What are you hoping to achieve over the next 12 months? Traditionally, as the haze of Christmas fades away and the New Year’s celebrations come to an end, this is the time of year that people focus on setting themselves personal and professional goals.
What those goals look like for you and your project team is going to be very different from those of your colleagues or members of your local PMI Chapter. But if you really can’t think of anything that you want to achieve, here are some ideas to get you going.
1. I’d like to spend more time working flexibly
Flexible working means different things to different people but generally it’s about being able to create more of a work/life balance and get some time back in your day that doesn’t involve commuting to the office. It could also mean taking time off during the week and working some hours at the weekends or in the evenings instead.
In order to work flexibly, you need certain things in place including:
- A supportive manager who will let you work flexibly and who won’t think you are sitting about drinking tea when you are working from home.
- A supportive project team who will appreciate your boundaries but who do know how to get in touch with you in case of emergency.
- Good project management software tools that work from anywhere, such as Seavus Project Viewer.
- A way to work remotely, such as a home office or a laptop.
When these things are sorted out, you should be able to work from home or wherever you want.
2. I’d like to do some training
There is so much project management training available that the first challenge is to work out what you want to do. Are you working towards a credential? Or do you want to improve your ‘hard’ project management skills like scheduling? Or your ‘soft’ skills like negotiating? Once you know what sort of training you are after it’s easier to talk to you manager about how to go about getting this.
Find a local provider so that you don’t have to travel too much (which keeps the cost down) or sign up for a course online if you feel that you could study like this – it won’t suit everyone. Once you have committed to some training, spend the time beforehand doing your pre-course reading to get the most out of the actual course itself. Whether you are paying for the training yourself or whether your boss is paying, you should make sure you get the best return on investment by preparing properly for the course and then bringing what you have learned back to the office.
3. I’d like a new job
Many people start the new year thinking that they would like to move into a new role. However, it’s easier said than done. First, make sure that your resume is up to date. If you’ve been in your current position for some time it can take a while to update all the details (as you’ll have forgotten what you were working on this time 3 years ago).
Once you’ve got a clear idea of your skills and experience and your resume reflects this, you need to start looking for vacancies. Scan the job pages in your industry and trade magazines, and if you are prepared to stay with your current company, take a look at what’s on offer locally through the intranet or by talking to your manager about your career plans – he or she may be aware of promotion opportunities or openings in other teams and can put you forward as a recommended candidate.
If you can, get some interview practice in. Your HR department may be able to help you with this, or ask a trusted friend or colleague to interview you. I wouldn’t recommend applying for jobs that you don’t want just to get interview practice as this wastes your time and is disrespectful of the interview team.
4. I’d like a new project
If you aren’t quite ready to change jobs but do want a new challenge, talk to your manager or PMO (or the group that assigns projects to project managers) and see what’s coming up that you could work on. Look for opportunities that will allow you to build on your current skills but in a bigger way – for example, taking on a project with a larger budget or a bigger team.