A Project Manager’s Responsible Optimism

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The pessimism of Eeyore, the gloomy donkey from Winnie-the-Pooh, would make him an uninspiring project manager. But unchecked optimism isn’t good either—you come off as unrealistic. Here are some tips for achieving the balance of constructive optimism:

  • Complement optimism with risk management. Balance your optimism with constructive risk discussions. Openly surface issues and the response actions you are taking. Create a risk management culture within your project. You can enhance stakeholder management with well placed optimism based on your experience and abilities. Taken too far, you may create concerns that you’ll overlook roadblocks.
  • Support optimism with history. Strengthen the validity of your optimism by referencing past successes. Successes from your current organization are the most powerful. When your history comes from elsewhere, discuss the characteristics your current organization has in common with past environments. This bases your optimism in fact, versus only a cheerful attitude.
  • Accept any pessimism you may encounter. But address that pessimism with open dialog to determine how to manage the situation. While pessimism can be draining, pessimistic viewpoints can raise valid risks. Don’t discard them without first evaluating their validity.
  • Be yourself. You became a project manager because of your skills and abilities. You shouldn’t change what you do now! Be mindful of how your optimism or pessimism affects others. Using the tips suggested here, tweak your levels if necessary. However, don’t fake optimism. People see through this eventually, and it’ll do more harm than good.

For more on project management, follow me on LinkednIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonniebiafore/) and check out the LinkedIn Learning Become a Project Manager learning path

Prioritize your PM Work

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There are hundreds of things you can do as a project manager to deliver a project. How do you prioritize what’s on your project management to-do list? Here are tips from the pros:

Let the environment guide you. Monitor your project environment and respond to concerns that arise. Things change day to day in a project. Teams can get stressed. Key staff can argue. Stakeholders hear rumors and get fearful. Unexpected issues arise. Ensure you address these concerns, and you’ll create a positive environment for project delivery.

Accommodate your senior stakeholders. Design your to-do list around what your stakeholders need to trust in your project management. Understand their desires. Are they detail oriented? Do they want frequent status updates, or alerts only if there’s a problem? The last thing you want are worried senior leaders, so accommodate their needs – but don’t hide bad news from them!

Focus on risk. Keep risk monitoring in the forefront. Talk about risk often with your team. Watch for risk triggers and be proactive with your response strategies. Supporting a risk management mindset is powerful – make it a significant part of your to-do list.

Complement your project team. Every project team has strengths and weaknesses. Use your experience to make up for team shortcomings.  When appropriate, offer your help and teach your team members. Ensure you aren’t taking over their responsibilities —  you already have enough to do as the PM!

Support your team. Your team is crucial to project success. Take care of them. Pay attention and support their needs. Thank them when they do well and guide them when they go astray. It’s easy to forget this in hectic project environments, so ensure supporting your team is a to-do list priority.

For more info, watch my course Project Management Foundations.