In a recent article at Tech Republic, Moira Alexander provides some handy advice on “gaining trust from project stakeholders.” It’s to her credit that the piece clearly looks beyond the straightforward credentials of project management certification.
While those credentials are undeniably important and distinctly valuable, it’s well worth remembering that they don’t stand entirely on their own. Your skills are showcased not only by the information technology training you’ve obtained, but also by how you use it and how well you can communicate the value of that training to your colleagues and clients.
Alexander actually doesn’t mention the word “training” or “certification” once in her article. Nonetheless, we expect that those readers who have obtained project management certification from Canvas InfoTech will recognize the effects of that training as they strive to apply her advice. After all, it’s more difficult to “be confident and prepared to answer questions” if you don’t have a formal, properly-tested understanding of the procedures and goals you’re discussing with stakeholders.
Not only that, but project management certification should give you specific training in how to communicate effectively and foster collaboration over shared objectives. And as we’ve pointed out on this blog in the past, those abilities are assets that extend beyond the boundaries of explicit project management roles. They are assets for the workplace in general, and perhaps even for life in general. And they should help you to achieve greater confidence by providing you not only with the answers to crucial project management questions but also with a sense of how to answer those questions.
Along the same lines, Alexander’s advice to not be “haunted” by the “ghosts of failed projects” is easier to follow if you’ve undertaken the information technology training and obtained the project management certification that allow you to put those past failures into proper context. This is also something that has been discussed at various times on the Canvas InfoTech blog: failed projects are learning opportunities, and project management certification provides you with the tools to thoroughly analyze those failures and then act upon your conclusions.
This also turns our attention back to the previous point about communication skills. The more effectively you can apply your training to communication with stakeholders, the more effectively you can explain past failures in a way that makes it clear they were ultimately productive and will not be repeated.
Whether you’re answering specific questions or defending your own record, the interpersonal effects of project management certification are indispensable. It’s not much of a coincidence, then, that Alexander’s third piece of advice is to “aim for clearer communication, above all else.” If you’ve obtained project management certification from us, or even if you’ve just been reading our blog, you should already have a sense of how important that is. And you should also feel capable of accomplishing it.
As long as this is the case, you will find you’re already on your way to fulfilling the last piece of advice offered by Alexander: “building a culture of trust.” When you can apply your project management training to effective communication with colleagues and clients of every stripe, that sort of productive and collaborative culture will be the rather natural result.