If you are interested in teaching others about project management, the first thing to do is to determine the audience and prepare for it correctly. The approach is different when teaching students or providing an online course compared to workers in some companies. However, there is a link where you should have proper educational skills and the ability to explain how it works in practice.
Therefore, the key is to provide the basics of project management, why it is important, how you can apply it to business, and how it works in practice. You should add the additional tools that are very important, such as saas project management software. Here are some important things that will help you choose the right teaching approach.
Start With the Basics
The first step is to start with a theory about this topic, which means explaining more about the importance of applying different processes to different elements of a business, like planning, execution, management, and more. The key is to show people why it is crucial to include these steps in an organization and how it can lead to higher efficiency and many other benefits.
Another step is to divide your lectures into different categories. For example, you can use cycles like initiating, planning, execution, control, and closing. It will be easier for people to understand the basic theory and connection between these categories when you thoroughly explain each one of them. After that, you can start with more complex areas, like project integration, scope, time, cost, quality, communication, resources, risk, and other types of management.
It can be challenging if your approach only consists of theory without visual details or examples. In that matter, you should include charts in your lessons where you can separate different types of management, and then write comments and link each one of them in the right way. That will make it much easier for people to understand the functions of each element in the project management chain.
Furthermore, remember the most important skills needed for successful project management. If one of your students or workers manages to learn all the theory and examples, that does not mean that person is ready for a position in this category. You should highlight the skills like communication, time management, organization, problem-solving, and leadership as core skills that a good manager must have.
Prepare Properly
You might have the knowledge and experience, but applying that to work and trying to share it with other people requires a completely different approach. Previous experience in teaching can help. In that case, all you need to do is to prepare the right materials and start with your lessons. On the other hand, if you are planning to share your knowledge for the first time, it is important to learn more about the methods that will help you become more efficient.
There is a standard of having to be on at least 35 hours of classroom time in this category to be able to teach about project management. Experience is this area is crucial as well, especially when it comes to explaining how it works in practice.
Combination of Theory and Practice
We already mentioned how important it is to explain how each component of project management can benefit businesses. The great thing is that you can create the same structure for your lessons. For example, you can set goals and processes to start with. After that, divide that into different parts and set deadlines required to complete each part or lesson.
For example, an assignment for your students on applying their knowledge related to a certain component of project management, its definition, and a useful example of how to use it in real life. If there are more people in your group, be sure to focus on each one of them and track their progress. You can also create smaller groups and assign different tasks with the main goal of creating a virtual management team in some company.
When it comes to lessons you will provide to people already working in your company, and it can be more challenging since they already have their assignments. In that matter, you should choose an approach where you will focus more on practical examples while people will learn the theory on the go.
The key is to explain to them why it is important to have different parts of management linked into a bigger project with the same goal. Also, be sure to help them improve their skills in different areas that are crucial for various processes. Besides that, the implementation of the right tools is essential. There are charts, tables, sheets, automations, and many other things that can help you and the whole company to keep track of different metrics, create analyses, and follow the main goals.
There are some things that you cannot learn by reading the theory of project management since they can be acquired only with experience. In that matter, if you are planning to promote some of your workers into a higher position where he will become a part of project management, you should consider bringing him into the office even before he learn anything about that area. That will make the whole process much more efficient since that person will be able to check how all of the theory he is learning is working on real examples.
Summary
Sharing your skills and knowledge is not simple because you will have to determine the right approach related the group of people that you are teaching. The main challenges when teaching students is that you will have to create virtual examples to show them how things are working in practice, while workers who want to get a promotion must spend some time while learning more about the theory and improving their skills that are necessary for the management position, such as communication, organization, problem-solving, ability to use different tools, analysis, and more. You will also have to be confident, patient, and consistent with your group to reach the best results.
