Many changes have occurred in the corporate world over the past 2 years, ever since the “work from home” routine became a norm for many. Even when some organizations introduced “hybrid” models, when you can work from home 2-3 days a week, the time in office is not always as productive as it was before the pandemic.
As a result, many things are taken for granted. We assume scenarios without seeing enough evidence and without talking to people whose opinions are important. Many decisions are made “behind the scenes”.
In such situations, risks cannot be properly analyzed and dependencies cannot be well discovered. This leads to failures: at the very least, failures to properly plan activities and to conduct estimates.
A project manager cannot be an expert in every subject matter pertaining to their project. It takes a big deal of imagination to interpret the updates that team members provide through conference calls and virtual meetings into something that triggers your mind for alerts, and visualization of project activities and dependencies.
In addition, while left alone, team members are often less motivated and less creative, because no one can really see their true challenges or their daily achievements.
That is why years ago, I made it my standard practice to come on site, whenever possible, to hold one-on-one meetings with team members and to learn from them about what they do. By doing so, I cannot become an expert in their area, but those meetings are truly eye opening. Every single time, I notice that the exact same message communicated at a conference call gives me at least twice less information than that “look and feel” impression.
Be there for your team members, for your SME’s, for your project, for yourself. You will see how the “black boxes” in your project vision get shapes and colors, and start making sense. Your team members will also feel that you care about what they do and they would certainly appreciate your leadership.