Archive for February, 2014

Feb 16 – Talk So People Can Listen

Sunday, February 16th, 2014
It isn't what you say that matters, it is what other's hear.

It isn't what you say that matters, it is what others hear.

Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) Tip of The Day

February 16 -Take time to discover people’s communication preferences. When you can communicate in ways others prefer, you connect with more meaningful and relevant dialogue.

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Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP

There is so much written about active listening – where you learn how to paraphrase what others are saying to grasp the real meaning behind their words. But what about the converse – “active” talking, where you share your thoughts and sentiments in a way others can hear what you are truly saying? I had a very interesting experience of this exact thing the other day when meeting a friend for a tea. She has a belief that life is a perception. When she shares this belief, I then share, “I believe life is an illusion.” I always saw this as a friendly exchange of two thinking persons’ opinions. This time, I noticed a microsecond of a wince. I asked, “what happens for you when I share this opinion?” She replied, “I feel like you are correcting me.”

The main difference is that I was raised on the East Coast in a large family where having different opinions and sharing them with conviction showed strength, character, and intelligence. Plus, I’m an extrovert and am more prone to big expressions. She was raised in small family on the West Coast where more quiet ways of expression were the norm and when people spoke in strong ways, they were in positions of authority. And she is an introvert, more quiet and introspective, so sharing an opinion is a bigger step outside of her natural state. It was no wonder the way I was sharing my opinion was being received as I was issuing a correction to her opinion. Yet this was not my intent. It was a great conversation because I took the time to notice and inquire about the micro-wince and she was open to exploring why she felt corrected. It took the standard exchange we share to a deeper level of understanding.

We teach easy to adopt conversational techniques to improve communication in the Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) program based on people’s unique personality types. Sometimes I even remember to use them myself. I can report first-hand – they do work to create better relationships and improved connections. Isn’t this what we ultimately want with the people we walk through life with – whether doing projects at work, or sharing life with friends and family?

Feb 15 – Focus on Similar Values and Create from Different Capabilities

Saturday, February 15th, 2014

cheetah_feb15Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) Tip of the Day

February 15 – “All people are the same” and “everyone is unique” are both true statements. When you focus on similarities to bring people together while leveraging each person’s unique strengths, you create amazing teams.

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Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP

We are all connected by our common humanity. Healthy individuals need belonging, attachment, connection, and to know we are needed and matter in other people’s lives. Yet it is our differences that spark creativity and progress. Think about who you learn more from – those who agree with everything you say, or those who stand in their own individuality and challenge you from time to time? Learning how to balance our common humanity while leveraging our differences is the work of living.

The longer you work with people, the better you get at this dance. My core Cheetah Learning team and I have been together for almost a decade now. It reminds me of a line in this song by Celtic Thunder called “The Choir” – “All God’s creatures have a place in the choir, some sing low and some sing higher…..” We all have our unique idiosyncrasies, talents, and roles, yet we are all bound by a common goal to help others succeed at Cheetah speed. When we bring new people into the team, it is imperative they share at our core driving value of Mudita (your success is my success), but their unique talent is what helps us grow and evolve as a team.

What core values do you share with the people closest to you? Post your comment on the Cheetah Learning FB page.


Feb 14 – Celebrate the Love All Around You

Friday, February 14th, 2014
Celebrate the Love All Around You

Celebrate the Love All Around You

Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) Tip of the Day

February 14 – The quality of your life depends on the quality of your associations. How can you show up more reliably over time with the significant people in your life to bring more quality to your life?

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Michelle LaBrosse CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP

Happy Valentine’s Day!!! For some folks, this day is a sad day as they lust after love lost or never found. For others, it’s a day to celebrate all the love in their lives from all sources. The great thing is you get to choose what type of day it is for you – regardless of who is in your life. How you show up day-in and day-out is completely in your control. If you want more love in your life, be more loving. It’s really as simple as that.

Even in the darkest of times in my life, I’ve been able to find my way to the love all around. Two years ago yesterday, my mother passed away after a brief and very tragic encounter with brain cancer. She was a vibrant, active, healthy senior with at least twenty years left in her spunky body. What I discovered through the grief was how much love there was in my life. Yes, I lost my mom, but what I gained was the deep sense of how loved I am by all the people who share my day-to-day existence. So on this Valentine’s day, I share a big, heart-felt thank you to all of you for being there for me in so many incredible and reliable ways these past three years. My life is blessed beyond measure and I am deeply grateful for all the various ways you show up.

In how many ways is love showing up in your life? Take a minute to appreciate and acknowledge the love all around you. Do this often enough and it becomes your wonderful reality, too.

