In this episode, hosts Merv Jersak and Tim Jerome delve into the concept of 'common sense' within project management, particularly focusing on why it sometimes appears uncommon. They discuss how common sense bridges technical know-how and business requirements, its role in decision-making, and its importance in leadership. The discussion spans emotional intelligence, ethics, team management, and the evolution of common sense through experience and mentorship. The hosts also explore how common sense can simplify solutions and highlight the significance of communication in applying common sense effectively.

Main Take-Aways

The most successful project managers display an uncommon ability to apply common sense to their decision-making and overall management. Some key perspectives include:

• defining uncommon common sense
• relying on status quo in common sense decision-making
• the importance of common sense to your ability to manage as is your technical skill
• bridging business and technical perspectives
• finding simple solutions rather than complex ones
• focusing on high priority tasks
• acting ethically
• developing common sense through experience over time
• the importance of mentorship
• applying self-reflection
• developing habits
• using common sense in social situations
• attention to hunches and nudges
• applying common sense to decision-making
• having excellent communication skills

Show Notes

Today’s Project Managers Coffee Chat: Common Sense is Not Always So Common

00:27 Exploring the concept of applying common sense to your role as project leaders.

02:09 Defining common sense in leadership to set the context for the next five podcast episodes.

03:15 The positives and negatives of relying on status quo with regard to common sense.

04:03 Common sense is as essential to your leadership role (or perhaps more so) as is your technical abilities in your position.

04:43 Two ways of looking at uncommon common sense: 1) it’s uncommon because it is rarely use, and 2) it’s uncommon in that it’s extraordinarily astute.

06:01 Effectively being able to bridge technical and business perspectives is a common sense skill to learn.

07:18 The ability to find simple solutions over complex ones is a common sense approach.

08:44 Focusing on high priority tasks rather than attending to every task that demands your attention is a sign of common sense prioritization.

09:13 Common sense requires attention to ethical behaviors which helps build trust and rapport.

10:23 Developing common sense takes time and is best learned through practical experience, including the mistakes you make.

11:18 Develop strong mentorship to help build your common sense approach to managing projects.

11:35 Common sense is also built through self-reflection and self-regulation (e.g. keep a journal to track your decision-making over time).

12:53 The role of developing habits and their relationship to common sense.

14:59 Using common sense in social situations and project situations.

16:34 Intuition (hunches and nudges) are useful in building good common sense approaches to project work and life in general.

18:47 Applying common sense in decision making, solutioning, brainstorming, analysis, etc.

20:11 Excellent communication skills are a strong indicator of excellent common sense.