After you come up with a clear definition, schedule, and budget for your project, you need to plan for the way you’ll lead the project and, more specifically, your project team. Because projects are often seen by team members as intrusions into their routines. They may see the project as extra work that’s imposed on them or they may be overloaded with several projects at the same time. Therefore, you may have to contend with resistance within the team, or at least help team members resolve scheduling conflicts.
To make a project work smoothly, you may have to alter your leadership style. You should also clearly define your function and the function of the team.
I’d like to discuss seven key topics in this area, though this is definitely not an all-inclusive list:
Clarify your leadership role
A department manager may gain the respect of his or her department staff over time, regardless of individual style. But a project manager, like each person on the team, is often thrust into a temporary leadership role, often over individuals from other departments. In this situation, it’s important to let your project team know how you perceive that role.
Your function will vary depending on the complexity of each project and on the size and nature of the team. But for most projects, you will function not as a supervisor or mediator but as a coordinator. You may often have to participate directly in many phases of the job to make sure that resources work together, budgets are controlled, and schedules are met.
Follow through on all aspects of the job
Remember that because projects are exceptions, team members may not understand their roles as clearly as you’d like or might assume. So you must be able to follow through on assignments and make sure they’re clearly understood in terms of the desired result and deadline - a level of follow-through greater than you’d need in supervising a seasoned department. A good method is to approach assignments and supervision as though you were training new employees - at the same time not becoming so involved in overseeing that the team members feel like trainees. And using a good viewing and collaboration tool like Seavus Project Viewer to keep your team up to date on the project schedule is a good way to ensure that they understand what’s expected of them at all times.
Emphasize organization and scheduling
Project leaders depend on a very well organized schedule of work and division of assignments. Therefore, it’s important to document everything possible on the project. Again, using a tool like Project Viewer to allow each member of the team quick access to the project schedule and tasks deadlines ensures that no one is out of the loop.
Be aware of team priorities and conflicts
Rarely do project team members abandon their own recurring tasks to spend all of their time on temporary projects. Your project is more likely to represent extra duty; some team members may even consider it a low priority. They are likely to face conflicts in deadlines since departmental tasks and project tasks cannot both be completed within a limited amount of time. This problem is especially difficult to resolve when team members report to you for the project and to someone else the rest of the time.
Therefore, ask team members to let you know in advance about future scheduling conflicts, and then seek a solution - if necessary, by reassigning tasks. To avoid unnecessary conflicts that place team members in the middle, stay in touch with the managers of their departments.
Be available to team members
Just as your team members must continue to execute departmental tasks, you will have to continue leading your department. But no matter how much pressure you’re under, and no matter how much work you have, you should be available to your team. When they approach you with problems or questions, be sure you make time to work out a solution.
Ask for participation and respond to it
A team functions more democratically than a department; otherwise, it isn’t really a team. Ask your team to offer ideas, propose solutions and procedures, and take part in executing the project’s objective. Most of all, make their participation a reality, not just a concept. You need to listen well when members offer ideas; when the ideas make sense, be willing to change your assumptions.
Always remember the end result
When you’re busy solving scheduling and budget problems and overcoming delays in getting information, it’s easy to lose sight of your project objective. Remind yourself constantly of what you want to achieve, and guide your decisions and actions and your team by the end result.