“The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.” - Charles Kettering, (Late) American Inventor who holds 186 patents
If your business survived 2020, it has likely gone through a lot of larger, sweeping changes and smaller, process-level changes.
2021 is an exciting year for project managers worldwide. Some processes will restart this year. Some processes will never go back to how they were before the pandemic. All this means “project management trends for 2021” is a hot topic within groups of project managers.
This article talks about what to expect in 2021 in project management and how to prepare yourself for the same.
Project managers to use more data and forecast better using AI tools
AI-based predictive analysis tools work at the intersection of people, work, schedules, and risks. They can find patterns in and improve processes such as:
- Collaboration on the project
- Tracking and management of goals and tasks
- Maintaining data consistency
- Predicting and managing risks
- Allocation and management of resources
- Balancing project schedules to avoid disasters
AI will take over routine and administrative tasks (in full or in part). Project managers can use their freed-up bandwidth on the strategic front to improve their project metrics.
Being open-minded and willing to learn are important un-teachable skills. Smart project managers will realize this opportunity in 2021 and run with it.
Emotional intelligence to become an in-demand skill in project management circles
Their Emotional Intelligence (EI) skills add maturity and sophistication to the way they manage their people. EI differentiates reliable project leaders from qualified project managers.
Interpersonal communication and conflict handling are also must-haves for reliable project leaders. A conscious application of emotional intelligence helps improve relationships within the team.
As relationships improve, the team’s communication stops becoming a bottleneck. Their productivity soars as a result.
Developing emotional intelligence is about:
- Developing self-awareness
- Practicing self-control
- Learning to apply empathy and gain social awareness
- Learning to form and nurture new relationships
- Learning to build your own approach to team management
Learning EI ends up being transformational for many project managers. To realize these benefits, they must be willing to grow as a person.
Changes in sales commission tracking processes
The sequential nature of a sales process isn’t much different from a project template. The only difference is that the salesperson repeats these tasks for every lead.
In that sense, every sale is a project. Every salesperson is the project manager of a team of prospects, their stakeholders, and their sales manager. And every sales manager is the head of a team of project managers.
Your sales compensation plan drives the success of your sales process.
According to Alexander Group’s 2021 Sales Compensation Trends Survey, in 2020:
- 16% of participants didn’t find their sales compensation plan effective
- Less than 45% of participants found their sales compensation plan was effective.
According to the same survey, in 2021:
- More than 42% of participants plan to make major changes to some or all sales compensation plans
- 100% of respondents plan to make some changes to their sales compensation plans.
The numbers speak for themselves.
Some of your competitors will change their sales compensation processes in 2021. That could open up a window for them to poach your best salespeople. Smart players can avoid this by restructuring their sales commissions.
Blitz can automate your sales commissions
Companies that still use Excel for sales compensation planning face integration challenges. Problems like slow processing of large data and data consistency errors are also common.
With reliable automation software by your side, sales compensation management becomes a breeze. A sales commission tracking tool is your best bet to manage change in an evolving global sales environment.
With Blitz, you can finally get rid of Excel sheets, macros, and coding. Our intuitive software lets you plan, manage, and automate all your sales compensation functions. It allows you the freedom of working from any device. You can also integrate Blitz with common accounting software.
Curious? Book a demo or talk to our expert today!