Whether consciously or unconsciously, I am giving a few lessons on Project Management to my children. I think that it’s very important to look at some of our most valuable skills that we can give and share with others. Here’s a few of the most important skills that I’m trying to teach:

Listening Skills:

As a Project Manager, one of the most vital skills that we have is being able to listen to our teams but also to be an active listener. This means not getting distracted by phones/emails and really focusing on the person talking. When I’ve been talking to my children and asking about their day at school or what they’ve been doing, I tended to half listen/ half do something else so this was a great exercise for me too.

Stress management:

It might sound strange, but we can sometimes put a lot of pressure on our children. Whether it is to achieve certain grades or to conform to a certain form of behaviour, it can be stressful. Especially if there conflict in the household/school, this can add an additional level of stress. I’ve been teaaching my eldest about the power of Mindfulness and “taking a breath”. I’ve noticed that since we have been doing our daily breathing / deep breath, she has started to tell her brother/friends to do the same: Just wait, take a second, take a breath. As a Project Manager, one thing that I can sometimes forget to do is just that… take a breath, take a step back and see the bigger picture.

Team building/ Team management:

My daughter loves working with her friends. She really loves working well in a group and I’ve seen her shine when she’s talking and getting consensus with the group. I’ve been teaching her to look at each of the children in her team, look at what their strengths are and how each of them can add to a group activity with their knowledge/insight.

Learning about others/respecting the uniqueness of our peers:

One thing that I really love about being a Project Manager is learning more about the team that I work with, what they enjoy and how they tick as individuals. As a mother, I want to encourage that we can all learn to respect each others differences as well as our unique skills that we can bring to a situation.

Organisational skills:

One thing that I’ve done from an early age is making sure that the children clean up after themselves/ help with the cleaning activities. This does not have to be extensive or arduous but they do need to understand what they’re doing and why they need to clean it up. Now that my daughter is a little older, I let her plan her own day. She will have certain things that she needs to do (e.g. go outside, read a book etc), but she can say when it gets done within the day. As long as the activities are done, that’s all OK. This has really worked well during homeschooling/lockdown as she’s been a lot more self motivated to do her school work and different activities.

Leadership Skills:

My kids can be bossy… and not always in a good way. I’ve been encouraging her to use and find her voice but moreover, using her voice for good. Being a leader is not just about being the loudest voice in the room but making sure that you have something valid to say.

What tips are you teaching your children? Even if you’re not a Project Manager, I’d love to hear more!