We all know how each year can pick-up speed and we become busier than ever. For this productivity to be sustainable, we need a whole lot of motivation.
Especially in the life of a project manager, there are always many important things to do to keep projects on track. Here we think of:
being a leader who needs to motivate others
being a team builder so that your project will have a high performing team
being an excellent communicator, keeping all stakeholders informed and aligned
being a good organiser and planner
being a problem solver of all the inevitable problems that come up
being a negotiator and influencer
knowing how to keep the customers satisfied
keeping your business and industry knowledge current
To all of you who are in the trenches everyday, keeping your eyes on the goals and leading your projects to successful outcomes, I want to share this Infographic, with compliments from Wrike, to bless you with great motivation tips to get more done every day!
Half of today’s workplaces are comprised of millennials, while in the near future, they will make up to three-quarters of the workforce. Generation X, or people born 1965-1979, sometimes need a helping hand in dealing with them in the workplace. They might not have similar mindsets, and they might enjoy different working styles, but should be able to function properly and as a team in the same space.
Managing a team is a complex task, especially if you are leading a group of people with different outlooks on business and life in general. Being in charge can become that much easier just by understanding millennials as employees.
Here are 5 tips for dealing with millennials on projects.
#1 Offer words of encouragement
Regarding their employment, millennials tend to keep an open mind – meaning that they strive for more than just a regular desk job with low career goals. By approaching their work as something meaningful, they will feel appreciated and reciprocate accordingly.
Most of them would perform better at a job that promises a learning experience and the ability to grow within the company. The employer should be there to offer a face to face talk with an employee and land a helping hand or an opportunity to educate them further.
If you, as a leader, recognise a team member’s hard work, they would feel stimulated to stay and continue the good work. A simple ‘well done’ goes a long way.
#2 Work fewer hours
Even though statistics show that they work one hour less on average than Gen-X, millennials are hard workers. Almost 90% of them think that flexible working time makes for a more productive result. People feel motivated to finish their workload and would do it successfully if met with an adequate need.
Furthermore, many consider that working remotely can make a tremendous difference in how quickly a job gets done. So, a chance to work from home now and then can result in flying colors.
Consequently, if offered a dynamic and flexible working time and place while still delivering results, it will set the team and their work apart from the rest of the pack.
#3 Keep up with them
Millennials are curious and tech-savvy; they keep abreast of the latest fashions in technology and consider it to be an important part of progress.
Most of them grew up with electronic devices, and they can offer new insight into how tech can be an integral part of communication with co-workers within and out of the company. Being a part of their group chat can be significant. It is also a big advance in thinking innovatively while leading them on a project.
#4 Teamwork makes the dream work
Over 70% of millennials believe that teamwork is necessary for an effective working environment. They think that being able to rely on another person’s opinion helps their thought process.
Having defined roles in a team is a great way not to allow head bumping. It can be quite an advantage for a project manager to hear different ideas while simultaneously counting on millennial workers to accomplish projects successfully and efficiently.
#5 Create future leaders
Most millennials will not settle for stagnating in their work. This is a massive problem for not only millennials but any ambitious person. Nobody expects to be handed a promotion on a platter, but people must see an opportunity for growth. By offering a tip or a hint that an employee is heading up the ladder, you would motivate them to work harder.
A leader should not feel intimidated by younger employees with potential but should take upon themselves to train them to become future leaders capable of guiding and being ready for upcoming endeavors.
Conclusion
Having a good perspective on millennials in the workplace, might help project managers to deal better with them. Though not a different species, they are more conscious about the business world around them and how it works, how cruel it may be, and they are always on the lookout. They value hard and honest work, just like any other generation.
A significant number of them require a support system and solid relationships while still being given the freedom to express themselves through their work, whether that’s in an office with flexible hours or not.
Regardless of the negative connotation that sometimes comes with the word ‘millennial,’ they are tireless workers focused on the future and its perks, as well as constant improvement.
About the Author:
Raj Vardhman is the co-founder of GoRemotely.net. He is a WordPress virtuoso and white hat SEO expert with a passion for developing SEO strategies. His experience and work over the years have driven him to give other individuals lessons about taking control of their work and finding remote jobs.
