Introduction to Project Manager Associate
It’s been one whole successful year for you in this organization and you still feel like it’s just the beginning, but deep down in your mind you know you’re looking forward to the internal job posting that will be announced soon. In this article, we will learn project manager associate techniques.
You want to make a dash for the role of a Project Manager Associate as you see yourself being abundantly successful in that job role. You believe in your head that this is the job role made for you and you deserve it, all because you’ve been making the long journey towards your office, toiling at your workstation to make the cut just at the target, and leaving office right on time. But, do these all mean that the job is yours since you stick to the routine T and not venture into making most of your job role? And, with this on your track record, you can bag a promotion?
I am sorry to be disappointing you but you don’t seem to be qualified or the perfect candidate for this job role. With daily challenges getting even more exciting and with businesses and organizations pushing the bar higher still, gone are the days when just simple routine work for years on end could earn you a promotion based on your tenure and seniority. Businesses are getting smarter and more precise, with the demands of promoting only the best of the best. And, by this I mean, the top-notch workers who indulge in smart working styles and who are constantly in the process of getting better and more efficient. These are the people that organizations need as project manager associate.
In this article, we’ll explore 10 efficient and easy techniques that you will need to implement to bag that position as the long-lost Project Manager.
Why Do You Want to Be a Project Manager Associate?
Before we move on to the part where you get down to business, you will need to do a little introspection and come to terms with why in the whole wide world do you want to be a Project Manager Associate? What is it about this role that gets you so glued to it? Why do you need that promotion?
These are the questions that need some serious answering, without which it’s almost impossible to move ahead. As executives, we only tend to focus on the vertical movements and promotions that can take place and often neglect the lateral movements available if we’re good at what we do. We get so obsessed with the fact that we’re going to be managers that we don’t realize what it takes to become managers and we don’t even check with ourselves if that’s what we really want.
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- There are many people who aren’t really manager material but are really awesome at another job role. They may be the masters there but often sideline those job roles while thinking of being a project manager associate as something out of the extraordinary and dreaming of a steep hike in salary.
- Then again, there are those who are in it purely for the money. They may be good at what they do but their sole aim is to mint those bucks and they wouldn’t do anything apart from what the project manager associate job description says.
- Some individuals are forced to take up the baton as they watch their peers go for it and they feel they would be left out.
If you find a stark similarity with any of these scenarios, it’s better that you take a step back evaluate your wants and needs and then make an informed decision of whether you will fulfill your job duties to the T and bring in revolutionary changes as expected from a project manager associate.
On the other hand, if you have a great inclination towards managing people, process, contributing to ideas and innovation, mentoring, communication, and pure, unadulterated leadership, then you have every right to go for it!
Getting Started
Now since you’ve done your set of self-analysis and self-review and considering the fact that you’re still here, you are all set to take the plunge and go into getting that project manager associate promotion. All you need is to scheme through the following 10 wonderful techniques involved in getting you promoted to the project manager associate role. So, let’s get started.
1. Start Acting Like a Project Manager Associate
Speaking about daily work life, if you feel like a project manager associate and you act like a project manager associate, displaying the massive skill set you’ve amassed for yourself, then I don’t see any reason why you won’t be #1 on that list for a promotion. Be a project manager associate in your own capacity and showcase in action what you can possibly accomplish for yourself.
2. Acquire Experience
Hands-on project management experience is a very crucial step in getting preference as a project manager promotion candidate. It’s important that you gather up experiences in different aspects of a project and not restrict yourself to one side of the game. Explore and gain experience with that exploration. The more you know and the more you’ve done will reflect positively in your application for the job role of a project manager.
Get acquainted with what a project manager does and slowly incorporate the learning into your daily life.
3. Get that Certificate
Project management training and certifications can be your next step than just developing on your business and personal skills. While they are equally important, these certifications come as live proof in your resume for the promotion.
With project management training, you will tend to get more efficient at your work as well and will learn the tricks of the trade and the integration of project management tools in your daily work.
There are many project management institutes out there that help in grooming a potential talent in the field of project management. These institutes bring out the best in a project manager and make them ready to take up challenges at their workplace. Certifications, such as PMP, MPM, CAPM, and many more, can really help you sky-rocket your career.
