Do you have the profile to manage a project?
This type of mission requires a keen sense of organization, diplomacy, and communication. Because the smallest grain of sand in the gears risks jamming the entire mechanism.
No company escapes it: as soon as there is talk of modifying an organization or launching a new product, "project teams" multiply. The interest of this type of device? Shorten decision-making circuits, pool expertise, and accelerate the achievement of concrete results. Project managers are therefore in high demand. But getting individuals from different departments to work together, and with whom you don't always have a hierarchical link, is not easy. To successfully carry out this type of mission, you must know how to organize work, unite your teams, meet deadlines, and achieve your objectives.
Have a good dose of method and rigor
In most cases, managing a project will not replace your usual functions. If you lack rigor and a sense of organization, you risk being quickly overwhelmed. It is therefore essential to build a detailed backward planning, including all the intermediate steps between the start of the project and its completion. You will follow the progress of the project by relying on concrete indicators: specific objectives must therefore correspond to each date entered on the schedule. Scheduling regular meetings with your collaborators will allow you to take stock, exchange information, and correct deviations. In this respect, the use of a collaborative platform (see the box) can be considered.
Whatever the chosen work method, rigor must be present from the launch of the project. Otherwise, you risk paying dearly for it later. This is what happened to this team in charge of installing customer relationship management software. The project had experienced a delay at the start for organizational reasons. Yet, on launch day, all the planned functions were operational. Except for one, unfortunately essential for salespeople: the one that allowed identifying the targets to attack in priority. As a result, the software did not achieve the expected success among sales teams.
Show firmness without being authoritarian
The main problem encountered by any project leader is the lack of availability of the members of his team. Participants say they are "overloaded" or that they have "an urgent file to close", etc. You will therefore have to, although you are not their hierarchical superior, impose yourself on your collaborators, from the moment you take office. You will have to be directive without being authoritarian. A firmness that will have to concern, in particular, the scheduling of meetings: at the beginning, everyone attends assiduously, but gradually the defections multiply. If, despite your reminders, the absenteeism rate becomes intolerable, do not hesitate to contact the managers of the recalcitrant so that they lighten their schedules.
Know how to lead and unite a heterogeneous team
It happens that a project manager must himself constitute his team. This task requires recruiting qualities in order to detect the best candidates. The selection will be based on technical skills, of course, but also on motivation and human qualities. It is also not easy to find the right balance between juniors and experienced people...
A competent project manager must absolutely know how to lead and unite if he wants the mayonnaise to take quickly within his group. This presupposes listening and leadership qualities, as well as a good ability to communicate. It is necessary to absorb all the information in order to redistribute it to the interested parties. It is especially important to avoid behaving like a hyper-qualified expert. It is better to reveal yourself a little less sharp technically, but to be an excellent communicator. The project manager will indeed have to "sell" his mission internally in order to get all the departments concerned to adhere to it and obtain maximum attention and cooperation from them. If, for example, you are managing the reorganization of the "supply chain", it will be imperative to explain the modalities of the project, but above all to clearly explain the expected benefits, such as the reduction of delivery times and the increase in customer satisfaction. Thanks to this internal lobbying work, you will create a dynamic around the project. An important success factor.
Be versatile and take a step back
To successfully manage a project, you don't need to be a specialist in the field. Too involved in the substance, you would have difficulty finding the necessary height of view. If it is a question of implementing new software, for example, the director of information systems is therefore not the best placed. Since IT concerns all departments, a manager with a global vision of the company, sensitive to the needs of each department, will be chosen rather than a programming ace. Knowing several branches or services is also a serious asset for orchestrating cross-functional projects: you will be able to more easily push people in their thinking and anticipate obstacles. A member of the financial management is currently managing the overhaul of the information systems of a major liberal professions union. He was designated above all for his ability to unite and his good knowledge of the inner workings of the company. Have you just joined the company? If you are a seasoned manager, no problem. You will bring a fresh perspective and may discover unprecedented solutions.
Be reactive and creative in the face of difficulties
Once the project is launched, the manager must demonstrate that he is able to react quickly and have ideas. Indeed, an unforeseen obstacle will necessarily present itself in the course of the project. It is up to you to show that you have the resources to cope with it. Here again, you will have to unite all the skills of your work group to overcome the difficulty. This adaptability and this "political sense" will be useful to launch your plan on the right track. At the beginning, set an easily achievable objective - what the Anglo-Saxons call a "quick win", an easy victory. This first successful step will prove that the project is producing concrete results and will create a success dynamic. In a telecommunications company that had just absorbed another, the project manager's first decision was to unify employees' wallpapers by imposing the logo of the new entity. Not so anecdotal: this action was perceived by everyone as a strong, highly symbolic message. A striking way to launch a long-term reorganization project.
Posted on February 28, 2011
