- The Project Management Coaching Workbook
- Susanne Madsen
- 446字
- 2022-09-02 09:53:33
IDENTIFY YOUR PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES
Your beliefs about the world and yourself have a powerful effect on your behavior as a project manager. The way you think determines everything you say, do, believe, and feel. If you want to change the way you do things and the way you deal with challenges, you first have to change the way you think about things. Any improvement you desire on the outside as a project manager begins with improvements on the inside. When you change your inner world, you will notice that your external world changes too.
One of the differences between ordinary and successful people is that successful people do not give up when presented with an obstacle or a challenge. They pick themselves up, get to the root cause of the issue, and change their approach accordingly. Successful people come across as many roadblocks as everyone else, but instead of giving in and blaming others, they change their approach and do something about the situation. They are proactive and keep trying new ways.
Exercise: Challenges and Root Causes
1. On a separate piece of paper, identify the biggest challenges you are facing right now as a project manager. This could be anything from dealing with specific tasks to managing and directing people or handling stress. List anything that concerns you and that you seem to spend a lot of time and energy worrying about.
2. Select the five topics that concern you the most and list them in the leftmost column of the table below.
3. For each of the five entries, carefully examine what the root cause could be. What is the bottom line? What does the challenge ultimately come down to? To help you identify the root cause, keep asking “why” until you have found the ultimate reason for your concern. It is by identifying and addressing the root causes of your concerns and challenges that you are able to overcome them.
For example, imagine that a project manager is finding it difficult to manage her workload. She feels that there is too much work and that she never gets to do any of her tasks properly. On the face of it, the reason may seem to be the workload itself, or that her managers are giving her too much to do. But when she asks why, she may find that the root cause relates to her own desire to please and to her reluctance to ask for help and support from others.
4. Which actions could you take to address the root causes of your concerns and challenges? Record your findings in the column to the right.
