2017 is right around the corner. Even if you’re in the middle of an intense project at the moment, the end of the year is still a good time to reflect on the successes you’ve enjoyed and the challenges you’ve faced throughout the year. While you’re taking stock of the year that’s passed, why not also take the opportunity to make a few resolutions for the work you’ll be doing in the year ahead? Here’s a list of suggestions to help you build on your prior achievements and make the most of next year. Enjoy and have a productive, healthy and happy new year!
Encourage Collaboration on Every Project Team
As has been the case for the last few years, workplace collaboration will continue to be a highly visible topic in project management in 2017. Make a resolution to encourage your project teams to engage with each other in new ways and work together to find innovative solutions to their challenges. Learn as much as you can about your organization’s collaboration tools, and try to think of ways that your teams can use them to break down silos between teams or departments.
Develop a New Leadership Skill
Effective project management requires a wide range of leadership abilities, from communicating effectively to resolving conflicts to maintaining a calm demeanor during times of stress. No one exhibits all of these skills in perfect form, so challenge yourself to add or improve a leadership skill every year. Think about the challenges your teams have faced in the last year, and try to identify the opportunities you may have had to lead a team more effectively—that’s a great starting point for your self-development program in 2017.
Measure Your Own Effectiveness
As project managers, we tend to focus on process improvement for our teams and organizations, but it’s important to look for ways that we can improve our own performance as well. In 2017, make an effort to evaluate your own effectiveness in areas like task duration estimation, budget forecasting and other measurable activities. Knowing where you’ve missed the mark will make it easier for you to hone your skills going forward.
Try a New Project Management Methodology
In a rapidly-changing business environment, no project manager can afford to do things the same way year after year. While you may not want to start experimenting with radically new methods on important projects, look for ways to incorporate aspects of PM methodologies that you haven’t tried before. For example, you might try to follow the bottom-up approach to task estimation on your next project, or incorporate elements of agile methodology into a project that might otherwise follow a more traditional format. If you take small steps and keep your teams engaged, new project management methodologies can make everyone more engaged and effective.
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