Michelle LaBrosse of Cheetah Learning On 5 Things You Need To Know To Successfully Manage a Team

Recognize the rainbows: Team-wide diversity can shake up the status quo and stimulate change. A rainbow of age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status is a pot of gold for new ideas The more freely individual traits can be expressed, the more they will be appreciated, and the bigger and better the overall team brain becomes.

As a part of our series about the five things you need to successfully manage a large team, I had the pleasure of interviewing Michelle LaBrosse.

Michelle LaBrosse, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT, is founder and CEO of Cheetah Learning, a leader in Accelerated Exam Prep for the Project Management Professional (PMP)® exam. She is the author of Cheetah Negotiations, Cheetah Project Management, Cheetah Know How and Cheetah Agile Projects. LaBrosse started her career as an aerospace engineer and an Air Force Officer. The Project Management Institute (PMI) selected LaBrosse as one of the 25 Most Influential Women in Project Management in the World. She is a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Owner President Managers program and holds an aerospace engineering degree from Syracuse University and a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Dayton.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! What is your “backstory”?

I started my career as an Air Force Officer. I had been awarded a regular Air Force commission because I was a recognized distinguished graduate by the Air Force for having a 3.6 GPA. I resigned my Air Force commission and started my business when I was 25 to do electronic reliability engineering consulting for the aerospace and automotive industries. I expanded into project management over 10 years after taking a position as a research scientist in systems engineering for a large multinational corporation. It was in this position where I created an accelerated learning approach using systems engineering principles to teach project management that became the basis for the company I’ve been running for the past 23 years ─ Cheetah Learning.

Next, I wrote a book called Cheetah Project Management based on accelerated learning and systems engineering that created the effective and efficient project management process I piloted as a research scientist. I needed to earn the Project Management Professional (PMP) credential to be a credible author of a project management book. When I started looking into what was involved in passing the PMP® exam, it seemed like the current way people were preparing was not all that effective as 60% of people were failing after a year of studying. The certification had already been around for 40 years, and only 40,000 people held this certification.

In 2001, I rolled out a program using similar techniques I had used for the Cheetah Project Management Process to help people prep for the PMP exam in four days and to take the actual PMP exam on the fifth day. We rolled out the first course during the week of 9/11 and everyone in that class passed the PMP exam. The program took off and became the benchmark program for passing the PMP exam. Over the next 20 years, we helped grow the market of PMPs from 40,000 to over a million. Since Cheetah Learning’s start in 2000, we’ve had over 80,000 students.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

I’m well known for being a “Cheetah,” which means I move very fast and can quickly change directions. The idea of being a Cheetah emerged while in marriage counseling at 33 years old when my first marriage was ending. In our initial sessions the marriage counselor asked each of us what wild animal represented us and why. I said I was a Cheetah because I moved fast and changed directions quickly. My soon-to-be “wasbund” said he was a duck since he could do many things but none of them well. The marriage counselor quickly grasped some of the core differences impacting our marriage.

Five years later when I was creating the current business, we had to come up with a name. I just took a quick glance around my office at all the cheetah pictures, statues, and posters friends had given me over the years to come up with the name ─ Cheetah Learning.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I had an Air Force ROTC scholarship for Aerospace Engineering at Syracuse University. I did not come from a military family and was the odd duck. We did not receive much training. They gave us our uniform and some guidelines. The instructions said we had to wear “dark” socks with our uniform. I had dark green socks and since they were “dark,” I’d wear those with my Air Force Blues Uniform. We had to wear our uniforms on campus twice a week. I went for six weeks wearing those dark green socks before anyone said anything. One day in the ROTC lounge, this very severe looking senior cadet asked me why I was wearing green socks. I said because the instructions said to wear “dark socks” and these were dark. She berated me in front of all the other cadets for wearing green socks, saying I wouldn’t go far if I couldn’t figure out I was supposed to be wearing navy or black socks.

So, I guess figuring out the right color socks to wear may be the ultimate secret to my success.

The lesson I learned: Be kind and if you must give counsel, do so gently in private.

Ok, let’s jump to the core of our interview. Most times when people quit their jobs they actually “quit their managers”. What are your thoughts on the best way to retain great talent today?

Treat people like the competent adults they are. Cheetah Learning is a “boss-free” zone. If someone needs to have a boss or wants to be a boss, they don’t fit in our culture. We clearly communicate expectations and follow the guidelines in the five tips I elaborate on below.

How do you synchronize large teams to effectively work together?

I’m a systems engineer, and a large team is a system. To work effectively, create three to five groups of three to five people pursuing similar goals within the larger group. We pay attention to how many people need to communicate with each other and work to minimize the communication channels. As the numbers of people increase on a team, the communication channels increase significantly making the system dynamics much more complex. For example, the number of communication channels within a three-person team is six, and with five, it’s 10 channels. So with 15 people, there are 105 communication channels. By splitting the 15 people into three teams of five people each, there are six communication channels between the three teams and 10 communication channels on each team. By doing this grouping, we decrease the systems dynamic complexity from 105 channels to 36 channels (but really, it’s six channels connecting with teams that have 10 channels each).

Here is the main question of our discussion. Based on your personal experience, what are the “5 Things You Need to Know to Successfully Manage a Team”. (Please share a story or example for each, ideally an example from your experience)

Agree to agree: The first mistake teams make is failing to arrive at agreement about their basic objectives. To overcome this common error, create a project agreement before starting any new initiative. Ensure that this document covers the project scope, how to communicate with each other, how often to conduct meetings, the overall risk team members will collectively tolerate for the project, the constraints everyone agrees are on the project, and each team member’s role. This serves as a template that makes it easier to be agreeable and a document of what each team member has agreed to.

What gets measured gets done: Similarly, measurement focuses attention on the priorities that are truly important. Pick key performance indicators (KPIs) carefully and with caution. It is essential that these KPIs measure results, not just activity. Top-performing teams deliver results; they don’t simply complete tasks.

The platinum rule: While the Golden Rule is to treat others as we want to be treated, the Platinum Rule is to treat others as they want to be treated. Find out how your customers or patients want to be treated and deliver it to them.

Conflict is cash: Differing expectations are the root of all conflict. Consequently, conflict is a better opportunity to fully understand team members’ and patients’ expectations, transforming a negative experience into a positive one. Use conflict to get a deeper understanding of the unique expectations that enable your top-performing teams to deliver fantastic patient care. Conflict is unavoidable — when it happens, make it profitable.

Recognize the rainbows: Team-wide diversity can shake up the status quo and stimulate change. A rainbow of age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status is a pot of gold for new ideas The more freely individual traits can be expressed, the more they will be appreciated, and the bigger and better the overall team brain becomes.

What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders to help their employees to thrive?

Continue to dialogue and explore what is in each contributor’s self-interest, as this evolves over time. The more people can align their self-interest with the core aim of the business, the better they can put their strengths to use for the projects they are pursuing.

If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

People are inherently good and capable of greatness. The attitude and actions of leaders can inspire people to best leverage their innate strengths to create exceptional project outcomes.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote?” Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Everything in life is a “project” ─ the quality of how you do your projects sets the tone for the quality of your life.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

I publish many of my new ideas as they emerge in the Cheetah Learning Blog: https://www.cheetahlearning.com/wp/blog

Thank you for these great insights, and for the time you spent on this. We wish you continued success.