Hosts Merv Jersak and Tim Jerome delve into the importance of flexibility in project management, distinguishing it from adaptability by defining flexibility as the ability to bend without breaking. They discuss the significance of embracing ambiguity, gaining consensus, and fostering curiosity among teams. The conversation highlights how flexible project managers can enhance empathy, decisiveness, and composure while adapting to evolving business requirements and technological changes. The episode emphasizes modular planning, transparent communication, and cross-training as effective strategies for managing flexible teams and meeting stakeholder expectations.

Main Take-Aways

Flexibility is a key trait that the project leader must develop for continuous improvement and ongoing success:

• a working definition of flexibility
• benefits of flexibility in ambiguity and uncertainty
• flexibility and its role in helping you make better decisions
• the benefits of a flexibility mindset to enhance the human factors of project management
• the role of flexibility in helping you to keep pace with the rapid changes in technology and business
• the role of flexibility in helping you to manage stakeholders’ requirements
• strategies for flexible approaches to managing project teams

Show Notes

Today’s Project Managers Coffee Chat: Flexibility, an Indispensable Tool for the Project Leader

00:29 00:27 Introducing today’s podcast topic focusing on flexibility in project leadership and defining the term flexibility for context for this episode.

01:47 The importance of flexibility in dealing with ambiguous situations; a flexibility that allows us to be comfortable with ambiguity, to work with and build consensus, to allow your curiosity to guide you to good decisions.

03:20 An ability to be flexible reduces the burden of having to be the person who knows all, while still leading the team to making a good decision.

05:02 Developing a mindset of flexibility leads naturally to being more empathetic, understanding, decisive, calm, composed – those human factors that makes us better project leaders.

06:47 Flexibility gives you the ability to remain confident, even in those situations of ambiguity or uncertainty.

07:51 For you as a project leader, the ability to develop a strong flexible approach to managing projects is critical in these times of rapid technological and business change.

09:55 In today’s complex world of delivering IT projects, stakeholders are involved throughout the project; the project manager must maintain a strong sense of flexibility to both bend with the stakeholders’ requests and guide them to optimal solutions.

10:37 At the same time, an incorrect view of flexibility can be a weakness. You must learn to balance flexibility and firmness.

14:03 Applying flexibility to project planning.

16:16 Taking advantage of the human behavior of liking some difference and uncertainty and applying a flexible approach to those situations.

17:09 Strategies for flexible approaches to team management that include encouraging the development of flexibility within team members and stakeholders and cross-training for greater understanding of roles and responsibilities.