25 September 2009

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Tips for Team Members
Define Your Status Through Actions, Not Qualifications

By Brian R. King, P.Eng, PMP

If you have a PMI credential or advanced degree, you should be proud of the qualification that you have attained. In some cases, however, you might be afraid of being seen as someone who is competing with their manager or teammates, especially if they do not have the same qualifications.

Status is a social standing, and the factors that influence it will vary among cultural groups. But it is important for all leaders and team members to accept and realize that it is not what you have, but what you do, that impacts your status.

Through your advanced qualifications you have obtained a degree of knowledge and understanding of project management and its various processes.  This knowledge is of no benefit, though, if you are not able to effectively work together with others as a team.  Your title, the initials after your name or your position in an organization may establish expectations that others have for you, but you will be judged more on your performance.  

Your fellow team members may be aware of your qualifications, but it is important to not draw attention to or mention them on a continuous basis to justify why you do what you do. Your ability to effectively organize, manage and control the project and build a team should speak for itself. If you clearly demonstrate your skills and values, you won’t need to tell people what you stand for, because they will see it in your actions. 

As far as competition goes, in all teams and within every organization there are assigned roles and responsibilities. Competition can only exist if there are more than two individuals that are attempting to obtain the same thing. Your qualifications themselves do not give you any additional power or influence within an organization, and nor should you expect any. 

Your manager, too, has an assigned responsibility and role. Even if his or her qualifications differ from yours, it is important to concentrate on working together and being assertive but not aggressive. 

Habits and traditional ways and processes of getting work achieved or projects completed are not automatically wrong just because they do not exactly follow the processes that you have learned. You will gain respect with your team members and managers if your style of influence is to listen and dialogue together to make changes, in lieu of “ I am a PMP and this is the way it must be....”

Before you rush to make changes based on your qualifications, remember that life is not what you have, but rather what you do by working and learning together.

Brian R. King, P.Eng, PMP is president of Millennium 3 Inc. Training and Consulting, which is driven to help businesses, government and associations improve productivity in leadership and organizational development. He is CEO and President of LEI – Lafleche Environmental Inc and a PMI Global Registered Education Provider, as well as a PMI SeminarsWorld^® 2009 instructor. He welcomes your questions or comments on this tip.