Be an Effective Project Team Leader

During a recent project I really appreciated the importance of being an effective leader to guide a project team. The project that I recently took over was a mess. It did not have a plan and there was a lack of an effective leader on the project team. You could sense the team wanted a leader to reorganize the effort and get the project and the project team to a productive place.

Being an effective leader in the project management profession is more than having a project plan, an issues list or a risk log. It is about stepping forward and rallying the project team to follow your lead because your stepping up to lead the charge. This takes confidence in your skills, abilities, experience and people management abilities to take responsibility for the success or failure of the program or project. Not all program or project managers follow this approach. I have worked with project managers that first concern themselves with the political or personal priorities when managing a project team. This is not to say these are not important, however, if your first priority is not the successful delivery of the program or project and your project team you risk the chance of not being an effective leader. This is because people rally behind leaders that they believe have their best interest in mind and can get them to a place where they can share in the success. If the project team believes you have a different agenda they will struggle to trust and follow your lead and you will struggle to be an effective leader.

A Project Team Leader Will Face Scrutiny

Be aware…

Being an effective project team leader means your actions will be scrutinized more closely. You will open yourself to more criticism and second guessing but if you stay the course you will secure the confidence of your project team and have the influence you need to be an effective leader. This will assist you in steering your program or project team to success.

Some tips for being an effective leader:

• Have confidence
• Have a plan
• Be vocal but listen and acknowledge all points of views from your project team
• Be a good communicator
• Understand and acknowledge the needs of your stakeholder(s)
• Be a problem solver and not a finger pointer!
• Earn the trust of your sponsor, stakeholders and project team.
• Think Project TEAM LEADER