When it comes to projects, sometimes we have to get out of our own way. Find out how to recognize your assets and liabilities so you can leverage what you do well and keep your motivation and energy up throughout the project.

1. When Style Matters
Recognizing and Embracing Personal Assets and
Liabilities in Project Management
Your presenter is:
Alison Sigmon, M.Ed., LPC, PMP
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2. What’s on tap for our time together today…
When it comes to projects, sometimes we have to get out of our own way.The first step in
this process is to recognize your assets and liabilities so you can leverage what you do well
and also keep your motivation and energy up throughout the project.
Today we’re going to look athow to develop awareness of your assets and liabilities so you
can create balance between what excites you and what drains you. Understanding this will
help you define and delegate work more appropriately, partner with the right stakeholders at
the right time, and put your skills and the skills of others where the project will most benefit.
Agenda
 Few of my favorite things – well, sometimes…Nature of project work
 Centered leadership: Working from a core
 Assets & liabilities: Embracing who you are
 Pursuit of the right path: Balancing &partnering with others
 Get out of your own way: Techniques, methods, & best practice
 Wrap it up!
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3. A few of my favorite things – well, sometimes…
The nature
of project work
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4. Project work responsibilities – process oriented
Process oriented
Process oriented behaviors typically
support the development and
management of the following project
needs:
 Budget
 Schedule
 Scope
 Change control
 Reports
 Issues
 Performance
 Quality
 Risk identification & response
 Vendors & contracts
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5. Project work responsibilities – relationship oriented
Relationship oriented
Relationship oriented behaviors
typically support the identification
&management of the following project
needs:
 Stakeholders
 Influence
 Communication
 Negotiation
 Facilitation
 Engagement
 Expectations
 Team morale & motivation
 Conflict
 Rewards & recognition
 Cross-functional activities-networking
 Politics
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6. Pumped or pooped…
Process oriented
Process oriented behaviors typically support
the development and management of the Which of these
following project needs:
leave you feeling
 Budget Relationship oriented
 Schedule Relationship oriented behaviors energized?
 Scope typically support the identification
 Change control
&management of the following project
 Reports needs:
 Issues Which ones make
 Performance Stakeholders
 Quality  Influence you feel stoked to
 Risk identification & response
 Communication
 Vendors &contracts
Negotiation do as much as you
 Facilitation
 Engagement possibly can for as
 Expectations
 Team morale & motivation long as you can?
 Conflict
 Rewards & recognition
 Cross-functional activities-networking
 Politics
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7. Pumped or pooped…
Process oriented
Process oriented behaviors typically support
the development and management of the Which of these
following project needs:
leave you feeling
 Budget Relationship oriented
 Schedule Relationship oriented behaviors drained?
 Scope typically support the identification
 Change control
&management of the following project
 Reports needs:
 Issues Which ones can fill
 Performance Stakeholders
 Quality  Influence you with dread and
 Risk identification & response
 Communication
 Vendors &contracts
Negotiation make you want to
 Facilitation
 Engagement postpone doing
 Expectations
 Team morale & motivation them for as long as
 Conflict
 Rewards & recognition possible?
 Cross-functional activities-networking
 Politics
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8. Centered leadership
Working
from a core
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9. Skip or fall…depends on your interests &focus
Not all activities are created equal. The simple fact is some things we do in our
projects are more compelling, interesting, and energizing than others and this
is VERY normal.
While knowing what revs up your engine is important, it’s just as important to
know what can make it stall. Whether it’s numbers or networking, knowing
where you happily skip and where you dreadfully fall can help you with
prioritizing your work and partnering with others who get energized by doing
things that drain you.
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10. Centered leadership
The work of a project is typically far
larger than can be done by one person.
As a project manager, you lead
stakeholders to meet project objectives
and deliverables, but to get others to
follow you must be centered.
Being centered is about operating from
a core, which is a stable set of values
and principles that guide us in our work
and life.
This is what we bring to the project
environment, and it is the part of
ourselves that affects the people with
whom we work which is why knowing
our strengths and weaknesses is so
important.
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11. Centeredness attributes
Image courtesy of http://integrallife.com/
When a project manager is centered, the following attributes are obvious:
 Awareness and understanding of how to leverage their assets and liabilities
 Actively work to grow and practice emotional self-awareness
 Motivation comes from inside and not outside forces
Identify and manage their stress effectively
 Ability to thrive in change
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12. Centeredness: Where do we start?
With all the busy-ness of work and life today, it might sometimes feel
challenging to know what’s coming and going and where you stand
among the chaos.
The first step begins with knowing your assets and liabilities.
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13. Assets &liabilities
Embracing
who you are
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14. Let’s get clear…
To be fair no one person is good
at everything, which is why we
have teams to get projects done.
