How to Get Started as a Project Manager

Are you an admin or EA looking to add more project management skills to your toolkit? Crystal Richards, PMP shares her tips and considerations for getting started as an administrative project manager.

Recorded at EA Ignite Fall 2024 and produced by the American Society of Administrative Professionals - ASAP. Learn more and submit a listener question at asaporg.com/podcast.

Leah Warwick: Hi, everyone. I'm Leah Warwick, and you're listening to "The Admin Edge." Strong project management is critical for success in the administrative field and beyond. Our guest today, Crystal Richards, is a project manager and trainer at the ASAP event, EA Ignite. Crystal sat down with Katie Hendrickson at EA Ignite Fall to talk about how to get started as a project manager and, of course, how to factor in AI when building your PM toolkit.

Katie Hendrickson: Hi, I'm Katie Henrickson, Executive Assistant to the President and COO of AIT Worldwide Logistics and ASAP Advisory Board Member. My guest today is Crystal Richards, Principal and Owner of MindsparQ, and a project management expert. Welcome to the podcast, Crystal.

00:00:52                     

Crystal Richards: Thanks so much, Katie, for having me. I'm really excited to be here. Just to give everybody a quick overview of me, I'm Crystal Richards. I'm based out of the Washington, D.C., area. I was an accidental project manager, so I'm really excited to share that journey, because I would assume that a lot of EAs have also accidentally fell into that role as well.

Katie Hendrickson: Yes, absolutely. So can tell us a little bit about your journey into project management, and specifically what inspired you to focus on that field?

Crystal Richards: I started out as a research assistant. Usually, in these specialized roles, we're given a task. "Hey, can you take this on?" I did it and I just found that I liked being organized, even way back in school.

00:01:45

We had capstone exam training back in grad school, and I just took over. I didn't even know what project management was about. And then, just through my career, I did consulting work. And then, when I went into the space of federal government contracting, my boss said, "You need to get this certification called the Project Management Professional (the PMP)." And I was like, "What is that?" And so my first couple of hours in the class and I said, "This is bringing it all together." It was my first kind of formalization of project management, and I think that's where, when people see it in totality, versus the bits and pieces that we see it, it helps you define: This is really my jam, and this is the direction I want to go into. That's how it worked for me. 

Katie Hendrickson: That's amazing. That's so inspiring to hear that you were able to find your path and that you had those folks in your life that really helped guide and direct you. So I'm very excited for our listeners to be able to hear from you, and maybe you can provide some of that guidance for them today.

Crystal Richards: Absolutely.

00:02:55                     

Katie Hendrickson: On that note, what skills do administrative professionals already possess that make them well suited for project management, and why do you believe that it's important for those skills to be embraced and enhanced?

Crystal Richards: Ah, yes. So I would say the top three: They're already master taskmasters. You've got all these tasks. You're putting it all together in whatever schedule that works best for you, and that's a lot of what project managers do. You can have all the tools available, but you still have to work with people. So I find that EAs are great people managers and are able to really connect and know who's got the skills to do things and who doesn't, and make those connections. I think that is super important.

00:03:42

What I've found with folks who maybe have been a subject matter expert and now they're a project manager, and they never had to interact with others. They're the ones who actually struggle. Because EAs are the heartbeat of other divisions and departments and collaborating, it's an easier – whether it's a transition or just an easier acceptance of like, "I'm not really a project manager." 

And the other aspect is just emotional intelligence. That is so needed. Sometimes, it's let it roll off my back like a duck – quack, quack. Or is this the hill I want to die on today? And knowing that you're going to work with folks on a long-term basis, those are really the three major skills that I see are demonstrated by the EAs I've interacted with, and just the EAs that I've met over the course of the last three, four years of being a part of ASAP. 

00:04:44                     

Katie Hendrickson: Yeah, that's wonderful. I know, in my experience as an executive assistant in a nonprofit that I used to work for, there were so many opportunities to take on those projects because I was involved in the entire division. I knew who was who, who was doing what, and my executive's direct reports would come to me and say, "Hey, I'm thinking of working on this project," because they knew that I would know if they were doubling the work because I was so ingrained in system. So I love to hear that. That's so encouraging.

So what would you say are some ways that an administrative professional, either an administrative assistant or an executive assistant, can incorporate more project management principles into their current roles? 

Crystal Richards: I would say, do a little bit of research on just YouTube university. But even beyond that, there are courses that you can take – and I'm not even talking about getting certified, just the foundations, like Google – Coursera has a course on project management foundations. Even the institute over project management professionals, the Project Management Institute, they have free courses just to get people to get kickstarted. One of their courses is "Kickstart." That walks you through in, I think, 30 minutes or less, on just how to do it well.

00:06:16

And then a lot of the tools – because I always get questions about "what project management tool should I use?" 

Katie Hendrickson: That was my next question.

