Elizabeth HarrinDirector| RebelsGuideToPM.comLondon, England, United Kingdom
I am giving a presentation later this year about leadership challenges for project managers. My slot on the agenda at the conference is the 'personal development' slot so I need to take a personal development angle. What are some of the top issues that you have as project leaders that you think it would be worth me exploring in this presentation?
At the moment I am keen to talk about Imposter Syndrome and personal presentation but I wanted to see if you had other ideas that I could incorporate. Thanks! Saving Changes...
Russell GeakeProject Management Consultant| Deciduous Partners LtdLostwithiel, Cornwall, United Kingdom
Hi Elizabeth, I hadn't heard of imposter syndrome...but doing a bit of research,, maybe the Dunning-Kruger Effect might be just as useful - and perhaps there is a balance between the two - which is normal.
There is a good discussion on Starting Your PM Career under Josh Nankivel's blog - it's about mentoring and finding a good one. That could be a good place to start. And then take a view on where the person needs to develop.
Hope this helps
Saving Changes...
Matt HillsConsultant| DQPD LtdBodmin, United Kingdom
Hmmm... can a project leader suffer from Imposter Syndrome? After all (and forgive me for horribly over-simplifying this) shouldn't we be planning what we're going to do, controlling progress and exceptions and constantly making and communicating decisions, thereby building a body of evidence to show that we've achieved what we have (or have loused something up) through our own actions?
Isn't one of the major personal development issues the fact that there is very often little continuity in the people we work with and that working relationships are often transitory - which in itself brings pros and cons to our personal development? Saving Changes...
Russell GeakeProject Management Consultant| Deciduous Partners LtdLostwithiel, Cornwall, United Kingdom
Matt - I've met a few, my understanding is that the Imposter Syndrome is internal to the PM, and no matter what evidence is visible the truth of success is hard to acknowledge and accept as prowess rather than luck.
I like your point about the value of the rolodex. Yes, transitory relationships can be troublesome - especially on short projects, or those with rapid staff turnover. Saving Changes...
Mmm... After reading your post Elizabeth I kind of guessed what Imposter syndrome was, then googled to find out more.
I can definitely identify with it.
I think its more common than people might think,( in all walks of life)
so my feeling is that it would make a great topic for your presentation Saving Changes...
Elizabeth:
Who is your audience for this presentation? Also, is the project leadership you are discussing for organizations, team members or project/program managers?
Here's a few thoughts:
Depending on your audience I'd focus on key leadership topics for leading high performing teams, personal development for project managers, level 5 leadership and leading projects in crisis.
Any job/industry could have imposter syndrome; consider your audience and knowledge to support discussion of this topic. Saving Changes...
BUBU TRIPATHYPM I| Siemens Healthcare Inc. USAFrazer, Pa, United States
The TWO biggest leadership challenge I have faced as a PM are "Motivating" and "Retaining" employees.
In my opinion, employee motivation is in a big way dependent on "transparency" and "communication". We as project managers have to "evangelize" the company's vision, the "big" picture, the sales pipeline, projects which are "almost" own etc. to our team members relentlessly. it's not sufficient to call for a monthly or weekly meeting and communicate the above information. Communication needs to be "Customized" depending on the need of an employee. Along with the planned meetings, depending on a member's need, the PM needs to communicate the member to motivate him to do a good job and also obtain his/her commitment for the next project. Believe me or not, for very few members, I had done this every day...somehow these members enter the worplace completely exhausted and you need to give them a "pep talk" to help them move the rest of the day. and by the time they pack their bags, they start shaking their heads.
If as a PM you are able to retain members, you can save a fortune on training and hiring. World-wide organizations spend millions of dollars in training and hiring employees.
Another interesting "Leadership" challenge for a PM is "Entering a new workplace environment as a leader". Respect for a supervisor or manager needs to be earned, yet the new leader has to be sure to achieve company goals by delegating and relying on his or her employees. If he or she doesn't begin to achieve the objectives set by upper management within several months, his or her new job could be in jeopardy.
In order to overcome such common leadership challenges, PMs must focus on team building. A cohesive, informed team that is prepared to work together is going to accomplish much more than a weak, unmotivated one. The team leader needs to help his or her staff solve problems through empowerment. Specifically, good PMs delegate tasks that allow employees to figure out their own solutions to problems. Saving Changes...
Russell GeakeProject Management Consultant| Deciduous Partners LtdLostwithiel, Cornwall, United Kingdom
Hey Elizabeth,
I don't know if you've cracked the presentation yet, but I just came across this post...
Elizabeth HarrinDirector| RebelsGuideToPM.comLondon, England, United Kingdom
Wow! These are really great comments and suggestions. Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you all.
Naomi: the audience is female project managers attending a "Women in PM" conference. They could be from any industry and with any level of experience, although I'll try to find out a bit more about them nearer the time once the registrations for the conference are confirmed.
Bubu: Motivating people is a massive leadership challenge - I think I will definitely speak about that. I would put retaining staff in the 'management' category, though, it's not something I associate with leading. How have you overcome issues with retaining staff?
Vasoula: Glad to hear that imposter syndrome is not something that affects you! I certainly have suffered from it in the past and I'm sure I won't be immune to it in the future. Saving Changes...
Elizabeth HarrinDirector| RebelsGuideToPM.comLondon, England, United Kingdom
Russell, I've just looked up Dunning–Kruger effect and that's certainly something I'll investigate for the presentation - very interesting, thank you! Saving Changes...