Because we all have different
strengths and weaknesses, it’s
important to know about
ourselves and other people so we
can pull together a
complementary project team.
A good first step in this process
is developing an understanding of
your assets and liabilities.
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15. What is an asset?
An asset is anything that we
do well and gives us energy
just by doing it.
 We lose track of time as
we are immersed in the flow
of the activity
 We anticipate the activity
in a positive way
 We enthusiastically put the
activity at the top of the To
Do List
We feel excited about it
even if we’ve not done it
before
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16. What is an liability?
An liability is anything that
we either can’t do very well
or drains our energy by
doing it even if it is
something we do well.
 We tend to postpone it and
procrastinate
We may feel dread when
anticipating it
 It’s hard to stay focused
 We feel anxious or
frustrated at the thought of
it or while actually to do it
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17. If the shoe fits – wear it!
Don’t think of assets and
liabilities as being good and
bad but rather as things that
motivate and inspire you.
Everyone has their
preferencesfor project
activities.
The key is understanding
what they are and then
matching the right work to the
right person at the right time –
and that includes you!
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18. In pursuit of the right path
Determining
assets & liabilities
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19. Assets & liabilities – how do we know?
There are two steps to leveraging our assets and liabilities:
 Uncovering and acknowledging our differing abilities.
 Leveraging this information to develop new ways of
managing.
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20. When you’re hungry for more
Consider the following activities
when assessing your assets and
liabilities:
Identify the order you tend to
complete tasks. Things you are
excited to work on when not under
a time constraint are probably
things you do well and inspire you.
Note your energy level after
completing a task. If you are
feeling drained after completing the
task then it might be a liability.
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21. Feedback from the inside and out
Use others’ feedback at regular
intervals. Honest feedback can
be very difficult to get but can be
valuable. Pay attention to
unsolicited comments as well.
For example, “He’s really good at
the big picture, but he’s scarcely
available when it’s time to sort
out the details.”
Pay attention. Rate your energy
level for them and how much you
like them. This will give you some
idea of the “goodness of fit”
between you and the work you
do.
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22. Get out of your own way
Techniques,
methods, & best practice
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23. Uncovering blind spots
To leverage assets and attend to your liabilities means you must
know yourself and pay attention to others.
We all have blind spots so watch and listen. Seekfeedback from
others at regular intervals. Ask team members what energizes
them. This way you can match activity to skill/interest.
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24. Focus on a win
Leave work energized. Finish off
the day with a win. Do something
that will leave you feeling good.
This could be anything – checking
off something on your To Do list,
a quick conversation with
someone, notes in a journal, or
creating your To Do list for the
following day. It’s up to you to
figure out what you can do to feel
good when you go home.
Be realistic with end of day and
start of day activities.
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25. Play together
Surround yourself with people
who are strong where you are
weak.
 Be clear with roles and
responsibilities
 Tell them why you value their
skills
 Let go – Step back when
someone can to step up
 Stop feeling inadequate or
apologizing for what you can’t
do. Work with others so everyone
can shine.
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26. Get out of the comfort zone
Learn to ask for help. Ask the right
people and understand the
difference between asking for help
and dumping work.
Address your fears. Shore-up the
basics of critical areas (e.g., find
someone who can teach you how to
read project financials).
Ride the ragged edge of
discomfort. If we are working on
something that we know is a liability,
but we don’t feel uncomfortable,
we’re probably not doing it right. We
tend to slide back into our assets
because it feels better.
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27. Taking the long view
This kind of awareness doesn’t
happen overnight. Doing the
following can create simple
reflection points that generate the
awareness we need to support
projects in the best way possible.
Keep a journal. It doesn’t have to
be long or time consuming – 10
minutes or less to capture a few
sentences about key events in the
day.
Lessons learned upon milestone
completion. Ask: “What went well,”
“What went wrong,” and “What can
we do differently next time?”
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28. Wrap up…
When it comes to projects, sometimes we have to get out of our own way.The first step in
this process is to recognize your assets and liabilities so you can leverage what you do well
so you can keep your motivation and energy up throughout the project.
Developing awareness of your assets and liabilities supports you in creating balance
between what excites you and what drains you. Understanding this will help you define and
delegate work more appropriately, partner with the right stakeholders at the right time, and
put your skills and the skills of others where the project will most benefit.
What we considered today:
 Few of my favorite things – well, sometimes…Nature of project work
 Centered leadership: Working from a core
 Assets & liabilities: Embracing who you are
 Pursuit of the right path: Balance &partnering with others
 Get out of your own way: Techniques, methods, & best practice
 Wrap it up! Questions???
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29. Thank you!
www.systemation.com
Alison Sigmon, M.Ed, LPC, PMP
asigmon@systemation.com
Twitter @alisonsigmon
www.slideshare.net/ahsigmon
www.mindscraping.com
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