A leader who keeps an open mind will bring in more diverse opinions and ideas to help a project succeed.
Drew Hope, who previously served as program manager for the Game Changing Development Program Office in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, discusses the advantages of keeping an open mind as a program manager.
Video key learning points:
- 1.
Be open-minded so that you allow people you manage to operate in their job roles in the way they work most effectively. As long as you receive the specific information you need to perform your own role as a program manager, let those that report to you operate using their preferred style.
- 2.
An open-minded program manager gathers ideas and advice from involved project team members before making decisions about a program and project.
- 3.
Being decisive without getting multiple perspectives from project team members can seem like a good way to save time and be efficient, but in the long run a leader can build buy-in by listening to various points of view from a team.
- 4.
Try not to make decisions too quickly even when stressed. Team members at the working level get frustrated when they don’t have any influence on decisions made about their projects.
Related Resources
NASA APPEL KS Decision Analysis Course
NASA APPEL KS PgM Series: Program Decision Making
NASA APPEL KS Complex Decision Making in Project Management
Small Steps, Giant Leaps Podcast: Decision Velocity
