Value-added project management - Part II
When most people think about what a project manager does, they immediately think of tasks such as status reporting, issue tracking, document management, communications with team members, tracking RAIDE (Risks, Action Items, Issues, Decisions, Escalations) items, managing budget vs actuals, dealing with change requests, and obtaining customer signoff approvals. While it is true that these activities set the foundation for the practice of project management, value-added project managers go beyond these basics and:
Figure 1 Value Added Project Manager Attributes
Build Relationships and Establish Trust: Teams with a foundation of trust are more productive, effective, and efficient drivers of results. Building trust and effectively leading change requires creating transparency, visibility, and accountability. Establishing trust with your client makes it easier to communicate results to them when informed decisions are critical. For more information on building trust in teams, refer to The Speed of Trust by Stephen R. Covey.
Act as Subject Matter Experts: It is important for Project Managers to be experts in the discipline of Project Management. Proficiency and competency in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) as well as an understanding of and experience with tools such as Jira, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Excel, Smartsheet, etc. are helpful in managing day-to-day operations with your team. Many project managers are also certified in Agile Process Rhythms as ScrumMasters, Six Sigma (Lean, Greenbelt, Blackbelt), Azure Dev Ops, Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), and/or Business Process Re-engineering.
Capitalize on Consulting Management Experience: An experienced Project Management professional can assist their team in vetting functional, technical, and solutioning options to recommend the best one based on the stakeholder objectives. Experienced project managers consider cost, scope, quality, and schedules and also assess impacts for options being considered.
Exhibit Confident Leadership: Confident leaders bring accountability and integrity to the project and their team. Their expert know-how coupled with Organizational Change Leadership prowess inspires confidence in the delivery of product information, project management infrastructure, and project oversight cadence. While mistakes happen and few, if any, projects go exactly as planned, having confident leaders make it much easier to handle challenges when they arise.
Guide Customers with a Proven Methodology: Skilled project managers know how to leverage proven methodologies to set the tone for an entire project. Aligning the right project management resource with a proven framework for delivery provides the foundation needed to guide the project and customer teams through any initiative from beginning to end
Effectively Manage the Project Team: Project teams are comprised of individuals with differing leadership and personality styles. Having a project manager experienced with conflict is extremely helpful, particularly when the project faces challenges. It is important for project managers to get to the root causes of situations professionally and address blockers preventing progress. Experienced project managers can quickly assess when “typical” project management challenges are symptomatic of more complex change issues that require perspective, collaboration, and advisory support from organizational change leadership partners and executive sponsors.
At Mazars our project managers bring a depth of knowledge and expertise to projects honed over years of experience practices across a wide variety of industries. Our people make us better. Our resource pool of project managers works together to share experiences and support one another across functional areas and industries. They proactively immerse themselves in the greater goal and are fully invested in our customers’ organizational success. By being fully vested in the success of the customer, the focus is on long-term partnership and not a “one-and-done” approach. Mazars project managers do what they say they are going to do and over-communicate when necessary to reduce issues and challenges that arise due to unforeseen circumstances and situations.
Look for our 3rd blog in our 3-part series on Value Added Project Management, ‘The Value of Mazars’ Management Technology Consulting (MTC) Practice.’
For more information on how Mazars can support your organization, contact us at bizapps@mazarsusa.com.
The information provided here is for general guidance only, and does not constitute the provision of tax advice, accounting services, investment advice, legal advice, or professional consulting of any kind. The information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional tax, accounting, legal or other competent advisers.