10 Leadership Best Practices for Project Managers

Get to know your team

Learn your team members’ strengths, aspirations and ideas.

These important first steps help you bond with your team and establish their respect and trust. Listening twice as much as you speak is still a wise habit.

Manage tasks, lead people

Be skills-focused when you estimate, plan and report on a project.

Be people-centric when you lead. Ask questions, optimize people’s skills, delegate and motivate.

Pull, don’t push

Effective leaders motivate team members by appealing to them at an individual level, and by inspiring them to contribute to the overall vision using their strength and expertise.

Make promises you can keep

Stop, look and listen before committing your team to hitting unrealistic deadlines.

For delivery dates, give clients and stakeholders ranged estimates instead of single hard dates, and provide constant updates along the way. Surprises will happen.

Delegate

Trust your team to do its job.

When issues or opportunities arise, empower team members to offer their own solutions, with your support. Don’t add every new issue to your own to-do list.

Lead by example

Respected leaders walk their talk.

Think about the behaviors you expect from team members and be sure to exhibit those traits yourself. 

Communicate like crazy

Clear and constant communication help build relationships, assess progress, and identify risks and issues. 

Assume nothing. Set clear expectations, and encourage team members to speak their minds to help improve a project or process.

Know your priorities

To manage a productive, organized team, set priorities that consider timelines, budget and available resources.

Then, everyone can work with purpose on their individual priorities.

Make time to think

It’s easy to get sucked into the day-to-day. But a leader finds ways to step back, see the bigger picture and anticipate how broader factors affect projects, company and clients. Make time for yourself to think, strategize and fill up the creative tank.

Enjoy your role and have fun!

Don’t miss out on the rewards and joys of heading up a team that delivers great work, and the role you have in motivating and developing people’s careers.