Biggest Challenges Faced by a Chief of Staff at United Launch Alliance
Joshua's biggest challenge as a Project Manager is managing scope within the "gray area" of their role, requiring constant prioritization and strategic planning to effectively act on numerous ideas and initiatives stemming from observations across various departments, preventing projects from stalling. The struggle involves creating a long-term plan to execute these ideas rather than simply delegating them, ultimately ensuring projects are successfully implemented.
Project Management, Leadership, Strategic Planning, Time Management, Overcoming Challenges
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Joshua Adams
Project Manager
United Launch Alliance
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
MBA - University of North Alabama
Industrial, Supply Chain Management
Aerospace, Aviation & Defense, Manufacturing, Operations & Supply Chain
Operations and Project Management
Worked 20+ Hours in School, Veteran
Video Highlights
1. Managing scope and prioritizing tasks in a role with a lot of ambiguity is a significant challenge.
2. Identifying and acting on opportunities for improvement requires proactive initiative and strategic planning.
3. Balancing multiple projects and initiatives demands effective time management and delegation skills.
Transcript
What is your biggest challenge in your current role?
My biggest challenge as a chief of staff is really trying to get a handle on and manage my own scope. There's a natural gray area that comes with the job.
This gray area naturally leads to the question: "What is my job? What am I supposed to be doing?" You never really get that kind of guidance. So, I would say that's the biggest challenge.
For someone like me, or if you're in a similar role, you likely love either creating vision or acting on visions. As you network around the company and sit in on various meetings from many different departments, you start to pick up on key ideas, patterns, and themes.
You then start putting together your own initiatives, thinking, "Based on what I've been seeing, I think this would help a lot of groups. I think I've found a root cause." The struggle then becomes, how do I work that into my daily priorities?
I mentioned before the strategic failure of determining what I am *not* going to do today. The challenge as you pick up more scope and more ideas is how to fit them into your day in a way that you can actually act on them.
This means not just passing them off to somebody and letting them die in someone else's hands. It's about putting together a long-term plan, an engagement plan, on how to make it happen and keep it happening. Managing scope within a gray area is probably the hardest part.