Being a Good Project Manager
Being a project manager is not an easy job. Now a days project management is really getting into all industries and there is greater demand of project managers. I will try to explain some traits a good project manager . All these traits can be developed with practice and hard work and there is no quality that you can say must have or you have to be born with specific talent. Let’s jump straight away into those qualities to analyze few of these
Understanding the project
A good project Manager takes his time really to understand the project. He takes his time to identify the stakeholders .He establishes good communication channels with the stakeholders. He takes his time before starting the project to get commitment from all the stakeholders and makes efforts to bring all stakeholders to the same level of expectations.
The idea is to think through the project with stakeholders and really understand why the project exist and what benefit it is going to provide ultimately to the organization. If you understand the project well and are able to take the commitment from stakeholders you have laid the foundation of success for your project.
Communicate with Honesty
The second quality is that the project manager should communicate with the stakeholders honestly. He should be very clear when setting the expectations for stakeholders. He should tell them what is possible and what is not doable. If the project managers communicates different versions of the project expectations to different stakeholders he already has invited the failure and has opened the doors for unhappy ending of the project.
Agreement on delivery
Project Manager should look for various business department that can be involved and should talk to them upfront to know what they need from project manager in order to complete their deliverables which are part of the project.
Project manager should get agreement of the deliverables and the time of the delivery. While getting the agreement make sure that you don’t push anyone to get a shorter duration as everyone is as busy as you are.
Listen Well
Listening is the quality of wise people. If you listen well as project manager the chances are that you will capture the right risks and issues and will be able to solve them in the right way. As a project manager, try to understand the point of view from the perspective of a user. Only then you will be able to understand why it’s important for the other party and can focus on the right things.
Build Team
Team building is very important part of the project manager job. Project manager should asses the team and know the skills of each person. He should know which team member can do a better job on which place. He should establish the training needs for each team members and if the trainings are not available at hand he should try to put a junior team member with a senior one so he can learn and grow.
The second part of the team building is the keeping the team motivated . If your team does not believe in you or the project then forget what you are doing as you won’t achieve anything. Keep the team motivated and charged with enthusiasm. It goes without saying that project manager has to be motivated in order to motivate others.
Plan well
Project Manager should thoroughly plan his project . He should keep all the resources, timesheets and workloads in balance. Try to plan as well as you can this will give you control during the execution of the project. This also gives a clear view to each team member that what is expected out of him. Usually the project fail because of bad plans and go beyond the schedules. Try to avoid this as much as possible this is vital for project success.
Be Accountable for the project
Project Manager is always accountable for the whatever happens to the project . So instead of closing your eyes not to see the danger, it is good to face the challenges. Tell yourself that I am responsible for the project. Whenever making decisions make use of the information available to you. Puts the project before any other allegiances. Make sincere effort . Let the organization know that you were the best person to do the job and they have made the right decision to put you in-charge.
Be a good negotiator
Negotiation is the key to convincing stakeholders. Your negotiation skills will be tested with some of the difficult stakeholders. If you are not good at it, try to develop it by reading books, watching lectures, asking and watching the seniors. This skill will help you resolve any conflicts within your team and with the other stakeholders. You should be able to negotiate outside of the circle.
Anticipate priorities and address Problems
As a project manager you should be able to anticipate priorities for the project. Make use of the commonsense. Use your analytical and reasoning skills to see what’s happening and make your decision based on the information available.
You should address the problems as they arise. Each problem can turn into an opportunity if you are positive and can think all sides of the problem to reach its solution.
Take calculated Risks
As a good project manager you should be able to take calculated risks in order to go forward. There is always a risk but you should be wise enough to avoid it or take the one that needs to be taken. Try to use the lesson learned see what others have done in this situation how they were able to resolve the issues and how much risk was involved. See the outcome if it happens and then make your decision again based on the information available to you.
Strategy, Leadership and Success Mentor 