senior instructor with ESI International. He is the author of Risk Management: Concepts & Guidance (ESI International, 2001). With J. LeRoy Ward, he co-produced the CD audio series The Portable PMP Prep:Conversations on Passing the PMP® Exam. Carl offers his support in implementing these practices by e-mail at carl@carlpritchard.com.

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