Skip to main content

Continuous (self) improvement - a personal note

It's a standard Saturday morning and I'm sitting working on my phone at the kids' dojo while they practice sparring drills.  Their coach is giving them some feedback and I'm returning to feedback in this post.

When I wrote the last blog on Continuous (self) improvement I was thinking about it in the abstract and although I had many real-life examples in mind, I was then confronted with an opportunity to share an instance almost immediately after it occurred.

I write this the morning after a team social occasion (aka leaving drinks) and although I don't drink (medical reasons - don't judge me...) my colleagues certainly do.  These events can be fertile ground for picking up people's feelings and frustrations at work.

 Sometimes a shared rant is a bonding exercise
Sometimes it's an opportunity to let a teammate feel listened to.
And sometimes it's a chance to learn how people feel about you or your performance.

 Over the years it's mainly been the first two but last night I was treated to the latter.

It somehow felt very appropriate so soon after the last blog post, as though I was being personally challenged to walk the walk, (I'm fairly certain that's not the case, as these chaps consider themselves far too cool to read any blog written by a Project Manager.)

While I definitely wouldn't recommend giving drunk feedback, I would always recommend listening to it.  It may be less clear than sober office feedback and contain slightly fruitier language, but the level of honesty can be off the charts.

I mean it 100% when I describe all feedback as an opportunity.  Of course, I never said opportunities are painless.

How did it feel?

Initially awful - a good sign that it might be of use.  

They (and apparently the less vocal team members too) had evidently perceived a situation differently to me.  It was a source of anxiety and the group had not felt as protected as I would have liked.

Obviously, in reality, I work hard to protect my team, so this felt like a real stinger.  But as I'm often saying: 

Perception matters - it trumps reality EVERY TIME.

How did I take it?

So that was the first challenge: 
  • Did I listen?  
  • Did I let them explain things from their perspectives without continual interruption?  
  • Was my reaction conducive to further feedback in the future?
  • When I explained my perspective, was it calm, measured and not an attempt to be dismissive of them?
I think I acquitted myself well and can answer yes to all of the above - I'd ask for their thoughts but they appear to have very little recollection of the evening...

Something to learn?

Of course!  It's very easy to under-communicate when protecting a team.  But they're grown-up professionals.  They need to know that they are taken seriously and that they are being fought for. 

"It is not enough to deliver.  You must be seen to have delivered or the value is diminished."

I've taken some time to consider my next steps and have some clear actions to take on Monday morning.  It might have cost me a few hours sleep but it's an opportunity to improve that I'm grateful for.

Being a PM can be a lonely position at times and it's important not to take things too personally.  Make all feedback a positive and it will benefit you mentally as well as professionally.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The case for Project Management in Agile?

OK, I know how most of the Agile community feels about Project Managers: Process over People Meetings Documentation Urrgh... But however you name the role (Agile Delivery, Scrum Master, Project Manager) and whoever does it  - someone needs to help the team to: Plan Track Deliver Communicate Being a group of incredibly talented engineers does not give a team the right to ignore 3.5 of these. All too often, engineers want to dive in to designing and building great software, but see planning as a hassle, tracking as a waste of time (or an abuse of their rights), communication as an alien concept and delivery (the fun bit) as something that will be done when it's done. It may be popular to talk about being a 'self-organising team' and railing against any form of 'order' being imposed.  But why is that order being imposed?  Maybe it's to deal with the chaos that your s-o-t has failed to deal with so far. As organisations scale and the senior leadership gets further a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Agile Armchair Generals

If you're an Agile practitioner of any sort you will understand what I mean by Armchair Generals (if not, it may be an idea to check if you are one..). Apropos of nothing an email arrives that questions the management of your project in terms of whether it is properly 'Agile'. Feedback is, of course, a great tool.  But it must always be understood within the context of the person providing it. So when the email lands questioning the type of contingency you've built into your project or the depth of analysis performed on your requirements set, ask yourself: 1. Has the questioner spotted something you and the team have missed? It happens.  That's why independent reviews can be helpful. 2. Has the questioner misunderstood something about your project?  If so, maybe your communications weren't quite clear enough or they've missed something - it happens, we're all busy. If the questioner has understood the topic correctly and is simply disagreeing ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Project Team morale and how it is affected by YOUR leadership style.

If I asked what qualifies someone to lead an IT Project you might immediately think of literal qualifications; a degree, a PRINCE2 practitioner certificate, DSDM certification. You might think of the practical skills needed to achieve Project Management tasks; the ability to plan, management of RAID/CARDI items, stakeholder communication. All of these things are vital to managing a project, but as we're often reminded: Management ≠ Leadership And projects need leaders.   Why?  Because people need leaders.  Humans are pack orientated creatures and we are most comfortable within a structure that supports and guides us.  Within a project the same is true.  The 'doers' usually thrive within a supporting structure that takes care of their (professional) needs and protects them from attack.  Without Developers and Testers the rest of the project team is just a lot of expensive * flesh. In a mature and capable project team there is a certain joy to be ...
Post a Comment
Read more