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Hats of a Program Director
This document discusses the different "thinking hats" or roles that a program director may take on during a project. It describes the white hat as important for establishing goals and scope during startup when there is still ambiguity. The green hat focuses on creative problem solving and challenges. The red hat emphasizes leadership, relationships, and addressing fears. The blue hat is about organization, planning, and establishing processes. The black hat critically examines risks. The yellow hat maintains optimism and continuous improvement. Effective program directors must be able to wear different hats at different stages and regularly challenge assumptions.
Hats of a Program Director
- 1. Crash Course onCreativity Thinking Hats Assignment Stanford University Professor Tina Seelig Cheryl Korkowski December, 2012
- 2. The Hats ofa Program Director Org ani zed Op ti mi s tiou st i c Cau ica l Log e u itiv Int Cr eat i ve
- 3. The Program Director’s WhiteHat Significant hat during program startup Must be comfortable with ambiguity ◦ What do we know and what do we need to know? ◦ Why are we doing this? ◦ What problem(s) are we trying to solve? ◦ What roles are required to be successful? ◦ Who has the skills needed? ◦ What is the scope and objectives? ◦ What will success look like?
- 4. The Program Director’s GreenHat How will we solve the problem? ◦ Team brainstorming ◦ Problem escalations ◦ LEAN + workshops ◦ Team relationship struggles/challenges ◦ Outside the box thinking ◦ Motivating & engaging the team and stakeholders ◦ Organizational Change Management A FUN hat to wear!
- 5. The Program Director’s RedHat Leadership ◦ Experience with company, team members ◦ Authentic leader – recognize feelings, respect hunches – yours and the teams! ◦ Address fears (team as well as your own) ◦ Critical relationship role Team members Sponsors and stakeholders ◦ Vulnerability ◦ Lead by example A difficulty hat, but necessary for success!
- 6. The Program Director’s BlueHat Organization! ◦ Create a plan and execute to it ◦ Follow best practices and train the team ◦ Establish an operating rhythm ◦ Build the team! ◦ Develop a schedule ◦ Determine methods of collaboration My favorite hat!
- 7. The Program Director’s BlackHat What are the risks? How will we mitigate them? Lots of “what if….?” Challenge standard thinking? Plan for the worst Prepare for the unexpected Think about unknowns Must regularly wear this hat to be successful!
- 8. The Program Director’s YellowHat Always the optimist Find the silver lining Frequently evaluate learnings See opportunities for improvement Continuous improvements Keep the team motivated Provide opportunities for FUN! See the glass as “half full” Critical hat as the senior leader!
- 9. Program Director’s Hats Summary My job and role requires all hats at various times throughout the program lifecycle Experience helps, but you don’t have to know it all – trust the diversity of your team members Personally most comfortable with Blue Organizing Hat(very process oriented) and the White Hat (logical, data gathering) Always watch others and learn from them Never wear any one hat too long – keep changing Give team members a chance to grow into these hats