Submitted by robertfosen on
in
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Hi everyone at MT.
My name is Robert, and I'm a 30 years old project manager from Norway. I would like to share some information about myself, but first a huge thanks to Mike and Mark for all the great podcasts. Keep them coming!
I'm married to a great and supporting woman, and we have to little boys. My youngest have recently turned two years and the oldest have turned four. I do therefore think that my most difficult but also my most important challenge, is to manage my own time to meet my employers, but also my families demands. Any tips...?
Currently I work as a project manager in a company that delivers heavy maintenance for commercial airliners. I have worked in this company for about a year now with repetitive but complex projects. I do often wonder whether we can call them projects or if we have to call them processes, but that’s another discussion. I feel like my management skills have really increased during the last month after I started to listen to these podcasts, and I have already seen some impressing effects due to my behavior change as a project manager.
What I have realized, which have been very clear to me lately, is that the level of competence and skills among the managers in the company where I work is kind of sad. I believe the main reason for this is a culture of internal recruitment. The technical competence among the managers is pretty high, but is it that kind of competence and skills we shall expect from our fellow managers? I would like to get some opinions on this topic, so please feel free to post some replies...
Best regards
Robert Fosen
Greetings from Norway!
Welcome, Robert!
I think it happens a lot, that someone who's good at the tasks gets promoted to manager of the department without any training in management or even much of an analysis whether the person would make a good manager. Like me for instance! :oops:
Good thing we have Manager Tools!
Re: Greetings from Norway!
Welcome!
[quote="robertfosen"]What I have realized, which have been very clear to me lately, is that the level of competence and skills among the managers in the company where I work is kind of sad.[/quote]
Think how much easier it is for you to stand out!
-Hugh
Re: Greetings from Norway!
Robert,
Welcome to the forums!
[quote="robertfosen"]my most difficult but also my most important challenge, is to manage my own time to meet my employers, but also my families demands. Any tips...?
[/quote]
Go home. Schedule it ahead of time ("Leave at 5pm on Wednesday...") and then just do it.
[quote="robertfosen"]I believe the main reason for this is a culture of internal recruitment. The technical competence among the managers is pretty high, but is it that kind of competence and skills we shall expect from our fellow managers? I would like to get some opinions on this topic, [/quote]
This is quite common in technical fields generally, and it's your opportunity to lead by example. Don't get frustrated, simply understand that others may have not yet figured out that "it's all about people." Your best strategy is be a good manager. Don't try to change your peers or your boss, just be good at what you do. As you get promoted, you'll be able to influence the culture (which is just the aggregated behaviors of the organization).
John