Podcast: Project Management and Resilience

Project Management is a demanding discipline. Pressure can easily get to you. And, if that happens, your effectiveness will suffer… and so will your team, your relationships, and your results. So personal and professional resilience is a huge asset to a project manager.

In this resilience podcast, Elise Stevens of Elise Stevens.co (formerly at: Fix My Project Chaos), interviewed me about this topic.

It’s an important topic to me. Because there was a single, defining incident that changed my attitude and led me to research resilience.

The Fix My Project Chaos Podcast

I first got to know Elise Stevens when I recommended her excellent podcast series in my roundup of Project Management podcasts. She contacted me and asked to interview me. I was delighted.

Elise focuses on the personal, relationship and stakeholder aspects of project management. So, as author of a definitive book on stakeholder engagement (The Influence Agenda) it was particularly interesting. But Elise had seen one of my articles here, where I talked about three challenges Project Leaders face in tough times. This is what she wanted to talk about – and to focus on the need for resilience.

So that’s what we talked about.

The Project Management and Resilience podcast page is on the EliseStevens.co website.

Project Management and Resilience

Elise started her interview asking me about the three challenges project managers can expect in tough times:

1. Handling resistance to change
2. Making a measured response when you are under pressure
3. Staying tough – meaning resilient

She then focused on this last topic. In a wide ranging interview, we covered:

• The story of my own project meltdown, and how I came to start researching this subject
• What we mean by stress – and what causes it
• Tools you can use to help you manage stress
• The difference between short term stress management and long-term resilience
• The relationship between Project Management and Change Management

I recommend you either set aside 20 minutes to listen, or download it for your next run, cycle, car journey or other opportunity.

What next…

If you like this, then:

1. Pop over to Fix My Project Chaos
2. Browse Elise’s fabulous archive of project management soft-skill focused podcasts
3. Sign-up to get notifications when new ones come out

Here is the Project Management and Resilience Podcast

If you liked this interview, you may also like…

Guest article by Elise Stevens, on this site

• Difficult Stakeholders: 4 Steps to Engage Them

Articles linked to the topic of Project Management and Resilience

• Three Project Leadership Challenges for Tough Times [and what to do]
• Feeling Overwhelmed by Your Project? What to Do
• Managing Conflict on Projects: Everything You Need to Know
• How to Handle a Difficult Project Sponsor [6 Different Types]

Books Recommendations

Brilliant Project Leader
Has three chapters on Project Leadership in tough times, including one on resilience

How to Manage Stress
All about techniques to restore control and deal with unwanted stress. This is a second edition of the best-selling Brilliant Stress Management.

Both books are available in our Project Management Bookshop.