How do you balance project coordination with your well-being?

The insights provided about understanding one's role, setting boundaries, and effective communication resonate deeply with the servant leadership philosophy. As a servant leader, it's crucial to recognize that by clearly defining your role and scope, you not only protect your well-being but also enable your team to function harmoniously. Embracing the art of delegation is an embodiment of servant leadership in action – by entrusting others with responsibilities and fostering their growth, you cultivate an environment of empowerment. Moreover, knowing when to escalate or decline requests that exceed your capacity or authority showcases your commitment to the health of the project and the team.

Defining your role and knowing your scope will allow you to have a better picture where to put the boundaries to work with the constraints and find a way to communicate in a proper way to get the requests beyond your authority addressed.

Balancing project coordination with personal well-being is a profound challenge that I've learned to navigate through personal reflection. Role of the organization is significant, I've come to understand engaging and supporting workers is equally crucial. Creating a workplace culture open communication reduces stress and enhances overall project coordination. Scheduling external meetings focus on light discussions and team-building activities provides much-needed break from the daily grind. Moreover, the complete cut down on digital devices during these breaks has proven to be refreshing, fostering genuine connections and allowing for relaxation.

1. Prioritize and Delegate: Identify the most important tasks and focus your energy on those. 2. Time for Breaks: Take regular breaks to rest and recharge. Go for a walk, do a little dance, or indulge in a small treat. 3. Laugh it off: Maintain a lighthearted mindset and don't take everything too seriously. 4. Practice Self-care: Make sure to prioritize self-care activities that help you unwind and relax. Whether it's reading a book, taking a bubble bath, it's important to take time for yourself. 5. Set Boundaries: Know when to say no and set limits to avoid burnout. Learn to politely decline additional tasks or meetings that don't align with your current workload or well-being needs.

In my opinion, a great project coordinator should master all aspects of the project, including scope, time, budget, and technical proceeding, even more than the project manager. For example, it's so important that nobody has more information about the aspects of the project than the project coordinator in the project meetings. The final decisions and agreements will be made after acceptance by the project coordinator. So, to be a great project coordinator and reach the explained level, you must spend a lot time gathering data at the beginning of the project more than ever.

As a project coordinator, embodying these skills not only ensures a structured path to success but also demonstrates your commitment to serving both the project's goals and your team's needs. By crafting a clear project vision, breaking tasks into manageable pieces, and leveraging tools for monitoring, you facilitate a collaborative environment. Consistently reviewing and adapting your plan aligns with servant leadership's responsive and adaptive ethos, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and achieving outcomes that resonate with the philosophy's core values.

Project coordination, in a complex setting like hospital settings, needs skills on how to coordinate with different stakeholder external, internal, abroad as well as making decisions. A need for proper balance of your well-being and work since it is really stressful. It takes to balance competing tasks, adapt to shifting priorities, and proactively addressing emergent issues. Additionally, communicating and relationship building is essential to enable you to seamlessly integrate with your team and deliver high-quality services.

Planning should consume majority of your project, without effective planning; you are planning to fail. Accountability should be the key driver for all planning and prioritization. In my experience of managing projects, you can have all the project tasking and tracking tools in the world, if you don't honor and have strict deadline accountability, Timelines just become negotiables instead of deadlines.

A coordinator may need to manage multiple responsibilities related to one or more projects. Planning and prioritizing my day to day activities in a way that it aligns with project priorities was one of the things I had to learn by trial & error. Not every project requires multitasking from the coordinator, but being organized and learning to prioritize in day today activities is key to continuously align ourselves with project vision & goal, in my opinion. The planning tools and methods are extremely useful in this regards.

Reviewing the project plan, issues, risks and priority 1 defects as part of a weekly management meeting (Steering Group, Working Group) highlights to Stakeholders the RAG status of the program/project and therefore there should not be be surprises that mean you work late or into the night. Be honest about your timelines and don’t perform tasks that others are neglecting. Let they swing !

Regular, transparent communication channels with stakeholders, team, and clients are a testament to servant leadership's emphasis on empathy and understanding. By actively listening, offering feedback, and promoting a positive team culture, you create an environment where everyone's contributions are valued. This collaborative approach, aligned with servant leadership principles, enhances project success and nurtures a sense of shared purpose and motivation.

Communication and collaboration are essential. It should always be clear with everyone you're dealing with. Again I've seen projects go south due to a lack of that. Because people running thought the less others know about or were confused the more they, themselves can get away with. And that proved un true. Listening actively is also essential. I actually think this part is underrated. I've ridiculous amounts of assistance from other dept managers. Clearances/keys/cards/etc, Offices/cubicle spaces, etc. Didn't need to ask most times. I'm a really good active listener which is what makes me a good communicator. It also made them feel like I was one of their own.

In addition to everything that is mentioned in this section, I think smart communication is essential in project coordination. While dealing with project team members, stakeholders and client, it is important to establish empathetic & honest communication channel. By knowing what information is relevant to the receiver and providing the same in clear & specific way can reduce a lot of miscommunication or over communication. A good coordinator understands the significance of both overcommunicating & under-communicating and is able to tailor communication mode & channel according to individuals or situations.

