Be the Change

Kenneth has 14 years of healthcare experience in government and private industry. Over eight years of experience managing healthcare IT projects, operations, contracts, and personnel. His work experience includes project management, contracts and procurements, data analysis, claims adjudication, business writing, and business process modeling. Kenneth was certified in 2006 as a Project Management Professional.

  Career Development   Communications Management   Leadership  

All around you, there are things that need to be changed. Perhaps your organization is not an ideal place to work, or perhaps you are working with a team of people that do not in fact work well together. Broaden your horizon and you will see many issues that could be improved with change. A project manager (who by definition oversees work that enacts change) should be able to help change the world around him or her in order to make it better for a group of people--or even one person, and that is a worthy goal indeed.

The Person Next to You
You can start by looking at the person next to you. This person might be someone working on your project or it might be the worker in the neighboring cubicle. If you want to enact positive change in the world, this is the place to start. No, it may not get you a leading story in the news, but it will be worth your while.

Everyone around you is dealing with something. You may find out that the person next to you is having a hard time with a problem; you can help them, or find someone who can. You may find out that they just need some time and a listening ear to vent about their client. Whatever the issue, you can help simply by reaching out and communicating with them (and project managers are great at communicating).

Dealing with the Small Stuff
You may watch the news (or read it online) and think that nothing you do can possibly …

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