I seem to have one of those brains and ways of viewing the world that allows me to look at a set of disparate items (sometimes referred to as ‘chaos’) and see a way through the seeming disconnection and disorder through to connection, structure and order.
This feels like a natural ability, although it was put to excellent use and well honed during my years at Deloitte working on complex, multi-phase projects.
I’ve also created several successful businesses and the development process I used brought me a lot of satisfaction, learning and experience. I have a particular way of looking at situations (challenges, opportunities, problems, obstacles) and seeing what’s possible and how things can be changed, actioned and accelerated forward.
There are many related sub-skill sets that come into play in both project management and business building including:
Understanding and working with the client –
Who are they, who they really are (a deeper understanding than what may seem obvious at first pass), what do they most want, how do you facilitate their understanding of what they most want, how to set achievable expectations with them, managing client expectations, how to interact with clients when things get tricky (self- and client-management skills come into play there), how to build rapport, what happens beyond rapport and how to sustain that deeper connection.
Identifying and delivering to the scope of work –
What needs to be done and how do we know, how will we know when we’ve achieved it, what is reasonable/doable, what is desirable/ideal, who needs to be involved in achieving those goals, what are the key milestones, what do we do when we encounter ‘scope creep’, what dependencies exist, how will we know when we’ve finished, capturing lessons learned for next time, how will we celebrate when we’ve finished.
Maintaining momentum and adjusting course –
Making things happen and delivering against the project plan, reviewing progress and identifying what’s working and what isn’t, determining what needs to change to meet targets and doing it, maintaining morale and keeping spirits buoyant, knowing when to stop, enrolling specialists for specific tasks, aligning with key partners, doing excellent work.
These are a few of the more critical segments of project management and business building. They are also core consulting skills, which I was also fortunate enough to have the opportunity to develop and hone throughout my career.
I would be delighted to work with you and your team in managing your project and building your business – contact me today to discuss your project and business!