How many times have you left a meeting thinking you knew exactly who has to do what only to find out after a couple days that everyone had their own version of events? Chaotic communication is one of the primary reasons why projects fail and keeping things organized from the start can be the key to a successful project.
It’s difficult to get people on the same page especially when dealing with a new project where some of the details are still unknown. No need to panic.
A good starting point means you’ve already answered these three questions
What needs to be done?
Who has to do what?
When is the deadline?
To help you answer these vital questions, more precisely, we’d thought about giving you some easy tips & tricks to follow:
Get your team involved in the planning process
95% of typical employees say they don’t understand their company’s strategy. Think about it. 95 percent. This means that they can’t deliver what is required, can’t work at their full potential and are more likely to make mistakes. So you see why it’s absolutely vital to involve them in the planning process?
This step is crucial to a project’s success. You, as a manager, can start by organizing a meeting where you explain what the project is about, what are the goals and your requirements. Your team can then come up with their own input that can help correct any oversights. Also, together you can fine-tune the schedule so that everyone can agree with it.
Having your team present in the planning process creates a sense of collaboration and makes them feel that they are involved in the process from step one to finish. Planning this from the beginning helps them have a clear image on the overall project and makes getting started a lot easier.
Delegate work effectively
Delegating has benefits for both you and your team. As a leader you need to think about goals and big picture problems within your company. This is the reason why you should delegate smaller tasks to your team. It is unwise to spend your time doing tasks that your team members are perfectly capable of doing themselves. So trust your team and save your precious time for more important, challenging problems.
On top of that, delegating can enhance your credibility as a manager. By allowing your team to show their potential and skills, you get their loyalty and respect. It shows that you care about them and that you are offering opportunities to develop and achieve their goals. Giving them independence to deal with tasks can lead to new ideas or detecting problems that you may have not seen in the first place.
When you start a project, delegating can save you a lot of time and stress. Also, your team can start the project with the right mindset because they know exactly what to do and who has to do it. Moreso, it engages them from the beginning and keeps them motivated and interested in the project.
Set priorities and deadlines
Once everyone knows what the goal is, you need to set priorities. Some tasks are more important, more difficult or can take more time than others so you have to be sure that they will be finished in due time. This is why it is important for your team to understand the priorities. Doing so, helps them have a clear focus on reaching the most important goals first and eliminates the chaos.
People in your company come in all personality types and each of them has a different rhythm of work. This can have a great impact on how quickly and efficient a project is completed. There are a few of them who are able to set independent deadlines for themselves and break down their tasks into more manageable goals. This is why you need to take the lead in that and set deadlines from the beginning.
Giving your team a time frame in which they have to finish a task can help them stay on track and it gives them a sense of motivation. Knowing that they have to deliver on a certain date helps them be more efficient and once they experience small wins along the way, keeps them engaged and focused.
Setting priorities and deadlines can also save you a lot of time and can help you have a clear image on the project. You know exactly when is the due and if this is not met you know who has to take responsibility for it.
Use the right tools
The primary purpose of management tools is to help execute and control all aspects of a project. Companies rely on key tools for managing a project to ensure that each task is completed properly and on time.
Choosing and offering the right tools for your team will maximize their performance and skills. Moreso, they help your people be more effective. There are many tools out there that you can implement in order to facilitate the communication between teams, assist them in keeping tasks organized and store their data. The challenge is to find the ones that work best for your team and for your business.
Correctly estimating a project from the beginning is one of the most important steps. How many hours will take to do it it and how much will it cost. Lucky for you, we have created SuperOkay. The first tool that helps agencies and clients to better define, estimate and plan projects.
A tool such as SuperOkay can save you and your team a lot of time but it will also give your clients the extra boost of trust and confidence they need to sign the deal. Properly managing a project and its requirements from the beginning is the key to a successful outcome.
So here they are: four tips you can follow in order to nail a project’s kickoff with your team. What do you think we’re missing? We’d love to hear if you’ve got any thoughts on the subject 🙂
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