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Voices on Project Management
by Cameron McGaughy,
Lynda Bourne, Kevin Korterud, Conrado Morlan, Peter Tarhanidis, Mario Trentim, Jen Skrabak, David Wakeman, Wanda Curlee, Christian Bisson, Ramiro Rodrigues, Soma Bhattacharya, Emily Luijbregts, Sree Rao, Yasmina Khelifi, Marat Oyvetsky, Lenka Pincot, Jorge Martin Valdes Garciatorres, cyndee miller
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.
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Viewing Posts by David Wakeman
| One of the regular challenges I hear coming from the project management community is the idea that our organizations are setting unrealistic goals. This is a tremendous challenge because setting unobtainable goals can lead to project failure, low morale and a culture of insecurity.
It's vitally important to spend time working with our project management offices (PMOs) and sponsors to develop realistic timelines and goals that are achievable in the short- and long-term. Why? Because this is going to help maintain motivation throughout the project as each milestone is obtained. Additionally, it will help you communicate progress more effectively to your sponsors and gives you the capability to set clear, reasonable expectations at the start of the project. Here are three ways you can set better goals that motivate your teams, sponsors and stakeholders:
- Ensure clarity of project goal. To effectively set proper goals for your team, you need to make sure that your goals are in line with the project's objectives. Too often projects go astray because the project's goals aren't clear or don't align with the business objectives of the parent organization. This can be managed by making sure that you clarify the project's goals at the very start. For example, set up a meeting with your sponsor or executives to talk about project objectives, how they will be measured, and the sponsor's role and responsibilities. This simple step ensures that you have clarification and can work with your team to set goals that are in line with sponsor expectations.
- Take a short and long view of the project. It's often too easy to look at the end result of a project and say that is the only goal that matters. This can throw off your team and demoralize everyone involved, because if you are dealing with a project that can take years to complete, there is no sense of accomplishment, even when you have completed a major milestone in the project's life cycle. That's why you need to set short- and long-term goals. The short-term goals will do two things: First, they help your team members stay motivated and drive progress by giving them an occasional sense of accomplishment. Second, they give good insights on whether the project is on- or off-course, making it much easier to adjust the schedule and plan accordingly.
- Communicate. Everything in project management comes down to communication. In setting goals for your team, you need to communicate consistently. A successful communication strategy focuses on clearly relaying the project's objectives and goals and how those support the organization's mission; explains how the short- and long-term goals relate to each other; and allows you to maintain control over expectations.
While it isn't possible to control every variable on every project, a project manager can make great strides in team performance by using goals to set proper expectations.
What helped you set proper goals in a recent project?
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Posted
by
David Wakeman
on: April 28, 2014 10:04 AM
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Permalink |
Comments (1)
| Project practitioners often get bogged down in the details of getting a project done at all costs. This can cause us to make decisions and take actions that we later regret, because they compromise our position as leaders within our organization. There are three leadership skills that we as project managers need to cultivate in ourselves and that should be non-negotiable, no matter how difficult the project.
1. Integrity: It is easy for a project manager to compromise and make decisions that are in the gray area between right and wrong. To be a strong project leader, it is important that you show character in your decision-making process. Even if compromising your principles makes the current project go more smoothly, in the long run you will lessen your effectiveness as a leader. And remember that your actions as a leader have a huge effect on your team -- if you are willing to cut corners or compromise your decision-making, how can you expect any more from your team? Maintain your integrity by setting clear operating principles for your team at the start of the project and always acting within those principles throughout the course of the project, even if it is difficult.
2. Adaptability: As project managers, we have really strong methodologies and standards that drive our planning, implementation and review processes. And sometimes, it's easy to allow those methodologies to hamper flexibility. To be a great leader, you have to be comfortable knowing the methodology and have faith in your understanding of the methodology and your decision-making process. At the same time, you need to be flexible enough to change with the dynamics of a project. These dynamics can play out as the project unfolds: when resources are limited after allocation; a sponsor or key stakeholder makes new demands; or even having to stop work on a project because it no longer fits into your organization's strategic goals. In these cases, rely on the solid plan that you developed earlier, but be willing and able to change or scrap that plan when it doesn't fit the new circumstances.
3. Judgment: Project managers will spend the bulk of their time acting as communicators between sponsors, stakeholders and the team. With all of this communication comes a ton of information, and a project manager must have the confidence and judgment to act on or discard that information. Beyond communication, you'll make decisions that will affect not only all stakeholders, but also your business and your organization's overall performance. Two really important points here. First, you have to be patient because big decisions don't come every day and when they do, you have to be bold enough to take action. Second, you also have to work within your organization to garner the trust necessary to make decisions and, more importantly, to make mistakes along the way. The learning curve isn't a straight line, and you need the support of your sponsors and supervisors to get the necessary experience in decision-making. Because at the end of the day, that's what judgment is all about: experience.
By making these skills the core of your personal leadership development process, you can make all other project decisions with the clarity and confidence you need to move your project toward a successful conclusion.
What are your must-have leadership skills?
Find out what other skills you can sharpen to help your organization succeed in PMI's 2014 Pulse of the Profession®. |
Posted
by
David Wakeman
on: March 04, 2014 12:00 PM
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Permalink |
Comments (5)
| As project managers, it's easy to get caught up in the technical aspects of our jobs. For example, if you are in IT, there is always a new bit of code, application or hardware that -- if you invest the time in learning about it -- will make your work easier.
But I'd like to share the number-one way you can actually improve your project management skills -- and it won't take days of learning a new technology or software. It's by using communication skills you already have in a more focused, conscious manner.
- Build communication into your everyday plan. Project managers tend to get pulled in multiple directions. So instead of being the driving force behind the information flow, you end up reacting to the latest problem or sponsor demand. While you are never going to be free of these things, you can manage them more effectively by creating a communications plan. This can be as simple as having a daily status meeting to cover where everyone is, or as elaborate as a multilayered communications plan that accounts for interactions with sponsors, team members and stakeholders. Either way, start by planning for how you want to manage your daily communication, and your project management will get easier.
- Be specific. We find ourselves dealing with very complex and difficult projects. With this complexity comes the challenge of making clear your directions, instructions, timelines and goals. The best way to overcome that is by being extremely specific. As a project manager, you may not have the industry-specific technical skills needed to understand every aspect of your project, but you should know what goals are driving the project, which means you have the ability to set and understand very specific objectives for your team. This is going to help you not only manage the workflow more efficiently, but your communication with your sponsors, stakeholders and teams will be more efficient because you are going to have more specificity with which to address their questions and concerns.
- Show empathy and support. You know what pressure from sponsors, stakeholders and team members feels like. So take a step back and think about how those parties feel as well. After all, you are often at the center of the flow of all information into and out of the project. So to really move your communication and project management skills forward this year, be consciously aware of how the flow of information -- or lack of it -- can make your team and stakeholders feel. Let them know you understand how they feel about being a little behind on the information curve. Express your support for the project and the work that is being done. Often this little step of positive communication can win you big points with stakeholders.
With these three tips, you can do a better job of managing the aspects of communication that you can handle -- making the aspects you can't always control a little easier to navigate.
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Posted
by
David Wakeman
on: January 24, 2014 01:13 PM
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