Having an open and transparent communication among the members during the project can be the best asset to create a channel of empathy and collaboration. Be open to listen will give you ideas out of the box from the experts to solve things that everyone can consider impossible.

In an environment where technology offers advanced tools for project management, it is crucial to remember that success goes beyond the implementation of technical solutions. Soft skills, such as effective communication, leadership and empathy, are irreplaceable. Technology can facilitate, but interpersonal skills are essential for teamwork, problem solving and adaptability. In my experience, the balance between technology and soft skills makes all the difference in project management. #SoftSkills #Technology #ProjectManagement

I think perspective has a lot to do with managing stress & emotions. By attempting to understand the other perspective, we are able to handle situations, challenges or setbacks better. By considering a different perspective, I have been able to reduce my frustrations & stress during challenges, setbacks or conflicts. This has also allowed me to stay objective and consider what is best for the project and the organization; at the same time, allowing me to retain & refocus my energy and manage my emotions. Learning to lean on to our superiors, project team or peers for support during these situations is also another way for us to sustain ourselves while handling the situation effectively.

I always try to balance my work and personal life, and make time for myself , my family, and my friends. I try to eat well, sleep well, exercise regularly, and have fun. By prioritizing self-care, you exemplify a commitment to both the project's success and your team's overall wellness.

Recognizing that challenges, setbacks, and conflicts are inevitable, embodying this resilience reflects your commitment to both the project's progress and your team's well-being. Managing stress and emotions effectively, as servant leaders do, prevents them from impeding performance or relationships. By identifying triggers and adopting healthy coping mechanisms like meditation or hobbies, you cultivate an environment of self-care. Embracing open, appropriate expression of emotions and seeking support when needed aligns with servant leadership's empathetic approach, fostering a culture where everyone's emotional well-being is valued.

Complement your team when it is merited and shift issues and problems up the managerial ladder when you feel you have expended your efforts to get a fix or you feel you are banging your head against a brick wall with peers who are not delivering.

I think this is the hardest part on our daily basis. But if we can keep in mind that we are the result of our emotions and we reflect that to others; we should start managing better ourselves and remember that every difficult situation is an opportunity to learn.

By prioritizing self-care, you exemplify a commitment to both the project's success and your team's overall wellness. Setting attainable goals and acknowledging achievements align with servant leadership's emphasis on growth and positivity. Striking a balance between work and personal life echoes the philosophy's holistic approach, fostering a culture where individuals flourish. Embracing healthy eating, sufficient rest, regular exercise, and enjoyable activities reflects servant leadership's value of sustaining well-being, ensuring you remain equipped to serve the project and team effectively.

If your workload cannot be managed within your working hours then you need to speak to your line manager and the senior project management team because your employer has a duty of care to you as an individual. Don’t be afraid to speak to people especially if others are sitting on their hands. If people are not delivering, wave the red flag and slip the end date.

Self-care should be taking with responsibility and commitment how do you want to achieve professional goals if you don't have your personal priorities/goals identified?

The most important point for me. Only if we are well and take care of our regeneration and self-care will we be able to work successfully and sustainably in project coordination. I still remember at the beginning of my career when sleep was sacrificed in order to be able to work more hours, especially when deadlines were approaching. In my eyes, of course, this is absolutely wrong today. You can achieve more in terms of quantity (more hours) but not in terms of quality.

Grow can be fun if you take your bad/good experiences as foundation. Be open to receive feedback and be able to identify your areas of improvements will allow you to be open to change and accept new challenges.

I feel I cannot emphasize enough on prioritising. At times, when an individual is handling multiple projects at once, work can be overwhelming. I learnt to plan each day as follows: 1)Start the morning by delegating or assigning tasks to stakeholders for which you are dependent on them. Eg. Assign accounts for raising a bill, assign tasks to engineering team for drawing reviews & technical discussions, assign tasks to vendors for pending deliverables. 2)The next half was to focus on client communications & document/plan/project tracker preparations & quarterly planning. 3)End the day with updated task list for next day. Know when to end the day & stick to it. :) 4)Take small breaks & EAT between 1,2 & 3 :)

In amongst all the overloaded workload, long hours and stress you need to seek training etc. This blend doesn’t work, you need to find your work/life balance and own it.

I was lucky to you have Fully Accredited PMI training for PMP certification and learned from highly seasoned MBA’s from every industry related to personal experience. YES it was a brutal fast track course for a full year and the PMBOK was our Bible/guide if you have that kind of HEAVY professionals teaching you -you come out ready to hit the ground running -10 Modules monthly, tests weekly and a final at least once monthly. Our teachers were highly accredited seasoned PM AND PMO pros and took no prisoners but if they knew you were serious they were right there for and with you. 47 people started the class and 14 of us finished on time ready to hit the ground running. It actually taught us how to think like a PM in every aspect of life. ??

Too often senior stakeholders are that in name only. Senior managers don’t want to treat on peoples toes that might affect their careers so protect yourself. Don’t tolerate people who don’t deliver. Assign owners to actions and let them fall on their swords - nobody shoots the messenger !