Project Management: 3 New Modes Of Thinking

Fashions come and go, including those in the world of project management. Whether it's a new team-building exercise or a new mode of thinking, here are three ways to keep ahead of the trends and see what is creating a "buzz" in today's management word. You've probably all heard the terminology, but do you know what it means and how it affects you and your own projects?

Positive thinking - seeing the positives

It's very rare for a project to go completely to plan and the important thing will be how you react to the bad times. If they derail you, make you angry and frustrated, and you pass these attributes on to your team, the project will suffer. Keep a positive face when up against adversity, as this is one of the key elements of a good leader and other people will follow suit. Going over budget? Turn it into a positive by proactively looking for savings instead of having them just happen to you. Staff demotivated? Have a cheap, easy team meeting to address their concerns in a positive, non-accusatory way. It's this kind of upbeat attitude that can drag projects out of the mire or into worse problems, so which will you choose?

Blue sky thinking

This is very "in" at the moment in all styles of business, not just project management. It's relatively new, so there's little information about it, though some say it's already a cliche. Not necessarily true. Blue Sky thinking is about breaking down the conventional walls of possibility in a project. It's a brainstorming tool that can, and should be used at the start of a project. So how do you incorporate it? At the most simple level, you could start by imagining you have free rein over your project, that is, no budget and all the time in the word. Of course, some may argue that this is unrealistic, but it also helps to see what the ideal outcome would be - then you have a perfect goal and model to strive for, rather than starting out knowing that you're going to have to adhere to other elements and rules in place.

Blue sky thinking is about breaking down barriers, and doing so without any negativity or pessimism. In a nutshell, it can be described as "anything as possible", an ideal goal to be modified for the real world - worth a try, in most arenas in work and life!

Neurolinguistic programming

This is another relatively modern science that is almost half blue sky and half positive thinking - that is, keep the good and discard the bad. IF someone is always late but performs wonderfully well on your project when they are around, don't start by saying "you're late all the time", start with positive reinforcement - we love what you do, we just wish you'd do more of it! NLP, or Neuro Lingustic Programming can be likened to a windscreen wiper - wipe away the negative, reinforce your own positive behaviour. If your project went over deadline last time, don't let this taint the current one - if you keep focusing on the past, NLP says you'll never be able to do a decent job in the present.

Overall there are many new ways (some of them fad, that will come and go) of doing a project, but the essentials will always stand - be positive, be resourceful, and learn from your mistakes, and you can go on to be a better project manager, while remaining up to date with the current trends for your team.