Leadership Skills for PMs: Edition 10 – Being Decisive

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Leadership Skills for PMs Edition 10 – Being DecisiveDecision-making facilitates project delivery and conveys control, so it’s an everyday activity for PMs. Here are instances where project managers must be decisive.

  • Managing resources. Working with managers who are juggling resources is typical when you’re trying to get people for your project teams. Good decisions are a must to ensure the project gets the right skills, to align the schedule to accommodate team member availability, and to identify contracting alternatives when skilled staff aren’t available in-house.  In addition, effective resource managements calls for assembling cohesive teams and assigning primary contacts to key stakeholders.  
  • Establishing technical direction. Choosing the right alternative from available options falls squarely on the project manager. You need to rally the project team and stakeholders and you might have to make adjustments to accommodate business needs. You might have to address scope or approach changes with stakeholders who evaluate the merits of a proposed change. Success depends on making and clearly communicating these decisions to all stakeholders. 
  • Facilitating meetings. Discussions are rarely efficient unless someone steps up to herd the cats. It’s tricky to determine whether a debate is on target or heading off on a tangent (in which case, you must steer it back to the agreed-upon agenda. It involves sensitivity, active listening, and…you guessed it…clear decision-making).  
  • Dealing with partial information. Most of the time, you won’t have complete information when you need to make a project-related decision. Stakeholder reactions, risks coming to fruition (or not), changes in the law, or competitors’ actions can alter the best direction for the project. But knowing what will happen in the future requires a crystal ball that’s on long-term backorder at Wizards ‘R Us. As a result, you have to be comfortable making decisions without knowing everything involved. To move a project forward without delay, it’s a matter of determining which data you need and deciding with reasonable unknowns. 
  • Taking ownership of decisions. When it’s time to decide, take a stand and move forward. Being unclear, blaming others, and referring to missing information shows weakness not decisiveness. When you make a decision, stick to it and act in line with its expectations. If the decision doesn’t turn out well and you can change it, go ahead and change it. Explain the reasons for the change, citing the information that came to light since you made the original decision. Then move forward with the altered approach.

For more about decision making, check out Mike Figliuolo’s Decision-Making Strategies course.

 

 

Coming Up

As Project Online approaches retirement, organizations face important decisions about the future of their project and portfolio management tools. Bonnie Biafore and Ira Brown will explore several paths for transitioning away from Project Online, discussing options such as Project Server Subscription Edition, Planner Premium, Smartsheet, and also the use of standalone Microsoft Project. Join us for Office Hours on Friday, December 5, 2025 at 11am MT/1pm ET. Click here to join!

 

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This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 100,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

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Leadership Skills for PMs: Edition 9 – Focus on Results

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Newsletter 100,000 subscribers

Great project managers not only manage the project’s scope, time and cost (the triple constraints); they make sure those constraints will deliver positive results. That means focusing on outcomes rather than just activities. Here are ways you can demonstrate a results-focused approach. 

  • Define success criteria. Draft scope statements that define project outcomes and explicitly describe how success for those outcomes will be measured. Success criteria ensure that everyone knows what project success looks like. This reduces the risk of getting sidetracked and helps evaluate changes to scope. For example, a success criterion “Improve manufacturing line throughput” is vague. How much does it need to improve to be considered a success? A proper success criteria would be “Improve manufacturing line throughput by 20% by March 31 as measured by process X.” 
  • Manage scope change requests while maintaining good stakeholder relationships. Evaluate each scope change request against the project’s success criteria and either say no to the change, negotiate a trade-off, or agree to expand the scope by asking for adjusted timelines and budgets. No matter the decision, there is a solid rationale that reinforces the integrity of the project’s success criteria. Communicate the rationale to interested stakeholders without judgment, while listening actively to their responses. That way you can maintain a productive relationship with your key stakeholders. 
  • Make decisions quickly, even when complete information isn’t available. Analysis paralysis is detrimental to a project. To keep your focus on results, gather enough data to make an informed choice, then commit and move forward. Making a good decision today beats a perfect decision three weeks from now, especially when those three weeks put deliverables at risk. However, revisiting decisions might be the responsible thing to do when new information comes to light. When that happens, reassess your decisions if feasible. You’ll have to put your ego aside for the sake of project success.
  • Communicate status using business outcome terminology. Completed tasks on a schedule isn’t what’s important to key stakeholders. What is important is the status compared to expected outcomes. For example, “tasks 39 to 51 are done” doesn’t mean much to management. However, “we’ve circumvented the highest risks without any issues” or “we are 2 weeks away from a workable prototype” are more meaningful and outcome-focused. Results-oriented status updates keep stakeholders informed about what is relevant to them. 
  • Prioritize features to adjust the project based on business value. When time or resources get tight—and they often do—be sure to reevaluate scope. That way, you can use business value to defer or cut lower-priority scope items, while fully delivering the highest-value items. 

