Mindy H.

Having a project plan is important. Provide regular updates to key stakeholders on your progress, allowing time for questions and feedback. Take the insights shared and incorporate them into your work. Don’t be afraid to share things that didn’t go as expected and how you applied the learnings in the next phases of the project. Effective communication showcases your transparency, adaptability, and collaborative spirit. By keeping everyone informed and engaged, you foster a team environment conducive to solving problems efficiently and effectively.

To embrace challenges, you need to be okay with failing. Challenges often push us outside our comfort zones, requiring us to learn and grow. Reflect on a time when you took on a prior challenge: What went well? What didn't? What tools and strategies did you find successful? Use these insights to apply to new challenges. Break down the challenge into smaller, manageable steps, and tackle them one by one. Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback and help when needed. This not only aids your learning process but also demonstrates your willingness to collaborate and improve. Embracing challenges showcases your resilience, adaptability, and commitment to growth!

Read the book Hidden Potential by Adam Grant. He has incredible wisdom to share in this book that provides additional insight and guidance.

1. Don’t limit yourself to one solution; explore multiple possibilities and weigh their pros and cons. 2. Seek Feedback: Engage with key stakeholders who would be directly impacted by your proposed solution. Ask if similar solutions have been tried before, what the outcomes were, and if there were any clear objections or resistance to adoption. This can help you refine your approach. 3. Collaborate: Often, the best solutions come from collaboration. Stakeholders might have great ideas that they haven’t had the time to put forward. By co-creating solutions, you show your commitment to teamwork and increase the likelihood of your solution being adopted.

The "5 Whys" is a technique that allows you to dig deeper into the cause of a problem vs. treating the symptom. Why it works: 1. Depth of Understanding: Each “why” peels back another layer, taking you deeper into the issue. 2. Clarity in Complexity: Problems can be complex, with multiple contributing factors. Asking why multiple times helps simplify and clarify things. 3. Fact over Emotion: Presenting issues described by others may sometimes be more based on emotions than facts. This method helps separate emotional responses from data. Showing such depth of thought can set you apart from your peers. Watch and learn, and don't be shy to start digging into the problems.

As a speaker, I am always working to improve. If the speech is recorded, I will rewatch it as part of my retrospective. There is never a moment when I stop preparing or improving my speaking capabilities. It is a muscle that must be continuously worked on to stay strong.