Help set up a new site on a part-time basis? Not a problem!

As any working parent knows, balancing your family time and your work life is often anything but easy. What’s more, project management and consultancy briefs are usually uniquely complex challenges that come in all shapes and sizes. The same goes for setting up and establishing a new company site. But as I’ve seen since my very first day here, adesso makes it possible to juggle family time and project work successfully.

Many still believe that a project manager has to be omnipresent, otherwise the project will fail. It’s also clear to see that this opinion is held at management level too. For a long time, it was unthinkable for a CEO, for instance, to take a sabbatical lasting several months. It’s now perfectly acceptable and seems to work. So, why shouldn’t someone be able to work part time in project management?

It is time for a paradigm shift

Of course, you need the right set up and have to put in some effort to make it work. I believe the following four factors are key to doing so:

1. Share the responsibility and power to make decisions

This requires a change in culture that moves away from just one person having all the responsibility and the power to make decisions. These things should be shared among the team rather than be the sole burden of the project manager, as it leads to people having discussions, addressing concerns and ultimately making and being held accountable for decisions together. In turn, the resulting outcome is significantly more transparent than would be possible if the decision had been made unilaterally, drastically boosting acceptance in the team as a result.

This decentralised power to make decisions means each team member has more responsibility, which is a smart move since each individual member of the team is a proven expert who knows their field far better than the project manager ever could. As a result, the project manager stops acting as a supervisor who makes every decision and bears sole responsibility for everything and starts acting as an advisor and guide for the individual team members.

2. Authenticity

For a long time, I thought I had to hide the fact that I am a mother and make my schedule work for everybody else because I was seen as an obstacle in the labour market. I’m still learning that I don’t have to do this, as employers and customers are understanding of the situation nine times out of ten if you’re open and upfront with them. If you are authentic, you create acceptance through credibility, improving your own sense of well-being as a result.

I have seen customers accept that a meeting can’t be spontaneously extended because I have to pick up my child in the evening. It’s important to be allowed to say ‘no’ when something can’t be done and to suggest an alternative. This is made possible by everyone involved communicating transparently and not waiting until the last minute to bring something up, as well as being flexible.

3. Acceptance and mutual support within the team

Projects don’t work as a solo effort. They require you to work as a team, no matter whether you’re the service provider or the customer. That’s why they need the acceptance of everyone involved in them. Of course, this doesn’t apply exclusively to the aspect of working part time. We can only deliver successful projects if we show consideration for each other and support each other as a team, no matter what the issue is.

It’s an unavoidable fact of the project business that important deadlines and meetings sometimes spring up on days that I don’t normally work. Finding a feasible childcare solution at short notice when these things happen is obviously difficult, but my team are hugely supportive in helping me find one. We’re more than happy to help each other out and it’s by no means beyond the realms of possibility that a member of the team or even a supervisor will watch the children for a while so that I can take part in an important customer call. That’s what I call a real team effort for the customer.

4. Curiosity and courage

A CEO can’t just go on a sabbatical for a few months and a project manager can’t just switch to a part time schedule – it isn’t that simple. It takes curiosity and courage from both the employer and the employee to take this step.

It also requires foresight, patience and organisation. However, these are the factors you need to build a successful team that can also overcome far more complex challenges. We all have to go the extra mile to make that happen.

We also learn from day to day

The fact of the matter is that the balance between work and family is and will continue to be a challenge. But I believe it’s something we can achieve if we all pull together. We won two new briefs within the first month at the new site, proving that we can be successful as a team in this set up – the first step towards establishing adesso in St. Gallen. Customers want a team that applies its skills with precision and that they can rely on. We believe we can offer this through authenticity, mutual support and personal responsibility – no matter whether someone works full time or part time.

Hopefully, the question of whether a project manager can work on a part-time basis will soon be a thing of the past. It no longer matters ‘how’ the individual members of a team do their work, but rather ‘what’ result the whole team delivers.