I talk about Personal Growth, Management, Infrastructure and More | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
X-Ray for Projects - Who is committed?
|
Every December, projects enter a strange parallel universe. And this week everything explodes. ​ Budgets are frozen. Teams disappear. And every email ends with “before the Christmas break, please.” ​ If you have been in “a Change approved before the Christmas break”. “A package submitted before…”. Etc. ​ You’re in the trap. ​ I did it once… Years ago. ​ A change to be “approved” before the end of the year. ​ So we rushed. Design team, commercial, legal, operations, the construction… everyone. Sleepless nights. Drafts. Redlines. Calls at 11 p.m. with engineers… I assume… wearing Christmas jumpers, as we didn’t use Teams those days. ​ We got it done. Submitted. Approved. Signed. ​ Victory!! Let’s get into the plane and forget. ​ Victory? ​ Not really. ​ 24th of December. Around 13:15… ​ Email: “Thanks team. As agreed, implementation starts first week of January.” ​ January came. Week one. Nothing. Week two. Nothing. The government team was still “on leave.” The contractor was still “re-mobilising.” ​ And our heroic December sprint… …delivered absolutely nothing. ​ How typical! ​ That day I learned a golden rule in the business: ​ Never trust a Christmas deadline. It’s not a milestone. It’s a psychological weapon. ​ But at least, you can learn something. ​ Christmas is the great X-ray of projects, companies and… of course… PPPs. It reveals who is committed, who improvises, who panics, and who plans. ​ And if you want a competitive advantage? Remember this: ​ In PPPs, professionalism is also a superpower. Especially in December. ​ Give yourself a booster with the link below. ​My Mentorship​ ​ PD 1: If you liked this email, don't keep it in secret and forward it to a friend. They will thank you enormously one day. PD 2: If somebody has sent you this email and you want to receive emails like this yourself, visit vicentevalencia.com PD 3: If you want unsubscribe, click the link below. ​ ​ |
Vicente Valencia
I talk about Personal Growth, Management, Infrastructure and More | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
As many of you, I’m flying now. Holidays. Family. “Relax”… if a three years-old allow you to do so. Before I used my more than 20 hours of flight time to catch up with movies or read that book I definitely wanted to have read before arriving to destination. Now, I have to sync my sleep with the little one and get into the loop of all Disney Cars movies and Bluey shows. Still I have time to think of my next project. My next investment. And not just real estate, but also education and training....
It’s a superpower. But people are not interested in the others’ point of view. Just in theirs. We are egocentric by nature. So listening it’s a superpower. I let the agent to do the talking. My side, just questions and nodding. Disclosures? None… well… there was some flooding… Price expectations? This property in 2021 would be selling by… Yes, but what are the owners expectations today. Well… in January, they received an offer by X and was rejected, now… I’m not sure what they owners will...
Arguments, unfortunately, don’t work. It’s proven. People don’t change their beliefs. At least, not with arguments. The reason arguments do not work is that most people hold their ideas and values without thinking about them. Think of politics. Think of clauses that you’ve seen in contracts. Think of people supporting their favourite teams. There is a strong emotional content in their beliefs. They really do not want to have to rework their habits of thinking, and when you challenge them,...