Project Manager Being an effective project manager Essay

Project Manager Being an effective project manager - Essay Example Indeed, we managed to implement the system but this was not an easy task given that there were so many problems that were encountered right from the project initiation process up to the end. However, I realised that the success of such a project mainly depends with the leader’s capability to deal with people involved in the project in a positive manner. It is not very easy to convince people to buy the idea of a new project without explaining to them the main idea behind such an initiative. When confronted with such a situation, an effective leader ought to engage all the people who will be involved in the project so as to be in a position to gain their support towards the idea. According to Fox (2008), the most important thing when initiating a project is to ensure that there is agreement and consensus among all the stakeholders who will be involved in such a project. People often view the same thing in different ways and their opinions differ as a result of various factors. However, I realised that in order to become an effective project manager, there is need to involve all members who will execute the project so that they can be in a position to express their views and ideas freely. Mutual understanding can be created if all members of the team share the same ideas towards something. In our case, we only managed to reach consensus when we discussed the idea as a team given that some of the employees were against the idea in the first place. An idea that is shared by the majority of people in a group is likely to succeed and project leaders should be accommodative to different views suggested by other people. When the project idea has been approved and an agreement has been reached, the project manager should take a leading role in the execution of that project. However, being a leader does not mean to say that a project manager has the autonomy to dictate everything to other members involved in the project. An effective project manager is always on t he ground to monitor all tasks and activities being performed by different members of the team. The manager should also be in a position to get feedback from the team members so as to be in a position to make necessary adjustments to different aspects of the work being undertaken. As a leader, I noticed that it is essential to interact with different team members so that all people involved share the same vision as stated in the project plan. All project phases have to be implemented according to schedule so as to ensure that the set goals are attainable. Effective managers carefully consider all aspects of a project and they make sure that all activities are performed according to set plans. Another very important element that determines the effectiveness of project managers is related to team communication. It is quite impossible for any project to be a success without proper communication in place. Kritzinger, Bowler & Goliath (2003) suggest that there is no project which can be a success without a good communication system in place. Basically, communication ought to be timely and it should be effective so that all people involved in the project share the same vision towards the project goals. An effective manager in this case has the responsibility of coordinating all communication initiatives and he should also make sure that open communication channels are put it place in order to ensure that he can get