Feb 13 – Find the Innate Goodness in Others

Thursday, February 13th, 2014
Living in other's innate goodness is a gift to yourself.

Living in others' innate goodness is a gift to yourself.

Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) Tip of the Day

February 13 – Look for the innate goodness in others and live there. It’s so much nicer than the alternative.

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Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP

Take a minute to think about how you would prefer other people to interact with you? How do you like it when people find fault with your best intentions, harangue you about the infinite things you haven’t done, or give you the “stink eye” of judgement for not conforming with their ideas of perfection? Doesn’t feel very good, does it. Yet when we think about this idea of living in others’ innate goodness, the term “Polly Anna” comes to mind. That is where you see the world through the lens of everything that is good and right with the world. I ask you – what is wrong with that? Isn’t that how you would yourself prefer to be viewed by others, as well? Why is that, in order to have a “balanced” perspective, we need to even give notice to another’s foibles? In reality, it is our “foibles” that create our strengths.

When you focus on developing your strengths, you get stronger in the areas where you can do the most good in the world. When you focus on your weaknesses, while you might improve a little, you won’t get nearly as far as you would be building up what is unique and great about you. And this is the same with what you focus on with others. While the idea of living in another’s innate goodness may sound like a magnanimous gesture of humanity, it is in fact is a gift you give to yourself. When you help others develop and use their strengths, you are allowing them to interact with you in a way that does, in fact, create the most value for you.

If it is not your current habit to find and focus on another’s innate goodness, make an effort to do this for the next 21 days. You’ll be amazed how many other things shift into a much more favorable light in your world. After you’ve practiced this consistently for 21 days, it will become your natural habit.

Give us a shout out on this FB post after you’ve given this a try to let us know what happened.

Feb 12 – Help Others Succeed

Wednesday, February 12th, 2014
Mudita is a sanskirt term for celebrating the success of others.   When you help others succeed, you get to celebrate with them.

Mudita is a sanskirt term for celebrating the success of others. When you help others succeed, you get to celebrate with them.

Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) Tip of the Day

February 12 – The more you help other people succeed, the more you succeed.

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Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP

“Mudita” is a Sanskrit term for celebrating the success of others. It is one of the core values of Cheetah Learning, and it is designed into the DNA of everything we do. When I set up Cheetah Learning in 1999, I had been student of George Land’s work, “Break Point and Beyond,” for eight years. In Land’s work, he shows how autopiotic systems self-replicate on core values. It’s the fractal pattern concept of organizational development. This has played out in such remarkable ways in our business. It drove how we created the compensation system based on the success of our students; how we created an early approach to increasing awareness with Cheetah Learning in a way that actually helped people become more successful just by interacting with our marketing material; and how our students learn how to increase their success by helping others succeed.

Helping students succeed with passing the PMP exam at Cheetah Speed was how we initially grew our business. We’ve helped ten percent of all PMPs worldwide pass the exam. We realized that even though being a PMP is crucial to understand the global standard for doing project management, it is learning how to help others succeed that creates the most long-term fulfillment and success. And this is where earning both a PMP and a CCPM helps your career soar. It is the foundation of our Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) program for Cheetah students to learn how to bring out the best of everyone. Learn more at www.cheetahcertifiedpm.com

Feb 11 – Use Your Unique Strengths

Tuesday, February 11th, 2014
When 75% of the population is not working in their areas of strength, when you learn how to do this, your career can soar.

When 75% of the population is not working in their areas of strength, when you learn how to do this, your career can soar.

Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) Tip of the Day

February 11 – You are of most service to others when you use your innate strengths.

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Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP

Are you 100% happy with your career? Do you think you are working in the area of life where you are making the most significant contribution possible? Or do you often wonder, even if you worked your tail off to get to where you are, if you are on the right path for you? I was faced with some gut-wrenching decisions in the early 90’s. I had spent 12 years in the pursuit of becoming and being an Aerospace Engineer, yet it did not feel like the right profession for me. It was quite an arduous path – one that I had devoted my life to in my 20’s. This was a decade that many of my peers were enjoying traveling the world, or taking jobs in exciting places in remote locations. But I had my nose to the grindstone. I wanted to live my life differently in ways that were more fulfilling for me where I felt at the end of the day, yes, I made a significant contribution. Twelve years into this path, I was not happy with my career as an Aerospace Engineer.

A friend recommended I check out the book “Do What You Are – Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type.” I realized that I was more suited to be a teacher and an entrepreneur rather than an Aerospace Engineer. What I realized is this is a normal stage of adult development, as the career that gave me satisfaction when I was younger wouldn’t necessarily create satisfaction as I got older. It took me another 8 years to change my career and form Cheetah Learning. Based on what I learned in the “Do What You Are” book, I partnered with the authors to create personality-based education. So when you take the Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) program, you learn how to use your personality to learn better, do projects better, and negotiate better. You learn how, in the pursuit of being uniquely you, you create the most value for everyone else.

