What Is The Most Important Part Of Your Job As A Project Man

Most people would say this is obvious, and that consistently delivering the desired results on time and budget is the most important part. But this is not just part of your day-to-day job; this is the outcome of you performing your job effectively.

The best way to ensure you continually deliver is not just by getting the best out of yourself, but by ensuring those around you are at their best as well. The broad scope of requirements placed on a modern team requires a broad range of skills to meet demand. It is only by playing to your team’s strengths that you will be able to get the most efficient, and effective results.

Being a project manager requires you to be adept at a vast array of roles. Success requires us to be good at financial planning, administration, man management, and organisation. This can lead to an over complication of the path to success.

However, perhaps the most important facet of project management is our ability to lead. If we keep a clear vision in our mind of what we are trying to achieve, then all decisions and actions become a lot easier to make. Having this clearly defined goal of what we perceive to be success in leadership keeps everything moving in the same direction.

Making successful leadership a high priority in your approach to project management can have a big impact. To build the correct mentality within your team you must lead by example. Displaying the following attributes will help to create a productive environment where your team will thrive:

• Honesty – Some project managers become so worried about keeping the customer happy, they forget about the people they work with day in day out. When the team has a clear understanding of what is going on it reduces misinterpretation, and therefore resentment. The easiest way to achieve this is by always speaking the truth. We must do this in a clear and sensitive manner. Consistent honesty can be a breath of fresh air in an environment where most are trying to keep others happy.

• Teamwork - Building a feeling of community and solidarity within your team will make it run like a well-oiled machine. Mutual respect and honesty will create a desire to help each other.

• Humanity – Nobody is perfect. Showing your own vulnerability and weaknesses by asking for help will help you relate to your team better. It is far more important to be a complete human being than a perfect one.

Focus your efforts as a project manager on improving your leadership skills and you will reap the benefits with consistent project success. This is most evident in sports management. When a football manager is appointed to manage a new club he will take the bulk of his backroom staff with him so he has a ready-made project management framework.This is because of the personal relationship football managers build with their staff. Because they are powerful leaders, which builds respect and loyalty that becomes more important than the individual's position within a club.