7.8.9. Communications, Negotiations and Leadership
I'll lump the above three items here into one single point. In part because there is some overlap with other topics that I've already covered or am going to cover. What I will say safely, is that these points fall into the generic category of what people call 'soft skills' of the project manager. This area is very much diverse, with many tools and techniques that can be employed to better manage your team. And they're all covered in our three day course. When you've done this part effectively, you will have likely made doing your job significantly easier. The old adage in marketing applies equally here that "the cost of acquisition of a new customer, is ten times more than keeping your existing one". Work better with what you have.

So now as you prepare for the festive season, the new year or that family vacation cruise, don't forget to put into use, some of the techniques mentioned above. You've been given the team, whose choice of members is essentially out of your control. You'll no doubt have some team players, some not, some keeners, some not, some feel that they could be doing something different, doing more, doing less, happy, sad. If you're going to make this happen, it's up to you to put the team together, manage them, utilizing individuals for their particular strengths towards your ultimate goal. 

That concludes this installment of our PLOG. In my next plog, I'll look at no.8 of our continuing series of the nine project management knowledge areas, Quality Management. How do we achieve quality without sacrificing on our timeliness?

Sincerely,
William Beacon, PMP
ProjectMilestone.com