In one of my earliest experiences of heading up a project, I was fortunate to join a team that had been working together for some time. I learnt many valuable lessons about project management. You could say that the team trained me!
Most critically, a manager needs to understand the vision for the project – what will it look like once its completed? Keeping the team focused on the finish line is an important task for any manager.
Team members must also understand their individual roles to achieve successful results. Early in the project, share concerns about possible issues with the team and get their input on mitigation tactics. Team members’ past experiences may help to reveal problems within an organisation’s culture that may affect the success of a project.
Be open-minded; there’s more than one way to get a job done and make sure the people with the right skills are matched with relevant tasks. Once this happens, a project manager can adopt a leadership role rather than resorting to micromanaging team members, which benefits no one, least of all the project or the customer.
Find more tips about successful project management in Part 4 of my book, The Perfumed Steamroller: www.perfumedsteamroller.com.au
