As pivoters, we have to get really good really quickly at answering people who want to know “what we’re good at”. It happens in job interviews, networking events, and even well into your first weeks or months on the job. There’s a certain kind of person, and we’ve all met them… when they say “tell me about yourself”, what they mean is “tell me what you’re good at. Tell me why you’re hot shit.”
I’ll go first in hopes that I inspire you in spirit (own it!! shout it from the rooftops!!) as well as in specifics, as I really do believe this is a very important skill for project managers: I am really really good at having no idea what I’m doing and figuring out how to move forward anyway.
Some of this is technical skill:
- I’m really good at operationalizing the problem into the parts I know how to do and the parts I don’t know how to do.
- I’m really good at Googling and I also really really know my way around Wikipedia.
Most of it, though, is more about disposition:
- I frankly am really likeable, which means when I operationalize out the parts of the problem I don’t know how to move forward on and realize that I worked with a subject-matter expert (SME) on a previous project or on a different team/company who would be really helpful in figuring it out, I can shoot them an email or a text and 99% of the time I get a really quick answer and/or an offer to hop onto a call to learn more. (Hint: part of this involves being the sort of person who does this in return whenever the people in your network have a question you can help with.)
- Most importantly, I have a pretty strong self-belief. Maybe this is corny or cheugy or whatever, but I really do go into almost any complicated thing I take on very convicted that if I put my mind to it, I can solve it. I very rarely solve it alone (see first bullet point) and I always, always give credit where I receive help. But the beautiful thing about life is that most of the time you don’t get points for doing it alone. You get points for doing it well enough and doing it on time.
What this means is I have found myself often in situations where I have no idea what I’m doing: the first two years of my project management career I spent taking on projects in fields that were new to me with deliverables I had to learn my way around. I probably went harder in this direction than a person probably really needs to, but I do recommend that you find a way to flex your “I have no idea what I’m doing but here I am doing it anyway” muscle because so much of project management is about doing it anyway.
One thing people don’t really talk about in PM circles is that if you’re leading a team of SMEs they pretty much by definition know more than you. This humbles a person, ya know? So you have to get the need to know as much as everyone else in the room out of the way quickly. You have to get it out of your head that you earn a place in the room through being the one who never has any questions.
The best way I know how to do this is by accepting, sooner than later, that as a project manager you might actually be bringing value to the table by being the one who always has questions. Own it. Lean into it.
I’ll close in the spirit of a job interview, which would ask you (after asking what you’re good at) what you could improve on. I am pretty excellent (anyone I’ve ever worked with would agree) at asking questions when I have them. In 2023 I would like to improve on not qualifying them every single time I have them. “This might be just because I’m new to this project, but…” “I might be the only one wondering this, but…” “Sorry if I missed this, but…” *PROCEEDS TO ASK A REALLY GOOD HELPFUL QUESTION THAT SPAWNS SOME GREAT DIALOGUE WITH THE TEAM*
No more. In 2023 I am owning not just being the question asker but also being completely comfortable taking up space asking them.
What are you really great at? What are you still working on?
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