Letter of Recommendation

So I just wrote my third ever letter of recommendation for a departing staff member.

It occurred to me while writing and re-reading it that I should create a letter of recommendation for each of my current team members that I would like to remain longer.

I have had excellent feedback from employees and co-workers in the past when I created individual letters of thanks and praise for their contributions to the project. I even shared these letters with the higher-ups. But this sharing, and veiled plea for feedback to me or others was promptly “filed.”

Perhaps I should write myself a letter of recommendation, or better yet ask others to write me a letter of recommendation. I am curious, but fearful, to see how I am perceived by others. I claim to like constructive criticism, I certainly seem willing to dole it out, but how gracious am I at accepting it?

I have recently received this requested direct feedback from one brave co-worker who offered up the following ideas for me to improve myself as a project manager and leader.

1 - Visible Frustration. The leader should be, or appear to be, always calm and in control. If the Leader gives-up, team morale is dead. (After repeated attempts to keep my personal frustrations contained, it seems I still need to find a person, place or thing to assist me in my venting)

2 - Time Management. Too many things on my plate kept me from taking the time to prioritize and think about what has to be done today. (I have read a book, and incorporated the system, of task management within Outlook ~ thus far it has proven a valuable tool)

3 – Frantic Work. Take the time to clearly communicate the problem that needs to be solved, and the resources, information, or methods available to solve it. (no real progress on this yet, except to breath, and download the “Ohhhmmm” symbol as the centerpiece to my computer background.)

4 – To Many Balls in the Air: This is also related to the “calm and in control” Item. I blame my mother for this one, she remains ever frantic! (I have only recently, the last few years, been able to say no to many people. What I to start working on is the ability to say “later”. When taking on another task, I need to budget realistic amount of time for that item. I have done this with a new Church Project in Coon Rapids, and I enjoy the sense of calm I have by having allowed enough time)

5 – Slow Responses: When staff or consultants ask for information or decisions, my responses have been slow in coming, or never evident. (I believe that if I take time, everyday to prioritize and think-through a problem, I will see that my response is a critical hurdle in the work of others, and I need to stay in front of them. I am typically a fairly quick decision maker, but not as decisive as I should be. There is an opposite extreme in making decisions too flippantly, and as a planner I believe you should at least consider all major aspects of a problem before throwing a solution at it)

6 – Speed Drafting / Delegation: When I discover something that has to get fixed, I tend to just crawl into the AutoCAD file and fix it myself. Because I have not been “drafting” as often as I used to, I am not as clean or careful in my drafting methods. (What I need to do is continue to delegate, even in the face of a high-pressure deadline, to the most appropriate staff)

7 – Overlapping Assignments: Too many people have there fingers in the floor plans. (I need to find a way to minimize instructions directly to my team from the higher-ups. When I first discovered these dueling instructions, I chatted with the Senior Partner, and suggested that he relay any revisions through me, so I could communicate with all the right staff. This quickly faltered, and going back to item number 1 above, I gave up and grumbled)

8 – No last minute changes: These changes tend not to be fully integrated into the construction documents, creating confusion for bidders and builders, and again, more frantic. (I did negotiate for an extra week of “quality control” to review the entire set, however this “extra” week was utilized by all to simply get the project done. Go back to number 2 – allow enough time for the project. Kind of stuck on this one, by the time I was assigned to this project, I was told I was three (3) months behind…..I should have asked for three months, not one week!)

9 – Use Office Standards: Near the end of the project, I “invented” some new numbering systems for the room finish schedule. (While they made sense to me, and after being explained, made sense to our staff, I should have taken the time to use the old system, and suggested this new, and actually improved, system of numbering – see number 8 above)

10 – Over Delegation: Some staff perceived my delegation of higher level design, coordination and decisions making tasks to them as “pawning off work” (while there was way too much for me to do, the problem was that there was not enough experienced, capable staff, to delegate these upper level tasks. Hopefully that has been solved by my hiring of three more experienced staff, and borrowing of two others – TBD)

11 – Missing Staff: There was not one person who took responsibility for the Design of this building (I have always maintained that I am a project manager, not a designer. The problem is that if a designer is not present, I have to step up and do my best. Another problem was the poorly executed effort to get younger staff to be engaged, and contribute their design ideas at the beginning and middle of the project. Overruling during brainstorming sessions is not useful, and I tried to guide the process by encouraging positive responses from above, not “that will never work”)

12 – Meeting content: weekly project meetings must be regular, and brief, and only contain information useful to all. (at first I disagreed, but then I realized that these project meetings could just be what’s new, what changed, what’s wrong – and I could do individual goal setting and feedback without clogging up the project meeting.)

13 – The Whole: I need to review and redline not only the plan and sections, but every part of the project together as a whole. (To my defense, this is the largest project, for the largest client, and part of the largest bond referendum this firm has ever done. It is huge. But the real problem was that I didn’t take ownership of the design of the project, only the management)

14 – Inclusion: If this staff member has been asked prior to the utilization of an outside drafting service and an outside drafter, his answer would have been a definitive “don’t do it”. But I never asked. (He is completely correct, and I have been trying ever since hearing this to include people at all levels to contribute their ideas from their vantage point – input is good)

Why am I blogging the above knowing that nobody will read it, nor benefit from it? I’ve already discovered that “blogging” is more for the Blogger than the Blogee. I feel obligated to work out ideas more clearly and thoroughly since they will be posted to the “world.” Perhaps the fear of free thinking or free sharing can be overcome……you know, unless I get some negative feedback or something.

I wonder if I will ever tell anyone about this Blogspot of mine?