Whilst running project management training with a global drinks manufacturer recently, we began talking about maintaining your well-being as a project manager, and the many pressures this role involves. Here’s 9 simple ways to reduce your project-induced stress:
Raise your head above the parapet.
Don’t accept a poor business case as a fait accompli; be prepared to challenge. Whilst this might sound stressful, having some constructive conversations with your project colleagues early on will save you aggravation in the long run. Plan for this discussion and it won’t be as difficult as you think – chances are, someone else will be thinking the same anyway.
K.I.S.S!
Keep It Simple and Sweet. As the project manager, you are the mouthpiece; ensure that you can confidently summarise the purpose of your project simply in one or two sentences.
Don’t plan in a darkened room.
Often your thinking may be constrained if you plan a project in isolation. Dust off the post-it notes, brown paper and marker pens and hold a planning workshop at the start of your project which involves the whole team. This will not only engage your colleagues but also help you identify options, risks and dependencies which you may not have thought about on your own.
Play to the team’s strengths.
Everyone is usually happiest when they are doing something they are good at. Take time to understand your project team’s strengths and utilise them wherever possible.
And don’t forget to understand their weaknesses too.
We can’t be good at everything. Recognise any skills shortages within the team up-front and plan your resourcing around these. This will help reduce team tensions.
Engage with your stakeholders throughout.
Take the time at the outset to map who your stakeholders are and what information they’ll need. Keeping these people informed of progress throughout is absolutely key to ensure there are no unwanted surprises as this often leads to rising stress levels.
You cannot avoid all risks and issues.
Issues will occur on every project. So don’t stress about them, ensure that you assess each one on its likelihood/impact/severity and tackle them based on their priority.
Use the collective knowledge.
If you hit upon a problem, try and work through possible solutions with some of your team. You will gain nothing by worrying about it by yourself and collaborating can bring some really creative ideas out of the woodwork.
Celebrate success!
Let your hair down; remember to use the end of phases or key milestones to recognise the efforts that you and the team have put into the project.
