Good Project Management Starts With Influence

Project management at its core is about getting things done. Big things. Unpopular things. Unwieldy things. Being successful relies on the manager’s ability to influence others, and to gain true, active buy-in for change. More often than not, project managers must elicit support from people who aren’t direct reports, commonly peers or those above them in the corporate chain.

So how can you be more effective with your own personal influence, and hone it to be your most powerful asset?

That’s the topic that I set out to solve in my book, The Power of Presence, and will discuss on #pmchat on Friday, February 22nd. Ultimately, like any leader, personal presence is a prized quality for project managers. We all want it — but few of us know how to get it. Studies show that many of our views of what makes “presence” are flawed and unhelpful.

As I discuss in this article for CNBC, presence can be developed like any other management skill. Using my model, I-Presenceä, I discuss how leaders can be more intentional, individually connected, and inspirational. For project managers — the ultimate change agents — an influential presence produces a significant tailwind, not only increasing results, but building careers.

 

 

Kristi Hedges is a senior leadership coach with a specialty in executive communications, and the author of “The Power of Presence: Unlock Your Potential to Influence and Engage Others.” Her workshops and leadership coaching programs have been utilized by CEOs and teams of all sizes in companies spanning the Fortune 500, government, non-profit and privately held small to mid-sized businesses. She runs her own coaching practice, The Hedges Company, and is a founding partner in the leadership development firm, Element North. Kristi writes about leadership for Forbes.com. Follow her @kristihedges or at her blog at kristihedges.com.

     


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