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So what does it take to be a good project manager?

Leadership
The first and foremost is a project manager must be a leader. We’ve covered some basic leadership principles in previous posts, but it is so fundamental to the project management role that it bears covering again. When leading a project team (or any other group for that matter), always keep the following at the forefront of your mind.

Be courageous
Like any other challenging endeavor, managing a project will test your courage. There will be times when you may be tempted to compromise your integrity. You may be tempted to “spin” or “fudge” information to avoid confrontation, or hide information from the team or stakeholders, or commit some other act that goes against your personal values. Do not succumb to these temptations. A cornerstone of leadership is being credible and believable to those around you. The only way to maintain credibility and believability for the long term is to be truthful and maintain your integrity as a person and a leader. Doing so often requires a great deal of courage.

Stay positive
This is not to say be unrealistic. It is important to be rational, and to find and exhibit the positives around you and your team. Project management can seem like a trial by fire at times. It is easy to get embroiled in the negatives and make these your primary focus. Doing so will set the tone for the team’s attitude towards you and the project, and ultimately sour the work environment.

This is not to say that the negatives should be avoided or minimized. Managing risk is a fundamental project management activity. However, always focus on the search for positive outcomes to risks, and do not forget to also look for opportunities. Deal with the negatives directly and immediately. Do not let them grow out of control and don’t let your focus be drawn completely away from the positives.

Remember, you are the leader. Your attitude is contagious.

Be willing to delegate and hold people accountable
Many project managers are detail oriented, motivated, type A personalities. This is a good thing as managing a project is about maintaining control. However, as a leader you must be willing to divest some of the responsibilities for the project to key team members. Delegation not only enables you to keep your sanity and focus on core issues, it also allows your team members to grow and develop both personally and professionally.

Good leaders delegate. They do not, however, set their people up for failure. It is important that the tasks or areas of responsibility that are delegated are also accompanied by guidelines on the boundaries the individual must work within to accomplish the task, what the specific outcomes are for the task, and what resources are available.

Having clearly defined the required actions and outcomes, you must then hold the individuals assigned the task or responsibility accountable. This is a delicate part of leadership that many are uncomfortable with. However, done properly, holding your team members accountable will foster your relationships, establish you as a credible leader, and benefit the individuals.

Do not ignore the importance of motivating your people
It is easy to get embroiled in the day to day tasks and to get caught up in the stresses of a project. However, as the leader you must maintain the morale of your team members. Just being a “good leader” will go far in accomplishing this, but you must remember to take time away from the business of the project and build your team. This can be done through informal social gatherings, formal meetings where people are recognized for their contributions and the successes of the project are celebrated, or at any number of other team building events. A recent client of mine arranged a day trip on a sailing vessel, for instance. Although a few people became a bit sea sick on the trip, everybody hailed the event as a huge success. The beauty of this event is it not only allowed team members to unwind and relax together, but also required them to exercise teamwork in sailing the vessel.

Organization and management skills
It goes without saying that a project manager must possess extraordinary organization skills. He or she must be able to receive, process and organize large volumes of data, as well as assign and prioritize tasks according to the skills and capacities of the team members.

A large part of managing the project also involves analyzing data and making decisions based on the information at hand. Doing so requires the ability to delve into the details of a situation while at the same time retaining the big picture view. This may seem contradictory, but the ability to remain between the “big picture” and the detail is fundamental to the project manager’s success. Focus on the “big picture” enables the project manager to guide the project. However, the devil is in the details. Staying in the clouds too long results in the small, unnoticeable issues becoming large and threatening. These must be dealt with, but not obsessed over at the expense of the strategic guidance necessary to successful project completion.