3 Tips For Embracing New Ideas
From the Voices on Project Management Blog
by Cameron McGaughy,
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by Dave Wakeman
Back in the old days of command-and-control project management, ideas were mostly helpful at the front end of a project: during the planning phase. But as we’ve moved away from command and control into a world of specialization, ideas in projects and project management have taken on an entirely new role.
More than ever, ideas are what make the difference between success and failure.
For many project managers, however, it’s challenging to embrace and utilize new ideas and new ways of approaching problems.
Here are a few ideas on how to embrace new ideas more readily in your regular project work.
1. Understand that your team is full of experts.
Old-school project managers needed to have a high level of expertise in many areas, but today project managers’ key skill is really the ability to communicate. This means it’s likely the project manager doesn’t really know everything about every aspect of a project.
Which is actually good for embracing new ideas. Because as someone who has the key role of communicating and putting team members in the position to be successful, you have to understand that you are dealing with teams of experts. They’ll have ideas—be sure to listen to them.
2. Always focus on outcomes.
I know that the idea of focusing on the outcomes should be common sense by now. But in too many instances, project managers still focus on activities rather than outcomes.
So focus on the outcomes and allow your teams to have the flexibility to take the actions they think will lead to a positive result.
3. Find a new point of view.
Too many people become wed to one way of looking at things.
The problem with that mentality ties back to my first point: project managers can’t control every decision. We don’t have expertise on everything that is going on in our projects.
Get out of your own head and try to gain a different point of view. Think about a challenge from the viewpoint of the end user, the sponsor or the members of the team required to do the work. Thinking from another point of view will help you come up with a different set of ideas that you can bring to your project.
The old ways of doing things or a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work in every case any longer. The success or failure of your project is likely tied to the ability of you and your team to come up with and implement new ideas.
How do you ensure you’re noticing and taking advantage of new ideas on the projects you lead?
Posted
by
David Wakeman
on: July 24, 2017 10:54 AM |
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Comments (17)
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Jess De Ocampo
Lean Six Sigma Professional/Project Manager/Consultant/| .
Manila, Ncr, Philippines
Thank you for sharing the article. There might be blind spots therefore, it is wise to keep an open mind, listen to other people's perspectives and being receptive to ideas and feedback. Not to mention, the benefits of the wisdom that comes from the life experiences of seasoned team members. We cannot be experts in everything but we can leverage our team members strengths.
Hi David, thank you for sharing.
I always tend to think, that good ideas get even more necessary when the project goes on and is confronted with not so easy to match customer request or other things that come along.
My favourite is 2, focus on the outcome, or how I tend to call it, keep the eye on the ball.
This keeps my mind focused on the things I want to achieve and not the bad things that happened in the past (and you can't change anyway).
Enjoy your day
Cheers
Christian
Rami Kaibni
Community Champion
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates
New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Stéphane Parent
Self Employed / Semi-retired| Leader Maker
Prince Edward Island, Canada
We have to move away from post-mortems that may help the next project and move towards continuous improvement that can be applied immediately in the current project.
MICHAIL KOSTOUROS
SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER, MSc,PMP,RMP,MCP,CIVIL ENGINEER| TECHNIKI 2000 S.A.
Chalkida, Greece
Lateral thinking is a great technique which includes all these aspects.
Thanks for the articles and information that you have been shared.
RAJESH K L
Project Manager, PMP| Bharat Electronics, Bengaluru, India
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Simple and effective. Nice job!
Vincent Guerard
Coach - Trainer - Speaker - Advisor| Freelance
Mont-Royal, Quebec, Canada
Thanks David, good points, open minded
Nice sharing David,
In your first point "Understand that your team is full of experts". There is huge difference between Understanding and accepting it by heart.In case of functional organization, in mostly projects we have entirely new team and we don't know much about our team, So as a project manager it's difficult to understand that your team is full of experts...Don't yo think so??
Samer Alhmdan
Senior Project Manager, PMP, PMI-RMP, LEED AP, EDGE Expert| dar
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Thanks for sharing. For anyone looking to learn more about tools and techniques for generating ideas, see my webinars on divergent and convergent thinking.
Luis Branco
CEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, Ldª
Carcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Dear David
Interesting is your perspective on the topic: "3 Tips For Embracing New Ideas"
Thanks for sharing
3 important points to embrace new ideas
"- Understand that your team is full of experts
- Always focus on outcomes
- Find a new point of view "
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