Enforce your decisions as a project manager is not always easy. Tips to get it right and manage objections.
Like a conductor of an orchestra, the role of project manager is to coordinate the members of a team. In order to carry out your duty as a catalyst, you first of all have to be heard. How are you to manage your team well?
Choose the right language
“One of the skills to master well, but is hardly taught at school, is to know how to use language well,” says Laurent Simon, professor at the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at HEC Montreal. He says that this ability has two parts. One part is clarity, accuracy of the terms used and how well the words used match reality. The other part is rhetorical ability. In other words, being able to translate, in the speaker’s world, the how and why of the decisions to be made. “It’s about adapting your speech to each person,” he explains. To do this, a good project manager must know how to show empathy. “You have to know your world, recognize that the people before us are not robots but individuals with sensitivity, interests, ways of understanding things,” Laurent Simon points out.
Working with your team
Enforce your decisions as a project manager by working with your team. For a team to be motivated to complete the project, meaningful work is essential. Employees need to know who they are working for and for what purpose. “Being able to articulate the purpose of a project is more motivating, engaging and mobilizing than just imposing deadlines or economic constraints,” the professor explains. Everyone must grasp the meaning of the collective action and what exactly is their role in the process.
In addition, Laurent Simon insists on the ability to delegate. “A project manager who works alone goes right to the wall,” he believes. If the manager has been able to build a solid team, delegating will let him unload a part of the pressure and concentrate better.
Being attentive to objections
When a member of the team has reservations, it is not always easy to respond adequately. “Listening is very important, but so is honesty, authenticity and transparency,” says Laurent Simon. Standing back and questioning oneself to adapt certain decisions is therefore sometimes necessary.
To conclude, the professor advises taking a few minutes each morning to take stock and understand the day’s challenges. “This is what we call reflexivity, it’s a manager’s housekeeping,” he notes.