Giving Back That Feels Like Taking

PMI Southern Alberta Chapter

Mike Griffiths is a consultant and trainer who help organizations improve performance through shared leadership, agility and (un)common sense. He maintains the blog LeadingAnswers.com.

Volunteering with PMI has many benefits. Not only does it feel good to be giving back to the profession that supports us, but whenever I do it, I learn something new and build useful connections with fellow project practitioners. Add to this the fact you also earn PDUs makes the whole process a win, win, win.

Project management can feel a solitary activity sometimes. Even if you work with large teams and in organizations with many project managers, the unique nature of projects means PMs often have less in common with their peers than other roles.

In a work setting, not all PMs are willing to share their best approaches or secret sauce. Perhaps they feel competition, as if their jobs could be replaced if they openly shared what worked for them. There is no such nonsense when interacting with other volunteers. You are automatically in a self-selecting group who have put a higher cause ahead of their sense of self-worth or importance.

I have come to discover that people who seem guarded with advice typically have little to protect, while those who are generous with their experience know the most and prosper more as they educate others. Knowledge and experience are not finite resources to be hoarded; instead, they become more valuable as you share them.

Over the years of volunteering with PMI, I have met many great industry leaders like “Risk Doctor” David …

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Published at Mon, 17 Dec 2018 05:00:00 +0000