You Don’t Have to Feel So Alone

As a project manager, you have to make decisions, resolve conflicts, manage aggressive timeframes and make the most of small budgets. It can feel like you have to deal with these responsibilities all alone. Yes, your responsibilities are monumental. You won’t feel so alone if you follow these tips:

• Work with your team members. Take time to work with your team on issues, idea generation, and solutions. It’s even more effective when you chat informally with team members at least 10 minutes each day. You won’t face obstacles alone and you’ll build stronger relationships, develop trust, and foster dedication with your team members. 
• Show gratitude. Look for opportunities to say, “thank you.” When appropriate, acknowledge accomplishments with formal recognition programs or by taking a team member(s) out to lunch. Expressing gratitude helps build a unified team that will support you as a leader – and you won’t be on your own should things go astray. Do the same with your key stakeholders and project sponsor to build support you can count on when you need it.
• Enhance your leadership approach. Project leaders have no choice but to rely on others. As you manage larger, more complex projects, the need to rely on others grows. View this dependency as an opportunity to delegate, train and learn from others. Your team members become stronger resources; you grow more familiar with your team’s deliverables; and project management becomes more of a team effort.
• Leverage your network. Discuss your project with fellow project managers and get their perspectives. Use status reviews with your manager and/or project sponsor to share ideas and perspectives. Attend project management gatherings, like Project Management Institute® chapter meetings and network with other attendees. You might pick up a great idea to make you look like a hero on your project!

If you have more suggestions for reducing your sense of isolation, add them in the comments section.

For more about team building, check out Mike Figliuolo’s Building High-performance Teams course.