Before making connections, create your roadmap to job creation.  Focus on knowledge formation, be self-aware, seek guidance from others, and be creative.  It’s time to throw away traditional views and practices – - your resume´ alone no longer opens doors for you – - it’s all about presenting yourself in new and innovative ways.

Accomplishments and credentials no longer guarantee success; with more and more recognition around the power of multiple intelligences, you must be prepared to present yourself in a global way.  There are three primary intelligences to consider:  Emotional, Social and Cultural.  Emotional IQ is about your self-awareness, how you relate with others, your ability to self-manage yourself in all situations or environments.  Social IQ is having the ability to understand and manage social groups; you act wisely in groups and have knowledge of social situations.  Cultural IQ is having the ability to understand differences and cope with different behaviors. 

As you define your personal brand, remember the power of three.  Know your skills, your attitude and your behaviors.  Use this information to prepare for behavioral interviewing – this is when the interviewer will ask you probing questions under the premise that what you have done in the past will, to some extent, be a fair indicator of your future behavior.  Questions are designed to assess what you have actually done in situations that have some relevance to the role for which you are applying for.  Once asked about a certain situation, you will further interrogated with questions like, “What were you feeling at that time?” “What did you do next?”  “What did you learn from the experience?”  Prepare for multiple interviews, in group sessions, in different settings.

Before you journey down the interview path, contemplate your employment options.  Do you want a full-time role?  Are you better suited for a contract position?  Should you switch industries?  Volunteer? 

A self-assessment is a terrific way to be self-reflective before beginning the journey.  A good self-assessment includes:

A Value Inventory:  What creates job satisfaction for you?  Autonomy?  Prestige? Security? Flexible work schedule?  Leisure time?  High Salary?

An Interest Inventory:  What are your likes/dislikes regarding various activities?

A Personality Inventory:  What are your traits, motivational drivers, needs and attitudes?

A Skills Assessment:  What are you good at? 

Write it down, set it aside, and revisit a few days later.  Does it still make sense? Did you identify something new about yourself? Can you take the information from your Self-Assessment and create your own personal story?  Do you need an Assessment tool to get started?  Drop me a line, I’m happy to share—Get noticed, be hired.

Lisa DiTullio, Principal, Lisa DiTullio & Associates, LLC  www.lisaditullio.com

I truly believe in continuous improvement. In today’s world standing still really translates into regression. I apply that continuous improvement to different areas of my life: I keep pursuing knowledge on scuba diving in general and its physiology in specific, I am planning to improve my technical skills of motorcycling this year, I learn new things about a healthy lifestyle every day and of course I keep expanding my professional knowledge.

I started out in the investment banking world as an account manager for institutional clients. I decided that my drive for results and my desire to learn more about information technology would be better served in project management so I switched careers. I have never regretted that move. Since my first PM position was at Royal Dutch Airlines, I decided to follow a full year of evening classes in logistics management at the university.

After moving to the United States, I was introduced to the PMP and became certified in 2001. My desire to continuously improve continued with Toastmasters, a Scrum Master certificate, the PMI Leadership Institute Master class, a Myers-Briggs qualification, a Green belt in Six Sigma and currently an executive coaching certification. It is not the certificates I am interested in but rather the knowledge, experience, and interaction with other students from different industries. Some of the acquired knowledge I actively use on a day to day basis, other knowledge becomes part of the mental toolkit to be pulled out when the situation calls for it and some of it goes into the mental waste basket.

Especially in a job market that is a “buyer” market (like today’s) showing that you invest time and money in yourself will improve your chances in the job market. It demonstrates aspects like a curious mind, commitment to (self) improvement, and dedication to juggle a busy schedule with continuous learning.

What can you do? See it as the project “Investing in myself”. First, define the requirements:

1. Figure out what you are passionate about and evaluate if this is something you can pursue.
2. Look at your current skill set: are there skills you want to improve?
3. Do you see skills in others that you would like to acquire?

A lot of my continuous improvement was triggered by one of these three points. For example, I joined Toastmasters because I was in awe of the speaking skills of some of the people I met here and being from Europe there is significant less emphasis on public speaking skills while they are crucial for a successful project manager.

