Are You Too Humble as a Project Manager?
From the Voices on Project Management Blog
by Cameron McGaughy,
Lynda Bourne, Kevin Korterud, Conrado Morlan, Peter Tarhanidis, Mario Trentim, Jen Skrabak, David Wakeman, Wanda Curlee, Christian Bisson, Yasmina Khelifi, Sree Rao, Soma Bhattacharya, Emily Luijbregts, Lenka Pincot, cyndee miller, Jorge Martin Valdes Garciatorres, Marat Oyvetsky, Ramiro Rodrigues
Voices on Project Management offers insights, tips, advice and personal stories from project managers in different regions and industries. The goal is to get you thinking, and spark a discussion. So, if you read something that you agree with--or even disagree with--leave a comment.
View Posts By:
Cameron McGaughy
Lynda Bourne
Kevin Korterud
Conrado Morlan
Peter Tarhanidis
Mario Trentim
Jen Skrabak
David Wakeman
Wanda Curlee
Christian Bisson
Yasmina Khelifi
Sree Rao
Soma Bhattacharya
Emily Luijbregts
Lenka Pincot
cyndee miller
Jorge Martin Valdes Garciatorres
Marat Oyvetsky
Ramiro Rodrigues
Past Contributors:
Rex Holmlin
Vivek Prakash
Dan Goldfischer
Linda Agyapong
Jim De Piante
Siti Hajar Abdul Hamid
Bernadine Douglas
Michael Hatfield
Deanna Landers
Kelley Hunsberger
Taralyn Frasqueri-Molina
Alfonso Bucero Torres
Marian Haus
Shobhna Raghupathy
Peter Taylor
Joanna Newman
Saira Karim
Jess Tayel
Lung-Hung Chou
Rebecca Braglio
Roberto Toledo
Geoff Mattie
Recent Posts
Project 2030: Skills We Need to Cultivate Now
The Technical Program Manager: How to Stay Relevant in 2025
5 Things Your Operational Plan Should Do
5 New Project Guardrails for Adaptive Leaders
The Leader's Voice: Respect It, Protect It, and Use It Properly!
Categories
2020,
Adult Development,
Agile,
Agile,
Agile,
agile,
Agile management,
Agile management,
Agile;Community;Talent management,
Artificial Intelligence,
Backlog,
Basics,
Benefits Realization,
Best Practices,
BIM,
business acumen,
Business Analysis,
Business Analysis,
Business Case,
Business Intelligence,
Business Transformation,
Calculating Project Value,
Canvas,
Career Development,
Career Development,
Career Help,
Career Help,
Career Help,
Career Help,
Careers,
Careers,
Careers,
Careers,
Categories: Career Help,
Change Management,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Collaboration,
Collaboration,
Collaboration,
Collaboration,
Communication,
Communication,
Communication,
Communication,
Communications Management,
Complexity,
Conflict,
Conflict Management,
Consulting,
Continuous Learning,
Continuous Learning,
Continuous Learning,
Continuous Learning,
Continuous Learning,
Cost Management,
COVID-19,
Crises,
Crisis Management,
critical success factors,
Cultural Awareness,
Culture,
Decision Making,
Design Thinking,
Digital Project Management,
Digital Transformation,
digital transformation,
Digitalisation,
Disruption,
Diversity,
Diversity,
Documentation,
Earned Value Management,
Education,
EEWH,
Enterprise Risk Management,
Escalation management,
Estimating,
Ethics,
execution,
Expectations Management,
Facilitation,
feasibility studies,
Future,
Future of Project Management,
Generational PM,
Governance,
Government,
green building,
Growth,
Horizontal Development,
Human Aspects of PM,
Human Aspects of PM,
Human Aspects of PM,
Human Aspects of PM,
Human Aspects of PM,
Human Resources,
Inclusion,
Information Technology,
Innovation,
Intelligent Building,
International,
International Development,
Internet of Things (IOT),
Internet of Things (IoT),
IOT,
Knowledge,
Leadership,
Leadership,
Leadership,
Leadership,
Leadership,
lean construction,
LEED,
Lessons Learned,
Lessons learned;Retrospective,
Managing for Stakeholders,
managing stakeholders as clients,
Mentoring,
Mentoring,
Mentoring,
Mentoring,
Mentoring,
Methodology,
Metrics,
Micromanagement,
Microsoft Project PPM,
Motivation,
Negotiation,
Neuroscience,
neuroscience,
New Practitioners,
Nontraditional Project Management,
OKR,
Online Learning,
opportunity,
Organizational Culture,
Organizational Project Management,
Pandemic,
People management,
Planing,
planning,
