Taking Over A Project In Progress

Providing good leadership for others is an integral part of being a manager. But while you may have developed a good range of skills when it comes to getting a project off the ground and completing it successfully with the help of your team, taking over a project from someone else when it is in mid flow can require a completely different set of skills altogether.

Firstly there is the question of the reason why you are taking over. This could be for a number of reasons and it’s important not to judge or let the reason why overshadow the project itself.

It’s especially important to tread carefully if the person who was in charge of the project wasn’t achieving the best results and you have subsequently been brought in to improve things. Be sure that you take the time to listen to what they have to say and you allow them to bring you up to speed on what has been achieved so far.

If the person hasn’t achieved much at all you would be forgiven for feeling frustrated that you are being brought in to clear up someone else’s mess, but remember that you will be able to make a much better start if you are positive about your dealings with this person and learn from what they have done.

It could be that there has been a problem with the project as a whole and that particular person hasn’t been experienced enough to deal with it. If that is the case then you should make sure that you are aware of all the problems before the person in charge leaves everything to you – otherwise you could find yourself coming up against the same issues and your job will be made much harder as a result.

It’s also important to respect everyone else who is involved with the project. It’s difficult for members of the project team to have a change of leadership halfway through a project, especially if your way of working happens to be very different from the manager who was there previously.

Spend some time observing what’s going on and looking at how people are working towards their individual goals before rushing in and assuming that everything needs to be changed. This will give you an opportunity to approach your responsibilities with much more confidence and accuracy, and it will also lead to a better working relationship with your new project members. In addition, taking the time to share your expectations on how your project team will work together will be time well spent. It will help create an enhanced sense of security in the project team as they will better understand how to deliver on those expectations, which may differ from those of the previous project leader.

Taking over a project in progress is arguably one of the most difficult things any manager can do. This is even more pronounced if the employees involved in the project got on well with the previous manager; they can even resent you for being there.

Treading very carefully in the early stages and respecting the boundaries which have already been formed is the most important thing you can do to get things off to a good start. Just because you are the manager, it doesn’t mean you will get better results by sweeping in and changing everything you can. By working with your new team you can ensure the successful conclusion of the project.

Planning A Project

In order to successfully complete any project there should be a period of planning which takes place before it begins. It can be tempting to get started as soon as possible, especially if the project involves several people and everyone is excited to get going and achieve something worthwhile, but starting before a firm plan is created will only increase the chances of failure.

The first step should always be to clarify your objectives. What is the purpose of the project? What are you trying to achieve? If you can’t answer these questions you won’t be able to get started as you won’t know where you are heading.

Once you have a goal in mind you can begin to map out the steps, or milestones, you will need to take to get there. Breaking down the project into stages or steps helps to make it more logical and you will be better able to identify any potential areas of weakness long before you get to that stage. The more you can do by way preparation, the less likely it is that you will encounter any major problems during the completion of your project.

Next you should identify who will be involved in the project. This may only be one or two people, or it may be an entire department. Whoever it is, you will need to bring everyone together at some point to discuss the project and iron out any problems which anyone has before the work begins.

When you are looking at who will be involved, make sure you consider their skills carefully, both individually and as a team. It’s helpful to assign specific people to specific tasks that you know they will be able to achieve quickly and efficiently, and with the minimum of supervision, since the time given to complete the project may not allow for much training. Make sure also that everyone is clear about their own personal deadlines for completing their part of the job, since their own deadline may be very different from the final deadline for the project as a whole.

It is important to create a timeline in advance of the start of the project too. That way you can monitor progress en route, instead of assuming everything is going well and discovering at the eleventh hour that you are running way behind your schedule. Make it clear to everyone involved that communication is paramount to the overall success of the project, since identifying and solving problems early on can erase the possibility of missing the deadline altogether.

While good planning is vitally important to the eventual success of a project, you should bear in mind that no plan should be regarded as being rigid in any way. Sometimes circumstances will demand that you make changes along the way that you couldn’t have foreseen, and in that case you could have to adapt the plan to suit the new direction you might have to take.

In any event having a firm base to start from is just one way that you can ensure the success of any project you take on.

How To Be Firm But Fair

Everyone wants to be a great leader, and there is no reason not to try and attain that goal. Good leaders have good teams working with them, since they make an effort to lead them in a positive way and that is reflected in the quality and attitudes of the employees themselves.

But everyone recognises that there are times when a leader needs to deal with a situation which isn’t that pleasant. Perhaps an employee has not done their job correctly, or made a mistake that has had an impact on the business in some way. In this case it is down to the leader to be firm but fair in providing corrective feedback, or even disciplining the team member, and making sure it doesn’t happen again in the future.

It’s important to realise that the way you deal with any one situation can enhance or undermine the way that all future situations are played out. If you are overly sympathetic in order to avoid potential confrontation and don’t take the actions you ought to at the time, people will come to assume there won’t be any comeback if they should make a mistake in the future too. In effect your status as a manager and leader will be undermined, since you have demonstrated that you cannot manage a problem effectively.