Secondly, figure out what you can do to start working on the desired skills. This includes:

• What courses are out there? (PMI nowadays has a plethora of certifications as do many other organizations)
• What is your financial situation?
• Will your company pay for it?
• Can you obtain the skills through self-study (and are you self-disciplined enough to do this)?

Then schedule the time to work on those skills. None of us have enough time to do everything we need and want to do so it comes down to prioritizing our time. If the project “Investing in myself” is important enough to you, you will find the time to execute it even though it might mean having to (temporarily) give up other activities.

Okay, back to my coaching studies.

My most extreme week was in March this year. One weekend I am flying to the Netherlands to spend some (most likely last) days with my best friend who was losing her battle with cancer, only to receive the shocking news at my stopover in Chicago that she didn’t make it through the night. My plan to say goodbye to her became a final goodbye at her funeral. That very next weekend I find myself in Japan to assist in a leadership workshop as a way to hopefully start a long term business relationship. The people are amazing, their gratitude and sincerity overwhelming. Talk about emotional low and high within a week.

In July this year, I realized that I needed to kick myself in the butt. My objective has always been to live a conscious full life; however, 2008 and 2009 had managed to get my spirit down. In the end, we are the architect of our own life and I realized that in my friend’s honor (and others who have lost their lives), I should live every day to the fullest. Even though this might have been a tough year, we should consider ourselves lucky for being born in a western country. That by itself puts us in the top 5% level of lucky people in this world. Whatever we deal with on a daily basis in our work and lives is nothing compared to those who try to survive on a daily basis without food, water or simple basic needs.

Only this morning it dawned on me that we are not only closing a year, we are closing a decade. A brand new decade is starting in four days. So instead of just reflecting on the last rough year, take the time to reflect on the last decade. Count your blessings and if there are areas for improvement, you are the only one who can change your life and improve it. Change is scary but also always holds opportunities.

Take the Agile approach to life, which means using your ability to both create and respond to changes in order to succeed in a turbulent business environment or live a satisfying life. During the last week of 2008, I blogged about living life smarter (read here): next week I am meeting up with a very good friend of mine to look at the new decade ahead of us to go through a goal setting exercise, prioritize them and start executing. I invite you to do something similar to chart your course through the year and decade ahead. Don’t wait.  Take control of your life and take action!!

When you’re new to a role, it’s natural to cover up your own ignorance. You want to earn respect, and everyone is looking at you. So you may not speak up when a topic is discussed that you don’t understand…you nod your head instead of asking a "stupid" question.

Here’s the thing: you will only learn by asking questions. Why not do it while you’re still the "new PM" on the block? Your teams and collegues will cut you some slack for awhile, but not for long. You need to learn quickly, and the best way to do that is by asking "stupid" questions.

Be results-oriented

Start asking yourself the following question constantly. "What is the goal?" Apply that to every part of your day. In a meeting? What’s the goal? You assigned a task? What’s the goal? For your project as a whole or pieces of it….what’s the goal? What does "done" look like and how will you know you’ve acheived it?

Hone your people management skills

Managing people is what project management is about. If you can’t manage people well, get better at it or go back to being an individual contributor. Luckily, management skills can be taught, and you can become a great manager (even if you stink at it now!)

Hone your project management fundamentals

So many project managers, new and experienced ones, fail to grasp some of the most fundamental concepts specific to project management. For instance, if you think a WBS is a task list and not a primary, central artifact to manage your project, please go get some good training on it.

Hone your political skills

The great thing about managing projects is that you get to interact with everyone! You need to speak the language of your team, sponsor, and key stakeholders. Understanding the incentives and needs of each individual and group goes with the territory.

You also need to be able to negotiate compromises between these individuals and groups. This takes finesse and you’ll probably screw up at least a few times. Just realize what this is and get better at it. Use tools like a stakeholder analysis to formalize and articulate the process.

Learn how to run meetings well

This goes along with general management skills and being results-oriented, but I can’t stress it enough. Running great meetings is a science that can be learned, and you need to protect your team from being involved with poorly-run meetings as much as possible. Meetings should have an explicitly stated goal, clear time-based agenda, be facilitated well, and followed up on with minutes and accountability assignments.

