My name is Coach Tony, and I am a believer in the power of project management.
In my twenty years as a professional project manager, 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 use project management principles as a coach to help clients achieve their life, health and professional goals.
In PM Believer, I share practical project management tips and techniques that you can use to help you achieve your own personal goals and live your best life.
Are you ready to become a PM Believer too?
Amuse-Bouche Before we jump into today's post, I offer you this "dad joke" as a light "amuse-bouche" to entertain your mind before we get serious. Like any other amuse-bouche, you may hate it, but it is worth every penny you paid for it, right? An octopus slinks into a dark room with a gun in each arm. He hears a soft chuckle coming from the corner. "You're one short, my friend," says the cat as he steps into view.
Here Comes The Rain: A Simple Example Of Risk Management
Risk: an uncertain event or condition, that if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on a project’s objective
Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)
One of my 6 strategies to manage your goals like a project is to expect and plan ahead for problems – a project management technique called “risk management.” As I explained in Risky Business, “nearly all problems (or issues) that you encounter are something that you could have predicted and planned for well in advance.”
Learning to effectively plan for and react to risks could make the difference between success and failure. Accomplishing this requires 3 steps:
- Identify the risk: what things might go wrong
- Prevent the risk: evaluate and reduce the probability that it will go wrong
- Plan your risk response: create a plan for how to respond should that thing go wrong so you can reduce its impact on your goal
In today’s blog, I will share a very brief and exceedingly simple real-life example of risk management in action. This is a scenario that happened in my life just one week ago.
It was a beautiful summery Saturday afternoon at Indian Lake, and we were out and about. After having a delightful lunch, we got in the car. We opened the windows and sunroof for a short drive to the farmers market/country store just a few minutes away.
Identify the risk: We parked on the dirt driveway, got out of the car, and left the windows and sunroof open to the elements. We heard thunder as we closed the car doors and saw the darkening sky in the distance. It was possible that rain would soak the inside of our car.
Prevent the risk: I paused to evaluate the likelihood that the risk would materialize. The storm was still off in the distance, and we only expected to spend five or ten minutes picking items we could prepare as side dishes with dinner. I decided to accept the probability instead of closing the windows to prevent the risk.
Response plan: Influencing the decision to leave the windows down was the realization that we would only be about twenty feet from the car. This meant I could quickly respond if the rain started and close the windows before any significant rain got in the car.
About two minutes later, I started hearing a few drops of rain pinging on the metal roof of the farmer’s market. I quickly walked outside, got in the car and closed the windows and sunroof. About ten seconds later, the heavens opened, and there was a heavy downpour that lasted about ten minutes. Fortunately, thanks to masterful risk management, only three raindrops got in the car. On the other hand, I got soaked as I walked back to the market – a risk that I had not mitigated.
Are you ready to be a PM Believer?
I know this is a simple, silly example of risk management, but it depicts how we manage daily risks in our lives. Becoming an expert at managing risks that might interfere with our goals is one of the best things we can do to achieve success.
You deserve to succeed with your goals, and that success is within reach with a few practical strategies. Do you need help identifying and planning for what might go wrong in your journey to achieve your goal? I am a Master Life Coach and am ready to help you build the life of your dreams.
Click Here to learn more about my Operation Melt coaching services.
Meet Coach Tony
My name is Coach Tony, and I am a coach, author and project manager on a mission. I am working to build a world where no goal ever dies of loneliness.
I almost allowed one of my biggest life goals to die without ever being attempted for forty years. My goal almost died, not of failure but of loneliness. But, I took a risk and leveraged a simple, logical process that helped me wildly exceed my goal.
I transformed my life, and you can do the same with the help of Operation Melt.
Operation Melt provides engaging, practical content and hands-on coaching to inspire, motivate and equip project managers and other left-brained high-achievers to pursue and accomplish their biggest goals.
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