With every year that comes and goes, we all think of resolutions that we attempt to stick to for the 365 days ahead. From losing weight to giving up smoking, there are some that we have probably tried time and time before. But, aside from your personal resolution, you should have a professional one too. Below, we take a look at some of the best New Years resolutions for those seeking to improve their project management.
Focus on improving your communication skills – There is only one place to begin, and this is with communication. Every project manager knows the importance of communicating effectively. Nowadays, there are so many different tools available to help you do this more efficiently. You should make an effort to embrace the best collaboration tools for your team. Also, assess your current methods of communication. Do you encourage feedback and open communication? Do you hold your meetings efficiently? Time to make some changes.
Embrace project management training – It does not matter how much experience you have, project management training is something that everyone should embrace. This could mean a refresher course, or it could be one of the more specialist project management courses that focuses on a certain element of the job. Either way, take the opportunity to advance your skill set in 2018 and you will reap the rewards.
Start delegating more – As a project manager, it can be very tempting to try and do everything yourself. After all, you are in charge. However, a good project manager is one who knows how to delegate effectively. You can’t do everything yourself, so you need to focus on assigning tasks to those who are right for them.
Learn to say no – This is something a lot of project managers are also guilty of: they never know when to say no. This is how scope creep creeps in! While you want to keep your clients and stakeholders happy, if you say yes to everything they request, you are only going to set you and your team up for failure. Instead, you need to explain what will happen to the deadline of the project and the budget if the change is implemented. It is then up to the client whether they want to go forward with this.
Plan better – The final New Years resolution for project managers is to focus on planning better. A lot of hurdles in projects could have been avoided if there was a better plan put in place. Assess the way you currently do things now, and see if there are any ways to make improvements. For example, do you put in all of the necessary time and effort in regards to assessing risks? If not, this is one area where you could and should make some changes. You can, therefore, ensure you are ready to adapt to anything that happens throughout the lifecycle of the project.
Follow the tips that have been mentioned above to make 2018 better than the last when it comes to project management.