PM & the Economy,
PM History,
PM Think About It,
PMBOK Guide,
PMI,
PMI EMEA 2018,
PMI EMEA Congress 2017,
PMI EMEA Congress 2019,
PMI Global Conference 2017,
PMI Global Conference 2018,
PMI Global Conference 2019,
PMI Global Congress 2010 - North America,
PMI Global Congress 2011 - EMEA,
PMI Global Congress 2011 - North America,
PMI Global Congress 2012 - EMEA,
PMI Global Congress 2012 - North America,
PMI Global Congress 2013 - EMEA,
PMI Global Congress 2013 - North America,
PMI Global Congress 2014 - EMEA,
PMI Global Congress 2014 - North America,
PMI GLobal Congress EMEA 2018,
PMI PMO Symposium 2012,
PMI PMO Symposium 2013,
PMI PMO Symposium 2015,
PMI PMO Symposium 2016,
PMI PMO Symposium 2017,
PMI PMO Symposium 2018,
PMI Pulse of the Profession,
PMO,
PMO,
pmo,
PMO Project Management Office,
portfolio,
Portfolio Management,
Portfolio Management,
portfolio management,
presentations,
Priorities,
Probability,
Problem Structuring Methods,
Process,
Procurement Management,
profess,
Program Management,
project,
Project Delivery,
Project Dependencies,
Project Failure,
project failure,
Project Leadership,
Project Management,
project management,
project management office,
Project Planning,
project planning,
Project Requirements,
Project Success,
Ransomware,
Reflections on the PM Life,
Remote,
Remote Work,
Requirements Management,
Research Conference 2010,
Researching the Value of Project Management,
Resiliency,
Risk Management,
Risk Management,
Risk management,
risk management,
ROI,
Roundtable,
Salary Survey,
Schedule Management,
Scheduling,
Scope Management,
Scrum,
search,
SelfLeadership,
SelfLeadership,
SelfLeadership,
SelfLeadership,
SelfLeadership,
Servant Leadership,
Sharing Knowledge,
Sharing Knowledge,
Sharing Knowledge,
Sharing Knowledge,
Sharing Knowledge,
Social Responsibility,
Sponsorship,
Stakeholder Management,
Stakeholder Management,
stakeholder management,
Strategy,
Strategy,
swot,
Talent Management,
Talent Management,
Talent Management,
Talent Management,
Talent Management,
Talent Management Leadership SelfLeadership Collaboration Communication,
Taskforce,
Teams,
Teams in Agile,
Teams in Agile,
teamwork,
Tech,
Technical Debt,
Technology,
TED Talks,
The Project Economy,
Timeline,
Tools,
tools,
Transformation,
transformation,
Transition,
Trust,
Value,
Vertical Development,
Volunteering,
Volunteering #Leadership #SelfLeadership,
Volunteering Sharing Knowledge Leadership SelfLeadership Collaboration Trust,
VUCA,
Women in PM,
Women in Project Management
Date
By Yasmina Khelifi, PMI-ACP, PMI-PBA, PMP
Humility is defined as “the absence of any feelings of being better than others.” In some cultures or countries, the trait is admired. And yet in project management, it is crucial to talk about yourself and your achievements. How can humble PMs do this while still being authentic to themselves?
Humility as a PM can translate in different ways: silence, waiting for others to ask you questions, or answering in monosyllables. This sometimes has the consequence of diminishing your value.
The risks of excessive humility as a project manager
“If you are constantly apologizing with ‘Well, I am not the expert,’ people will believe you and wonder why you wasted their time.” — Keith Ferrazzi & Tahl Raz, Never Eat Alone
When I began to work as a PM, I didn’t speak about my achievements. It was not only that I was shy—it was about feeling awkward talking about my achievements. I didn’t have a user manual on how to feel comfortable highlighting my skills and strengths.
I was convinced I didn’t accomplish anything special in my work. When I had job interviews, I entered the room insecure—and my common answer was, “That achievement was no big deal. It was just a small thing.”
What holds you back from talking about yourself and your achievements as a project manager?
Like me, you might believe two myths:
- Myth #1: Your achievements will speak for themselves. This might be true, but to what extent? In your team only, or beyond the team?
