Practicing Project Management

Athletes, musicians, and artists regard practice as a “must do”, so why don’t business leaders and project managers?

Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliners” highlights that 10,000 hrs of practicing something seems to be the tipping point for becoming an expert. Bill Gates and the Beatles are two examples of this success principle in action. They were not naturally gifted “geniuses” at an early age, but they took advantage of opportunities to accelerate the learning processes by investing a LOT of time in a very short period of time to make it happen.

Learning Japanese language has been a struggle for me. I tend to blame it on the computer program I’ve been using or my engineering background (English wasn’t easy for me either). Deep down I know the real reason. I don’t practice regularly. I’m currently looking for a class to add motivation and feedback but realize it’s the lack of regular practice that undermines my efforts to retain what I’m learning.

Many Japanese professionals I work with find it difficult to build competency in English too because of a lack of regular use. There must be like-minded individuals all across the world who want to learn languages. Guess I’ll start a meetup group for those in the bay area who want to learn Japanese so that we can create some accountability as another form of motivation

Could the same philosophy apply to improving your project management and leadership skills. “Of course” is the easy answer, but rarely do we do it. We take that class or attend the webinar (if your distractions allow you to focus long enough), but putting new skills into action is difficult. Why?

First, there is time pressure. Our multi-tasked existence provides no “slack time” for the added prep that’s necessary for applying a new tool or technique. Secondly is the lack of feedback from an expert to provide insights on how to adapt the concept to the unique situation you are dealing with. Thirdly, others are hardwired to reject another change, so this addition de-motivation is the third strike that leads to a “strike out” on your first trip to the plate. Ready to try again? Not likely.

Is it possible to change the system of learning to make it easier to adopt new skills without paying your mom to nag you daily to practice before bedtime? I think so.

It starts with rethinking our workshop approach. I often fall victim to stuffing in more content to a workshop with the mindset that “more is better” or “they’ll pick out the tools that work best for them”. But a recent design project has me rethinking this approach. This time around I’m focusing on introducing a few key skills early and reinforcing them through repetition in a variety of different situations with increasingly more complexity. This opportunity for participant’s to “practice” the skills several times begins the process of transitioning the learning from the prefrontal cortex (the thinking part of our brands) to the basal ganglia. This part of the brain is where routines reside. You don’t have to think about tying your shoe anymore because all that practice pays off. By the time the 2 days is over, some of the foundational pieces are set in place making them easier to recall in the coming weeks.

Jim Kouzes, author of The Leadership Challenge, recently highlighted this point in a conversation we had. Using a weekly meeting or adding a few minutes to a daily routine is all it takes. I’d suggest 3 steps to ensure that your investment of time and energy reap the desired returns you want…

1. Focus – make small changes and build on the successes while limiting the risk of screwing up – a necessary part of the learning process.
2. Goals – set specific objectives that will allow you to track and celebrate small wins and document for yearly performance reviews
3. Feedback – inputs from yourself and, more importantly, from someone else to look at “what worked” and “what didn’t”  ensures you can continue the good stuff and fix what’s not

So what are you waiting for? Start today by choosing one specific thing you want working on and add time to your weekly schedule to focus on it. Be consistent. Do it for 21 days or 3 weeks if it’s a weekly practice and see what results you get.
Maybe I’ll start the morning yoga practice that I’ve been putting off to?? Or maybe I’ll wait and add it to the growing list of New Year Resolutions to begin on January first. Just kidding. It’s in my calendar, so I’ll follow up later with results.

Mata atode aimashou!

Jeff Richardson