Introducing yourself as a project manager
may not feel like it's a piece of cake,
but in this video,
I'm going to share with you what I do when I introduce
myself to my team for the very first time.
And don't forget to stay to the end of this video
'cause I'm going to share with you on how you get your
hands on my guide, on how to avoid top 10 common mistakes
project managers make.
Hi, if you're new here, welcome.
My name is Adriana Girdler,
and you've hopped on
the best practical project management channel out there,
YouTube world.
Now, I'm really excited
that I'm going to share with you my tips
on how to introduce yourself as a project manager.
So, let's get to it.
Do your research.
What Adriana, what are you talking about?
We're talking about introductions,
and you're talking about research?
Yes, absolutely.
You're the project manager,
you're going have a team reporting into you
for the project, right?
For the project.
And it becomes really important
prior to getting to know them, or introducing yourself,
get a little bit of background information.
Who they are, what is your subject matter expertise?
You're going to want to talk to your manager
or the sponsor of the project to get that insight,
because they're the ones who probably gave you,
here are the individuals who are going to be on this
project. So definitely ensure you do a little bit of
homework, generally speaking, on them
to know who you're dealing with.
The email introduction.
Okay, hopefully you're doing another,
"What Adriana."
Yes, email introduction.
Think about it in this way,
you have not met your team yet.
You've done a little bit of research, which is excellent,
you're trying to figure them out
but the first real way that they get to meet you
is through email.
That's how we talk in the corporate world.
So this email introduction is really going to set the tone
for when you do meet with them in person.
So this email introduction should be short and sweet,
perhaps give a little bit of your project style,
just so that you can set the tone with them.
Now, I have an example for you,
so let's go to it.
Hi project team,
welcome to project ABC.
I wanted to introduce myself
for those who may not know me,
my name is Adriana,
and I'm passionate about projects
and working collaboratively.
We will be having our first meeting soon
and I wanted to let you know
I'm excited about this project and working with you.
Please watch out for my meeting invite coming to you soon.
Feel free to reach out to me
if you have any questions.
Sincerely, Adriana.
The in person, or virtual introduction.
Okay, now you are here.
You're actually going to either be face to face,
literally on camera, or in person,
meeting your project team members for the first time.
This really is the impression
that they're going to get from you.
The good news is you already did the email intro,
so you've already set the tone
letting them know what to expect.
So, how would you do this?
Again, if you are virtual,
I highly recommend you turn your camera on.
They want to see your face,
there's a lot of information
when you're doing an introduction that way.
And when you do turn it on, make sure it's eye level.
If you are in person,
well you may want to stand up and walk to the top of the
room wherever that may be,
because don't forget you're the project manager
and you are the one who is the leader of this meeting.
You're the facilitator, you sent out the invite.
So there's nothing wrong with you
with going to the top of the room
to really introduce yourself.
Now, what is it that you're going say?
Very similar to what you did in the email introduction,
you want to say your name, who you are,
maybe some project experience,
and maybe something that is on the personal note
because you're going get to know these people.
You want have a connection with them,
so it's not just about business, business, business
but a little bit of personal interjecting in that
is actually something that everyone can relate to
and people really do like.
Now again, I have you covered,
so let's do that introduction.
Hi, everyone.
Welcome to our first team meeting, how exciting?
As you know, I'm your fearless project manager, Adriana
and I'm so excited that we're here today.
So I've been project managing for over or 20 plus years,
I have some specific ways that I really like to work
that I'm going share with you,
and some expectations as well.
On a personal note though,
I want to share with you some other stuff.
I love playing guitar,
I'm a runner,
I have an amazing family, but even more importantly,
you will hear me talk about my little dog.
Her name is Yoco, she's a French tin,
ugh, she's my little baby girl.
Okay, now that you have that introduction example
remember keep it brief,
you're going to have plenty of opportunity
to share more things about yourself,
and as well to get to know them.
Remember, put a smile on your face.
You're introducing yourself for the first time,
that's that first impression.
I'm also going to ask you,
don't forget to stick around to the end of this video
'cause I have that guide for you that I want to share
on how you can get your hands on that.
Ending your intro.
Now that you have that example
of the body of the introduction, short and sweet.
You now want to just use a very quick ending to wrap it all
up like a present with a bow on it.
And a very simple one that I use all the time is,
"Now that you know a little bit about me,
who would like to go next?"
Be prepared for questions.
If you did end your intro with who would like to go next
allow everyone to do that, but be open to questions,
in fact, you may even wanna start off asking questions.
This is a great opportunity
to really get to know the team a little bit more,
maybe it's questions about their experience.
Maybe they said something on a personal note,
because again, you started that off,
which is a great leading by example.
So being prepared for those questions it's just going to
ensure that open communication
and the team getting to know each other,
which is really important for bonding.
What a great way to kick that off at your first meeting.
Follow up.
All right, what a great after the meeting,
your first one you introduced yourself,
your team introduced them,
do a little follow up.
You have a choice, you can do a group follow up email
and just let them know how excited you are to move forward
and how nice it is that you're going to be able
to work with them.
You may even want to consider
individual notes to each member of the team,
so you can get to know them a little bit better,
maybe even set up some one-on-ones.
But that follow up is just something that goes
that extra mile
that can really give out a great impression
for you as a project manager.
Now that you know how to introduce yourself
as a project manager, yay, I'm excited for you
'cause that is setting the tone and so important.
Remember what I said to you, if you stick to the end
you need to get this, you need to download it.
Where can you get that download?
A link is under this video, just for you, free.
Take advantage of it.