CATEGORY | Management Techniques

How To Manage Vendors Effectively As A Project Manager - 10 Crucial Tips
Construction Management

How To Manage Vendors Effectively As A Project Manager: 10 Crucial Tips

Vendors serve as the backbone of many projects. As a matter of fact, vendors play a critical role for any type of business. Vendors provide businesses with supplies, technology, equipment, services and about a million other things. Without these vendors, most businesses could not survive. The same can be said for projects – a bad vendor can make or break a project under the right circumstances. Project Managers must learn to manage vendors effectively from day one to maximize their relationship, while protecting the project from possible downsides. In this article, we’re exploring how to manage vendors effectively as a Project Manager, along with 10 crucial tips for success!

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Working For Difficult Clients As A Project Manager - Avoid These 5 Things
Project Management

Working For Difficult Clients As A Project Manager: Avoid These 5 Things

The Clients you work for as a Project Manager are like chocolates in a box – some of them suck. Such is life! We don’t always get to work for Clients that are nice, reasonable or even people we like on an individual basis. This is made ten times worse when we consider that Clients control most of the cards on the table – including payment! On projects like these, we need to work even harder as Project Managers to manage not only the work, but the Client too. In this article, we’re talking about working for difficult Clients as a Project Manager, along with 5 things to avoid at all costs.

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Putting A Project On Hold - When Project Managers Should Hit Pause
Construction Management

Putting A Project On Hold: When Project Managers Should Hit Pause

In the field of project management, we rarely hear of the words ‘slowing down’. In fact, those words often echo in infamy. Clients want their project completed as quickly as it can be. They’re more likely to request additional resources, more hours and accelerated timelines – slowing down or stopping isn’t something clients want to hear. Unfortunately, slowing down or hitting pause is the right thing to do for the Project Manager, despite what the client and even our own management may say. In this article, we’re discussing putting a project on hold and when P.M.s should hit that pause button!

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Project Management Efficiency Tricks & Hacks: 10 Go-To Techniques
Project Management

Project Management Efficiency Tricks & Hacks: 10 Go-To Techniques

Project management largely revolves around problem-solving, strategy and conscientiousness, but let’s get real – we also want to have a life. We desire positive outcomes and success for our projects, but we also want to leave at a reasonable hour, too. When it comes to efficient project management, ‘work smarter, not harder’ is the name of the game. We must put in enough effort to get the job done right, but we also need to monitor the time and energy it’s taking to get there. Today, we’re talking about 10 must-know project management efficiency tricks and hacks!

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How To Not Be Annoying At Work - A Few Things To Keep In Mind
Workplace Experiences

How To Not Be Annoying At Work: A Few Things To Keep In Mind

The hustle, the deadlines, the frustrations…work is difficult enough as it is. When we add an annoying coworker to the mix, though, our work lives can become too much to bear. Nobody likes an annoying coworker, and they have the ability to bring down the entire operation if left to their own devices. Let’s not be hypocrites – judgement of others is easy, but introspection is not. If we expect peace and serenity while working, we must also make sure that we don’t become that annoying coworker ourselves! In this article, we’re talking about how to not be annoying at work, along with a few tips to keep in mind.

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A Project Manager's First Day On The Job: Focus On These 3 Essentials
Project Management

A Project Manager’s First Day On The Job: Focus On These 3 Essentials

The first day on the job can be nerve-wracking for a Project Manager at any skill level. Working in a new environment comes with all sorts of challenges that we get hit with simultaneously. Between new coworkers, a different workplace culture and an impression to make, it’s easy to become overwhelmed when we start at a new job – let alone taking on our new project! That’s a whole other conversation, which we’ll have in this article. Today, we write about a Project Manager’s first day on the job, and the three essential things they should focus on first!

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Project Management

Managing Older Employees As A Younger Manager: Realities To Consider

As you become a manager in any industry, it’s inevitable that you’ll have to manage employees older than yourself. This is true for the vast majority of managers out there today. In many cases, people get promoted to a management position in their 30s or even in their 20s. The majority of their coworkers might be older than the manager in these instances! While managing an employee older than you requires a specific approach, it’s completely doable. In this article, we’re talking about managing older employees as a younger manager, along with some realities that go along with doing so.

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How Do You Manage Multiple Projects Effectively
Construction Process

How Do You Manage Multiple Projects Effectively? Our Top 10 Techniques

In a perfect world, a Project Manager would be given exactly one project at a time. We could put all of our attention and energy into getting the project completely finished before we even think about the next one. As you and I both already know, though, this world is far from perfect. People leave or get fired. New project opportunities pop up out of nowhere. Projects get delayed well beyond their original timeframe. Companies stretch resources. Busy times call for juggling. Some projects are just too small to require a full-time P.M. If you work in project management long

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Managing Egos At Work: How To Decipher The Hidden Messages. Plus, Learn About Freud's Concept Of The Id, Ego & Superego!
Project Manager Soft Skills

Managing Egos At Work: How To Decipher The Hidden Messages

Most people have more than one version of themselves inside. We have our rational minds – the part of us that’s calm, logical and conscious of reality, and then we have our ego – the self-preserving, survival-based irrational mind that is mostly based in emotion (feelings) rather than fact. Emotions like anger, frustration, disdain, jealousy and fear are just a few of the feelings that can trigger our ego to jump in and take over. While social pressures and societal standards incentivize us to be on our best behavior, our egos can still flare up in public, around others and yes, even at work. Humans have egos in part for survival purposes, but in current times, it doesn’t feel that way. We go to work to perform our duties and take home our pay, but that doesn’t stop us from being humans as we do it. Today, we discuss managing egos at work, specifically by deciphering the hidden meaning behind what egos are really saying.

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Importance Of Negotiation In Project Management
Construction Process

Importance Of Negotiation In Project Management, With Examples

Life is full of negotiations. If we look closely enough, we can find strands of negotiating in nearly every situation we find ourselves in. Whether it be choosing a restaurant, debating opinions with friends or convincing a kid to eat their vegetables, we can find ourselves in a negotiation without even realizing it. In the world of project management, contracts and big-picture discussions come to mind when the word “negotiate” arises. This is not where a project manager’s negotiation skills end, though. I guarantee that every project manager is involved with at least one negotiation per day, even if it isn’t seen as one. So why is it such a necessary skill for PMs? In this article, we’ll discuss the importance of negotiation in project management!

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