Are you hesitant to call yourself a project manager because you feel you are missing some kind of education, certification, or experience with that job title?
Today, we are talking about what it means to be a project manager, and why some of you are hesitant to assign that title to yourselves. What does it take to be a project manager, and are you a project manager but not using the title? Should you uplevel your title if that is the skill set and title that aligns with you the most?
I want to invite you to Scope Creep Solution which will be taking place at the end of March. It is a 5 day sprint to help you to manage your projects, set them up, and deal with changes that may occur.
Should you Add Project Management to Your Title?
Many of you have a project management skill set, and are natural project managers. Yet, perhaps you don't have formal training or education, so you skip the title.
I can relate; I have been a project manager my entire life but I never felt like I had the liberty or strength to call myself that until someone from my corporate experience recognized it, and put me into that position. I had massive imposter syndrome as I started this new role because I didn’t have the designation that all of my peers had. Yet, after a few months in that role, I was outperforming several formally trained project managers, and it all had to do with my natural skillset.
“I was defeating myself because I didn’t have the education and training that my peers had, but as I reflected over my life, I had managed time, resources, people and goals with ease.”
It took me a decade into my corporate career before I could see that connection. I’m hoping today's episode will help you shortcut your ability to see your amazing skills for what they really are.
As we begin, I want to emphasize the difference between a project management skill set and a project management profession/title.
If you have the project management skill set you will probably recognize this from early in your childhood. If you were a lover of lists, and enjoyed leadership positions in which you managed people… you likely have a project management skill set.
If you have had the title, you may have gotten a certification or held the title in a work setting.
I felt I couldn’t own the title until I actually worked in the role, but you can likely call yourself a project manager based on the roles you work in today.
“I've seen lots of people who have the skill set of project management not leverage that title, and I've also seen plenty who had the title but lacked the skill set.”
What Makes a Project Manager
There are three different areas that make a project manager: hard skills (technical/learned skills), soft skills (innate/natural skills), and your traits (the features of your character).
Hard skills
These are skills that can be learned and they build off your soft skills and your traits.
“If people have called you bossy, thorough or organized, all of that boils down to the fact that you have been an excellent task manager your entire life.”
These are all skills you can develop over time.
Soft skills
Soft skills are innate and natural; they are your God-given skill set that you were born with.
If you identify with the following six characteristics, it’s time to start calling yourself a project manager.
Traits
These are the features of your character.
So how do you measure up? Do you possess many of these skills? If so, go ahead and give yourself a “promotion” to a project manager!
Don’t forget to join us for The Scope Creep Solution, where we will spend 5 days talking all about project management, zeroing in on how to defeat scope creep in your projects.
Weekly Ops Activity
How many of the six soft skills do you have? To recap, the soft skills are: leadership, communication, teamwork, resolving conflict, prioritization, and organization. Come on into The Ops Insiders Facebook Group, and drop your number!
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This episode was first published at theopsauthority.com/podcast/88.