Be An Improving Leader
Having landed your first few jobs as a Project Manager and having delivered those projects to the satisfaction of the project owners – no doubt you’ll be thinking that your career as a Project Manager is assured. In reality any Project Management should not assume that just because things went well in the past that they will continue to do so in the future. With that in mind it is essential that you’re constantly honing your Project Management skills set and, in that regard, nothing can be more important than striving to be an improving leader.
Improving as a Project Manager leader.
Like it or not we all have our strengths and weaknesses - and that includes you! Emphasizing our strengths is good for our self-image – but you’ll ignore your weaknesses at your peril. Any weakness will inevitably affect your performance in one way or another; and so being constantly aware of the possibility that a weakness could result in an objective being missed or taking longer than it should to achieve must be considered. A strong leader will be prepared to accept that they have weaknesses and will take steps to address them. Another strength of the good Project Manager is being able to apply logic to solving problems. However, this can lead to some PMs becoming somewhat rigid and formulaic in their approach to completing their objectives within the project. A good Project Management will show leadership by recognizing that sometimes a more creative approach, possibly offered by a sub-ordinate team member, might be a better way of approaching things. So, another important way to improve as a leader is to keep your mind open to creativity. This last point, of course, is closely associated with one of the most vital of skills to improve as a Project Manager – the ability to genuinely and reflectively listen.
How to improve as a leader.
The question that now arises is – how can you improve as a leader? Quite simply improving as a leader is an on-going process and something that you should never stop doing. Take the time to read the latest and best books about Project Management. Make the time to keep abreast of the very latest developments in Project Management online and, finally, look for online leadership tests – especially those that can inform you about Transformational Leadership.