PMI Global Insights

By: Jamie Champagne, PMI-PBA, PMP

You’ve gone virtual!  No more stakeholders in the same room – so how do you not only get things done but get all your virtual attendees to work together WITH each other?

Come join me as we think about how to facilitate collaboration and turn our attendees into participants and really engage in our dynamic environments. Innovation is not creating new digital technology, but simply looking at the work you’re doing and how you’re doing it from a new perspective. And that’s exactly what we want to do! You want to take those tools in your toolbox that you already use and try them in new ways. You want to experiment with different techniques that you’re really comfortable with by incorporating technology and how our stakeholders are working in today’s information age. It can be as simple as using some of the online apps so that you show content in a different format. Or you can start to explore ways to have attendees participate in meetings. No more meeting minutes but produce your requirements DURING your sessions! I’d rather get the feedback in front of the entire group so that it is verified and validated all at the same time. Think about your online meeting tools – do you have people chat, whiteboard and annotate during your session? Even using these simple features is a great step to engaging! You want to think about what people can DO during your work. The more they take on and do themselves, the more it feels like their own ideas and they will own the idea to drive it to fruition. As analysts and project managers, you often are the facilitator with no ownership or decision-making authority but have all the responsibility to deliver. With a few changes in how we have participants actually participate during a meeting, you get that ownership with their actions!

Our challenges are different than they were before and so our approaches need to be different. In an age of digital transformations, artificial intelligence and business data analytics, think about how you incorporate those same topics in HOW you work and really engage your stakeholders. Do you work WITH them? Do you have THEM define the product, own it and drive the success? We’re often facilitators – the key here is to facilitate, make things easy for others! So, let’s get a little creative and think about how our stakeholders are (or are not) comfortable communicating today and build that into your work that gets people collaborating and creating those innovative ideas of tomorrow!

I’m so excited to share some ways to re-think your tried and true techniques! Of course, keep using what you’re already using if it works! However, not all of today’s environments are as easy to be successful in as they were before. So, when you need a different approach, I want you to leave with the ideas on how to shape the engagement you are driving. I’ll show off some of the easy (and free!) technologies out there that you build into your work. Use the tools as the vehicle to get your outcomes. You’re still doing the work you’ve done before and need to drive successful projects. You’re simply trying to figure out if there’s a faster, more efficient and effective way to get there that actually builds fun into the work and really gets engagement and collaboration from all those crazy stakeholders you have to work with!

Interested in learning more and furthering the dialogue?

Join me on 12 November 11:25 a.m. at the PMI® Virtual Experience Series event for this presentation and take part in the question and answers with me and the rest of the PM community.