Insights

03 16 2017

“You are so organized, thank you so much for your promptness!”

I handed over the envelope to my landlord a week before it was due with ease, but I took the compliment with shock—did she just call me “organized”?

I have always counted my messiness as a part of my hardwired personality—one of those traits you can’t change, like height or eye color. I was often the forgetful friend who lost track of my things and forgot plans I had made. My room was messy (something I swore was a sign of my creative mind) and my inbox cluttered.

But now, as people remark on my timeliness and diligence, I’m realizing I’ve actually become an organized and detail-oriented person. And my two and a half years as a Project Manager for StratComm, Inc. are to blame (or rather, to thank!).

In the summer of 2014, I was hired by StratComm for a short-term contract position to help promote through social media a pair of history books that we were publishing that year: The American Experience in Vietnam: Reflections on an Era and The Medal of Honor: A History of Service Above and Beyond. It turned out to be a busy fall, and I was pulled onto a variety of projects, including the printing and delivery of 2.5 million textbooks to Tanzania for USAID, a pilot program for Social Security Administration (SSA) for Verbatim Hearing Recorders (VHR) staffing in the New England region, and training and working with U.S. embassies worldwide to provide online pre-employment skills testing. Suddenly I was working on much more than book promotion and was confronted with emails, requests, due dates, and other project management challenges I had never dealt with before.

Soon I was offered a full-time position as an Assistant Project Manager, and my work continued on a variety of challenging projects. Observing my coworkers—project managers with years of experience—I tried to understand and soak up just how they successfully juggled all the different project and client demands. It seemed like it could be overwhelming without the right skills.

Now, as a full-fledged Project Manager, running projects such as the PEPFAR Annual Report to Congress (for three years running) and the redesign of the NIGC website, I’m learning those skills. I have adopted a few simple practices that have increased my productivity and lowered my stress. These practices, such as careful planning, timely responsiveness, and good organization, have seeped into all parts of my life and definitely have made an impact. (Just ask my landlord!)

In my next post, I will discuss in detail these practices that have helped me so much at work, and in life. 

AUTHOR

Kayla Foley
Project Manager at StratComm