In many organisations there are distinct criteria that companies use to pick suitable individuals for leading their projects. The job of a project manager is not easy. You need to come up with good project plans, monitor proper execution and ensure that you deliver or exceed the expected results. It is for this reason that project managers require specific qualifications and some years of experience, including the possession of leadership skills. These are the things that often set project managers apart. With good leadership qualities, you will effortlessly lead a team of people who work efficiently. This article will highlight some of the most crucial leadership skills for project management.
Source: Pixabay
Patience
One thing that often ruins projects before they even start is the lack of patience of individuals involved. Patience is among the essential leadership skills for successful project management. You need to be patient with everyone involved in the project, including stakeholders, suppliers, your employer, and your team members. The moment you lose patience and start rushing the project, is the moment you start making errors. Such errors will ultimately lead to project failure and thus you need to move at a consistent pace.
Team organization skills
Being a project manager involves a flair for team management. A good project manager has to make sure that the entire team works in synchronization in order to deliver positive results. They should be able to organize the team in such a way that it functions efficiently and are able to ensure that the plan is executed in a coordinated way. A good project manager should keep in mind that high performing teams deliver better results.
Source: Pixabay
Risk management skills
Every project manager should have knowledge about risk management regardless of the project type. Such expertise enables you to identify potential problems, identify mitigation strategies and risk owners. You need to consider what the best mitigating actions are and implement them. This ensures that the risks don’t affect the continuity of the project. Your ability to efficiently plan for and respond to any risks, will help you lead your team through complexities that may occur throughout your project. A strategic project leadershipshort course can help you achieve this.
Communication skills
Any experienced project manager will concur that projects requires excellent communication skills. That is because you want team members to understand their roles and responsiblities clearly so that there is no misunderstanding about what is required of them and how to achieve this. You also have to be able to communicate with any additional stakeholders involved to ensure they understand what the project entails, how you will be implementing the project, and what your deadlines are. Remember that project managers spend the majority of their time collaborating with others to keep them engaged and informed about the various aspects of the project.
Source: Pixabay
Negotiation skills
Effective project management also relies on excellent negotiation skills. It is among the best project management skillsthat any project leader should possess. The question is, why is this skill essential? First, project management involves leading a group of people from different backgrounds. That means conflict could arise at any time. Thus, it is vital that you are able to negotiate with the parties involved in the conflict so you are able to diffuse the situation before it escalates. Negotiation skills could also help obtain the best possible agreement with your suppliers, which will enhance the overall outcome of the project.
Source: Pixabay
Critical thinking skills
Critical thinking is a skill that enables leaders to make the best possible decisions in any situation. You need to be able to think critically in order to come up with appropriate solutions to any problems that may arise throughout the duration of your project. Critical thinking skills can also help you create working solutions to impeding problems that will help prevent them from occurring.
Conclusion
The application of the above leadership skills, will help improve your project management capabilities. By developing and practicing these skills you are ensuring that a project runs smoothly and effectively from commencement to completion.
Please let us know in the comments which of these leadership skills do you consider important and what other leadership skills would you add?
About the Author:
Jenny is a passionate writer and guest blogger. Writing helps her to improve her knowledge, skills and understanding about her industry. She loves to educate her audience about education and technology via her writing skills. Apart from writing, she loves traveling & photography.
Emotional intelligence has become one of the top predictors of success in life, in the office and at home. Emotional intelligence can be learnt and can be improved over time as we continue to learn from our daily experiences in life. Improving your emotional intelligence will probably be one of the most difficult personal challenges. You will not become more emotionally intelligent without practicing these skills. You have to believe there is room for improvement in managing your own emotions. Developing emotional intelligence skills is not easy. It requires commitment to the cause, ongoing hard work, persistence and acute self-awareness.