Trust your teams

Too many new project managers come into a team with a good intention, but it comes across like this. "I’m the new project manager. You’ve all been doing things wrong, and I’m here to fix your problems."

That doesn’t go over well. I have a 60-90 day change policy. Unless it’s going to make the project fail, I don’t change anything except for a few general management basics for 60-90 days. I tell the team this is my policy. I give them the message that they are doing a good job, and I’m going to pay my dues and learn how they work before I start trying to change anything.

Involve your teams

Too many project managers leave their teams out of planning and decision-making for the project. This is a mistake. It’s usually rationalized by saying to yourself "it will free up the team to get more work done if I plan everything myself and make all the decisions."

What actually happens is that you make poor decisions and plan poorly because you haven’t engaged the experts. AND they get stuck with your poor job of planning and deciding which destroys trust and respect. They feel you have little respect for them, signing them up for impossible goals without even asking what they think.

Give credit to your team, keep the blame for yourself

In my status reports I give credit by name to the individuals who accomplished activities, especially when they did a spectacular job. Or I’ll say the team has done a great job with xyz, etc. It’s all about the team.

When things go bad, it’s my responsibility. I’m accountable for it. To anyone except for the individual(s) who might have messed up, it’s my fault. I explain why it happened and how we are fixing it.

When you do this, here’s what happens. Your team will notice that you don’t take credit for their accomplishments, and you have their back if they mess up. (By the way, this doesn’t mean you forgive them and move on. Good people management doesn’t mean always being nice!) You build trust and respect and your team will want to do good work. Sponsors and stakeholders notice it too. They’ll know you don’t place blame or make excuses, and you’ll buld trust and respect with them too.

Eliminate obstacles and distractions

As a project manager, I feel one of my primary duties is to eliminate all obstacles and distractions from my teams. One of the best things you can do as a project manager is identify constraints on the productivity of your team and figure out how to elevate or eliminate those constraints so more can get done. There is a balance of course….if you identify every last thing that isn’t directly related to getting work done as an obstacle then the general communication and alignment of your team will suffer.

Find a mentor

This is related to not acting like you know it all. Find someone in your organization who is more experienced than you. Offer to take them out to lunch if they agree to give some advice on things you are struggling with. Ask to help them in any way you can, and use it as an opportunity to look over their shoulder and learn how to be more effective.

Josh Nankivel
WBSCoach.com
pmStudent.com

Flickr Image credits (Creative Commons-licensed content for commercial use)

know-it-all by by TedsBlog via Flickr

meeting by Savijana via Flickr

obstacle by The U.S. Army via Flickr

Technorati Tags: project manager careers

Table of contents for Q&A Week

1. Project Methodology Madness and Confusion
2. Project Manager Career Questions
3. Career Roadblock?
4. Holy Crap, They Called Me For an Interview!
5. Thinking About Going Back to School?

Back to School - by OakleyOriginals via Flickr

A subscriber to the Project Management Career Newsletter emailed me that he would be going back to school in a few weeks, and asked me for any suggestions or advice.

My Story

I had attended 1 year of vo-tech school right after high school, but dropped out when I moved to Albuquerque, NM for a job. My studies were in electronics technology, and I found that although I was good with electronics, software was much more interesting than electronics hardware to me. I was a computer geek (still am) and was a self-taught programmer. I moved into training and management roles, and got caught in a lot of layoffs too.

Even though I had work experience, it was a struggle to find new jobs. I discovered the formal discipline of project management and found out I had been doing it all wrong, and figured I needed a degree anyway to be competitive. I went back to school for a BS degree in Project Management, I think it was in 2005.

Appreciate

I appreciated the education much more than before. When I was 18, I took out loans and didn’t really feel like I was paying for it. I skipped classes sometimes, etc. This time around, it was a degree I was particularly interested in, and I applied myself to the material as much as I could.

First, I understood the value of the money I was paying (gladly paying) to get this education, and second I understood that the value would come from what I retained and applied, NOT from the piece of paper I’d get at the end or even the grades I received.