What is so exciting about the CCPM program is that it’s really needed, RIGHT NOW. According to a Gallup Poll, 75% of Americans are working in jobs where they are not using their strengths. Talk about a demoralizing state of affairs in our country. We hired an independent analyst to study Cheetah’s Corporate Clients over the past decade, who found that 90% of them were able to increase both their revenue and their profits within one year of putting their people through Cheetah’s programs. It takes people to do projects and it takes people who know how to best leverage their unique strengths to make significant headway for the organizations they serve. Considering that, according to a UCLA study, 90% of people are significantly dissatisfied with their internal project management education, it makes sense to become a Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM). Find out just how far you can take your career and your organization.

Feb 10 – Replace Anger with Awareness

Monday, February 10th, 2014
Increase your window of tolerance on the information triggers that make you angry.   Your long term brain health depends on this.

Increase your window of tolerance on the information triggers that make you angry. Your long term brain health depends on this.

Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) Tip of the Day

February 10 – The first stage of learning is becoming aware of what you do not know. It is often those closest to us who make us aware of what we don’t know (especially teenagers). When you can welcome this dynamic, instead of getting angry, you open yourself up to tremendous growth.

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Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP

Getting angry is a great opportunity for growth. In Dan Siegel’s book on Interpersonal Neurobiology, he shows how our behavior in relationships impacts our long-term brain health. When you can learn how to adopt a curious approach to your emotions, you start to rewire your brain with healthier response patterns. Below is a mind map that shows his concept of windows of tolerance and response flexibility. On the bottom of the chart is a “low self” knee-jerk reaction approach when someone or something “pushes your buttons.”

Information flows in on us all day long. All it is is information. We put the subjective spin on that information – regardless of what it is. We all have unconscious patterns of reacting to information – he calls this “synaptic shadowing.” We all have our standard response patterns to our interpretations of information. Let’s say one of your parents was always late picking you up from school. And now a co-worker is late for a meeting. You might get extremely agitated by this behavior. This means you have a low window of tolerance for other people’s timeliness (or lack thereof). Wherever you have a low window of tolerance, you might have a more chaotic response (you get angry for reasons you don’t feel you can control), or you may fall back into rigid behavior (we close the door to our meetings exactly at the meeting start time and if you’re late, you can’t participate). This is explained in the bar in the middle of the mind map. The goal is to create a wider window of tolerance for how you interpret information. The top part of this chart shows two elements of how to do this. The first is to take a “COAL” approach to any stimulus – that is, you adopt a “curious, open, accepting, and loving” perspective towards yourself about the stimulus. With the response part, where you have an impulse to “do” something, you avoid doing anything. You just “be” with it.

The low window of tolerance with a lack of response flexibility is called being “emotionally immature.” Who the heck as an adult wants to be emotionally immature? The top part of this mind map shows how to adopt a more aware approach to your emotions. Learning how to do this also helps your brain work better. And if you’re aging, it’s a very important thing to pay attention to.

Where do you think this insight could come in most beneficial in your life? Share your insights on the Cheetah Learning Facebook Page

The lower part of this mind map shows how emotional immaturity happens and the upper part shows how to create more emotional maturity and healthier brain patterning

The lower part of this mind map shows how emotional immaturity happens and the upper part shows how to create more emotional maturity and healthier brain patterning

Feb 9 – Focus on What Rather than How

Sunday, February 9th, 2014
Focus on What You Want Rather than How It Has to Happen

Focus on What You Want Rather than How It Has to Happen

Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) Tip of the Day

February 9 – To get out of the trap of micromanaging people, focus more on what you need them to deliver rather than on how you want them to do the work.

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Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP

The human spirit only soars when unleashed. We have seen this time and time again in our classrooms While people love to learn, they do not like being “taught.” Being taught also limits the learning to a narrow constraint of what the teacher thinks is important. Learning allows the student to take off to levels that are important for them, which only they would know. The way we structure Cheetah programs creates a level of inspired, intrinsic motivation that helps Cheetah students soar. This was why we call our company “Cheetah Learning” rather than “Cheetah Teaching.” This same thinking is what is behind today’s tip. People are infinitely creative and, when allowed to create the “how” of how to create the “what,” their spirit can be fully engaged in the task at hand. The results are more innovation, more productivity, and, ultimately, more happiness in how the work gets accomplished. We are all far more than simple automatons cranking out products or regurgitating answers to satisfy a teacher. Think about this for yourself. Where are you happier: when someone leaves you free to choose how to accomplish a task, or when they watch your every move to make sure you do it they way they would do it? No one wants this level of oversight. Figure out how to give enough instructions so you can all be confident the skills exist to get the job done. Then, back off and let the person craft what works best for them. They may just surprise you beyond measure.

