The world has changed. Why is this happening? Smartsheet transforms your work.

What does it mean for a project manager to have empathy? How do you do it?
It is difficult to define “Project Empathy”, but it is the ability to treat your project as if they were people. This may sound a bit strange. This is a good way to think about projects and it will make you a better project manager.
Are you required to manage a project with empathy and compassion? You don’t have to be an empathic manager. You can simply go through your checklist, cross off milestones, manage budget, and launch your project. You have a good chance of it succeeding. Your chances of a successful project are higher if you instill empathy in your team and yourself. Your chances of being remembered by your team as a successful project manager are dramatically increased if you have empathy.
Here’s how to manage a project with empathy
Believe in your project before the project starts
It all starts with you. As the project manager, you must understand why this project is being undertaken. It is essential that you believe in it. It is important to understand its value to stakeholders as well as to your company and team. Even for small projects, you must be able do this. This is where empathy comes in. If you don’t believe and care about the project’s success, you won’t inspire it.
Develop a deeper understanding of the reasons for the project’s importance
You must first understand the project’s needs, hopes and dreams at the beginning. Functionality is a given. Its needs for project empathy are more complex. Just like a person, it must feel valued. It is important that your team believes it is a worthwhile project.
Your project’s hopes, dreams, and goals are also important. Your team must understand why certain requirements are meaningful. You can make better decisions about how to execute when you and your team understand why certain things are important.
Keep your enthusiasm high during the project
As project manager, you need to keep project empathy in mind and talk about the importance to your team’s work. This foundation will be crucial for when your team becomes tired of the project or loses their enthusiasm. This means that you must keep your enthusiasm high and not allow project hiccups discourage you from wanting the project be something everyone can be proud of.
Lead with hope when the project is in decline
Project empathy is most effective during the darkest days. These are the most common times for your team members to feel dismotivated. These are the best times to feel less enthusiastic, even resentful, about the project. This is the time to use the empathy you’ve built up over the better days and help your team remember why they’re doing this project.
The world has changed. Why is this happening? Smartsheet transforms your work.

It is easy to get caught up in the trap of empathizing more with your team’s dissatisfaction than with your project. How many times have you found yourself in the middle of a difficult project and muttering with your team about how bad things are, how frustrating a set of changes are, or how absurd the timeline is? It’s tempting to ask your team to do something difficult or downright awful (like working on weekends because a timeline was cut or a new set requirements were added), to then follow up with “Oh my god, t!”