Proven Habits of Effective Project Managers

Adriana Girdler

Want to succeed when managing your next project? Here are some habits you need to have down. Do you often feel like you could be …

Want to succeed when managing your next project? Here are some habits you need to have down.

Do you often feel like you could be a more effective at managing your projects?

The truth is, no project manager will ever be perfect; there is always room for improvement. One of the most powerful ways to increase your success as a project manager is to know which habits are most worth your time and energy.

There are a few specific habits that make for effective project managers. So, what are they?

Be Proactive

This is really important to being an effective project manager, because if you’re passive or reactive, then you’re constantly trying to catch up and things will feel very overwhelming, not only for you, but for your project team.

What does this mean?

You really need to be engaged and think ahead. Understand what the risks are to your project, have a solid project plan, and check in with your team frequently.

Find Harmony

When it comes to projects, it is really easy to put everything else first but yourself.

Take note that we’re talking about finding harmony and not balance. Balance means you’re striving to have everything 50/50; 50% work life, 50% personal life. But that’s not realistic as a project manager.

There are times on a project where you may be really busy and working a lot – even on evenings and weekends. That isn’t balanced.

However, if you find harmony you can be much more effective as a project manager because you already are in the mindset that there will be ebbs and flows to your project, and times where you’ll be really busy.

How do you find harmony?

Set your expectations from the beginning that this will be hard work. Also think about what you can do to support yourself in those busy times – it can be as simple as sleeping enough, eating well, and carving out time for yourself to ensure you don’t get burnt out.

Other Important Habits of Project Managers

There are some other important habits that you need to be aware of as a project manager if you want to be effective and lead your projects to success.

I’ve created a YouTube video that talks about all those important habits more in-depth. So, if you really want to ensure your projects are always successful, head over to YouTube with me and we’ll keep chatting about this there.

Meanwhile, if you really are committed to mastering your next project, do consider taking my SLAY Project Management online course where I show you step-by-step how to successfully manage a project, plus you get access to every template you will need, along with detailed video instructions on how to fill them out.

-Adriana

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Adriana Girdler is a project manager, productivity specialist, entrepreneur, professional speaker, facilitator, visioning wizard, and author. As President of CornerStone Dynamics, Adriana is one of Canada’s prominent business productivity and project management specialists—helping both individuals and businesses do what they do, only better. She is a certified master black belt lean six sigma with over 20 years’ experience improving how companies work.

She also holds both PMP (project management professional) and CET (certified engineering technologist) designations. She’s a Tedx speaker, as well as a HuffPost and Thrive Global contributor. She has been interviewed on Global, CBC, CTV, CHCH, 680News Radio, Newstalk 1010, Sirius XM and published in the Globe and Mail and numerous industry magazines. WANT ADRIANA'S FREE ONLINE TRAINING? In 45 min, learn Adriana's 5 project management secrets she use on EVERY project. Sign up for the Free Webinar here: THE FAB FIVE FUNDAMENTALS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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