As the General Manager of a small but successful company, I wear multiple hats in a day. I have to be the Admin Manager, Customer Relationship Manager, and Workflow Manager of the team. I have become the second brain of an amazing boss and I always feel proud to work for her and the company.
All of my different tasks require excellent project management skills. I will elaborate on what it takes to be skilled at Project Management since it could mean different things to different people who are not familiar with it.
𝗪𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐝𝐨?
Project managers are responsible for planning, organizing, and directing the completion of projects for an organization while making sure that these projects meet the deadlines and strict budgets.
That is exactly what I do on a daily basis.
𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, I start by checking my boss’ emails and take action on client queries that need to be answered. The clients are our number one priority so I always check in with the Account Manager to make sure they are replying and solving customer problems on time if there are any. After checking the emails, I check the outstanding client services procedures that are still ongoing because they need to be completed by different members of the team. I set reminders and deadlines so urgent action can be done.
After the workflow-related tasks are completed, I proceed to the customer relationship management tasks. I send important emails to establish good relationships with our clients and inform the CEO once someone has taken action on our scorecard or webinar meetings. I always organize and update the clients’ and prospects’ data in our CRM software.
Once I’m through with all of those tasks, I check her social media platforms and engage with her leads. I upload the social media posts and proofread the copy before it goes out too.
Lastly, I do other projects that my boss gives me that are important for her Marketing Campaign. Right now, I have just finalized the copy for her new website and I am about to create an SEO strategy. I have to make sure this will be successful by the end of the month.
𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐨𝐧, I always update the important reports and inform the team if they need to take action. I set deadlines and inform them what needs to be done. I delegate tasks to the right people if it’s needed too. It’s important to delegate tasks to people who are perfectly capable of doing that certain task. You have to understand each member’s strengths and weaknesses. When it comes to leading others, you have to be aware of what they lack and support them in any way you can so they will work more efficiently.
I also process the invoices of the clients and make sure that all payments are paid on time. When payment problems arise, I communicate with the clients effectively to solve the issues so I can complete the outstanding invoices urgently.
𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝟓 𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.
𝟏. 𝐈𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
I set a meeting with the CEO and identify the stakeholders. I have to research and outline the stakeholders, timeline, risks and benefits.
𝟐. 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠
I create a roadmap and list the detailed tasks on how to achieve the goals.
𝟑. 𝐄𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
The team executes the plan and I manage them on a daily basis to ensure that standards are met.
𝟒. 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞
I evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the project so the team and I can learn from it.
𝟓. 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞
We celebrate our wins. I also record and keep the deliverables in our shared Gdrive.
I am able to do all these different tasks in a day by using 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐊𝐚𝐧𝐛𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐲, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥𝐬.
The soft skills you need to acquire to be a great project manager are 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩, 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦-𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.
You don’t have to be an expert in the industry you are working in but you need to be an expert in Project Management.
𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲.
About the Author:
Janice Lorraine Young is the General Manager of Cloud 9 Strategic. She manages the daily operations of the team while performing several different admin and customer relationship management tasks. During her spare time, she loves to read business books, watch shows and work out.
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