Whenever You Need Help

In simple terms mentoring is about passing your knowledge and skills to the next person. It is the primary step in passing on your expertise to help raise the entire field and business to higher levels that can span more than a single lifetime.  Reasons to be a mentor. People ask you for guidance - When you have achieved the success that inspires people, who want to emulate you, then they will come looking for your help to follow your path. A project manager completes his entire project in time, within budget and with quality. People would always want to know the processes they followed to get the same results.   P roviding job training - In the case of a new hire or a promotion/transfer, you would have to make sure that the new person is able to handle your job before you leave it. Training a person like this comes under mentoring as it involves the same structure even though it is the last thing that comes in mind when discussing the term mentors.  Helping ...

Issues are omnipresent in a project. A Project Manager needs to always begin with a plan that would define the activities and business rules that may be used to manage or control issues. To create a concrete plan you need to first identify the issues and classify it into some types based on its impact or priority.  Majorly all issues may be classified into these four categories namely. 1) Major Problem:  These are problems that could bring your project to a standstill and requires immediate attention and action. For example, A technical failure in a computer system can be classified as a major problem as it would cause the shutdown of the system.  2) Concern: These are  problems that may not have any instant repercussions but may balloon into something big if left unattended for long. You need to be aware of them constantly to make sure they do not develop into a major problem. A fine example would be a shortage of materials or delays in a dispatch that is not...

What does a project manager do everyday ? 1) Check your Emails:  Email has become the official modern mode of communication that is being followed by a lot of people to send vital information.  A Project manager can’t afford to let some crucial piece of information slip through the cracks and has to skim through all the emails he receives. 2) Handle and Make Calls:  Calls are the ideal way of keeping in touch with your project team and stakeholders who have problems or answers that are needed instantly. Project managers will always have calls he needs to take and calls he has to make to stay connected. 3) Organize Meetings:  Timely and regular meetings are a great way to deliver their message to the team and also keep stakeholders and sponsors updated. 4) Update Dashboard:  A project manager always keeps a bird’s-eye view of the project’s progress by using a dashboard, and maintains it as an one-stop shop for all the important metrics and KPI. 5) Get Dai...

Getting the right work done at the right time There is a technique that should be gaining traction soon as it provides us with a solution on what to do now while sitting in the office. We should be able to decide whether we should do this task or some other one. The trick lies in dividing the task on the basis of the requirement. Lets see it in action. From the current tasks at hand you should see whether this task is a "Must be done now", these are tasks that must be done urgently and are non-negotiable. These are usually jobs with strict time deadlines near by or the ones assigned by the upper management with the command to be done urgently. Then there are tasks that “Should be done when possible” which boils down to tasks that need to be performed and it is better to do them sooner than later unless you have tasks of the previous variety. These are tasks assigned to you by your managers or supervisors and form the basis of your work in the office.   The next se...

You need to find what he is really good at. Know the  things that he has been doing well all his life. Find the kind of activities that come naturally to him so that it takes him the least amount of effort. Ask him about the tasks or activities he believes he will be the best person to undertake. Allow him to find out honestly about what factors or qualities has he been noticed for by his peers or friends in his entire career.  You will achieve the ability to recognize his strengths and utilize them completely as well as provide him the possibilities to grow better. You need to find what he enjoys to do. When he goes to work every day what are the things he is looking forward to doing. Know about the calendar events that energizes him to perform better. Ask him about the way he would like to spend his time in office if you give him the choice to choose the jobs he wants to do the whole day without any restrictions.    You will be able to find the things that em...

Peacemakers are great tool that can be used to manage the conflicts between two people, corporations and even nations. They are able to do that by giving incentives for cooperation and removing the competition between the two parties. Although a point to remember is that third party interventions are not always unselfish and motivation behind their participation has to be verified. The childhood story of the fight between two monkeys for an equal half of a cake and a cunning fox comes to mind, where the fox kept on pieces of cake to make them equal and putting them in his stomach until none of the cake was left. Yet if a intrinsic or even extrinsic motivation is given to third party conflict resolution, we could believe the peacemaker would be satisfied and focused in resolving the issue without ulterior motives. Self-interest is always paramount in all the parties and it has to be recognized and handled. Thus the aim of anybody would be to develop a sense of co-operation among all....