Write, Think, and Apply

Starting my blog at pmStudent.com was great for me, because I would write about what I was learning in school and how I could apply it in my day job. I also started frequenting many online forums and reading other blogs on the topic.

I had been a manager and managed some projects in an informal, adhoc manner. Just before going back to school I had taken a job as a developer at the time to get into a company where the environment was good for me to apply project management in a formal way. I was trying to work my way into PM roles wherever I could.

With my management experience I could have gone for a higher paying management position, but I took a deliberate step back so that I could be part of a project team and learn from the inside. 100% of my job was defining and implementing projects to improve processes, introduce automation, and integrate proprietary systems from mergers and acquisitions.

Contribute and Go Above and Beyond

Contribute in class as much as possible, and see it as an opportunity to learn and better yourself. I tried to do extra research on topics of particular interest whenever I could (much of what I researched was on PM methodologies and various aspects of management/leadership) It’s all about what you get out of it, not about the piece of paper.

Another way to go above and beyond is to volunteer. You could start a study group, a PM student club, or volunteer for other organizations. I attempted to start a PM student club at my college, but by the time political pressures would have allowed me to do so, I was graduating and wouldn’t be able to keep it alive. Had I started earlier it may have happened.

I also joined the Students of PM SIG (Specific Interest Group) with the PMI and volunteered there. There are lots of SIGs in the PMI that focus on specific topics you can look into. Look into other PM organizations as well, my only experience is with PMI but there are others out there.

Save Some Money on Books

Book swapping, discounted buying, used sellers….there are many ways to get your hands on great books for personal development or classes without paying the full cover price.

I kept track of my savings over the university book store price when I was working through my degree in Project Management.  I saved about 60% overall compared to what it would have cost me had I purchased my books at the college.  That amounted to thousands of dollars in savings over the years.

Some I was unable to find used, because they had just come out.  They were the exception however, and even if something had been out for just a semester, I was usually able to find a good used copy somewhere.

Check out these sites for book swapping and used books. Four pieces of advice for you:

• Order books early -  It can take 2-3 weeks to get it, and you don’t want to be without your textbook on the first day of class.  If you order a month in advance, it should give you enough time.
• Get the correct edition – I learned this the hard way.  One time I didn’t pay attention to the edition number and got an old edition.  I was still able to use it for that particular class, but you may not be so lucky.
• Country-specific versions – If you do end up getting the “international version” of a textbook, most of the time it will be the exact same book….sometimes there will be slight differences.  I once had a book that was about 15 pages off from the new version, so when the professor asked us to check out page 45, I just knew to turn to page 60 in my own copy.
• Check the detailed description – Sometimes sellers will have a picture of the new edition, when the detailed description lets you know it’s a different edition.  They will use the best picture they can find online, and if they can’t find an exact picture they substitute something close.

Bookins

BookMooch

BigWords (This was my primary search tool)

Technorati Tags: project management guide, project management school, project management schools

Table of contents for Q&A Week

1. Project Methodology Madness and Confusion
2. Project Manager Career Questions
3. Career Roadblock?
4. Holy Crap, They Called Me For an Interview!
5. Thinking About Going Back to School?

Holy Crap! - by B Rosen via Flickr

They want you to come in for an interview. After the elation wears off, you start sweating.

What are they going to ask? How can I best prepare for this? What if I prepare for the wrong things?

1) Treat the interview like a discussion – This is a two-way conversation, not an interrogation. You should be looking forward to finding out about the organization and role as much as they are looking forward to picking the right candidate. Looking at it this way will help put you at ease and allow them to get to know you better.

2) Review your own history – specific examples and stories from your past are the best way to illustrate you know what you are talking about. It’s good to review your illustrative “stories” and have them fresh in your mind so you can call upon them on a whim. If they ask a “what would you do if…” question, try to respond with a specific example that closely relates and illustrate how you ACTUALLY did handle it, and what you learned from it.

3) Come with questions – Of course you want to know a lot about the company beforehand, but not to impress them with your ability to google. I think of at least 5 insightful questions and write them down beforehand. Remember, this is a conversation. More questions arise as our conversation progresses too, but it’s good to have a short list of relevant, probing questions. I like to ask specifically about their organizational structure, business model, how project management is viewed within the organization (who are the proponents and detractors of viewing it as a formal discipline), etc.