In the Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) program, you learn how to best fit your strengths to situations that can help your spirit soar. You also learn how to best use other people’s strengths so you can create dream teams that work well without the need for micromanagement.

Feb 8 – Give Others What THEY Want

Sunday, February 9th, 2014
Some people love walnuts in their chocolate chip cookies.   If you're going to make them as a special treat, it's good to know to include them.

Some people love walnuts in their chocolate chip cookies. If you're going to make them as a special treat, it's good to know to include them.

Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) Tip of the Day

February 8 – Before entering a negotiation, take a guess at the zone of potential agreement (ZOPA) between you and the other party. When in early discussions, get an idea on the actual zone of potential agreement you do have for whatever it is you are negotiating.

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Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP

When you help other people get what they want, you get what you want. The term “win-win” is a concept used in negotiations that means both parties create a win when they enter into a negotiation. This, at times, takes a lot of finesse on the spot, often requiring the other party to have your best interests at heart as well. What is easier is to size up what you want, FIRST. Then find the opportunities that can help you best create that by giving other people what they want.

I learned this lesson in a very tough set of negotiations. I had an Air Force ROTC scholarship for my undergraduate degree in Aerospace Engineering. As part of the exchange for this, I had to serve Active Duty in the Air Force. My senior year in college, I had met a Major who was at the Johnson Space Fight Center in the Shuttle Payload program. He had heard me speak at a meeting he took his daughter to for evaluating if engineering would be a suitable career for her. My dream was to work in the space program and figure out how to work my way into being an Astronaut. This Major loved my speaking ability and wanted me to work in his program at NASA. He put in what is called a “by name” request for me to work there. In the Air Force, a by name request pretty much guarantees you will get that assignment. Two weeks before graduation, I got my assignment. I was being sent to Wright Patterson Air Force Base rather than NASA. I was consoled by the Officers who ran the ROTC program with the adage, “the needs of the Air Force come first.” I started active duty a month later, one disgruntled unit. I was in a wave of 2,000 lieutenants who were to start active duty that year and was one of the first ones assigned. This meant the pick of assignments at this incredible research and development base for Aerospace Engineering. I knew my dreams were too big to be at the mercy of the “needs of the Air Force.” I was committed to make the best of my time there so I could find my way to a civilian career that would help me more reliably achieve my goals. I was clear in interviews that I wanted to create opportunities for a civilian career. I found an incredible office that loved my guts and candor; plus, it was a job most Aerospace Engineers did not want, as it was working with electronic systems. They wanted and needed someone who would like to work in an area that was not “sexy” from an Aerospace Engineering perspective, but it would expose whoever took the job to working with hundreds of electronic defense contractors. Three years into my four-year tour, the US Congress had budget cuts and needed to do a reduction in force. They wanted to get rid of the higher-priced first lieutenants. Since the needs of the Air Force came first, I graciously volunteered to leave. They accepted my offer. I gave them what they wanted, I got what I wanted – my freedom.

You can learn how to do this level of strategizing to get what you want. In the Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) program, you learn how to set up situations so you get what you want by giving other people what they want.

Feb 7 – Create Agreements

Friday, February 7th, 2014
Agreeing to Agree is so Much Nicer than Agreeing to Disagree

Agreeing to Agree is so Much Nicer than Agreeing to Disagree

Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) Tip of the Day

February 7 – To create an environment for agreement, ask permission based questions to make sure the other party is okay with moving forward. The first permission based question is “Can I ask you a question?” This opens the door for engagement.

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Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP

In Ori Brafman’s book, “Sway – The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior,” he talks about how our minds prefer to stay the course with consistent decisions. So if your intent is to create agreement, asking permission-based questions gets the wheels in motion to make creating an agreement the consistent choice.

This comes in really handy when you’re promoting yourself and/or something you’ve created – when you want to get people interested in what you are offering. Have you noticed that a good sales person will get you saying, “yes, yes, yes” and nodding your head in agreement? Yes? Well this is exactly what they are doing – using this bias towards maintaining consistency to increase your willingness to accept their proposal.

Pay attention to how you could use this yourself when you want to create agreements with others. Find the common ground where you can agree FIRST. Develop that bond and the consistency. It will make it far easier to tackle the stickier areas later. Cheetah students master this technique in the Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) Program.