- Myth #2: Your manager knows about your strengths and achievements. This is only partly true. As a practitioner, you use many skills in different situations. You also hone other skills in your extra work activities that your manager won’t be aware of.
I often held back talking among colleagues at work. But talking or explaining things within a larger community was not a fear of mine; it’s sometimes easier to talk to a stranger or an anonymous crowd. I’ve begun to share more of myself on LinkedIn (surprisingly, colleagues have contacted me because they read my posts there!).
How to talk about yourself and your projects
The key is to find the right balance—and the proper angle that fits with your personality. Here are a few tips to follow:
- Tip #1: Read the room and find the right time—and be brief. Observe the response and interest level.
- Tip #2: Share some content related to the topic at hand; don’t make it just about you. Tie it into the bigger picture that relates to the team’s work.
- Tip #3: Share some lessons learned, including challenges and failures you faced.
- Tip #4: Rely on facts.
- How many years of experience do you have?
- What is the budget of the project you managed?
- What is your biggest achievement? Why?
- How many stakeholders did you engage with?
- What was the impact of your project?
- Tip #5: Talk with concrete examples about your skills, strengths and passions.
- When did these develop?
- How did you do it?
- What challenges did you face?
- What were the outcomes?
Share in small doses as to not damage the final recipe: you as a project manager. It takes courage and practice, but your experiences can help others. Silence will not.
How did you overcome your humility to talk about yourself and your projects?
Posted
by
Yasmina Khelifi
on: October 31, 2022 04:30 AM |
Permalink
Comments (27)
Page: 1 2 next>
Please login or join to subscribe to this item
Stéphane Parent
Self Employed / Semi-retired| Leader Maker
Prince Edward Island, Canada
Je suis bien d'accord à l'idée d'être bref. C'est difficile mais ça l'a beaucoup plus d'incidence.
Good.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts
Merci Stèphane and thank you Abolfazi!
Good topic, Mrs. Khelifi. Some organizations maintain social webspaces on their intranet where is not uncommon to see long debates happening about subjects which involve a lot of expertise transfer from part to part of coworkers whom are not even under the same line of business and in person the same individuals do not say more than "good day", "how do you do" and "see you". No doubt that the medium can influence the kind and deep of communication shared, depending on time and circumstances as you superbly brought and explained in the text. Thanks for sharing your sight and good tips.
Thanks for the factual tips wrapped in some heart as well.. I admire your courage
Rashad Issa
Senior Business Leader, Project Manager and Operational Quality, Governance | Baltic Exchange | SGX Global Subsidiaries
London, London, United Kingdom
I like that you have outlined the myths clearly!! Totally agree with them
Thank you Rashad, Islma, Liang, and Vagner for your great feedback!
Ivan Rincon
Executive Director Project Management| Government of British Columbia
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
A couple of years ago, as a graduate of PMI's Master Class, I presented in our yearly meeting on the topic "Leading with Humility". I have researched the topic extensively and I am convinced that this is one of the most important treats of true leaders, specially in project management. Why? Because they put other's needs first (A principle of servant leadership). Healthy disagreement is part of learning :)
This article is very helpful. As a person from East Asia, I have seen so many talented people struggling with this issue, including myself.
Good topic have insights to tune ourselves
Sunday Mordi
Elalan construction company Ltd
Express Way, Ojo, Lagos, La, Nigeria
Great insights. Many thanks 😊
Thanks Yasmina, very interesting! Online with this article, I recommend this book: "Leadership without Ego: How to stop managing and start leading" [https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-without-Ego-managing-leading/dp/3030003221]
Hi Ricardo, thank you so much for your comment and for refering a book! take care
Thank you very much Sunday, Nooruddin, Fulong and Ivan for your great comments!
Great tips shared above! Thank you.
Interesante reflexión!
Muy útil, a veces olvidamos "vendernos" a nosotros mismos y no solo a nuestros proyectos.
Hola Alba muchas gracias por tu comentario. Eso es.
Thank you Haitao for your feedback!
Great article, thank you for sharing!
Page:
1 2 next>
Please Login/Register to leave a comment.
|
Information is not knowledge,
Knowledge is not wisdom,
Wisdom is not truth,
Truth is not beauty,
Beauty is not love,
Love is not music
and Music is THE BEST
- Frank Zappa
|
