2018 has been an extremely busy for me both professionally as a “Full time” Project Manager as well as being an active volunteer with the Project Management Institute. Here are a few of my highlights of this year:

Presenting:

This year, I’ve had the honour of presenting at several conferences across Europe and it was a personal highlight of my career to be able to speak and share knowledge with my peers. What I’ve learnt from presenting is not just around sharing knowledge but it’s about listening and opening a dialogue with other Project Managers to be able to improve and develop.

Professional Development:

This year, I’ve started working with a new company and the opportunities for me to grow as a Project Manager and be able to share my experience has been limitless. I’ve had the opportunity to work with some excellent Project Managers who challenge me and encourage me to be a better Project Manager. A few things that have stood out for me:

1. Work/ Life Balance: I’ve made an active attempt to ensure that I shut down my PC and really work on my work/life balance and this includes making sure that I really commit to both working hard and playing hard. This has been a big change and has really made me strict on what I do on my holiday/evening and weekend time.
2. Escalate hard and fast: In the projects that I’ve been working in, things move so quickly that there is a demand to escalate hard and fast if issues occur as this can cause major issues to the overall project.
3. Reach out! One thing that has benefited from my speaking engagements has been a wider network of peers that I can reach out to if I have questions or ideas. I’ve found that sharing ideas and collaborating to be one of the best parts of 2018 and I hope to be able to continue to do this in 2019.

Coaching:

In 2018, I’ve also taken my coaching role more seriously and have helped several Project Managers who have wanted my advice about everything from how to navigate through a difficult project to more general career advice and helping a Junior Project Manager develop their skills to become a more experienced Project Manager. Coaching has really made me think critically about my experience as a Project Manager and coach for how to develop a strategic plan for their career development.

What does 2019 hold for me?

I do not believe in New Years resolution as I think that it just sets you up for failure but here are a few of the areas that I want to focus on in the next year:

• Sharing knowledge: I want to continue sharing knowledge with other Project Managers and working with my peers to develop and support sharing in our industry.
• Developing talent/ my USP: This is one thing that I encourage every Project Manager to do. Over Christmas, I’ve spent time thinking about what I’d like to do in the next year and how I’d like to develop as a Project Manager.
• Volunteering: Volunteering remains a massive passion for me and I will continue to volunteer and share knowledge with other Project Managers and organisations for the benefit of the overall profession.

If we’ve had the pleasure of working together this year, then I’d like to take this time to thank you for your collaboration, advice and support. If we’ve yet to work together, then I’d like to invite you to reach out and see where we can work together in the next 12 months.

Let’s make 2019 the year that we all become better, more effective Project Managers!