If you haven’t heard, there’s a global pandemic. Workplaces have become scattered and fragmented with employees working remotely now more than ever. Add to that the stress of maintaining positive mental health while trying to maintain good physical health. Of course, you can’t have one without the other, and if you have many projects to manage, it can all become very overwhelming. Creating a healthy environment is crucial for a project’s success.
Yad Senapathy, the founder of Project Management Training Institute (PMTI), one of world’s leading academies in the field of project management, says “emotional intelligence will be a valuable trait that helps add value to your role,” and offers these eight simple tips to help you better maximize you and your teams’ efforts.
- Create Psychological Safety
Nobody likes to feel like they can’t communicate openly and freely. Psychological safety means creating a safe space allowing your team to share ideas to help complete the projects. People should not feel censored when discussing ideas.
- Offer Constructive Criticism
When you only focus on the negatives, that’s all people hear. When offering criticism, first give positive feedback, then use that feedback to correct the areas that need extra focus. Everyone benefits when helpful tips are given to increase productivity.
- Boost Team Belongingness
Be a cheerleader for your team. Make everyone feel included. It’s easy for some to feel left behind. Give everyone the attention they deserve, because connection brings out creativity. When everyone feels connected to the project, amazing things happen, because your passion becomes their passion and your success.
- Successful Project Managers Drive With a Vision
You’re a bus driver on a long road trip, and you need a good navigation system. As a project manager, your team is relying on you to BE the Garmin. Once you’re ready to go, know where to fuel up, when to rest, where to pick up more riders, and how to get to the destination. Keep a road map ready so you have a clear path for a finish.
- Celebrate Small Victories
It’s the little things your team loves acknowledged. Always be sure to remember birthdays, work anniversaries, and monthly milestones and recognize them in front of the group either in person or digitally. The simple acknowledgment of such can do wonders for your team and make them feel seen.
- Infect People With Your Passion
Not all infections are bad. Passion is the one contagion where everyone benefits. When you’re excited, your team becomes excited, and they want to give it their all.
- Constantly Develop Yourself
There is a lot of talk about self-care these days. Part of your self-care involves professional development. Not one of us has all the answers. When you develop yourself, you develop a self-driven team and you don’t have to micro-manage.
- Your Vision Is Not Measured in Year-End Numbers
Your purpose as a project manager is to create a vision, and lead your team to victory. You might not always meet the numbers at the end of the year, but because you followed these steps, and you worked together as a cohesive unit, you know that you gave it your best, and sometimes that is all that matters. Never beat yourself up.
Project success is a mindset. Building a healthy environment for project management will bring on rewards for you and your team like you’ve never imagined, including employee and client retention, and overall long-term success, if you follow these eight simple guidelines.
Yad is a Jedi-master when it comes to project management and is happy to discuss how to further your education in this area on his Instagram @ysenapat, and to learn more about courses of study with PMTI, visit 4pmti.com.