Lead To Inspire: How To Be A Better Project Manager For Your Team
A good project manager should be constantly looking for different ways to become better and more efficient. The landscape of project management is always changing and because of this, being an effective project manager requires more than just supervising a project schedule from start to finish.
By HEIDI ROSENBERG
A good grasp of various collaboration tools, resource management, and task management are some of the skills you need to possess to have a successful career in project management. Even though being a project manager can be stressful, with the right tools, professional advice, and processes, it can become very rewarding. Being a better project manager can be boiled down into 5 major points.
1. Communication
Communication is very important in any project that involves more than one person. Effective and constant communication is very important in project management. Clients, members of the team, and relevant stakeholders should communicate with each other. The best thing a project manager can do with regards to the project is to ensure that the communications lines between all parties are always open, especially when there are doubts or questions. Everyone should have all the information they need to keep the project going forward. There should also be reports about the status of the project to keep everyone up-to-date with the new developments. If possible, “over-communicate”. It is better to know too much than to know too little. Hold regular meetings and communicate consequences. Everything should be clarified to avoid delays and disappointments.
2. Leadership
Another way to become a better project manager is by utilizing your team members. This is a major quality in project managers that are considered agile and effective. Having soft skills like leadership abilities commands respect. A good project manager knows how to bring the best out of every team member of the project throughout the project’s life cycle. To do this, you must first know the strengths and weaknesses of your team members. This is very important, as you will use this information to manage time better and ensure prompt task completion. Involving the right people in the right project and delegating properly is very important in project management.
Sometimes you will come to realize that you do not have all the sources and support that you need. Then, you must consider hiring new people. Hiring can be a stressful process and a little bit overwhelming as well. If you feel like you cannot not do it by yourself, consider outsourcing. You can collaborate with an EOR that will help you in successfully hiring the right people for your project.
3. Project Management Tools
Leveraging project management tools is also important. It is no news that technology has changed the way we do everything, and project management is not exempted. Tools like Slack, Trello, InVision, Evernote, and GatherContent can be used to improve team collaboration. These tools can also affect communication in various aspects of the project. They help keep you organized and you can use them even if you have tools you already use for delegating, scheduling, and estimating. Another typical management tool is Monday.com. It is used to store all project information that is considered critical while being able to transform data into dashboards, timelines, and Gantt charts. In addition to that, many companies nowadays use residential proxies to get faster results and more predictable ones.
4. Set Realistic Goals and Evaluate Them
As a project manager, always set goals that are important and evaluate them from time to time. You need to keep track of your progress to know if you will have to change the way you are operating. Set different milestones, known as deliverables in project management to give everyone an idea of what they are working towards. The deliverable should have a timeframe attached to them. After setting your goals, and achieving them, the next thing for you to do is to evaluate your performance. This evaluation is helpful to both the team carrying out the project and the client. Especially if either of the parties will take on a similar project in the future. Without something to work backward from, planning and managing a project becomes difficult.
5. Project Management Certifications
It helps if you are constantly improving yourself as a project manager. You can apply for an online project management program to help you improve your skills as a project manager. There are various technical skills required in project management and you can acquire many project management certifications online. Contrary to what people believe, project management training is not restricted to only new/junior project managers. Improve your skills regardless of the amount of experience you have in project management.
Final word
To become a better project manager, you must try to communicate with every team member of the project. Find out the strengths and weaknesses of every team member and delegate the right people to the right projects. Use project management tools to improve team collaboration and communication. Set realistic goals and evaluate them after accomplishing them. Lastly, improve yourself with project management certifications online.