If you’re like me, you probably get a dopamine rush by crossing to-dos off lists. But make sure you’re building those to-do lists based on project results and that you define your success criteria before diving into work.

For more about the importance of project results, check out my Project Management Foundations course.

 

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This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 100,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

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Leadership Skills for PMs: Edition 8 – Organization

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Leadership Skills for PMs Edition 8 – OrganizationThe organizing that great project managers do goes way beyond maintaining comprehensive to-do lists. They arrange their personal activities efficiently and make sure their projects are always in good order. Here are the primary ways successful project managers stay organized.  

  • Centralizing and categorizing project information. Data is stored in one place and catalogued well, so it can be tracked down quickly and easily. It’s also diligently maintained, so older versions of documents aren’t mistaken for the latest and greatest version. This project data includes the charter, scope statement, schedule, decision logs, change requests, lessons learned, and more. 
  • Track communication beyond standard planning. The best project managers go beyond what’s defined in a communication plan. They track their interpersonal communications beyond what’s outlined in the plan. They know who they’ve spoken to informally and what each key stakeholder knows about the project’s status. With this knowledge, they keep stakeholders engaged and supportive of the project. 
  • Triage new risks and issues conscientiously. Every day in the project world brings new challenges, such as changes in stakeholder desires, business conditions, and technical glitches. These events raise new risks and issues that must be dealt with quickly and intelligently, which requires an organized mind to absorb the situation, determine who should manage the issue or risk, and provide the necessary guidance.
  • Manage time attentively to direct daily activities. Things come at project managers at a fast and furious pace. Projects managers must avoid distractions and ensure time is allocated to important activities (as opposed to attention-grabbers like answering a phone call). This calls for an understanding of short and long-term objectives that only well-organized thinking can manage.
  • Facilitate meetings carefully. Relevant agendas guide efficient meetings with engaged attendees. Conversations that wander from the agenda are limited and steered back to the intended topics. Someone is assigned to create, review, and distribute minutes, including clear to-do list items, their owners, and status information.

Everyone has their personal favorite organizing tips. One of mine is to name files consistently and include the date in the filename in the format yymmdd. That way, you can sort files in chronological order. If you have a favorite tip, share with us in the comments section.

 

Coming Up

Chris Croft and I just finished recording a course where we use role playing to show how to solve common project management problems. Look for more about it soon.

 

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This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 99,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

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Leadership Skills for PMs: Edition 7 – Building Relationships

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Leadership Skills for PMs Edition 7 – Building RelationshipsProductive relationships with sponsors, key stakeholders, vendors, and the project team are essential to project success. And successful project managers build relationships, rather than treat discussions as transactions. Here are approaches that help build strong relationships.

  • Be present. Every discussion is an opportunity to get to know someone better. To really get to know your stakeholders, eliminate distractions during conversations. Put away your phone, close your laptop, and don’t watch for other people passing by (even if you really need to talk to them). To build and maintain relationships, really listen and respond only after carefully considering what someone says. With mindful focus, each interaction is a positive step in fostering a healthy relationship.
  • Follow through. As a project manager, work to be the person who always follows through on commitments. Relationship building isn’t a once and done exercise. Reach out to continue and expand communication with others. Schedule informal get-togethers. Invite stakeholders to relevant, well-planned meetings. Take opportunities to solicit their views. 
  • Focus beyond the words. Research by psychologist Albert Mehrabian suggests that body language and tone of voice communicate more than the words used. Develop your emotional intelligence and watch for the true meaning behind what stakeholders’ say. If you struggle to “read the room” or interpret stakeholders’ intentions, consider training in emotional intelligence. Also, use the richest medium possible (phone rather than email, video rather than phone, in person rather than video) so you can get the most out of every conversation.
  • Adjust your schedule and agenda to meet the needs of others (and yourself). Everyone has good and bad days, which can show up in how we communicate. Be flexible with stakeholders. Work with them on topics and approaches that are sensitive to their mood, available time, and level of interest. It might be better to move a crucial conversation to another day to achieve a successful outcome and maintain a positive relationship. Note: The same applies to you, the project manager. If you’re in a bad mood, wait until your mood improves before having an important conversation with a stakeholder.
  • Take a long-term view. Building constructive relationships takes time. Some conversations will be easy-going and some will be challenging. Build trust through honest interactions. Be open, sensitive to others’ needs and perspectives, and listen to different points of view. Share information proactively, even with bad news. Avoiding difficult conversations won’t lead to successful relationships. Consistency and trustworthiness over the long term are keys to building strong relationships.

You know you have a meeting or conversation coming up. Use it to practice being present and see what happens!

For more about building relationships, check out Emily Anhalt’s Skills to Build Stronger Work Relationships course.

 

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This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 99,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

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