Lack of Self-awareness
How do you know you lack self-awareness? Some of the tell-tale signs of a lack of self-awareness may be as follows:
· You are not able to easily read a room and pick up emotional signals
· You find it difficult to put yourself in the shoes of others
· You do not know how you come across to others (and you do not care)
· You do not know who you are and how your behaviour impacts others
· You find it difficult to admit and take responsibility for your mistakes
· You do not react well to feedback and often become defensive
· You often do not know what you are feeling and why you are feeling that way
Where to start
Where does one start? First you have to get to know yourself in order to start understanding how you are coming across and when and how to manage your emotions. Self-awareness is the basis of our relationships with others. Once you have the self-awareness to know when and how to manage your emotions, you can develop the empathy to put yourself in the shoes of others and truly understand their feelings. This will be the ideal position to build and manage interpersonal relationships, manage conflict and effectively collaborate with others. The problem is often people do not know how to develop their self-awareness.
Steps to develop self-awareness
#1 Decide to change
You have to start this journey of self-development because you want to and because you are convinced that there is room for developing your self-awareness. Developing these skills does not happen overnight. If you are not committed and dedicated it will take longer and in all probability lead to frustration with very little personal growth.
#2 Build an emotional vocabulary
Before you can learn the skill to manage your emotions, you need to know what you are feeling. Compile a list of feeling words (emotions) and use the list to label emotions as you experience them. Examples are angry, hurt, inferior, jealous, irritated, happy, frustrated, insecure, anxious, motivated and concerned. Extend the list as you learn to identify your feelings and expand your emotional vocabulary. When you are able to name your feelings, it is easier to start managing your emotions that lead to unproductive behaviour and negatively impact others.
#3 Get to know your personality
Once you have built a level of emotional vocabulary, you need to know why you are experiencing the emotions you listed. This will help to manage your emotions. Get to know your personality. An easy way is to complete some of the many free personality tests on the internet. This will provide you with a good overview to start. Also, start observing yourself in the moment, during happy times and during conflict. What are you feeling in the situation and why are you feeling that way? How do you respond in the situation and how does your body respond? Additional to a personality test, ask others for feedback on how you come across.
#4 Ask for feedback
Ask family members, your spouse, colleagues and friends with whom you have a trusting relationship to give you feedback on how you come across. Ask for honest feedback on what they think of you and your behaviour. How they experience you when you are on top of the world as well as in the moments you are not that proud of? Compare your self-perception with your reputation with your colleagues and your circle of friends. Take their feedback to heart. Reflect and use their feedback as part of your development journey. Continue to ask for specific feedback as you work on specific development areas.
#5 Write your own eulogy
The idea of writing your own eulogy may seem grim and make you uncomfortable initially. This could however provide you with valuable insight to live a more fulfilled life. Take time to reflect on your life. Consider how much you mean to other people, what you do for others and what kind of person you are. Think of what have you accomplished thus far in your life. What will you say about yourself if you had to deliver the eulogy? What do you think others will say? Consider what you want to be remembered for and what you want people to feel and say about you after your passing.
Improved self-awareness
Now that you understand self-awareness better and you have the steps to improve your self-awareness, it becomes easier to commit to growing your emotional intelligence. You will find that improved self-awareness will provide a better understanding of your motives, behaviour and thinking. This will enable you to start making informed choices towards healthy and productive relationships with others.
About the Author:
Eben van Blerk, a Doctor of Technology, has more than 25 years’ practical team work experience. He has published articles and book chapters on leadership and emotional intelligence in local and international publications.
Contact him on LinkedIn if you need a speaker or workshop facilitator on emotional intelligence for your next team engagement. His emotional intelligence talks and programmes are popular in the corporate and private sector. It will equip your team with knowledge and tools for improved communication, effective conflict handling and managing their emotions towards a more productive and fulfilled business and personal life.
Project risks are those unexpected events, that most likely will put your project deadline at risk if they are not identified and mitigated ahead of time. As a small business owner, project complications aren’t anything new, but how you handle these roadblocks, will determine if your company succeeds or fails. There are a few different ways deadlines get pushed and cause you to spend more than expected.
Fundera has compiled 4 of the 8 most common project risks that could threaten your project timeline, with some helpful advice to managing each one.
#1 Scope Risks
Scope risks are tasks that endanger project objectives, deliverables, or timeline. This is the most well-known project risk of entrepreneurs. Even though there are various steps to be taken to avoid the odds of this happening.
#2 Cost Risks
This type of risk is the most common as it shows the biggest threat to businesses and their financials. Staying within budget is crucial for business owners to make a sufficient profit off their client’s projects while still keeping them satisfied.
