If you’re keeping track of your company’s health through metrics, as you should be, you might be overlooking one of the most important drivers of your success. You know all those projects your team tackles that keep the lights on? Think about how they get done in your business. Be honest – is that process carefully managed, or is it more of a “controlled chaos” situation?
Whether you look at it this way or not, your business needs someone who is dedicated to setting clear expectations and organizing the thousand tasks required to get things done – a project manager. Some will say that project management is more of a task on a checklist rather than a dedicated role businesses need to meet. To respond to that sentiment, I ask you: What happened the last time a critical step in your business process was missed and you failed to deliver what a client needed?
If the answer to that question makes you clench a little bit, let’s take a look at how great project management will lift up your entire shop.
More than Schedules and Budgets
When most people think about project management they think about schedules, budgets and staffing. And that's definitely a huge impact of both good and bad project management. But there is so much more you can and should expect as a result of great project management.
What it boils down to is this: The key to any great relationship is keeping your word. This means being smart about what you promise and being transparent when you need to renegotiate those commitments. And that applies not just to the client, but to your team as well.
Improved Clarity
Improving internal communications is a huge part of what strategic project management can bring to your company. And if you've been in this business long enough, you know some challenges we face are due in part to poor communication. Maybe the deliverables weren’t clearly spelled out or the timeline was a little ambiguous. It all starts with communication. So if you want to avoid confusion and mistakes, make sure updates and changes are communicated clearly and in a timely manner.
Increased Focus
A lot of the pushback I hear about project management involves letting the producers on the team engage directly with the client. We also know how constant interruptions are the main challenge to focus time, which is critical to both product quality and employee satisfaction. If you really want to empower the team, support them with project management, so they can focus on creating awesome things and not being bothered with every detail.
Making Better Decisions
When you're keeping commitments, making sure everyone is informed, and giving them time to focus, a magical thing happens. Everyone gets a deeper understanding of what you need to prioritize and when. With project management, the entire team is suddenly able to see clearer and anticipate issues before they actually arise. This can prevent bottlenecks and empower everyone to make smarter, fact-driven decisions.
Improved Morale
When the team knows what's going on, has a voice in decisions, and each person feels like a valuable part of a bigger team, it boosts morale more than any virtual retreat can.
But still have the virtual retreat!
Higher Profits
It’s not a shocker that running things effectively means it's easier to predict what's needed and when. Of course, that means projections for cost and staffing are going to be more accurate. Add in fewer surprises with good communication, and you've got a winning business model!
Increased Client & Employee Retention
There was a time when I would have ended this with the higher profits section. But today the real lifeblood for an agency is keeping the team happy and engaged so they don't chase other opportunities. This familiarity often helps expand relationships, and getting more business from existing clients is another huge win that builds comfort, trust and higher profits (OK, I still ended with it, I couldn't help myself).
So yeah, if there's one thing you should invest in, it's improving your project management.
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