Today’s digital workplace has intensified the project manager’s intricacies in various aspects, like delivering the project adhering to timelines, budget, and focus on the project.
A project manager has arguably the longest list of responsibilities in the corporate world. Being a project manager is not an easy task by any means. An entire project’s success or failure, which sometimes could be worth millions or even billions for an organization, is not a small burden to shoulder for an individual. A project manager needs to be the hero of a project. He is responsible for almost all the project tasks, though they are delegated to different teams. In the end, he is the one who is answerable to the board.
The following is a list of the most common responsibilities of a project manager:
- Defining scope
- Activity and resource planning
- Developing schedules
- Time and cost estimation
- Developing budgets
- Documentation
- Risk forecasting and analysis
- Risk management and reporting
- Managing and resolving issues
- Team monitoring
- Quality control
- Vendor management
- Benefits realization
This list may get longer, depending upon the size and complexity of the project.
This could sometimes get overwhelming for a project manager. Especially if you are a new project manager, the transition from being a team member to a project manager could prove to be challenging to handle. The things that worked out for you as an individual team member might be harmful now that you are a project manager responsible for the entire team’s success and not just himself/herself.
Therefore, it is critical to be aware of potential blind spots that could catch you off guard and hinder your progress as a project manager.
Top 5 Blind Spots of a Project Manager
The project manager’s blind spots make them miss the essential things that are supposed to be delivered to the customers. The project manager’s blind spot delays the maximum performance of the project.
Now let’s discuss the potential blind spots faced by a project manager:
1. Unclear Communication of Strategy and Priorities:
As a project manager, it is normal to feel that it is enough for the top management and yourself to know the big picture of the project, and the team members need to be told what they need to do. However, it is not as simple as that. It is equally important for the team members to know what they are working towards. This gives them context, a sense of ownership, and the motivation to take up responsibility. It also helps them prioritize their tasks in alignment with the project’s strategic objectives and, in turn, the organization’s long-term goals.
In today’s world, where there is unprecedented access to all kinds of information and distractions, an effective project manager must ensure that the team members’ priorities are in place. Every team meeting or one-on-one meeting needs to start with an overview of the project’s long-term objective and current priorities. This helps them focus on the tasks at hand and execute them with the final delivery in mind.
2. Investing Too Much Time Trying to Pioneer Radical Change:
The urge to bring about a massive change in the way things get done is prominent, especially in a new project manager. You have been a team member for a few years, and you have not been happy with certain things in your organization and how projects get executed. Now that the power is in your hands, you may feel the need to bring about a radical change in the way people think and act. While this is not wrong, you also need to realize that change is possible, but only to a small extent. People are built a certain way. They think the way they think and act the way they do for a reason. Trying to change that will only end up messing with their natural method of working, and in turn, will drastically impact productivity.
Change is uncomfortable. However, it is essential to bring change by incorporating project management methodologies for their best practice guidance. One should also keep in mind that bringing change is a slow process and takes a lot of time. Your project might not have that much time. A good project manager keeps his urge to bring radical change in check and adapts to his team members’ ways as necessary.
3. Avoiding Conflict and Confrontation:
People management is one of the key skills of a project manager. Constant interaction with team members, third-party vendors, top management, and other key stakeholders is a daily necessity. Straightforward communication of your thoughts will go a long way in keeping the stakeholders on the same page. On the other hand, your team members and top management will not always agree with you, and it is important to face these issues head-on, discuss them with the concerned parties, and resolve them.
4. Taking on too Much Responsibility:
All projects are important. However, when you manage a project that is of significant consequences to the company, it is natural to feel reluctant to delegate tasks to the team. All tasks seem to be critical, and you would feel unwilling to let others do them. You need to realize that you cannot execute the entire project on your own. The project team has been chosen for a reason, and the team members are specialists in their own right. It is important to delegate tasks so that individuals take ownership of their tasks. This also helps motivate them and infuses a sense of belongingness into the project and the organization.
If you take up too much of the work on your shoulders, it will only lead to inefficiency on your part. Prioritization becomes a challenging task. You might lose focus, put too much pressure on yourself, and end up risking the success of the entire project. It would be best if you learned to trust the capabilities of your team and delegate tasks. Ensure that the right mode and frequency of communication are in place and hold individuals accountable for the tasks they are responsible for.
5. Not Accepting the Need for Help:
Everybody at some point or the other needs help. It is difficult to ask for help being a project manager because everybody thinks that the project manager knows everything; he/she is the jack of all trades and can handle any task in the project. This may not be a reality. Every project manager is a specialist in one or more activities. They need help with the ones in which they are not competent. For example, you might be a good engineer and a great people person. But finance and accounting is not your strong point. The best thing to do is ask for help from an expert in the finance or accounting team to complete the project’s budgeting. There is no shame in asking for help. This way, the budgeting is done accurately without any glitches, and you have had an opportunity to learn some finance and accounting techniques that you can use in the next project.
The project manager should ensure to know thoroughly about the blind spots that exist in a project. Also, they should be aware of how to deal with those blind spots. If the project blind spots are approached openly, it proves to provide immense learning opportunities.
Keeping an eye on the above-mentioned potential blind spots for a project manager will ensure the successful completion of a project. There might be several other blind spots too for project managers based on their experience. Do let us know a few other potential blind spots for a project manager while undertaking a project.
