After a long day of work, you sit back and think of everything you accomplished. You fed the kids, got them to school and activities and even helped them with their homework. You are a great parent!

You helped your partner cook and clean. Even took the time to talk to them about their day and any rough times they had. You are a great partner!

Your boss sent you a bonus check and announced how awesome you did on that account project you finally closed after months of hard work. You are a great employee!

So why are you unhappy and feel stuck or lost? Let’s look back at the prior thoughts. Great parent, partner, and employee. What could possibly be missing? What happened to being a great you?  Often, we get stuck focusing on the roles we play, parent/partner/employee, and forget about the person behind the role. We get this idea if we successfully completed these tasks, we are successful and thus happy… right?

Make a list of you.

Stop and take some time to write a list, on paper or digital, of the things that make you, you. Go ahead and take just 5 minutes and do that now with a few of the below suggestions.

• Twenty activities you enjoy, big or small.
• What makes you relax or how you reward yourself.
• What interests you have, even if it is just a favorite color or that amazing hat you saw last week on Pinterest.

 OK. List in hand. Now read through the list and see how many you have done in the last day. How about week? Month? If you haven’t done at least one every other day, you might have found part of the problem. Not taking the time for yourself can result in a loss of who we are as a person.

Put yourself first.

Reviewing the list again, plan in just one item, every other day. It could be having a quiet cup of tea in the morning, or a short break while working to walk outside for 5 minutes. Even wearing that hat that doesn’t really match anything but makes you feel good. What it is doesn’t matter, only that it means something to you. Continue for just two weeks then take the time to reflect. How do you feel now? As you change, be willing to revise the list or toss it out and re-create it. Doing so is a great way to learn more about yourself and find what makes you, you.

Manish grew up in India and graduated in business management. His career journey took him to various continents from Australia to Europe to finally North America. His initial career was in IT technology building and support software products, an interest in people and outcome of the technology initiatives brought him to a Project manager role. He got his PMP in 2010, followed by his PgMP in 2016.

When asked about challenges he faced when he moved into the PM role – he says the key challenges were about working across multiple functional teams and ensuring everyone is aligned with the focus and directions of projects and programs and that the team is humming like one unit and not multiple small teams working in silos. I have seen the journey from very waterfall-oriented stages of a project to more nebulous ways of Agile, where the focus is on sprint and PI planning and not so much about the stages and hard dates.

The profession has gone through an interesting overhaul, where the role of a Project management professional has evolved from being the one to “track “and “govern “to more about “Leading “and “helping “through servant-leadership mindset in recent times.

He enjoys the challenge of delivering value through execution framework involving Projects, Programs, and strategic initiatives, especially as the outcomes are time bound and measurable in most cases – which helps to see first-hand how an initiative helped a client or a business challenge being resolved.

He became a PMI Phoenix chapter volunteer during 2020 – started with the Corporate Outreach and Ambassador team. The ambition was to have PMI PHX chapter increase its footprint in the corporate landscape of the valley , however the pandemic made it very hard to have any in-person meeting or gathering to generate real interest , as most companies were grappling with the fallout of the pandemic on their balance sheet as well as employees .  In his most recent stint as a volunteer, he has been part of the membership team and helped ensure blog posts like these are created as well as helped organize the monthly networking events which started during the fall of 2023.

His advice to new members is that volunteering is a fantastic opportunity to connect with volunteers and professionals who have diverse backgrounds and perspectives on everything related to Project Management and more. Don’t hold back if you want to give back to the profession and to the community of these amazing human beings who are making such a big difference in the world.

In his own words “It’s amazing to see the diversity of our profession, various industries from software to semiconductor to construction which employs amazing professionals like us and the challenges each industry faces which are solved by the profession of Project management.”

On the personal front, he is married and has two kids with his wife Tina and a dog named Uno. He loves to play tennis when it is not too hot (anything below 110°) and travel to novel places whenever possible.

PMI Phoenix is requesting judges to assist with the Paradise Valley Science and Engineering Fair is coming in February. PMI Phoenix Academic Outreach is continually looking for ways to give back to our community. This is an opportunity where we can provide educational mentoring and assistance to students so that they can get feedback from project management professionals.

From a judging standpoint, you will be judging the process and you do not have to be an expert in a particular scientific or engineering area. The high school in-person interviews will be held on Saturday, February 10, 2024, from 8-11:30 am in the small gym on the PVHS campus.   The 9th and 12th-grade students who had a fall CREST class will compete along with a few teams from other grades. The time commitment for judges is approximately 2-3 hours between 2/3/24 and 2/8/24 to judge projects virtually, and 8-11:30 am on Saturday, 2/10/24, to conduct in-person interviews at PVHS. Judges will interview the same teams they review the digital content prior. 

The PVSchools K-8 SEF will be held virtually and judged virtually only.  Judging dates for K-8 are February 13-22, 2024.  The same time commitment of 2-3 hours also applies to the K-8 judging window and will use the same judge registration form.

