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
Ramiro Rodrigues
Soma Bhattacharya
Emily Luijbregts
Sree Rao
Yasmina Khelifi
Marat Oyvetsky
Lenka Pincot
Jorge Martin Valdes Garciatorres
cyndee miller
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
5 Strategies Equipping 2025 PM Success
Minimize the Loss: Keeping the Scrum Team Motivated
Can You Be Too Passionate?
Beyond the Basics: Essential Topics to Address When Forming a Scrum Team
How to Create Effective Exit Criteria
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,
Communication,
Complexity,
Conflict,
Conflict Management,
Consulting,
Continuous Learning,
Continuous Learning,
Continuous Learning,
Continuous Learning,
Continuous Learning,
Cost,
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,
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,
Global Diversity,
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,
Innovation,
Intelligent Building,
International,
International Development,
Internet of Things (IOT),
Internet of Things (IoT),
IOT,
IT Project Management,
IT Strategy,
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,
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 Project Management Office,
portfolio,
Portfolio Management,
portfolio management,
Portfolios (PPM),
presentations,
Priorities,
Probability,
Problem Structuring Methods,
Process,
Procurement,
profess,
Program Management,
Programs (PMO),
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,
Risk Management,
Risk management,
risk management,
ROI,
Roundtable,
Salary Survey,
Scheduling,
Scope,
Scrum,
search,
SelfLeadership,
SelfLeadership,
SelfLeadership,
SelfLeadership,
SelfLeadership,
Servant Leadership,
Sharing Knowledge,
Sharing Knowledge,
Sharing Knowledge,
Sharing Knowledge,
Sharing Knowledge,
Social Responsibility,
Sponsorship,
Stakeholder,
Stakeholder Management,
stakeholder management,
Strategy,
swot,
Talent Management,
Talent Management,
Talent Management,
Talent Management,
Talent Management,
Talent Management Leadership SelfLeadership Collaboration Communication,
Taskforce,
Team Building,
Teams,
Teams in Agile,
Teams in Agile,
teamwork,
Tech,
Technical Debt,
Technology,
TED Talks,
The Project Economy,
Time,
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, PMP, PMI-ACP, PMI_PBA
You have probably worked with passionate project leaders who talk enthusiastically, smile or laugh loudly. Maybe their contagious energy inspired you.
But perhaps, sometimes, it was too much—even counterproductive.
As a project leader and a passionate person myself, I want to share some thoughts and advice.
Passion can help your team…and exhaust it at the same time. As a passionate project leader, you remain motivated to find solutions, help people, and share knowledge. Your passion is also communicative and can inspire others and motivate them.
However, passion can become a double-edged sword for you—and your team. I have experienced this issue myself. I was in a hurry to onboard people, giving them loads of details, sending multiple documents, and repeating things by email. For some of the team members, it became stressful because I had forgotten that sometimes, people need space. Some people felt hurt because I insisted too much on helping them.
When I am passionate about a topic, I talk quicker, louder and with more energy. At times, I noticed a few colleagues physically moving back in face-to-face meetings. I wondered why, until I worked with a coach, and she told me: "It's great to have passion and energy, but it can exhaust some of your team members. You need to adapt your energy to the audience."
It was a wake-up call. I learned to regulate my natural energy and pace of speech. Other project leaders I worked with were so passionate that they could not take a break or disconnect from work, which again was a burden for their teams.
The worst thing was that they were so passionate that they expected others to be the same and follow their rhythm. “There’s a meeting during a bank holiday? No problem; I’m available.” And if others didn’t do so, they were judged less passionate and less dedicated.
According to research, passion influences your perception of yourself and others. It can make you overconfident in planning, budgeting, or in your own abilities.
For example, I had to prepare a project presentation. I was very satisfied with it. But when I rehearsed in front of a friend, an expert in presentations, his feedback was different. And fortunately, thanks to his feedback, I improved it significantly.
Passion can also affect how you perceive others: You may be overconfident in the skills of a colleague because you appreciate them so much.
We need passion in projects, but in a balanced way. Listen to feedback and observe nonverbal cues to adjust your passion for the team. Just because people outwardly express less passion than you doesn't mean they are less dedicated or motivated.
Gather feedback from trusted colleagues or friends regularly so you can maintain an honest view of the projects and abilities of yourself and your team without being blinded by the fire of passion.
What are your experiences with passion—for you and your team?
|
Posted
by
Yasmina Khelifi
on: January 17, 2025 12:11 PM
|
Permalink |
Comments (9)