4. Stay a Good Listener
A good listener is an individual who has exposure to the many things that people say and can easily be renowned as an information repository. Keep consulting a senior on the issues at hand and find the different ways the possibilities can be put into practice. Always understand the entire story to any issue or problem. This marks the potential of a great and successful project manager.
5. Unleash Your Leadership Skills
In order to bring about a change in your job designation, you must exhibit the key ability they are looking out for. In the case of a project manager promotion, ensure that leadership is part and parcel of your image as an employee. While in team meetings or Scrums, volunteer to facilitate the meeting and conduct it as a true leader.
Read more about leadership and what is expected of a leader. This way you can demonstrate that you can indeed rise up to the occasion and lead the team in the absence of your own manager. Always the first aim at getting to the position of second-in-command. This way it’ll be easier for your manager to pass on the baton to you, and you will have your team members and your peers already looking up to you for support, guidance, and coaching.
Unlike a manager, a leader is proficient in the way they look at their team members. They aren’t just team members to them but people who are driven to make things happen. Managing and leading such individuals is bliss for these leaders and they enjoy every bit of it. Make this known when you show up your leadership skills.
6. Maintain a Proactive Stance Not a Reactive One
Always be ahead of your game plan. Constantly think out of the box and maintain proactivity in your approach towards every task you perform. Even if you’re completing a routine task, ensure that each time you are at it you’re learning something new and you’re creating a new process for yourself. Always aim for more than what you can easily do.
Don’t wait for problems or negative feedback to come your way, in fact, stay attentive to the work you do and try being better each and every time you do it. Feel excited about your work and make that excitement known to your managers and senior management team. A proactive individual is more likely to uncover issues and problems within a system and find out ways of resolving them effectively. These individuals will also find out ways to improve the system and workflow efficiently, thus, showing off many traits of project management goals.
7. Indulge in Effective Communication
Communication forms the backbone of project management and it’s the key component for a project manager’s goals to attain success. Right from creating a communication plan through till demonstrating various presentation skills, with effective communication, you will be a preferred choice among other candidates for the promotion to project manager goals, as influencing and negotiation also form vital elements in this job role of a project manager.
Make sure whenever you speak to any colleague or manager within the organization, your communication is crisp and to the point and your diction should include project management terminologies. This will surely spark an interest. Make yourself loud and clear in your ideas and what you want to convey at all times. It’s interesting to have a say in every meeting and conference but also ensure that the quality of your communication is top-notch and not just meted out for the sake of communicating.
8. Consistently Remain on the Top
It’s only through hard work that you can achieve the title of a top performer and it’s through consistency that you can maintain that title. It’s important that you grab the attention of the top management and senior management teams so that they watch you as you grow through the ranks.
All project manager goals have indeed started off somewhere or the other. They have slowly built their way up to become top performers in their teams consistently, and they have made sure that their performance high enables them to learn the ways to be eligible for a promotion to the project manager job role.
As a project team member and with a title as a top performer comes to the promise of delivery and commitment towards the tasks and activities and the organization on the whole. If you exhibit this trait, you will surely be looking at a promotion coming your way soon, as companies are indeed in need of individuals who will lead by being shining examples for the teams.
9. Allow Feedback
Never shy away from feedback, it can be the most important lesson for you to learn. Know what your peers, subordinates, and managers need from you and learn how you can better yourself through each passing day. Make it known to everyone that you value feedback by simply asking them that you need it to improve on yourself.
Make sure you surround yourself with 360 degrees of feedback so that you are self-aware of how your actions are perceived by others. This way you’ll have a fair understanding of how much you need to work to get that coveted job promotion. This understanding will enable you to work in the right direction towards success in your current job role as well as build up a foundation for you in your potentially next top job promotion.
10. Always Take the Ownership
You have something revolutionary revolving in your head and have all intentions of getting it out to the business, but you turn out to be the shy one and you approach another colleague with the idea who then makes it their own. There goes your chance at creating something truly momentous for the organization.
Always own up to what you say and believe in and the ideas that crop up in your mind. Make your presence felt in the area you believe will take you right to the spot of being a super contender of project management goals. Be at the forefront of activities taking place and carve a place for yourself within it. The more you have a stake in everything that is going on in your department, the sooner will you reach expand towards other aspects of management. You will slowly be allowed to monitor and supervise projects and from there you can kick-start your journey towards project management goals.
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