How Understanding Project Management Can Make You a Better Leader

Being a project manager is not as easy as it appears. To many people, project managers just give assignments and hover around other people’s desks until they are finished, and then fill in the check box. Truth be told, some inadequate project managers may actually go about their jobs in this manner.

Quality project management, on the other hand, requires you to be so much more than a simple task master. It requires one to be a good leader, and here are some of the traits that define such person.

Good Leadership Requires Quality Communication

The main reason for miscommunication in management is the so-called task incompatibility, or to be more precise, managing someone whose job you do not understand. For example, if you are to monitor a graphic designer or a coding process, yet you have never done either of those things, it can be a problem.

You demand results yet you have no idea how the whole process works. You may start to feel like the employee is slacking off, but that person feels like he or she is being pushed too hard by someone with unrealistic demands, and the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

Good project managers take great interest in the areas they are supervising, and are able to make a sound judgment on how long it will take for a task to be finished, without overstraining the worker. So, try to communicate, allow them to talk you through their process, and explain potential difficulties. This way, you eliminate any undesired future animosity.   

Good Leadership Requires Team Building        

Very often, a project manager has to act as a mediator between departments, since disputes happen when the situation is stressful and tensions run high. You need to be a problem solver, and this is probably the hardest part of your work. A good leader will respect both parties because siding with only one may cause only further complications and loss of staff power. Effective project management requires you to focus on task execution and do everything in your power to meet deadlines, which means that any obstruction is up to you to handle.   

Inspiring others to work towards the same goal, or promoting synergy, is the reason why teambuilding is important. As a manager, you are not necessarily their boss; you are a co-worker as well, which makes it less awkward if they socialize with you. Use this to your advantage — don’t mix two workers in the same project if they are prone to getting into an argument. Both parties will appreciate that you are all ears and keep your eyes open, to receive those signals that denote possible animosity.

Good Leadership Requires Organization and Task distribution

It is your responsibility to go through the project and see exactly what is requested because employees will turn to you for clarification when they have doubts. You need to know how to segment the project and give everyone assignments so that tasks are evenly distributed. Finally, you need to know your worker's capabilities and their strong points, so you can see how you can utilize them in particular tasks. You also need to be able to find more tasks that are compatible with one another, which make it easier for employees to tackle more than one assignment at the same time, and increase efficiency. Your goals should focus on classification, segmentation, and quality distribution, not just mindless assigning.    

Also, feel free to explore the Web, and find apps that are good organizational tools. This will make it easier for you and your co-workers to track progress of the workflow. Organizational apps can help you a great deal, especially when assignments start to swarm in.  

Good Leadership Requires Enthusiasm and Taking Initiative

Finally, if you are giving assignments, you need to be constantly busy with something as well. If you have no new tasks, than offer to lighten the load of other workers. Your co-workers will appreciate the help, and if they see you taking on extra responsibilities, it may just encourage them to be more productive.