It’s obvious that there are some aspects of being a confident leader that are somewhat undesirable, and disciplining employees for whatever reason is certainly one of them. But just because you may not want to be in the room or the situation any more than they do, that doesn’t mean you can step back from dealing with it in the correct way.

So how exactly do you be firm but fair?

It’s plain to see that your first task must be to ensure that the same situation does not happen again. As such you should make sure that you not only correct the behaviour of the employee responsible, but you also send a clear message to the rest of the team that any mistakes will be addressed appropriately. Of course, this doesn’t mean that your meeting with the employee concerned should be anything less than confidential.

There are many different levels of feedback, including the communication of behavioural expectations, and you can tailor your feedback or discipline to suit the situation. Importantly, a leader’s ability to provide timely, objective and specific corrective feedback will help to enhance their credibility and will definitely assist in the achievement of the team goals. Team members will also be far more receptive to corrective feedback if it is balanced at the appropriate time with fair and spontaneous positive feedback as well.

In the end your handling of any particular event will help to establish your role as the leader of a team. Although no one likes to be corrected, as long as you are firm but fair in doing it, your colleagues will come to respect you for it and will give you the performance you are looking for.

Managing Emails

Email is a very useful form of communication between businesses, but if it is not handled properly it can become a burden. Becoming pro-active in your approach to email management by establishing a daily routine to ensure it is managed effectively will prevent it from taking over your workload.

A key factor to ensure you are in control of your emails (rather than your emails being in control of you) is to allocate specific time slots every day to check them. This will leave the times in between free for getting your work done.

When you do finally check them (at a time when you are able to handle them completely without having to come back to them later, which results in double handling), you will find your emails easier to manage if you are logical about what needs doing. Typically the more emails you have in your inbox, the more you will feel pushed to do something about them, so don’t leave them in there for any longer than you need to.

Create some folders to file away those emails you need to keep, just as you would for any paperwork you are sent or come into contact with. Organisation is the key to keeping on top of your emails, before they get on top of you. It may take a while to get your folders organised the way that works for you, but it’s worth persevering as you’ll notice the difference when it does work. A good guideline when establishing your filing system is to use the same logic you use for filing your computer files and your filing cabinet. That way your system will be easier to follow.

Just as you try to handle each piece of post you receive as little as possible – for example, you either bin it, read it and deal with it, or put it aside to deal with later – you should do exactly the same with your emails. Those that need a very quick reply should be dealt with straightaway. Delete those you don’t need – again, straightaway.

And if you consistently receive unwanted emails from a source – tell them to take you off their mailing list or you will continue to have their emails clogging up your system and wasting your time.

If you need to keep an email for some reason then file it away in the appropriate folder. Those that are important and need to be answered once you have all the information you need should be flagged so they aren’t forgotten.

Don’t be tempted to check your emails more than twice a day if you can possibly help it. Emails are an immediate form of contacting someone – and unfortunately lots of people now think that they should be answered immediately as well. Don’t fall into this trap – take control of your day and your life by organising your emails and checking them only when it suits you.

So long as you remain in control of your emails, this vital tool will continue to be a boon to businesses everywhere. Just don’t let it get the upper hand.

Communicating Clearly Through Email

Communicating through email is different than speaking directly to an employee. Because you do not have the benefit of voice inflection or the ability to take back or clarify what has been said, you need to choose your words carefully when sending email.

PURPOSE OF THE EMAIL

The first step to sending effective email is to understand the purpose of the communication. If you are sending out instructions for a proposal, delegating responsibilities pertaining to a project, or you need clarification and are sending a question, you should be as specific as possible and avoid sending information about other projects in the email.

Because people read from their computer screens much faster than reading from the written page, they oftentimes miss simple words that can alter the meaning of the email. If you need to send out information about multiple projects, send more than one email.

Title your email accordingly as well. Let the subject clearly define what the email is about so others will read it when they receive it.

LANGUAGE USED IN EMAIL

The next step is to be as specific as possible in your email as this is the best way to convey your message. Long, flowery language is not going to be well received. Keep your text short and brief. Use bullet points if you want to emphasize your points.

Use headings if appropriate and indicate that you have sent attachments. Many times, people do not scroll down to the bottom of the page, so they may miss the additional information.

When listing times and dates, put spaces around them so they don’t get lost in the words on the screen. You can place them in bold as well, or even consider including important dates or deadlines for reply in the subject field.

While you can be friendly, you should get to the point as soon as possible. Begin with a greeting and end with a salutation.

SENDING EMAIL

When sending email, make sure you include everyone on the project but at all costs avoid sending cc’d copies to people who do not require them. People will quickly start to identify the source of irrelevant emails and may overlook correspondence that is important to them. This way, team members feel informed but do not get overloaded with useless information. When sending attachments, make sure they work before attaching them.

The best times to send an important email is in the morning. This is when most people are at their desks to receive it. You can also send an email in the evening so you know it will be read in the morning. Sending email in the afternoon may not be read until the next day.

Email is a wonderful way to communicate with those in the office, those who are traveling, or working from home. Be conscious of how you word email so everyone has a clear understanding of what you are trying to say, and send the kinds of emails you would like to receive yourself. Developing an effective email culture can save huge amounts of your team’s time.