4) Come with at least 3 copies of a portfolio – The resume and coverletter sometimes get stripped down to ugly, malformed text by the time it gets to the hiring manager. I always bring a portfolio in a professional report cover including things like my resume and a personalized cover letter for each interviewer and 1 spare generic one in case of a last-minute addition (always ask for full names and titles when setting up the interview!). I also include letters of recommendation from previous employers/professors, a print-out of my LinkedIn.com recommendations, academic credentials if applicable, example artifacts from my previous work that are not confidential, etc.

Portfolios are custom-made for each interview and can contain very different materials. I give my portfolio to each interviewer at the end of the interview as something for them to keep that will give them an even fuller view of who I am as a candidate.

Everyone, please contribute your own comments!!!

Technorati Tags: interview, job interview

Table of contents for Q&A Week

1. Project Methodology Madness and Confusion
2. Project Manager Career Questions
3. Career Roadblock?
4. Holy Crap, They Called Me For an Interview!
5. Thinking About Going Back to School?

Roadblock - by Old Sarge via Flickr

What can you do when you feel like you’ve hit a bump on your project manager career path? Here are my thoughts, and I invite you to add your own comments with advice for this professional.

From a pmStudent community member:

I have recently been made redundant from my high flying project management role. This position was with a FTSE 100 Energy firm and therefore I was pretty dissapointed when things worked out as they did. That said it happens. So guess I wondered what your advice would be for someone who has 3 years project management experience-having managed some pretty big projects in finance, IT and engineering services. The only thing is I don’t have a qualification like Prince2 and am wondering how I would get recruiters and employers attention in a UK Market where atleast 5 years experience is needed for Junior project managers.

Any advice would be appreciated

Thank you

Certification

Gaining the predominant certification in your region is definitely a good idea. It’s not all you need to do, but it’s a good step. When potential employers screen your CV or resume you want it to make it into the “maybe” pile and a certification will help with that. Find out what’s important to prospective employers, and also take into consideration your own industry and interests. IPMA, Prince2, PMP, etc. These might be possible candidates…but what about becoming a certified Scrum Master if you are in software development? There are a lot of niche credentials that may offer you a lot of personal value and make you more attractive as a candidate.

Stretch and Be Aggressive

On the experience question, the perception might be that everyone requires 5 years of experience. They probably say it right on the job posting. After I dropped out of university, I started in a technical role and worked my way into management positions. Being laid off many times, I had to constantly wrestle with the fact that most of the jobs I wanted “required” a degree I didn’t have. I eventually did go back to school and earned the degree, but I learned that you can still land jobs that say they want more experience or education than you have. I’ve landed jobs in the past that required 10 years of experience when I only had 3-4 years of experience. My passion and demonstrated competency made up for the lack experience in the minds of the hiring managers.

It’s all about separating yourself from the pack. Networking is powerful, because when people who know you are good refer you there is a trust factor that goes with it. Being aggressive and demonstrating that you can exceed expectations consistently works well. Don’t just send your resume or CV and a cover letter. Make phone calls. Ask someone in the company what the big challenges they face are, and come up with a solution to them. Find ways to demonstrate your ability to add value to the organization.

Find a talk to people via social networks who work at the organization and network with them. I don’t mean “hey, can you put in a good word for me?” to someone you just met. Asking good questions about them and the work they do are good ways to find out more about the organization. Take them out for coffee or lunch. Give first, with no direct expectations.

Every new job should be a stretch, at least that’s my philosophy. If you don’t have to learn more in order to be successful, then you’re stuck in a rut…you are not growing. Sure, every employer would love to hire someone who already knows everything and can hit the ground running. They realize that’s not always feasible though, especially when people are moving up into a new role.

Consider Alternatives

Sometimes it’s best to target related roles which allow you to keep close to your desired role and perhaps act as a stepping stone later on. One example in my career was many years ago when I lost a job leading the technical operations for a company and stepped into a call center manager role. It was a large step down if you look at it with a short-term mindset (role/salary was much less), but the decision was deliberate because I wanted to get my foot in a particular organization and I had an idea about how I could prove myself within the company and move into other roles.

