Nothing—raw talent, genius, education—can substitute for persistence. I can still remember the first project I managed 27 years ago. I made many mistakes. But project managers are only human, and failure is part of the game. And yet, you must persist.
Since that very first project, I‘ve picked up some best practices for tapping into the power of persistence:
Take responsibility. We live in a society in which people are constantly trying to prove someone else is at fault. If your project fails, it's because you didn't have management support or the schedule was too compressed. It's always the other person who is to blame.
But project managers need to be accountable—and they need to instill that same feeling in their team members, too. You must not pretend that other things are stopping you from reaching your goals. They only stop you if you let them.
Take action. Dreams aren't enough. You have to come up with a plan that can be prepared, executed and modified. In this way, the dream goes from the head to the heart, and out through the hands and feet.
Last year, I managed a project to organize a professional event on project portfolio management in Spain. The financial crisis had kicked in by that time, and the team faced many issues during the planning and execution phases. However, I had a clear vision of making that event happen and kept a positive attitude. All those obstacles were overcome, thanks to the team's efforts and professionalism, and because we acted on our dreams.
You make your own luck to a great degree in life. If you just take that first step, the next will naturally follow. Persistence is the only way forward.
Stick with it. B.C. Forbes, the founder of Forbes magazine, once said, “Nobody can fight their way to the top and stay at the top without exercising the fullest measure of grit, courage, determination and resolution. Anyone who gets anywhere does so because they are first firmly resolved to progress in this world, and then have enough ‘stick-to-it-iveness’ to transform their resolution into reality. Without persistence, nobody can win any worthwhile place among their fellow men.”
I agree. The self-confidence you get from accomplishing a very difficult goal will make the rest of your worries seem insignificant.
Know the “what” and the “why.” Whatever your goal is, commit to it with heart and soul. But before you do, think through what you're proposing to do—what sacrifices, heartaches and pain it will entail. Most importantly, know why you want to do it. Then, if things get difficult, you won't waste time and energy paralyzed by self-doubt.
You make your own luck to a great degree in life. If you just take that first step, the next will naturally follow. Persistence is the only way forward.
Move That Mountain
There are different views of persistence around the world, so project managers must be flexible and adaptable as they work with teams drawn from different cultures. But in the end, everyone is measured by project results, and I‘ve never found any project without any obstacle, issue or problem. So you need to be persistent if you want to be an effective project manager—and it's not a one-shot deal.
Being persistent can move mountains in the project field. Times are challenging and we need persistent team members, project managers and executives to achieve success across the enterprise. PM