If you look into my backpack on any given day, you will find a laptop, cell phone and chargers; ID badges for various buildings; an assortment of folders and notebooks; supplies for leading group exercises involving post-its, markers, and masking tape; and an insulated bag containing snacks and fruit.
Yet if you look into my cubicle, you will find in the drawers a collection of folders and notebooks that could probably be thrown away unnoticed because my most important documents are stored electronically, and a desktop on which the most precious article is a picture of my husband on our wedding day. Even the Bob’s Wobble Clock–although I can’t bear to toss it–is superfluous because I use the clock on my computer most of the time.
As I was lugging aforesaid backpack up the stairs to my home office this morning, the phrase “unrelenting mobility” came to mind. As with most phrases I attribute to my own cleverness, when I Googled “unrelenting mobility”, I discovered that I wasn’t the first person who thought of it. Among the results were references to nomadism in a book called “John Wayne’s World: Transnational Masculinity in the Fifties”; a review of a play about the movement of modern America from community to isolation; and an article about the “global politics of contemporary travel writing”.
Even though the phrase isn’t original—or maybe because it isn’t—the description of my career is fitting. In a world (well, maybe not in John Wayne’s World…) in which projects have grown increasingly dependent on off-shore resources, conference calls, and online document repositories, mobility is an important trait in forward-thinking project managers. Luckily, I have actually learned to enjoy the ability to carry my office from place to place.
One of my job goals for 2013 has been to practice more “management by walking around”. This doesn’t mean pestering people at their desks and looking over their shoulders as they work. It’s about being present with team members by participating in conference calls from their offices instead of from my desk. It means occasionally arriving at an offsite meeting early and taking advantage of a swing space, then walking to the meeting with a colleague I don’t see often. This is a stretch for me because I love nothing more than sitting alone with my headphones on, listening to streaming radio while working on an MS Project schedule.
Unrelenting mobility isn’t only about physically moving from place to place with your tools on your back. It’s about flexibility of mind, about moving out of my comfort zone so I can be a more people-oriented project manager. What adventures have you embarked on lately by stepping out of your cube?
Well said. That is also a great challenge for healthcare management in general: using technology to drive care to offsite locations (such as minute clinics or the patient’s home); this is the solution to bringing healthcare costs down. As with other “disruptive” technologies that decentralize how we interact with our patients, management from a distance, as you point out, needs to drive project management. Incidentally research by prof. Amabile from Harvard Business School found that when employees are somewhat “left alone” by their managers (i.e: no micromanaging) they achieve more breakthroughs. Healthcare and higher education are two of the main industries that need to learn that lesson quickly. Thanks.
Great post. Another thing people sometimes get in the habit of doing is calling into a meeting instead of attending in person, not because it’s geographically inconvenient, but because they want to multitask at their desk. As a previous blogger wrote, true multitasking isn’t really possible – you’re only half listening. Often it’s just better to commit. Prioritize among tasks and “go all in” on one.
Yes, commitment–that’s an important word! For example, I’m settled right now in a room at one of our offices and just received a cancellation for the meeting I’m here for. A pain–just a bit, but now I can head for home knowing I “showed up”.
And you are right, Robson–micromanagement is the enemy of the mobility concept.
Thanks for reading!
Sandie