Key attributes to being a better Project Manager

Projects are intrinsically & deceptively complex. Thus real challenge for a project manager is to turn people's anxiety about the future into confidence. So if you want to grow as a project manager, what you mean is that you want to get better at turning their anxiety into confidence. And the single best way to do that is to get more clear. Don't get more passionate, more analytical or more insightful - get clearer.

By that I mean, if you look at the role of the project manager through the eyes of the team member, which is really the only way to look at the project manager, then there are at the very least four or five areas where people are crying out for you to be really clear. They are:

Tell us who we are supposed to serve. Because if you don't tell us that, if you tell us to serve all the people all the time, you will increase our anxiety.

Tell it to us vividly, through two or three stories, so we understand what our customers want from us. Be precise; know what exactly want done and exactly how you will describe it. What are we trying to do? When will we start? What do we need? Can we do it alone, or do we need help? How long will it take? How much will it cost? These are typical questions asked at the start of any project and the answers are the building blocks of project management - defining what we want to do and working out the best way we can do it.

Tell us what our strengthes are. How are we going to win?
What is our score? How do we know how far we have yet to go?
What actions are we going to take right now? Be unambiguous, be clear.

And always remember to plan for what you don't know...not just for what you see!