NEHA CHATURVEDIStructural Engineer-| AECOM New Delhi, Delhi, India
I am one of the handful persons in office with PMP credential and with all the knowledge and skills gained during PMP journey I was excited to share good practices with my colleagues. But I often feel that people take PMP as theoretical knowledge and my suggestion is treated with sarcastic remarks but not actionable item. How do you suggest that things can worded properly from my end and gain acceptability of varied audience from age group to leadership levels. Seniors sometimes take this as insulting when I don’t agree with their ideas with logical reasoning. Saving Changes...
George FreemanThought Leader | Author | Architect| Florida, United States
Neha,
Counselor Keith gave an exceptionally great answer (and so did others). So, my contribution is to recommend the following: Propose to your manager that you would like the opportunity to assist your fellow PM’s by taking on the time consuming “project planning” task for project ‘x’ and ‘y’ recognizing their need to focus on more strategic items ;).
The great thing about a project plan (i.e., early stage project plan), is that you can build in PMBoK processes and deliverables throughout the project. Now, you don’t need to use the PMBoK nomenclature for this, instead you can use functional names that means the same thing. Using this approach, you can “slide” your PMP knowledge into strategic projects and become recognized for your practical process knowledge. After successful completion of these projects, you will then have powerful “talking points” and “examples” that will enable you cause. Saving Changes...
Anton OosthuizenSenior Business Analyst / Project Manager| Self EmployedPretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
You have probably gathered by now that respect and acceptance come from doing and not saying but you have also learned that it is a steep ladder to climb because often you are not given the opportunity to do what you say should be done.
So to add to the other good advice I would suggest a more pragmatic approach to using the knowledge you gained from PMP certification. I found that sometimes people want to apply the PMBOK like the ABC where A comes before B and never after. While in some cases this might be true you need to apply tools and techniques not because the PMBOK says so but because it will work in a specific situation. If drawing a stick figure conveys the message better than a pie chart then do it, regardless of what the book says. Experience teaches you this. BTW once saw a new PMP constantly referencing the PMBOK before making any decision, physically taking out the printed copy. Can only imagine how annoying that must have been for those in his team ;) Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Jun 18, 2019 1:57 PM
Replying to Manish Prasad
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Thanks Wade,Sergio, Dina & Thomas for your suggestion. I am facing lot of resistance from peer PM group. Only one PM apart from me has done PMP. So, we face lot of heat from Old PMs as well as Old employees as they are used to same old way of working without process & setting up process bring change which generates conflict & heated arguments sometimes. I was also struggling in handling such situation.
Process are always there. Implicit or explicit defined but they are always there. If you like to change something then you have to work on "the pain" it is generating. This is an article I wrote time ago and was published by PMI and others. Perhaps it helps: https://www.projectmanagement.com/blog-pos...zational-change On the other side take a look to "Solution Selling" or SPIN Selling method. Saving Changes...
RAJON BANERJEEKalyani, District: Nadia, West Bengal, India
Hi,
Certification is totally different in contrast of practical experience. I know there are so many senior managers in various industry who are not PMP certified. But actually they are very successful. They have over 25 years of experience in critical domain. Because of there vast & enormous level of knowledge.
A certification can give you accreditation. But in practical way how you manage that is completely depend on you.
So, learn for excellence...
"Leadership comes by born it can't be created" Saving Changes...
Yeah, you are right. in a similar situation, I would generally try to prove the importance of PM. I put it in practice. What you really need is to show that you are doing the job better by applying PM. Saving Changes...
Are you telling them that PMI's processes will add value, or are you showing them how you can add value following specific practices? If you can't identify something concrete that you can do to add value, can you honestly say it's not theoretical, at this point?
You're not just dealing with project management; you're trying to change culture. You may want to gauge how others are responding to you - do they feel like you are telling them they are doing it wrong? That doesn't go over well, even if it is not intentional.
What is the WIIFM for those you are working with? Can you strategize with the other PMPs to come up with a way to make the changes you see are needed? Do you have an ally with the authority to help champion your cause? If you don't, you may want to step back from talking about it, and lead by example. Be successful while following what you've learned without telling others what they should be doing. Talk about what you can do to help, not how they should change.
Hopefully this makes sense and is applicable to your situation. Saving Changes...
Wade HarshmanScrum Master| GDITIndianapolis, In, United States
Neha,
Just this morning, I had an IT leader openly mock the PMP to some young students asking for career advice. He said no one is hiring project managers and that PMI only teaches people how to manage spreadsheets.
Luckily I was there to counter this ill-informed opinion, but those opinions exist and they're often shared very loudly. In some cases, they're formed by bad experiences with project managers. The best thing we can do to counter these negative opinions is to continue to improve and practice good project management. Saving Changes...
Lonnie PacelliAuthor & President| ProjectManagementAdvisor.comBellevue, Wa, United States
Don't talk about your PMP or suggest others do things differently. Do it yourself and let the results speak for themselves. If you do something that yields better results then others will look at it. Saving Changes...
In my experience anyone who tries to belittle somebody else who has the experience, training and acquired knowledge ia a person who sees you as a threat and are trying to put you into a situation or package in which they can manage you. This is bullying and should be dealt with accordingly either through the proper channels or through an informal chat with the person in question. This should be dealt with at the earliest sign of its presence as this type of behaviour can spread though out the team and undermine what the team is trying to achieve. A first it will start as a miscommunication, then a flippant joke, then being disrespectful to a situation where the whole team is not behind you and then final bullying. Be strong, professional and competent and deal with it using the experience that you have gained. Saving Changes...
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