#3 Time Risks
If you and your team think there is enough time to complete your project comfortably, or even with time to spare, you most likely aren’t scheduling your tasks effectively.
#4 Technology Risks
Technology can get confusing and frustrating at times. Studies even show that only 30% of IT project implementations are successful. Keep your projects in the green by scheduling extra time to brace yourself for implementation delays.
If you are a small business owner, taking risks can be fun as long as you learn from your own actions and keep improving.
See below for examples of the 8 most common project risks and helpful tips for mitigating them.
A project leader has much influence over a team’s productivity. Therefore, it is always good to ask yourself: “How can I help my team to be more productive?”
You want to empower people to solve their own problems, and to be self-sufficient. You want to encourage collaboration, sharing and trust.
Consider taking a coaching approach where you listen more, ask good questions and be slower to rush to action and advice. Also understand the dynamics of behaviour change. The fact that habits are the building blocks of good behaviour, means that you want to encourage good habits and set the example.
Below you will find 10 specific ways to help your team be more productive and motivated to perform optimally, with compliments from Wrike.com.
Some of the best performing companies today have automated up to 75% of their management processes. While this trend is showing no signs of slowing down, it’s important to take a look at how automation fits into project management in order to fully understand their relationship. With automation you strive to remove redundancies, increase efficiency, and eliminate errors from a process. Let’s take a look at why and when automation can be implemented within project management, and when automation should be avoided.
Push to Scale
In smaller to mid-sized companies, scaling is a central pillar to the company’s success. Many companies fail when they are at a formidable size because they are not set up internally to scale beyond what made them successful in the first place. With projects being a vehicle to implement strategy, it is one of the means companies will use to scale. When automation is implemented within a project management system, organizations have much more control over the speed at which they can grow.
Offload Busy Work
There are many tools that help project managers manage their processes, one of which has can greatly reduce the “busy work” surrounding projects. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is becoming the new best friend of many project managers who utilize on-premise or cloud-based software to manage workflows. Think of the “robots” in RPA systems as little software employees that can be trained to do the mundane data entry and other repetitive tasks many project managers still rely on humans for. This reduces errors in the system and allows human employees to focus more on strategic or creative solutions for the organization.
Process automation can take over things like creating contracts or invoices and document generation and more. This will allow project managers to quickly generate consistently compliant documents and records without mistakes or the need to review each one. These automated forms will allow workers to quickly and accurately submit information when team members are working remotely or out in the field, ensuring a process does not slow down due to a team member’s availability in the office.
Connect Disparate Systems
Automation in project management is one of the best ways to ensure that typically disparate software environments can be connected and checked against each other for error. On projects requiring integration between disparate systems, many issues, like inconsistent data, can be avoided if you implement third party automation software to connect all of your different platforms. It will ensure that when data is entered into one system, the other integrated systems are updated or added with the same data. This ensures everyone is seeing the same data and data quality improves. Employees become more efficient and projects requiring integration, are more successful.
Refine Processes and Measuring Success
Many projects can run into bottlenecks when deliverable reviews are required. Automation can optimize this process so that all approvers are notified when they need to review data that’s been uploaded to the system. When feedback is given, the original assignees receive it all in one place, organized chronologically.
Effective communication is the key to good project management; automating data integration into multiple systems and automating reviews are all examples of automation making project communication fast and accurate
When not to Automate Project Management
Although automation may seem like the best thing ever, but there are times when it is not appropriate. This is mainly when your project management processes are not fully established or potentially different processes are used per department or per project. Remember that automation is, well, automatic! Once in place, the data entry or data transfers will just happen.
If your processes are not matured or too different from others, data will end up in the wrong places without the right people being notified. Automation in project management should be used once processes are fully established and ready to scale up to meet company demands, not before.
Final considerations
Automation has the benefit of reducing errors while increasing efficiency. When your organization is at the critical point where it needs to scale, and there is a need for better measurement and reduced busy work, automation tools should be implemented to help you grow.
If your internal processes are not mature and solidified, hold off on implementing automation within your project management systems to avoid unnecessary confusion and mistakes due to the volume of data that could potentially be mismanaged.
I would like to reflect on some 2019 highlights and share our top 12 articles published on the blog this year.
