As we reach the end of 2019, I like to take some time to reflect on the year that has been and what I can do to improve in the coming year.

2019 has been a wonderful year for me both personally and professionally. I’ve led some fantastic projects, collaborated with some fantastic project management professionals and managed to develop my skills to widen my depth of knowledge.

What I’ve learnt this year:

The biggest lesson this year came in the form of the phrase: stakeholder management. Leading complex projects is something that I like to excel in but this year, it’s been a real pleasure to be able to learn more about stakeholder management and how critical it is for project success. I’ve been fortunate to be trusted with some amazing projects and collaborating with some wonderful organisations who really challenged me to think out of the box and develop. Team development and virtual working has really been a challenging point this year as I’ve worked with new teams and cultures and all of them have challenged me to think differently.

I’ve also spent this year working on materials to help other project managers with their soft skills and abilities to moderate and lead team meetings and workshops. This has been a real labour of love and based on observing my colleagues and peers.

Blogging

Here’s a few of my favourite blogs from this year. I’ve really enjoyed blogging and being able to share knowledge with the community.

• Tips for women in a STEM environment
• Why Diversity and Inclusion is so important
• Encouraging collaboration in your projects
• Advice for Junior Project Managers
• How to future proof your career
• Managing difficult stakeholders

Speaking

I’ve continued to speak throughout the year at various events both physically and virtually and will aim to continue doing so in 2020. I really enjoy presenting webinars as it gives me the opportunity to reach a global audience. This year, I’ve presented three. The first one is on managing projects when you’re working with different cultures, the second one is on changing your leadership style to manage different cultures and finally I was asked by the PMI to help create some career advice as part of their virtual student summit.

Perhaps one of the most memorable speaking engagements was in Dublin for the Women in Project Management conference (WiPMIRL), where I presented whilst holding my newborn child! Coming up in 2020, I’ve got some really exciting speaking opportunities coming and I’m hoping to present a few more webinars as well. If you’ve got an event where you need an experienced speaker, please feel free to email me!

What’s next?

I’m looking into 2020 and seeing a lot of opportunities around developing soft skills and managing teams. I think that as projects become more complex.and diverse, we need to be ahead of the curve and ensure that we’re able to lead these projects effectively.

Wishing you all the best for 2020. Id love to know what your goals are for next year.