Productivity Tips from a Project Management Warrior
- Gina Greenlee, Author
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Advocate for the Project, nothing else. All decisions flow from that mantra. Take your ego, your boss’s ego and her boss’s ego out of it. Once it’s obvious, through your behavior, that you don’t engage drama (gossip, plots, coups and politics that don’t serve the project) but deal with everyone at all levels with transparency, you establish your trustworthiness. You’ll be a breath of fresh air. People on the team will want to work for the project.
Let project team members know their contributions matter because they do. Be public but authentic: out loud to the person or persons, in front of their boss, at meetings or other gatherings, in emails when celebrating milestones achieved.
One-on-one beats meetings. Folks are more inclined to “spill the tea” when it’s just you two. Try extracting the real deal in a group setting or in front of senior management and major loin-girding will abound.
In-person meetings surpass phone calls, voicemail, email, text and iChat. This was always true. It’s especially true in these heady, Wild West days of the 21st century Gutenberg Press, a/k/a – the digital revolution. High-touch humanity wins the day.
Balance task with relationship. If you are all about checking milestones off your list (task) and neglect the human side of project management (relationship) you lose. People don’t like working for robots or hard a---s. If you are super chatty and in everyone’s personal business, professional boundaries are violated. You lose. Forget black and white. Stay grey.
The Drive-By. Don’t get me started on using Outlook, Microsoft Teams and other apps for meeting invites. (Company requirement in some instances.) Everyone knows how to scam those systems. Try the Drive-By instead. You know people’s routines, where they hang, and who their buddies are. Go git ‘em! “Hey Ned, wanted to talk to you for a sec about XYZ.” Stay focused, singular in scope, score your answer. You feel good. Ned feels good – you’ve helped him add value by helping you. He doesn’t have to duck your Outlook meeting invite. He can cross you off his to-do list. He retains a body memory of stress relief associated with you.
The Drop-In. Different from the Drive-By because you are on the Dropee’s turf. No calling ahead. The element of surprise is key. “Dude, I know where you work,” says the maneuver. My Web site, product, training, is going live on X date and you are holding me up, you think but don’t say. What you say is how the project is adversely affected without key data that Lorna is sitting on.
Throw no one under the bus. If Lorna doesn’t come through, go around her. The delicacy is to do so without placing her in harm’s way. Why? You are human. Lorna is human. Effective project managers treat others with humanity. Most importantly, throwing Lorna under the bus does. not. serve. the. project. On Lorna’s bad side you court feuds and grudges – dynamics certain to undermine your project. Rarely have I approached someone’s boss. When I do, I’m ninja. “Hank, you know that cost-benefit analysis we were talking about last week. What’s your advice on how to snag that? Lorna? You know, I checked email and haven’t seen that come through. I know she’s been swamped with—” before I finish the sentence, Hank has Lorna on speakerphone. Note: Hank asks Lorna to send the spreadsheet to him, not me. When he gets it, I get it. And Hank always gets it.
Enlist Your Wingman or Woman. A Project Management Warrior needs cultural attachés – culture as in the many within a singular business. Much of my project management work in the 21st century involved the Web. I needed to build relationships with IT. Sometimes IT and the business do not get along. I ferreted out needed collaborators in other departments who didn’t play Bad Blood. Often, because I inhabited the director level, I was high up enough with sufficient responsibility to manage a CEO’s pet project. At the same time, I often didn’t report directly to the CEO. I quickly learned that senior managers on the CEO’s team with Iago-style modus operandi would attempt to derail my project in meetings, on golf courses or at cocktail parties. Because I followed Tip #1 – be an advocate for the project and take your ego out of it – I took none of that personally. Ego combat with Senior Vice Presidents doesn’t serve the project. Instead, as a Project Management Warrior, I identified a CEO direct report who would partner with me as my surrogate in those settings above my pay grade where the project risked derailment.
Transparent Accountability. For a Web portal launch project, I publicly tracked milestones on a spreadsheet emailed weekly to a 30-person project team. The spreadsheet did all my talking. If a person in one department had a milestone to reach but was dependent on another person in a different department to complete their milestone first but hadn’t, the project group would police itself. Just like social media! I didn’t have to chase the person down. Often, he would call me and explain the delay. Typically? Communication breakdown vs. willful disobedience. That’s when I’d sport my warrior cape and sleuth the source of the breakdown by checking in-person with relevant parties. One or two office Drop- Ins put us back on track.
Be Visible. Spend little time in your office. Why? You need to be out building relationships, actively supporting members of your project team during stalls and being cognizant of potential fires before they start. This also shows you are not only a project lead but also a true roll-up-yer-sleeves gal. If you only play up and snub other levels of the organization, this will not serve the project.
Be Humble. You are a facilitator, not the Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler. Though your title might be project leader or manager, truly you are in a service role – serving the project and those whose expertise you must enlist and rely on. Behaving like a know-it-all is the quick route to being voted to the island. Alone. Respect what you don’t know, don’t assume and ask for help. You will attract loyalty in places you didn’t even know existed.
Productivity Tips from a Project Management Warrior
Advocate for the Project, nothing else.
Let project team members know their contributions matter because they do.
One-on-one beats group meetings.
In-person meetings always surpass phone calls, voicemail and email.
Balance task with relationship.
The Drive By.
The Drop In.
Throw no one under the bus.
Enlist Your Wingman or Woman.
Transparent Accountability.
Be Visible.
Be Humble.