In March 2019 we celebrated at Virtual Project Consulting, our 10 year anniversary. In August 2019, Virtual Project Consulting has been awarded in the 2019 African Excellence Awards as the Best Online-Only Project Management Consulting Services Provider.
In November 2019, one of our articles was awarded 2nd place for Most Valuable Post in the Methodologies and Tools category, by the ‘Project Magement Update’ company. It’s nr. 3 in the list below.
Most Popular Blog Posts
Now for the most popular articles on the blog in the past year in case you missed it:
Key Project Management Skills Needed for the Future – a January article that explored how major current trends impact the skills of project managers, what skills are in demand in the future and what action plan can project management professionals follow.
Innovation through Projects – An interesting perspective ontraits that innovative people share, how projects are used for innovation, how to measure the outcomes and some examples of innovative projects.
7 Common Project Management Methodologies – Find a break down of project management methodologies with a helpful animation from Fundera. This article was awarded 2nd place for Most Valuable Post in the Methodologies and Tools category, by the ‘Project Magement Update’ company
What’s Happened to Project Planning? – If you wonder what makes project managers successful, research has shown that planning is one area where high-performance project managers spend most of their time.
How to Make your Project Successful – There are many common causes for project failure, but also remedies. Find out how to make your project successful.
Your Guide in the World of Project Management– Learn about the most important things to do on any successful project during my “Interview with an expert” that was done by the well-known PM Tips blog.
Project Management: Planning with Purpose – A look at competencies found in high performing project managers, as well as the typical journey of project managers through their careers based on insightful research.
Biodegradable Plastic Project break-through– Discover more about the project that made the breakthrough biodegradable plastic possible. An interview with the developer and producer of biodegradable plastic bags, Anika Nell.
Emotional Intelligence
Articles on Emotional Intelligence by my good friend Dr Eben van Blerk; more to follow in 2020.
7 Misconceptions about Emotional Intelligence – Despite the importance of EQ in modern day leadership, there are many misconceptions about this field. Find out what Emotional Intelligence is not.
The Agile Project Manager
An article series on my view of the Agile Project Manager
Role of the Agile Project Manager – A fresh perspective on the role of the Agile Project Manager especially for PM’s from a traditional project background who are transitioning to the Agile context.
Servant Leadership in the Agile Context – Agile project managers need to shift from being the centre to serving the team and the management. The servant leader focuses on paving the way for the team to do its best work.
Your Career in 2020
If you have lofty goals for your career in 2020, here are tips from elite-cv.com on how to improve your career in 2020.
Be radically open minded: challenge your own thoughts and ideas, don’t be too attached to them. Also stress test your ideas, let others find holes in your reasoning.
Own your outcomes: you are responsible for your own successes and failures. Reflect on your journey thus far and inspect what you could have done differently to obtain better results.
Leverage other people’s strengths: Find out and list those things you’re not good at, then get people who are good at those things to gain great leverage. Asking for help from those who are strong in areas where you are weak is a great skill that you should develop.
Learn how to make decisions effectively: Challenge your own thoughts and ideas and inspect if you are harvesting the best possible solution/s.
I wish for all of you a radically successful, rewarding and prosperous 2020!
The aim of this article is to take a closer look at the important role that the Human Resources function has in today’s economy. Organizations that have efficient Human Resources are twice as economical as those with poor people management.
In this context, the HR professional is very important. The days when HR’s main assignment was selecting the best professionals for each position is over. Now more than ever, the HR professional needs to be aligned with the company’s business.
I have been assisting many HR professionals through coaching. A question that is frequently asked at the hiring stage is: “What can the coaching process add to the career of the HR professional?”
First, it is important to clarify what Coaching is.
Coaching is a high impact methodology applied by a specialized professional who aims to develop another person. Focusing on the solution, it is a process that looks to the present to build the future, setting aside the past.
Coaching for Human Resources professionals should be focused on identifying problems to be solved and opportunities to be grasped, while always staying focused on people’s development.
Here are 5 Coaching tips for the HR professional to note:
#1 In the Past only Learning, Focus on the Future
Focus on the solution that will enable you to find opportunities to develop skills and to succeed in the medium and long term.
