We all are human beings and often do
mistakes. Learning from these mistakes and moving on to our path is the essence
of life. ‘Discipline’ can play an important role in avoiding those mistakes. In
professional life discipline is an important factor in achieving professional
growth. We should practise self-discipline to avoid such mistakes. As a leader,
team members look up to us when they need our help. Maintaining a high level of
commitment and integrity is essentials to set an example for team members. Some
of the common mistakes that I have experienced myself are:
Not Involved in Day to Day Operational Work
–
Project managers are involved in many
things like preparation of weekly and monthly dashboards for the client, project
health audits, meetings with the customer, senior management review, risk register
update and many other things. Sometimes they also need to manage multiple
projects. Many times they do not get the opportunity to be involve in day to
day operations and some employees take advantage of such situations; they
provide false or misleading information to project managers or manipulate the
things according to their needs. By the time, some employees become functional experts.
They acquire domain knowledge or technical expertise of the particular process
and create dependency. After some time it is difficult to remove such
dependency and hence they start taking undue advantage of this situation. A
project manager needs to arrange some time daily from their busy schedule and
understand the ground level of the situation, domain, and the nitty-gritty of
business needs. For example, if you are a Service Manager, you should know what
the types of Incidents getting logged are and how the team is resolving the
issues. But you cannot build this capability overnight, it takes time. You can
start by understanding RFP points, Participate in the demo and understand Open
Bugs or Incidents.
Not Technically Involved –
Project managers usually come from a
development background and have good knowledge of technical things. But due to
overburden in management activity they start losing interest in technical
things. That is when the Solution architect or Senior team members take
advantage of such a situation. Project managers should always involve in the
technicality of the project and be aware of the latest technology trend of the
market so that he can also contribute technically to the project. In future,
these things will matter a lot and make a difference.
Not Having Control Over Project data –
As a Project Manager, you should have full
control of project data. Higher management, Customer or Auditor can ask you to
provide the data at any time. If you have control of data, you can analyse it
and extract important information out of it. You can also play with this data,
keeping business objectives in mind. PM needs to track all kinds of project
data related to Project status, risk, productivity, individual performance,
etc. You can start by keeping some data always handy, keep yourself up-to-date
with audit prospective and organize your project dashboard.
Not Applying Best Practices –
PM should need to aware of all kinds of
best Project Management practices and their practical implementation in the
Project. There are a lot of them available in the industry like Six Sigma,
PMBOK, Prince2, Agile, Scrum, ITIL, SAFe and many more. You don’t require certification
on these but gaining inherent knowledge will suffice your need. If you know
these best practices, you can utilize them to manage your project and meet the
business objectives.
Not Familiar with Project Management Tools
–
There are many tools and software available
in the market which help Project managers to perform their tasks efficiently.
These tools are mostly related to Schedule management, Risk management, Cost
estimation, tracking of work completion status and Communication. Examples of
such tools are MS Project, Azure DevOps Board, Jira, Calendar, MS Teams, Skype,
Planner and Sticky Notes, etc. Arrange some time and learn these tools and
utilize these in your project.
Interacting with Selected Team Members –
We usually spend our time with the selected
person who likes us or we consider him/her important in the project execution
perspective. It’s human behaviour. But as a Project Manager we should not
restrict ourselves to a selected person but mingle with the entire team so that
the entire team can feel comfortable to share their thoughts, views, and
issues. Some people glued to you for their personal motive and want to take
advantage of your power and position. Always identify such people and beware of
them. Make yourself available to every team member. I started interacting with
everyone and spending some time in general discussion while having coffee, tea,
etc. with all the team members. Even established formal relationships with least
likeable people.
Unable to Efficiently Manage Office Politics
–
The efficient management of office politics
is also one of the important skills for any employee. Project Managers need to
keep their eyes and ears open for them always. Don’t unnecessarily jump in the
matter of others. We should also keep away from all kinds of gossips and
backbiting. If you need to say something to anyone say directly to that person.
Many times conveyer conveys the message according to their perception and need.
In the workplace, nobody is your friend or enemy. We all have assembled here
for work only.
No Interaction with the Hierarchy Above –
Often we interact only with our immediate
bosses only and not above him/her in the hierarchy. You never know what he/she
has conveyed to his boss about your performance and attitude. If you have
interaction with the above hierarchy then you can convey your message and make
your points when required. Although it is advisable not to jump hierarchy but
in some scenarios you may require it. So always establish rapport with the Boss
of the Boss and do regular interactions with them. A few days back, I read the
book “Managing Up: How to Forge an Effective Relationship with Those above You”
by Rosanne Badowski. It provides detailed insight on this topic.
Not Respecting his Own Power:
Project Management is a responsible but
powerful position. Organizations provide you the power to give Appraisal,
provide Performance Grade, Salary jump, Job Confirmation, give Promotion or Demotion,
Hire or Fire somebody etc. You have to use all these powers with the utmost
care. Don’t misuse it by being arrogant, rude and angry; changes are very vital
in corporate. Never abuse or lie to anyone, you don’t know how long you have to
work with them. Always be polite, grateful and humble with your position. Keep
yourself distant with all kinds of Judgements and Grudges. Trust on people’s
ability and intentions. Be secular and don’t force your political, religious orientation
to anyone. Keep yourself disciplined by embracing good habits, following truth,
timeliness, doing clear communication, transparency in the act, following
rules, following secularism in the workplace, maintaining professional
hierarchy, showing a positive attitude, exhibiting the right way of doing
things, trust and give people respect.
Developing Emotional Attachment with the
Project
According to PMBOK, the definition of
Project is – ‘Project is a temporary endeavour’. Every project which starts
will end one day. You are hired by your employer to just manage the project,
you cannot control everything. Don’t develop emotional attachments with the
Project, Team members and Customer. It can hamper your growth path. It will
stop you to take new challenges in professional life. Don’t get in the comfort
zone but focus on your Learning and Earning. A project can be run for a longer
duration like decades but you cannot stay there for the rest of your life to
execute it.
Team members and Customers trust only that person who leads a disciplined professional life and a person who treats others with respect and takes his commitments seriously. By avoiding such mistakes we can keep ourselves going and earn a reputation in professional life.
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