In this episode, hosts Merv Jersak and Tim Jerome delve into the importance of resilience in project management, particularly in the IT sector. They discuss the concept of resilience, defining it as the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties, and outline its key characteristics such as adaptability, optimism, and perseverance. The conversation covers how resilience aids in navigating the fast-paced changes and disruptions common in the IT world. They suggest practical strategies like risk management, team training, and fostering a culture of resilience to help teams better handle uncertainties and enhance overall productivity. The episode emphasizes the need for project managers to act as role models of resilience, supporting their teams in becoming more agile and responsive.

Main Take-Aways

The project leader must be resilient and must teach his or her project team to be resilient in our fast-paced, ever changing world of implementing technical solutions. An overview of the importance of resilience in your role of project leadership includes:

• a working definition of the term, and a description of key characteristics
• the need for resilience in managing projects
• understanding the disruption that technology can bring to an organization
• building a culture of resilience, and fostering resilience within yourself and your teams
• improved productivity and risk management
• balancing resilience with endurance

Show Notes

Today’s Project Managers Coffee Chat: The Resilient Project Manager

00:37 Defining resilience in project management and characteristics of resilient individuals:

02:05     … ability to adjust behavior in response to changing circumstances

02:17      … persistence, ability to recover

02:46     … ability to prevent negative situations, optimism

03:38     … ability to toward project goals despite setbacks

04:00     … a time to recover form setbacks

04:42 Resilience in IT project management and dealing with change, fast pace, uncertainty.

05:43 Understanding that IT brings disruption requiring a resiliency when ensuring business continuity.

07:42 Resilience brings more productivity to your project teams.

08:55 Building a resilient team through creating a culture of resilience.

09:43 Resilience helps manage risk.

10:23 Traits of resilient project managers and how they are displayed on the project.

16:12 Balancing resilience and endurance; they are not the same, but they can complement each other.

18:10 Practical tips for fostering resilience within yourself and/or within your teams:

16:29     … build it into your team charter as a learnable skill

18:43     … assess, train, validate

19:00     … remind your teams of how they achieved resiliency in the past to continue to learn from for future challenges

19:48 Conclusion and introduction to the next episode on building resilience within your teams.