We must think of today, act daily, but have attitudes that lead us forward, otherwise, you can become a stressed, unmotivated, unproductive professional, endangering your career, and that of the company you are part of.
#2 Power Communication
Because it is an efficient process of human development, coaching should always pay attention to the communication used. HR professionals are responsible for managing all parties involved in a market relationship, for brokering the company’s relationship with its employees, customers, and suppliers, which should always be done with good communication.
When people are well informed, they feel safer about the situation. Whether in a time of good or crisis, communication can counteract negative impacts and strengthen a company’s image and reputation.
#3 Train The Leaders
The leader is not created, the leader is born with qualities that make him a leader. But even those qualities need to be developed. Improving this professional to have a multidisciplinary look that can achieve team cohesion for great results, is an interesting human resources task for a company.
The leader also needs to adopt self-learning and self-knowledge to develop and become more responsible for themselves, motivating themselves to achieve high performance. Coaching is the perfect technique to help with this leadership training to be applied by HR.
The presence of the leader is what will motivate your team to seek the best results. It is he who will develop people’s competence, keeping them focused on the goals.
#4 Don’t be a Generalist HR
A modern human resources sector is one that is concerned with perfecting the processes used in its best practices. This improvement has a major impact on business and people because it builds on a business mission, vision, and values.
An analytical HR is concerned with aggregating employees around one goal. This is only possible with coaching techniques that will awaken a self-awareness that targets the present and the future.
#5 Improve Behavioral Skills
Adopting coaching is encouraging employees to leave their comfort zone. For each problem, there is always a solution that the person himself will discover from self-knowledge.
The result of this immersion itself is the improvement of employee behavioral skills, directly interfering with the company’s success.
The HR that adopts these coaching practices has solid, confident and motivated professionals ready to put the company’s goals into practice. Always keep in mind that in many cases coaching techniques, when applied by company managers, may not be as effective when applied by an outside expert.
Today the role of an HR professional is vital to the company that wants to be successful and thrive among the companies that survive the ups and downs of the economy.
Your HR professional has a key role in this process, both in the strategic aspect and in inspiring the achievement of people’s success. Do not miss the opportunity to change people’s lives through your role.
Find an infographic covering more effective management, with compliments from Zoe Talent Solutions.
About the Author:
Sandra Azura is from Zoe Talent Solutions where she works as a content writer. She creates online courses related to Business Mangament. She is part of a team who is very passionate about Management Skills and who always strives to offer professional, comprehensive information about any Business Management Skills.
As a Project Management Professional, one of the best ways to keep learning, is by attending Conferences. You get access to the latest industry trends, research, key note speakers and best of all, the connection and engagement with fellow practitioners, is priceless.
Here you will find a list of excellent project management conferences as well as agile gatherings that are planned for 2020 and will take place in different parts of the world. Most of them offer early bird discounts; so it’s a good idea to plan ahead and to register as early as possible.
Project managers can learn how to create a technical project management environment covering different project management frameworks, life cycle, terminology and how to successfully lead teams. It will provide you networking opportunities so you can get in touch with hundreds of project management professionals.
Click here for more information.
International Conference on Lean Six Sigma and Project Management
Date: 21 – 22 February 2020
Location: Paris, France
The International Conference on Lean Six Sigma and Project Management is another event from the International Research Conference organization aiming to connect scientists from all over the world to consider Lean Six Sigma and PM challenges and suggest brand-new solutions and ideas.
Click here for more information.
MARCH 2020
PMI Sweden Passion for Projects Conference
Date: 9 – 10 March 2020
Location: The Clarion Hotel and Congress in Malmö Live, Sweden
PMI Sweden is an event with inspiring speakers, professional colleagues, and companies in different sectors gathered with the goal of sharing their knowledge and experience in project, portfolio, and programme management. The theme: “Orchestrating projects in a transformative world”.
This Baltic States conference’s theme is “Project Management Development – Practice and Perspectives.” Its focus is on discussing scientific research related to project management issues and to encourage networking between professionals in the industry.
The Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) is hosting their annual conference this year with the theme: “The Future of Work”.
