Does your project manager have authority to lead projects to success?
Have you ever had to manage 4 things at once? Work, money, family and life? Welcome to project management. 
Whether you are a: Coordinator, Program Manager, Account Manager or a stay-at-home Mom, you’re project managing. Project management is always around us, in our everyday life. Everyone is doing it in some shape or form.
But who does it the best?
The difference between a good Project Manager and a great one is the unique traits they demonstrate such as: leadership, strategic thinking, organization, and ambition. These traits are naturally embedded in their daily thought process. Great Project Managers are consistently one step ahead of the game with a successfully completed project waiting at the finish line. Mind you this type of success didn’t arrive overnight; it comes with experience and trial and error. This is where having someone with the right experience, personality and skill-set comes into play.
Project Management is a complex role to fill, especially when you are trying to strike balance with multiple large complex projects. You must be able to keep track of progress, stages on the project from various sections that are on-going while coming in on time, on budget and with quality.
Some projects are straight forward in and out the door seamlessly. And there are other projects that can take several months or years to complete depending on your organization. It’s always important to keep the momentum up through every phase of the project while keeping your eye on the finish line. Projects can and will begin to move away as other things start taking priority, which eventually affects the project so always beware of where your priorities lay.
Could you imagine the chaos of 5 or more people managing 1 project? It would be merely impossible to efficiently plan and make decisions:
Who would report to whom?
Who would be accountable for project success?
How would the team know whose direction to follow?
This is why it’s so important to have one single person as the main point of contact. This one person holds enough power and authority through their leadership qualities to effectively lay the foundation for success. A project manager needs to hold authority to run a successful project through to completion. It’s crucial to clearly announce at the kick off meeting who is driving the project, which parties are reporting to whom and who the team is to abide their direction.
Someone needs to be fully accountable for the outcomes, right?
A great Project Manager must effectively demonstrate the following 4 traits:
- Plan of action
- Progress evaluation
- Keep their cool under pressure
- Confidently provide a solution
The next time you find yourself sourcing a Project Manager look to someone who holds the perfect balance of power and authority to lead your project and company to success.
What do you think makes a great Project Manager? Feel free to leave a comment below or shout out to us on Facebook or Twitter. Of course, you could always write your own blog post on the subject and share it with us… We’d love to read it!
