Being a successful project manager in today’s ever changing business landscape requires something more than just obtaining the proper combination of personality traits and a dedicated project management skill set. Most project managers would agree that the profession of project management requires a delicate equilibrium between art and science. Art, as in an inherent talent for communication, organization, leadership and creativity with a hint of intuition for foreseeing problems before they arise. Science, as a wide palette of professional qualifications, knowledge and abilities, acquired through hard work, experience and lifelong study of the field.
Superhuman project managers
Regardless of the titles attributed to the profession of project management or the significant characteristics of the professionals themselves, a few things are for sure: the knowledge area of project management is rapidly shifting and changing along with innovations in technology, the developments in the market and the transitions in the economy. This means that a successful project manager needs to be constantly informed of the latest developments in the field. Most importantly, though, such a “superhuman” project manager has never just landed on earth from outer space, already fully qualified and prepared to deliver maximum efficiency and consistent success.
All project managers have strived and worked very hard to get where they are today. Each of them have achieved their success by constantly improving their craft, building on their technical foundations, learning from others and from their own mistakes. Professional project managers advance themselves through hard work and by receiving continuous training and guidance from more experienced peers.
Blogs & training sessions
The field of project management can resemble a bottomless pit that never ceases to grow in knowledge and new input. Fear not, though, as there are many ways for project managers to improve their mastery and advance from being good to being the best. One of the easiest ways to discover and follow new developments in the field, is follow project management blogs. Clarizen’s project management blog provides a broad variety of valuable insights and interesting content on many areas of knowledge related to the field of project management. This includes the latest news on the industry, useful advice, helpful tips and how-tos from project management experts.
Besides visiting a project management blog, another great way to get acquainted with all the innovations in the highly competitive project management industry, is by attending training sessions and project management conferences held in various locations worldwide throughout the year. Attending at least one conference each year gives you a great chance to connect with other PMs in the field, to get inspired by the expert professionals and to rekindle that spark that energizes you the inner drive that made you follow the challenging path of project management in the first place.
Can’t travel? Try webinars
If it is not possible to attend a conference, technology has made it possible to receive training and valuable guidance from experts, by simply watching online daily webinars. Daily webinars are held every day of the week and across various hours of the day, so professionals from all over the world, living in different time zones, or simply while being at home after work, can engage with them. Online daily webinars, provide an opportunity for all interested parties to participate in workshops, present their research and open up about the challenges they encounter. This means you can gain valuable insight and excellent professional advice from experts in the field.
There is no doubt that project management is a very demanding and challenging profession. While your skills can get you quite far, you should never miss an opportunity to improve on them. The competition is fierce, so always keep in mind that in order to get to the top, you need to constantly improve your skills, advance yourself and keep pace with developments in the industry.