Crystal Richards: I have favorites, and usually they're my favorites because they're so good at providing articles and helpful articles, with pictures. I like pictures. I like examples. That's what I hear a lot, too, from my students, like, "Can you give me an example?" And then you see that lightbulb moment of: "I have been doing that." And so it is kind of taking that initiative of doing a little bit of the research. If you want to make more of a commitment, like taking a foundations course through the local university, that's an option as well. Or maybe just asking your boss, "Hey, can you bring someone in? I'm sure I'm not the only one would like PM 101. I'm sure there's locally that can provide that for you all within the organization." I think that that's a good way to set the foundation, and then just keep adding.

00:07:14

If it's something that you're really interested in, there are a ton of books I would happy to recommend, and a ton of great online resources, depending on how they learn best. 

Katie Hendrickson: Yeah, absolutely. I know, for myself, having those opportunities to learn – and, like you said, the visuals and the hands-on, for me, is super important, so I'm really encouraged by that.

So as administrative professionals look toward the future, we do see project management taking a larger and larger role within the scope of their responsibilities. So as it evolves, what should those administrative professionals be prepared for? 

00:07:55                     

Crystal Richards: Wow. [chuckles] I'll start with the easy one. Be prepared for the fact that AI is going to be integrated into tools, and it's going to be integrated into the work that we do, so getting smart around that and how it can actually help you. I am hearing more and more, because of the awesomeness of EAs, you're managing the calendars of multiple people who are not good managers of their own calendars [laughter] and they're using different systems, which makes it hard to pull everything together and make sure. And I think any way that you can find tools that can speak to each other – because what it appears to me is that sometimes the people who we support, they heard about the next sexy tool, and they get it without asking the same questions that I ask of you all: "Why do you want this tool? How does it help you? What is it that you need it to do?"

00:08:52

They just like, "Oh, I saw this on Mashable. Let's get it." And then now you are in the position as the EA to learn this tool, and you're finding out where there are shortcomings. So asking how those tools might be able to talk to each other, I think that's really challenging. And then finding, if they don't talk to each other, that's where more and more of your project management skills are going to come into play of: How do I bring these disparate systems together, these very separate systems together, to be able to at least talk or wait for me to see them together, so I can make good decisions and help you (executive, team) make sure you're not double booked? 

And honestly, just the use of tools – figure out your why behind it, why you want to use it. Sometimes it's because the boss said so. A set of great questions that I'm happy to share with you all is: How does it integrate with my email and calendar? Does it give me notifications? Is it cloud based? Is it something that I can access on my phone (if you want)? Is it something that we can easily get a champion? 

00:09:58

And what's the support that we get from the vendor? Because they love to just share the tools and then just "figure it out." 

Katie Hendrickson: Yeah, and you kind of feel like you're left alone and you don't have really the support and the information that you need in order to be successful.

Crystal Richards: Yeah. Add something else to your list to now do YouTube university and figure it out. [laughter] But they're getting better and they're short. Microlearning is so key nowadays.

Katie Hendrickson: I love it. Well, we have a listener question that was submitted anonymously by one of our community members. They wrote: What's a good way to start applying project management principles on a smaller scale before taking on larger initiatives?

00:10:48                     

Crystal Richards: Oh, great question. I would say, something that I always kind of walk folks through, just giving them the flash PM, think about how you set expectations. That's what we call initiating. So even if it's you get the one-sentence directive like, "Do this," spell it out. Really flash out the details of the deadline, budget, who can I tape into? And then when you get that confirmation, then that's where I would say, create some level of planning. It doesn't have to be a detailed schedule, but something where you know up front and can put things on your calendar of when to work on those things. And then, of course, work that plan.

That's going to involve the emotional intelligence that I talked about. It's going to involve the relationship management and possibly use of AI to streamline email communications. "Hey, they were really mean, but how do I respond back in a professional way?" 

00:11:53

A lot of people have told me – particularly with my favorite AI tool of choice is ChatGPT, people have said to me all the time it has saved relationships, professional and personal. [laughter] And then make sure to close out. That's not something that we're good at – all of us, as a project management community. That close out of your project, acknowledging people who helped you, sending those thank-you notes. Sending even a thank-you note to your boss, like, "Thank you for trusting me for this opportunity." And celebrating, taking that day off that you absolutely deserve. I know some people are like, "But there is another project." You know what? You need to have that rest so you can be amazing on that next project. If you're like, "I can't take the day off, but I'm going to buy some shoes," I'm all about that as well. You deserve it. Or a nice dinner or anything of that sort. 

00:12:52                     

Katie Hendrickson: Definitely. Well, thanks again for joining us on "The Admin Edge," Crystal. Where can our listeners find you online?

Crystal Richards: My favorite playground is LinkedIn, so you can definitely find me there.

Katie Hendrickson: Wonderful. Thank you so much.

Crystal Richards: You're welcome. Thank you for having me.

[music playing]

Leah Warwick: Thank you for listening to "The Admin Edge," produced by the American Society of Administrative Professionals, original music and audio editing by Warwick Productions, with video and audio production at our events by 5Tool Productions. If you like this podcast, please leave us a nice review, five stars, and subscribe. If you'd like to submit a listener question, you may do so on our website at ASAPorg.com/podcast.