I am a believer in the power of project management.
As a professional project manager for twenty years, I have witnessed project success drive business results. I have also proven that project management can change lives and help achieve personal transformation. Now I am sharing some practical tips and techniques that you can use to help achieve your own personal goals, live your best life and become a PM Believer.
Do You Hear What I Hear?
A project manager is often called upon to be a mediator. Projects are complicated and are usually full of smart people with different points of view. A project manager has to balance competing stakeholder needs to deliver the end result in the most effective way possible.
Being a mediator is not an easy task, but neither is project management.
Successfully balancing multiple stakeholder needs and perspectives requires project managers to become exceptional listeners. Poor listening skills will result in an incomplete understanding of the needs of each stakeholder. This is an immediate liability for project managers trying to mediate between these perspectives.
Do you want to be a great project manager? Be a great listener first.
Our personal projects are no different; being a good listener is still a must-have skill. No matter our goal, we each have stakeholders interested in the process or the outcome or both. Exceptional listening skills will help us balance the needs of each of those stakeholders.
Here are two examples of your possible stakeholders if your goal is to improve your fitness:
- Your spouse/partner and friends are stakeholders as they will be impacted as you make different decisions about your priorities.
- Your team of experts (see Go Fast Or Go Far – Part 1) may have multiple points of view on your “how.” People like your doctor, personal trainer, fitness coach or accountability partner are each looking at your goals from a different perspective.
Your job as project manager of your personal goals is to listen to all of these perspectives and make the right decision for yourself. But, you won’t be able to do this with poor listening skills.
Do you want to become a better listener? Here are three tips to improve your skills:
- Start on the right foot. When you are listening to what somebody has to say, make sure that you are listening with an intent to hear and learn. All-too-often, we are just listening to be polite or waiting for our turn to speak.
- Don’t interrupt. When somebody is talking to you, let the speaker finish instead of interrupting. In addition to being rude, interrupting somebody when they talk might cause you to miss important information and make poor assumptions. It also sends a message to the other person that you aren’t interested, which might result in them not being willing to share their perspective in the future.
- Pause, process, verify. After somebody has shared a perspective with you, pause before you respond. Think about what the person just told you to glean their intended point. Then, repeat that point to the other person in your own words to check your understanding. “What I hear you saying is that you would like me to be a better listener, so I am more successful with my goals. Is that right?”
By leveraging these three techniques, you can become a master listener. This is the first step to becoming a master project manager who can successfully achieve any project goal.
Are you ready to be a PM Believer?
Project managers frequently find themselves mediating between multiple stakeholder needs and points of view. This is a challenging role to play, but we often make it harder on ourselves by being poor listeners. If we practice three key strategies, we can become exceptional listeners, an essential first step to being great project managers.
Do you need a partner to help you be a better project manager for your goals? I am here for you. Click Here to learn more about my Operation Melt coaching services.
Learn More About My Story
Want to know more about how I changed my life with project management? Pick up your copy of my book Operation Melt: How I Used Life-Changing Project Management to Lose Over 100 Pounds In Under a Year.
About Operation Melt
Operation Melt provides engaging, practical content and hands-on coaching to inspire, motivate and equip you to achieve your big goals.
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