There was a notable shift lately to speaking about undertaking management, as distinct from undertaking administration. Administration, because the saying goes, is about doing issues proper, and management is about doing the appropriate issues.
In actuality, each management and administration are sometimes carried out by the identical particular person – the undertaking supervisor. However how do you undertake a mode that helps each?
5 rules for efficient undertaking management
Thomas Juli units out 5 rules of efficient undertaking management in his e book Leadership Principles for Project Success.
They’re:
- Construct a typical imaginative and prescient with shared objectives
- Nurture collaboration throughout the crew
- Create an setting that promotes efficiency
- Domesticate studying, creativity and innovation
- Guarantee outcomes
These are nice rules. Undertaking managers who’re glorious at getting ready plans, reporting progress, managing budgets, controlling threat and coping with points and adjustments might study loads from adopting these rules.
However I feel undertaking management is greater than these rules.
It’s an perspective.
The management perspective
My management perspective is summed up by being open, sincere, reliable and appearing with integrity.
That’s what I hope I provide my crew, and that’s what I anticipate from them. Making use of these traits always means appearing in sure methods, however that’s nonetheless congruent with adapting management strategies for various circumstances.
And management needs to be a versatile perspective. What works day-to-day shouldn’t be essentially going to work throughout a disaster.
Day-to-day undertaking management might be extra hands-off. The crew can have the latitude to do what must be carried out. You’re steering the ship, however the crew know the course and are keen and in a position that will help you get there. The mannequin of servant management could possibly be used right here.
In a disaster, undertaking management must be extra directional. The crew will not be keen to do what’s required to place the undertaking again on observe. They could not have the abilities to take action. They are going to be trying to you for course and help.
You’ll want a extra hands-on strategy, reviewing each side of the undertaking and dealing by way of Juli’s management rules to seek out out the place the undertaking shouldn’t be aligned – after which placing it proper. Undertaking restoration workout routines contain management, however they’re additionally very a lot involved with administration duties.
That’s OK. Management isn’t one thing we simply change on after we are being ‘leaders’.
Management needs to be a part of how we do our administration duties.
Managing the management means
If we supply out the administration of initiatives with out that work being aligned to our management perspective, the undertaking crew will quickly notice the dearth of connection between the way in which you current the general imaginative and prescient and the way in which through which you execute it.
The administration duties – constructing plans, working conferences, dealing with change, and so forth – additionally must be executed with the identical strategy.
Should you undertake my 4 pillars of management (openness, honesty, belief and integrity) all of your administration actions ought to be guided by these watchwords.
In fact, you don’t have to make use of my management perspective phrases. Discover your personal, or outline your personal management perspective. However no matter strategy you determine to take, comply with it by way of in your administration duties as nicely.
Let’s return to the saying that defines administration as about doing issues proper, and management as about doing the appropriate issues.
Undertaking managers want to just accept the overlap between administration and management, and to develop a management perspective that runs by way of each actions.
I hope that this blended strategy will allow undertaking managers to develop a coherent management and administration model and to do the appropriate issues proper.
