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Guy Kawasaki writes in Enchantment: the Art of Changing Hearts. Minds and Actions. While it is important to change the world, delight customers, and increase shareholder value are all part, making your boss look good every day is your job. While you should respect the boundaries of ethics, morality, and good judgment, the truth is that your boss will look great. Your boss advances and you move up. Your boss can advance, but you will implode if your boss is not there.
This is great advice for your boss or project sponsor. However, Kawasaki’s book focuses more on enchanting others, which could include project stakeholders, vendors, or end users. What is enchantment? It’s about being trustworthy, likeable, and visionary, so people want to work alongside you and help you reach your goals.
Guy KawasakiYour goal in a project environment is to complete project deliverables. People are what complete projects and it can be difficult to bring them along during the change. This book contains a lot of useful advice to help you make your negotiations and interactions as successful as possible. Many of the tips and advice are illustrated with stories like this one about a glass-making plant.
The company opened a garage door to the street during warm weather so that people could see inside the factory and observe the craftsmen at work. To explain what’s happening in the showroom, showroom educators use a public-addressing system. Rod McCulloch, the CEO, said that allowing people to see the manufacturing process “gets” them into the showroom to purchase eighty-dollar glasses.
This means prototyping and demos for project teams. How can you get your customers to “see how magic works”?
It’s one thing for stakeholders to be enchanted and reinforce the goals and messages of your project. You can also charm the project team. This book is not about project management, but it does offer a lot of advice on how to work with others. Here are some tips I learned to improve your relationships with colleagues at work.
Do not ask your project team members for tasks they wouldn’t perform.
As a “human shield”, protect your team against distractions and intrusions.
Friendships can make you more productive and effective, and increase your power base. Create an internal network.
Disclosing your motives and interests (by the by, like all the Amazon links here, the Kawasaki book link is an affiliate link).
Tie your tie. Also, don’t dress differently from the people around. Underdressing sends the message that your disrespect for them is not genuine and that you will do what you want. Overdressing suggests that you are more important to them than they are.
It doesn’t take much to make it work. Charming is not about taking tangible actions, but rather is about your attitude. It is low-risk to take Kawasaki’s ideas on board. It was enjoyable, and I feel more likeable and enchanting.
