Project managers are the people who keep our projects organized, keep workloads as constant as possible and help keep business life on track.
Anticipation: a secret weapon for managers
When you think of those who excel at project management, some basic skills and characteristics may come to mind: organization, time management, strong written and verbal communication, etc. However, the top of the package excels at one extra thing:Expectation.
A project manager is able to use anticipation to avoid conflicts that may be expected based on their past experiences with a client or a project team. Simply put, it's about fixing issues before the problem arises. This can range from simple scenarios such as avoiding the use of a term in a deliverable that the customer does not fully understand or more complex issues such as understanding the real intricacies of what may appear to be a "simple". »Impromptu customer request.
Anticipation is definitely a skill that develops over time as you gain experience in a project management role. However, there are several technical and soft skills you can focus on to increase your ability to anticipate:
Identification of risks (difficult)
Risk identification skills are developed by gaining experience with your client, your team and the project itself. By fully understanding every aspect of the engagement, you are able to identify exactly what will pose potential risks to the project.It is important to be humble when creating this skill. Remember to seek the advice of your team and encourage them to share their knowledge about the customer and the specific service. In doing so, you are able to absorb key information to help identify risks.
To be clear, the sooner you identify a potential risk, the more likely you are that it will not become a problem at all.
Risk mitigation (difficult)
When mitigating risk, you'll want to use a strategy that is applicable to the specific scenario and communication style of the client or team when things go wrong.Create a plan to mitigate risk (such as assigning an owner) in advance. That way, depending on when the risk was identified, you already have a predefined plan to eliminate the risk.
Active listening (soft)
Active listening includes the ability to interpret verbal and non-verbal messages from the client or team members. While important in many aspects of life, it is imperative for project managers to master active listening.
As you listen to others, try to understand the intentions beyond just the words used and listen to the real meaning behind them. Ask questions to spark additional conversation. This will help you find out what is really needed, what it will take to complete the task at hand, and allow you to get a feel for potential bottlenecks by having a clear view of how a project is progressing.
In turn, this will lead to increased cooperation with the client or team as you become trustworthy and build a more meaningful relationship.
Critical (soft) thinking
We all know what it is to be in a difficult situation and need to make a decision in playtime. Developing skills around critical thinking is important, especially if you are able to use them to anticipate. a potential future problem and disseminate it.Critical thinking is deciding what's best at the moment based on what you know at the time. Have confidence in your knowledge of what would be ideal and be nimble to get there.
Of course, you can't predict everything (no one is perfect!). However, developing skills to better anticipate future events - and build strong relationships with your client and team members - can prevent you from having to react to risk more frequently.
And while some tell me what I call `` anticipation '' is really my consistently high level of gambling anxiety, I will choose to use it to my advantage to help my clients and my team gain confidence. in me. return - always.