Project Management: less process skills , more people skills

Opleidingen

In every project management training, you will learn about processes and how to employ them. Prince2, PMP, PMBok… The attention for processes is overwhelming.

Don’t get me wrong here: the process is important, and a good addition for every project. But, it is, and for me will always be, just a good addition.

In every project, you work for a custome, with a team and stakeholders – people – who each have their own way of working, values and standards, which they bring into the orgnisation. As an (interim) project manager, you simply have to deal with it all.

Supporting processes

Processes are there to support you in your work, i.e. by means of setting scope boundaries or goals. The most important aspect, remains your ability to work with the team, the people around it and the organisation. Do you have the flexibility to adjust, adapt and still get results? Are you able to find different ways through the structure of the organisation to achieve what is needed? Are you able to adjust, whilst still being loyal to your own methods and style? So, for who are you doing exactly that: for the customer, or the goal?

Lesson 1: Dealing with people

As a project manager, you want to guide the organisation through desired or required improvements. With every project you perform, there is one complex aspect: the people involved.

In modern project management trainings, this aspect is touched, but no more than that: touched. Do you want to get a good job done, whilst enjoying it together with your team? Well, you need to educate – and train(!) – yourself more in soft skills and focus less on processes in a project. And if you want to learn properly? By all means, do leave your comfort-zone on this topic.

So that’s my opinion. How do you do this in your work?