Here, sometimes you have to wrestle with being overqualified for a position. In the cases I have done this I’ve had to anticipate the hiring managers’ hesitancy to hire me because they thought I was overqualified and would leave as soon as something else popped up. I usually initiate a frank discussion where I discuss that although I am overqualified, my goal is to work for this company. I let them know that I see myself moving into a different role (within this company) a few years down the road, but the way I build credibility and trust is to outperform and exceed expectations. I have to do that in this role first, before I’m going to even start considering other positions down the road.

Technorati Tags: project manager career

Table of contents for Q&A Week

1. Project Methodology Madness and Confusion
2. Project Manager Career Questions
3. Career Roadblock?
4. Holy Crap, They Called Me For an Interview!
5. Thinking About Going Back to School?

Question! - by Stefan Baudy via Flickr

A business student recently interviewed me via email. She is interested in project management and this was part of an assignment to reach out to people via Twitter to interview about what they do and the state of their industry/role. (My kudos to the professor for encouraging students to use new media to interact with people who are already in the field!)

I asked her permission to share the interview with you, I hope you find it helpful. Leave comments on what you agree and do not agree with!

How is the job market for project managers?

I would say it is healthy overall. Project managers lead teams to get things done in companies, and organizations always need them. Note that many project management jobs do not actually have “project manager” in the title. There are so many variations of the title. I suggest you look around on some of the job listings like careerbuilder.com, dice.com, etc. and see what you can find in your own region.

How do you deal with changes that are happening in the field?

Personally, I run a blog and community site, read other blogs, and am a member of PMI so I participate with my local chapter and several SIGs (specific interest groups). I’m also on the PMI New Media Council and will be presenting at the 2009 North America Global Congress in Orlando (October 11, 2009). Just as with any profession, there are a lot of niches and personal development opportunities to be had. Just staying active in advancing project management as a discipline is a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of it.

What are the best companies to work for?

Project management can be great in any type of organization or industry. If you can get into an organization who makes their money from doing successful projects you will be in the best learning environment. If you are a project manager in an organization, say in the financial services industry, and do internal projects that can be good too….but project management doesn’t get the attention it deserves unless the business model makes running projects central to the bottom line.

How do you use information systems in your job?

I’m self employed now, but in my last role as the lead project manager for the LDCM TSSC contract (building the ground system for a joint USGS/NASA satellite mission) information systems were certainly important. The key thing with IS is that the systems are easy to use, accurate, reliable, and allow you to focus on the few key metrics that help you manage the project. I’ve seen a lot of systems that have a lot of bells and whistles, and are virtually useless unless you get a degree on how to run the damn thing. It’s also easy to get lost in data and lose sight of what’s really important.

I will say this though. Managing projects is about managing people. If you get too data-centric you can lose sight of that. Tools and data don’t run the project, you and your people do.

Technorati Tags: getting started in project management, project management careers, project manager career path

Table of contents for Q&A Week

1. Project Methodology Madness and Confusion
2. Project Manager Career Questions
3. Career Roadblock?
4. Holy Crap, They Called Me For an Interview!
5. Thinking About Going Back to School?

I received a great question from a subscriber to my PMP Guide newsletter about methodologies and frameworks.

He cited a bountiful list with a question of whether he needs to know all of these in and out:

• Adaptive Project Framework
• Agile software development
• XP
• FDD
• ITIL
• Lean Development
• Scrum
• Spiral
• 10 Step
• JAD
• RAD
• RDD
• Crystal Method
• DSDM
• Waterfall
• SDLC
• Prince 2

Confused - by utpal. via Flickr

While this list is a mixed bag of methodologies, frameworks, etc. my general advice is as follows to everyone who may be getting overwhelmed by the multitude of ways to “get r dun”.

Be Purposeful About Your Career Path

I would not be too concerned about learning every methodology or system out there.  I certainly haven’t looked into everything on this list.  There are a few I’m pretty sure I’ve never even heard of.

