You Must Give to Gain: Understanding Project Management

What do all sports and games have in common? Strategy. Whether it's baseball, chess, or a board game, I love anything involving strategy. This passion extends to my love for project management—a structured approach to achieving goals. Project management, by definition, is the application of processes and knowledge to achieve a goal. Every day, we all project manage. Project management can include everything from the methodology of how you clean your house to deciding when to leave your home in order to get somewhere specific on time. My point is that we all use project management without even realizing it. We all strategize to accomplish our goals. This is precisely what we get from healthy project management: accomplished goals.
It's all about strategy to accomplish our goals. But there's something we must give to gain: service. Immediately, I assume that those nonprofit, mission-driven leaders out there reading this would be asking the same question I would be: "How can I serve any more than I already am?" I sacrifice my time, my energy, and sometimes even some relationships as sacrifice for my mission. Here is where it is important to distinguish service from sacrifice. It's not about sacrificing more of yourself—that only leads to burnout. Instead, there are better, more productive ways to give service.

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First, we serve through healthy communication. In project management, it is your responsibility to ensure that effective communication is your strength—not just externally but internally, too. Ask yourself: Is communication my objective or merely a means to an end?
Second, I like to use the term "flexible rigidity." This means being adaptable while maintaining structure—like a captain steering his ship in a storm, flowing with the forces of nature while staying steady. In project management, you serve by balancing flexibility with the predictability of stability.
Third, perseverance is essential. When you serve, even in the tough times, you must keep pushing forward. Imagine a person trudging through the desert with the goal of water driving his every step, not letting anything present as a barrier between him and his end goal.
Finally, remember who and what you are serving. Your primary service is to your mission. You are here to carry out the mission of making your community a better place. Through this kind of service, you can make the gains you hope for.
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Project management isn't just about numbers and deadlines; it's a strategy we use daily to reach our goals. To gain success, we need to give in the form of service—a kind of service centered on communication, adaptability, perseverance, and, ultimately, serving the mission.
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So, I ask you: Are you willing to give in order to gain?

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