Teachable Moments: Change is My Life!

Heidi Martin, PMP, DTM, is currently Project Management Director for a firm in Houston, Texas. She has been a project manager for over eight years and involved in project management since 2000. Ms. Martin is a California Licensed Landscape Architect, Project Management Professional (PMP), Toastmasters International Distinguished Toastmaster, and Trained Facilitator, Trainer and Training Developer. She has been involved in Project Management with projects including project delivery, environmental coordination, maintenance issues, change management, ADA and software.

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Teachable moments are formed when you have done something--regardless of the outcome--and learned from the experience. Learning makes us better at what we do and provides a great opportunity to develop others and sharpen skills. We’ve compiled our best Teachable Moments from our community members for you to learn from and share with other project managers.

My job currently involves the change management side of project management. I have been a project manager for over eight years and doing the work without the title for longer than that. I recently moved to Houston to help bring an amazing group of people within the sphere of project management. I have done this kind of work before, moving groups through change. For those who haven’t done this before, let me share a little about what I’ve learned.

I start with research. I look at data, documents, laws, regulations, computer drives, interview people…you get the idea. As unglamorous as it sounds, information overload is an important piece for the one guiding the change, especially if you are the new kid on the block. You can’t do much if you don’t know what is going on; or if you can’t talk about what they are concerned about. If you haven’t listened first, they may not believe you are the one they should follow through this change.

The most important piece of …

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