Uncertain situations are just everywhere. Nothing is for sure, and a lot of the things we need to do at work have inter-dependencies, especially as a project coordinator. These loose ends simply need to be tied up. If you are trying to fix a date for a full-day event for different colleagues, odds are that you will struggle to make it work for everyone. You are trying to incorporate everyone's opinions in your proposal, but they just don't align with each other. How to tackle these situations while maintain your level of anxieties at a minimum level?
If you simply don't know where to start as there are so many loose ends, my take is to start from the first thing that came to your mind. Chances are that what comes first to your mind is the most important thing you need to consider. You have no idea where to start anyway, so instead of wasting time trying to rack your head around it, why not just start anywhere?
You might feel distressed after just randomly choosing a loose end to start with. But think this way: you will never be able to find an optimal solution just by looking at it. It would only give you an excuse to procrastinate, and leave you with very limited time to react at the end. A more practical strategy is to keep looking for better solutions while keep moving forward. For example, if you simply couldn't reconcile the opinions of the two sides involved, start with opinions of one side that first comes to your mind, and then try to incorporate the other side wherever possible, or ask the other side to input into it. You would land somewhere in between the two sides.
It's often easier to start from a draft, than start from scratch. When no one has clear ideas, you need to be the person who puts down something as a basis, and ask everyone to provide inputs. In meetings, the worst situation is to come without any concrete document to look at. As a project coordinator, your biggest enemy is non-action. Things will only get clearer if you start to put down a few ideas first.
Sometimes, you need to be assertive and take decisions in uncertain situations in order to move forward. It may be as simple as deciding on when to have the next meeting. You don't need to ask for everyone's opinions on everything. It will speed up the project significantly if you make those simple and harmless decisions. As long as you still are open to feedback on decisions that you made, and you still keep the critical points of decision open to all parties involved.
If you simply don't know where to start as there are so many loose ends, my take is to start from the first thing that came to your mind. Chances are that what comes first to your mind is the most important thing you need to consider. You have no idea where to start anyway, so instead of wasting time trying to rack your head around it, why not just start anywhere?
You might feel distressed after just randomly choosing a loose end to start with. But think this way: you will never be able to find an optimal solution just by looking at it. It would only give you an excuse to procrastinate, and leave you with very limited time to react at the end. A more practical strategy is to keep looking for better solutions while keep moving forward. For example, if you simply couldn't reconcile the opinions of the two sides involved, start with opinions of one side that first comes to your mind, and then try to incorporate the other side wherever possible, or ask the other side to input into it. You would land somewhere in between the two sides.
It's often easier to start from a draft, than start from scratch. When no one has clear ideas, you need to be the person who puts down something as a basis, and ask everyone to provide inputs. In meetings, the worst situation is to come without any concrete document to look at. As a project coordinator, your biggest enemy is non-action. Things will only get clearer if you start to put down a few ideas first.
Sometimes, you need to be assertive and take decisions in uncertain situations in order to move forward. It may be as simple as deciding on when to have the next meeting. You don't need to ask for everyone's opinions on everything. It will speed up the project significantly if you make those simple and harmless decisions. As long as you still are open to feedback on decisions that you made, and you still keep the critical points of decision open to all parties involved.
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