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Your role as a project manager is to deliver a project. Your communications, influence, and careful use of authority all play a major factor in the support you receive to complete the project.

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2013, 2019/365.

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Your Role as a Project Manager

Your role as a project manager is to deliver a project. However, it is the team, the sponsors, and other stakeholders that you must rely on. Your communications, influence, and careful use of authority all play a major factor in the support you receive to complete the project.

Project management styles

Whether you are grooming yourself for a career in project management or (caution: dramatic statement ahead) aggressive forces are thrusting you into the role, you have a lot of weight on your shoulders to deliver.

Before you can manage the project, it is important to decide how you will manage it. Over the years, I have worked with many people that have the formal title of project manager and their styles are all very different, as shown in the table below.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of all management styles. As a project manager, always remember you are managing a collaborative team of people to deliver something at the end of the project. Whatever that something is, it will require change and you will rely on your team to help you deliver successfully.

Steps to take in your role as a project manager

For you to be successful, the team must be successful. Take care to consider the unique culture of the team with which you are working with.

  • As an influencer, you are motivating others to support your project. You will guide people to make informed decisions to provide you with resources, and motivate the team to work within limited budgets and timelines.
  • If you are too authoritative on your project, you run the risk of losing the excitement and comradery that comes with team building. That is not to say you should put your tail between your legs. You will use that authority to bring a project back on track, fix team dynamics, award excellence, and drive process conformance.
  • Take a thoughtful and considered approach in your role as a project manager, weighing when to press on with your authority and when to influence and negotiate for the team.

PMP is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

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  • 00:04 In this lesson we talk about your role as a project manager and
  • 00:08 how to effectively work with the project team.
  • 00:10 Whether you are grooming yourself for a career in project management, or
  • 00:15 aggressive forces are thrusting you into the roll you have a lot of weight
  • 00:20 on your shoulders to deliver.
  • 00:22 Before you can manage the project,
  • 00:25 it is important to decide how you will manage it.
  • 00:28 Over the years I've worked with many people that have the formal title of
  • 00:33 project manager and their styles are very different.
  • 00:37 As you can see in the figure this is by no means an exhaustive list of
  • 00:42 management styles.
  • 00:43 As a project manager, always remember you are managing a collaborative
  • 00:49 team of people to deliver on something at the end of a project.
  • 00:53 Whatever that something is you're delivering, it will require change and
  • 00:59 you will require your team to help you deliver successfully.
  • 01:04 If your success is driven by the team's success, then take care
  • 01:09 to consider the unique culture of the team with which you are working.
  • 01:15 As the figure illustrates,
  • 01:17 you should consider your role as a project manager to be that as an influencer.
  • 01:22 As an influencer you're motivating others to support your project.
  • 01:27 You'll guide people to make informed decisions to provide you with
  • 01:32 the resources and to motivate the team to work within limited budgets and timelines.
  • 01:38 If you are too authoritative in your project, you run the risk of losing
  • 01:43 the excitement and camaraderie that comes with team building.
  • 01:47 That is not to say you should put your tail between your legs.
  • 01:50 You'll use your authority to bring the project back on track and
  • 01:55 fix any team dynamics.
  • 01:56 Award excellence and drive project conformance.
  • 02:00 Take a thoughtful and considerate approach to your role as a project manager.
  • 02:06 Weighing when you press with your authority and when to influence and
  • 02:10 negotiate with the team.
  • 02:12 In conclusion,
  • 02:13 always remember that your success is dependent on your project team success.
  • 02:19 Most teams do not want an authoritative figure looming over them.
  • 02:24 Use your influence and unique personality to foster creative and fun teams.
  • 02:30 Use your authority sparingly but never hesitate to use it if it is needed.

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