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A great Localization Project Manager and a successful rower on a crew team share many positive qualities. Team members in the sport of rowing maintain a mindset for success, communicate with ease, strive for balance, and motivate their team for continual improvement. A Localization Project Manager who strives for these same goals will lead a winning team. Mark de Rond, faculty member of the Cambridge Judge Business School at the Goldie Boathouse, reflects on how success is achieved during a race, stating that victory is only possible through “fully cooperating with others.”
Being Part of a Team
Many businesses hang the rowing “Teamwork” inspirational photo in their offices. It has become a cliché, but still rings true in both business and rowing arenas. To succeed, the team must be able to work as a single unit. A Localization Project Manager can be extremely efficient, know all facets of the company, and understand the processes of a project, yet face failure by not working as one with their project team. Similarly, in rowing, the teammates in the boat that work together win the most races. One’s focus is to aim all your team’s momentum toward a common goal. No matter how good someone performs independently, working together is needed for success; otherwise, the individual performer ultimately out-powers the teammates, leading to a loss of focus. When a manager successfully connects with others on the team, everyone is focused on the same goal.
Maintaining a Mindset for Success
A rower must leave all distractions outside of the boat while at practice and in a race. Each day, a rower works hard at the fundamental tasks to achieve a faster time, better form, and more strength. Similarly, a good Localization Project Manager must focus on the goals and the tasks to achieve those goals. It is essential to remain focused toward the daily duties in order to stay ahead of the game and to be a winning Localization Project Manager. With this focus on the daily tasks, the Project Manager continues to work toward the goals and is able to achieve these goals more easily. The success of a Localization Project Manager or a rower is a daily challenge requiring constant attention and concentration.
Communicating with Ease
Within the realm of Localization Project Management, communication is also a key to success. An issue not clearly explained to a client, or a project task not started because no one knew to whom it was assigned are two very clear problems that are easily resolved through effective communication. Expectations should be laid out from the beginning, leaving no room for inaccurate assumptions or miscalculations. Opt for over communication rather than making assumptions as it is always easier to do it right the first time rather than to correct misassumptions. Clear communication is also required among all of the team members. Just as on a rowing team, describing how the boat feels during the row and letting each other know how to improve and grow as a team, the localization project team should be communicating together throughout the project to ensure successful delivery. Open and clear communications is an essential part of effective team work.
Striving for Balance
Localization Project Management, like rowing, requires the effective balancing of many factors at one time. The Localization Project Manager balances budget and timeline constraints with large teams of professional resources, while identifying and managing risks in order to achieve successful deliveries. The ability to balance all of the facets of daily work is a fundamental of success. A Project Manager may have a deadline to a client but also a deadline to meet a checkpoint in another project’s schedule. Allocation of resources combined with accurate communication and planning helps to balance these tasks. In rowing, team members balance the boat with their oar height, drive strength, posture, and recovery in order to come that much closer to the perfect row. Just as rowers strive for equilibrium, the Project Manager works toward their own more successful balance each day.
Motivating Continuous Improvement
In a boat, the coxswain—the eyes, ears, and voice of the boat—critiques the rowers’ form, telling each rower when to sit-up, reach farther, and dig deeper. Then it is the rower’s job to listen and employ those suggestions to achieve a better result. The successful Project Manager should likewise take each task as an opportunity to improve their skills. Listen to the helpful suggestions of management and co-workers and apply new ideas in order to keep improving execution of each task. After a while, the need for critique may diminish for either the rower or the Project Manager, but there are always things to learn by deploying ingenuity to continually improve their craft.
Conclusion
Many similarities exist between a Localization Project Manager and a rower. The way a Project Manager communicates, the way a rower works in a team, the way a Project Manager strives for balance, and the way a rower motivates themselves for continual improvement. The best practices for project management can be translated as the perfect mold for becoming a great rower.
About the author of this article
Mark Rogers has been in the localization industry for two years as a Project Manager, where he has worked with a variety of different clients from government to the private sector. Mark is heavily involved with managing more technical projects (websites, software, and e-learning courseware) at ENLASO and has become a strong part of the team since he started in March ’08.
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