Tips to becoming a successful Manager

Here are tips to becoming a successful Program/ Project/ Portfolio Manager.

It is true that most managers suck at managing people in their roles. However, we have some managers who have worked so hard in ensuring and motivating their team members in achieving the goals.

If you are suddenly responsible for leading a team and you have no idea to do it, here are steps to take to help you become a better leader today.

1. Create the vision
   Vision drives the success of the project. A manager needs to define what success looks like and translate it into specific goals and objectives.
   
2. Communicate your vision to the organization
   There is need to hold a kick off meeting where you need to discuss your vision and goals to all relevant stakeholders. You may need to persuade them to help them understand how these goals will be achieved and translated into business values and benefit for the organization.
3. Create the strategy and breakdown tasks
   A project manager will need to know the best strategies in achieving these goals. You need to create a list of tasks and milestones that will ensure the team achieves its vision.
4. Hire the right people to execute the strategy
   A manager needs to identify what hard skills and cultural traits your team needs to execute the strategy. You need to acquire team members who meet the criteria of the project and group them according to their relevant skills. Put in mind that resource levelling is very important so that one person doesn’t carry more burden than the rest of the team members.
5. Train, Lead and coach new hires
   It Is important to first teach the team members how to do a task by doing it yourself. Then, ask them to do it and identify gaps and areas of improvement. Where there are gaps, you may need to coach them. Keep doing this till they can execute at an acceptable level.
   
6. Communication
   Communication takes over 90% of any project works. You need to communicate properly to the team members and relevant stakeholders about the progress of the projects.
7. Make decision: It is important to be decisive and make decision that adds value to the team. It is the duty of every manager to make decisions and give clear direction to the team members
8. Set up Milestone and performance assessment strategies
   You need to set measurable goals and delegate works required to achieve these goals. Monitor individual and team performance to weekly and monthly meetings through 1:1 meeting where they share their progress. Most importantly, give your team members credit for their work and also treat them like professionals.
   
9. Work on yourself
   You need to be self-conscious about yourself and your work environment. How do you react to situations? And how does that affect those around you and your work? Good management starts with managing yourself. You need to be aware of your strength and weakness. Apply emotional intelligent where necessary and work consistently on maximizing your strength and limiting your weaknesses.

If you are ready to level up your career and become a 6-7 figure project manager, visit PMI to start your career by taking certification examination. I shared in a screenshot of a post made by someone who took the PMP exams recently, you may want to read the post and learn on how to pass the exams.

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