Being a Versatile PM to Higher Serve Your Undertaking Buyer

On this planet of undertaking administration you will need to make good choices and keep on with them. However you’re going to must be versatile on each engagement – it’s simply how the world of undertaking administration works. However know the boundaries – simply the correct quantity of flexibility and the shopper will love you perpetually. Go overboard or stay unwavering and it’s possible you’ll not end out the present undertaking.

Let’s have a look at two ideas that fall underneath the ‘flexibility’ class:

Flex with new processes

As an skilled IT undertaking supervisor you undoubtedly have a set means you love to do issues. You will have templates for proposals, standing reporting, invoices, and assembly notes. You do issues just about the identical for every consumer to get issues underway on an task. And in the event you’re a part of a company or PMO and never working independently as a guide, then there are positively processes and templates that you’re anticipated to comply with. However each as soon as in awhile you run throughout that consumer who has their very own processes and plans for a way issues are going to go. Proper? You received’t win them over by being rigid. That exact consumer received’t really feel heat and fuzzy as a result of you may have your whole geese in a row. No, that consumer could also be delay by your lack of flexibility and can see you as unwilling to comply with the ‘boss’ and should instantly categorize you as cussed and transfer on to the following potential service supplier.

Quite than battle them, be open to their processes and the way they need issues carried out. How they do issues could also be ruled extra by accounting or enterprise goals than your stakeholder’s wishes. As your undertaking progresses you may search for methods to indicate them how your processes or templates might improve the engagement and drive the connection to a extra organized and profitable conclusion. However, with sure purchasers, implementing your will on them on the outset of the undertaking after they have completely different wishes could also be a really unsuitable factor to do.

Give and take criticism

​The flexibility to offer and take criticism can truly imply that you simply’ve ‘arrived’ as an skilled undertaking supervisor and IT skilled. After getting the boldness degree along with your PM or consulting experience to have the option give criticism the place it’s due AND additionally take criticism constructively and use it to your benefit to raised your self, then you already know you’re in place. Much less skilled undertaking managers might wilt when criticized and it might enormously have an effect on their confidence degree for the remainder of the engagement. They might even be unable to critique and criticize others constructively as a result of they lack confidence in their very own judgment.

I used to be being paid by a CEO of a small knowledge administration group to run a number of tasks for him a number of years in the past. I adhered to merchandise # 1 above, however I in all probability shouldn’t have. He needed me to mainly act in his position at occasions and lead weekly conferences of your entire workers to get standing updates whereas additionally operating these tasks. My first inclination was to ask every individual to organize and submit a standing report back to me in order that I may compile an organization standing report and agenda for the assembly. It’s simply how I roll. He mentioned, “You possibly can’t ask them to try this – simply maintain the assembly.” Evidently, attendance continued to be sparse because it was earlier than, nobody took it critically and on the finish of my consulting run he questioned my undertaking administration skills. All of this regardless that I efficiently led tasks for him for a number of months and all of his purchasers had been happy with the outcomes on their tasks.

That engagement was a classes discovered for me as a result of I may actually see early on that the consumer was going to be somewhat troublesome. I bent to their needs and I didn’t find yourself with a extremely happy consumer, however I used to be capable of make good cash whereas I used to be consulting for them. On this instance, flexibility paid off financially for me, however not in sustaining a long-term relationship with consumer. Ultimately I used to be assured with that as a result of I used to be capable of take the criticism within the context it was given and transfer on to the following consumer.

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Whether or not you’re working to fulfill that lower than easy-to-work-with consumer with the intention to preserve the working relationship otherwise you perceive there’s no pleasing them and also you need to preserve the working relationship so long as attainable to get the cash out of the engagement that you simply had counted on, there are occasions when flexibility is critical – and may repay properly.

The skilled IT undertaking supervisor sees these conditions prematurely and acts accordingly. The brand new undertaking supervisor begins to be taught from engagements that simply didn’t go very effectively and turns into extra versatile, when obligatory, for future tasks. Both means, the hot button is to turn out to be conscious and be taught alongside the way in which and search for methods to maintain these harder purchasers in your radar display screen so long as attainable.

Readers – what are your ideas and experiences with these ideas? I’ve discovered that rigidity shouldn’t be at all times a great way to go…the shopper satisfaction degree appears greater in the event that they really feel you might be working with them and never simply working. Ideas?