It is your chance to network with other professionals who are spearheading change. The opening keynote speaker is Jacob Morgan, author and founder of the Future of Work University. It is being hosted at the Anaheim Marriott within walking distance of Disneyland making this a great conference to combine business with a vacation.
The focus of this conference, hosted by Scrum Alliance, will be on taking Agile to the next level in your organization. There is a good mix of presentations, hands-on workshops and coaching. #SGNYC20 has a number of themes.
Agile & Beyond is a grassroots, volunteer run conference that helps people learn about agile principles and practices as well as covers topics that help make people and companies awesome. With pre-conference workshops and over 130 conference sessions, there is a wide variety of topics for the agile newbie all the way to the agile expert.
This year’s theme is “Power of Projects.” It is one in a series of three conferences, with other events happening in Edinburgh and Manchester. You don’t need to be a member of APM to attend.
The PMO event, focused on portfolio, program, and project offices, suggests you to discover innovative approaches to your work. Join to get informed about the latest PMO research, next-generation solutions, and exchange insights with your peers.
The EMEA Congress 2020 will teach you the concepts, skills and behaviours to help shape the future. Attend for professional development with hundreds of Project, Programme and Portfolio managers from around the world.
Click here for more information.
OCTOBER 2020
PMI GLOBAL CONFERENCE 2020
Date: 17 – 19 October 2020
Location: Seattle, Washington
The Project Management Institute (PMI) is the largest association of project management professionals. PMI global conference is one of the largest gatherings of the year and the details are being finalised.
Whether you’re a project manager of a small or a big, complicated project, one outcome you’re always striving for, is for the project to be successful.
Looking at statistics from historic projects, there can be many causes of project failure, as can be seen in the Infographic below. Failed projects lead to wasted time and resources, unsatisfied customers and of course, it will cause damage to the project manager’s reputation.
Main causes of project failure
One of the most common causes include lack of executive support in the form of absent or inexperienced sponsors, or sponsors who don’t make timeous decisions. Another common cause of project failure is lack of skills or personnel for effective strategy implementation.
Remedies for failure
There are remedies for failure, depending on what the cause of the failure was in the first place.
If the cause is poor communication, there are numerous ways that a project manager can communicate with project teams in real-time using software solutions as well as good communication practices through-out.
Efficient project tracking is another remedy that can prevent unplanned changes or issues to impact projects negatively.
Having mitigation plans for identified risks, as well as contingency plans for when things go wrong, you have a much better chance of protecting projects from becoming derailed.
To address the Sponsorship issue causing lack of executive support, you need to ensure that the organization has a culture that supports active sponsors on project. Expect them to be advocates for the project, to engage actively with key stakeholders and to use their influence when necessary in support of the project. Watch this video from Worldfinance.com to find out how to get the best out of executive sponsors.
Study the infographic from Wrike.com for a prescription for project success, think of it as the medicine to cure the main causes of project failure.
The remote work employment model started from an idea of motivating the employees towards higher productivity levels by granting them many conveniences otherwise unavailable in their office spaces. This model proved to be very successful, with many industries and branches putting in great efforts to embrace it fully.
Remote work, as previously mentioned, gives the people full flexibility with time management, amount of work input, work hours, etc. If your job starts early in the morning at a distant office, with remote working, you’re cutting off the time needed for transport while saving money for the gas.
As the day progresses, you choose what time of the day is the most productive for you to work, when you want to have a lunch, what part of the day you want to commit to yourself and your loved ones, etc. Around 99% of surveyed Americans employed in all branches stated they want to work this way for the rest of their professional careers.
Several industries are leaders in converting their work from the 9-to-5 model to remote work. Some of these industries and branches include information technologies (IT), transport and freight forwarding management, media, design, finance, and legislation, with many more joining every year. With this many people leaving office spaces, employers cut office costs enormously.
Most importantly, this change in the working model vastly raised productivity levels in workers. As the employees start spending more time with their loved ones and taking care of themselves, the surveyed ones reported up to 82% less stress and anxiety posterior to their office days, with a better sleeping, eating, and exercising schedule, improving their overall wellness and health.
Goremotely.net has put together an infographic to inform you about remote work and everything it provides.
Enjoy, there’s a lot of information that could be useful for potential ventures into remote work. Let us know what you think in the comments!
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