Logistics

• Register to be a judge! Who Can Judge? Professionals, Technicians, High School and College students, teachers and professors, and parents. Please list PMI Phoenix as the organization that you are representing.
• Please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to let him know that you are participating in this endeavor.
• Please track the hours that you spend performing your feedback  responsibilities.
• If you do have questions regarding this, please contact Steve Poessnecker (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Pamela Fulk, M.Ed.  NBCT CREST / STEM Coordinator, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

By Heather Cardosi

January 6th, 2024

“Cultivating psychological safety within the project team by creating trust and setting the ground rules for all the team members is critical for project success,” says Martinez Gonzalez. “It will encourage innovation, reduce risks by increasing transparency, and drive internal accountability.”¹

Psychological safety refers to the ability to speak up without fear of reprimand or humiliation. Stepping forward to share ideas and potential solutions creates moments of vulnerability, and as a project manager, it is your job to cultivate that vulnerable moment. Sharing those moments enables teams to find each other's strengths, which, when used together, closes the window of team failure.

A good starting point is to ensure team members learn about each other through a team meeting. Conduct this in person if possible. Otherwise, use a virtual meeting, asking everyone to have their cameras on and all other windows closed. They need to give their full attention to the meeting. No multi-tasking allowed. Dedicate the meeting to team bonding, starting the meeting with an explanation of why you are all there, and then actually start the conversation. 

Start talking about yourself, only briefly touch on technical skills, focusing on life outside of work. Where do you come from? What family might you have? Share at least one strength and one weakness.  Be willing to be the first vulnerable person in the room. Doing so not only shows your team what you are asking them to do, it shows them you are a person too. You are a part of the team, not just its leader.  Then, ask that they do the same. Giving them your full attention shows you value their words and experiences. You see them. 

As team members hear what each other has to say, they will start to understand who their team member is as a person. What have they gone through, and why they might react in a certain way. Seeing each other as people and not just skill sets or task assignments. 

Your ability to lead the team will also grow. A better understanding of your team's people will help you craft ground rules and identify better communication strategies. What may have seemed as intentionally obstructive behavior prior may now be realized as someone who has trouble handling change and needs a little additional help. Maybe you were saying something they were taking the wrong way and feeling defensive.  

These are all possibilities that wouldn't be noticed if everyone hadn't taken the time to be vulnerable. Learning from each other that it is OK to be seen and heard. That together, with your guidance, the team is safe, strong, and capable.

References

Dear PMI Phoenix Chapter Members, 

Happy holidays! Since last I wrote, we were selected by PMI as Chapter of the Year in Category III (>1500 members)! That’s out of the 300 PMI Chapters around the world! I am honored to be part of this incredible Chapter. The PMI Chapter of the Year Awards program recognizes and celebrates those chapters that have made significant contributions to members, the project management profession, and Project Management Institute. Our Chapter builds opportunities for all our members to engage, learn, grow, network, give back, and support each other in our project management journey. Thank you for being part of this journey with us. It is all of us together that has made this a truly special Chapter that PMI has recognized.  

Help me welcome Heather Cardosi, Aaron Jang, and Sean Ryan to our Board of Directors. These three outstanding individuals have committed their time and energy to our Chapter to help support the vision and mission and ensure we continue to execute our strategic objectives to continue to carry our chapter forward. 

I want to once again thank our corporate partner, Nextiva, for providing space in their beautiful training facility for the PMI Phoenix Board of Directors to meet during day-long strategy sessions. Their hospitality and partnership have been invaluable to allow us to plan and move forward on many initiatives this past year. 

As I look back over 2023, our Chapter has held many programs and events: 

Our monthly virtual breakfast meeting, hosted by Paul Bartal, on the last Friday of each month (with adjustments for holidays) is regularly attended by 100+ participants. The breakfast meetings are speaker events to address current topics and trends in project management, but so much more: They provide a forum for networking, recognition of certification achievement, and a place to share if they are looking for jobs or have jobs opportunities to fill. It’s a community of project managers and project management professionals coming together to network and grow. 
We’ve launched monthly Phoenix Fusion Networking for new members to join and connect with existing chapter members. These lively evening events are rotated around the valley in different locations, and are designed for those who've recently joined, those who've been with us for a while, and those curious about our community. These new events average 40-50 attendees each month. 
Our Social Good Team just completed a full year of events, with five events this year. In addition, during our 45th Anniversary Celebration picnic the Social Good Team organized building hygiene kits to distribute to local non-profit groups serving the homeless. 
The PMI Phoenix Chapter participates in two collaborative chapter meeting programs that bring different content and viewpoints outside the Phoenix Metro Area:  
We are in our third year of participating in the PMI Chapter Xchange Program and were only the second US-based chapter when we entered the program. The PMI Chapter Xchange has grown to include 26 chapters and provides a unique, diverse, and worldview experience to our chapter members.  
We began collaborating with the PMI Los Angeles multi-chapter meetings in 2022. These meetings currently include eight chapters and are offered monthly to our members. These meetings offer differing regional views and are very popular with members who travel between chapter cities. 
Watch our newsletter, Facebook page, Instagram, LinkedIn, and website for details on all these programs and events, along with much more. If you are interested in volunteering, click here. 

To stay up to date on everything your membership provides you, keep an eye on our monthly calendar, as we add new speakers and events throughout the month. 

Thank you for joining the PMI Phoenix Chapter. You are a valued member, and I want you to get as much benefit from your membership as you can.  

Stephanie Hanko 

2023 PMI Phoenix Chapter Board Chair