Mindfulness and the project manager

Mindfulness is one of those topics that has become increasingly popular in recent years. The concepts behind mindfulness offer good practise in terms of the interactions that people have with each other both on a professional and personal level.

Mindfulness refers to “noticing the way in which things are” – being more aware of what is going on around you. It looks at how an emotions and preconceived notions of an individual can potentially get in the way of seeing things as they really are and just how damaging this might be for your project. Whilst mindfulness is not something you would necessarily cover in a more traditional project management training course it is certainly something you should consider looking at in addition

Here we look at exactly what mindfulness might mean to the project manager.

Whether you are meeting with your stakeholder or project team it is important to ensure that you are present; don’t dwell on any past issues or think forward tot the end of your project. Listen to what is being said, knowing that you are being listened to is an incredible boost to someone.

It is important that you do not supress your reactions or emotions, you need to learn to work with them rather than allowing them to take over and control you. Whilst it may be difficult to not allow your emotions to take over when speaking to a team member who has repeatedly let the team down, keep things in check. It is perfectly fine to acknowledge your feelings but they should not drive your reactions.

Be calm

As the project manager it is important that you keep calm, even when things are going badly, this calmness will help to boost the morale of your team members and help them to stay calm as well. Your calmness will give the other members of your team the strength to carry on with the task at hand without adding any additional problems to the project.

A project is not just made up of a number of people working on different elements of the project but also a huge number of different parts all of which could easily produce an issue if things don’t go quite as planned. It is important that you keep on top of what is going on.

Ensure that everyone knows what they need to be doing, any deadlines that are in place and any issues that might arise. If issues arise step in and make clear decisions.

Even when your project falls into issues it is important to remain positive, your team are looking to you for guidance so be strong and lead from the front. It is okay to accept that things can get difficult but ensure that your team know you have their back.

These might all be individual skills you have covered on project management courses but used all together they can produce a very positive workplace.

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