Can project managers improve their time management?

Can we really manage time, it manages & even controls us ,right? We can manage our activities such that we make the best use of this uncontrollable time.

Before we go into the project manager improving on time management skills, let us look at how they are spending their time on projects currently. To go towards a goal we need a starting point and the current practices are just that.

THIS IS WHAT PROJECT MANAGERS HAVE TURNED INTO:
1. Overdependent – Presently most project managers have created a position of over-dependence. The more he/she gives the answers the more he/she is needed. The team waits for the manager to take the call each time & every time, and nobody knows how it reached this state of affairs.
2. Overcommitted – It’s “all work all the time”. There is a lack of courage to say “No” to what they are saying “Yes” to.
3. •Disconnected – And probably the most disheartening, the “why”, is missing. They have lost the connection between what they do & why it matters. Result – no motivation!

“You cannot change your future, you can change your habits;
And surely your habits can change your future-“
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam

Taking a cue from this quote by India’s late president, the project manager needs to change habits. Instead of jumping in with solutions and advise to every question that team members ask, he/she should learn to ask questions instead, to get out of the self-imposed trap mentioned above! For solutions to team members’ questions they should ask “how can I help you? or “what do want from me?”, OR, “I have some thoughts on this which I will share, but what are your first thoughts on how to do this?”

Solution-focussed open-ended questions bring out ideas from the team and reduces the unnecessary pressure on the project manager. They now can transform into coach-leaders who guide but, “step aside to let the team perform”.