• Take a look around where you work now.  What is available to you as a possible move to gain experience?  What do they use?  If your short-term career milestone involves a particular methodology or framework, get to know it well.  Be curious.  If they have documentation, read it.  Ask to volunteer your free time (unpaid) to help them.  Your pay is the learning and networking opportunities.  You may also get a great mentor out of it.
• Take a look at the company or department you work in or WANT to work in 2-5 years in the future. Ask what they use and learn that. There are general project management principles that will apply more broadly, but depending on each individual implementation things change.
• Alternatively, learn just a little about some of these and pick one that you find really interesting. Go after deeper knowledge about that one.  By becoming well versed in a specific way of doing projects (that you really enjoy) you can enter a niche in the job market you are really passionate about.  Once you learn one, it’s easier to learn others later on.

I hope that helps!

Share your insights with the community by leaving a comment!

Technorati Tags: project management method, project management methodologies, project management methodology, project management methods

Here are some things I came up with off the top of my head, but I’m certain that there are many more.

Practicing Servant Leadership – If you’ve gotten into Project Management for the power and the glory, think again – being a Project Manager means being at the beck and call of everyone involved in the project, from the project sponsor to the lead developer to the QA tester. It’s being able to remove the obstacles that team members face on a daily basis so they can focus on getting the work done. It’s truly serving the team, and the project’s best interests, not focusing on your own needs.

Becoming a better Strategic Planner – No one can truly predict the future, but as Project Managers, we need to work on anticipating the unknown, mitigating risks, thinking about what could happen. It’s been my experience that the worst can and *will* happen so spending time dreaming up strategies on dealing with the unpleasant “what-ifs” is never time wasted, and can only work in your favor. If possible work on being proactive rather than reactive – two steps ahead, instead of one step behind.

Being a great Communicator- This means not only being able to disseminate information to upper Management, stakeholders, and externally, but being able to talk with the team one-on-one as well as in group settings. Also being able to have the frank, tough discussions when performance is lacking or the overall schedule has slipped; being the bearer of bad news. It’s being able to ask the right questions so you can have as much information as possible in order to make the hard decisions and tradeoffs.

Becoming a better Listener – This is something all Project Managers should aspire to. Encourage an active dialogue with your team, and make sure that everyone is given a chance to be heard. Good listening requires the suspension of our own egos, opinions, and thoughts to make room for someone else’s.

Being Authentic – This means practice what you preach; keeping your word so people know they can count on you; and perhaps, most significantly, not hiding behind that mask of “Super Project Manager.” Be yourself! Own up to your mistakes; say you’re sorry if necessary and mean it. Your team and everyone involved will respond favorably if you’re being genuine.

Being Ethical – This is so intrinsic to good leadership – Setting a credible and ethical example to follow and having integrity is everything. Enough said.

Being tolerant and able to see other perspectives – This means being open to considering a wide range of possible ideas and respectful of divergent points of view, even if they differ from yours. Some of the most valuable contributions I’ve ever had to tackle solving project issues came from the most unlikely sources (difficult and annoying personalities but brilliant minds.) So staying open to others’ ideas can only benefit all concerned – you, the team, and the overall project.

Creating a compelling and collaborative Work Environment – Projects are hard endeavors and there are times when you just want to throw up your hands and be done. Having a good work environment where people feel empowered to be themselves and open up about what’s really going on; where team members aren’t afraid to ask for help; where everyone is treated with respect – all of these are paramount to project success. It’s been my experience that an open forum keeps folks engaged and less likely to jump ship when encountering rough waters. And build team morale by recognizing work-related achievements; everyone will appreciate the heartfelt “thank you.”

Having and keeping the vision alive - This means being the keeper of the flame for projects; the cheerleader and evangelist for the project, particularly important when it’s a long haul and your team members are feeling overwhelmed from a huge workload and multiple competing priorities. It’s the PM’s job to rouse up the troops and get things moving, inching forward ever so slowly if you have to.

Thanks for reading! And always, many happy trails to project success.

Lisa

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Lisa Winter, PMP
Strategic Product Management
Effective Project Management
Business and Systems Analysis
Multilingual & Multicultural
Relationship Building
Small Companies to Fortune 500

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