Leadership skills are the key to becoming an effective project manager. One part of leadership is the ability to delegate work to the people on your project management team. However, unless a certain amount of respect is not present, delegation can be a difficult task to accomplish.
There are several ways to earn the respect of those working for you. First of all you must demonstrate an ability and willingness to do the task at hand yourself. It shouldn’t appear that you are just dumping work that you don’t want to do onto someone else.
Next, let the person know what the overall plan is and explain its importance to the project as a whole. If they understand the task is important to the completion of the project, it is likely they will have a better perspective and will take the job more seriously. The work, however, should assist them in meeting their own goals. Base your delegation on what is important to them, not on what is important to you.
The task should present a challenge and it should be offered in that way. No one likes to have busy work thrown at them, especially if they believe you don’t think they have the ability necessary to take on challenging tasks.
Communicate expectations clearly and solicit feedback.
A project manager should also be likeable. By getting to know the other people on the team it becomes easier to be sincerely interested and sensitive to each individual’s unique qualities. In addition, really knowing those who work for you helps to utilize their strengths and avoid assigning tasks where they might not excel.
Finally, you should be willing to give public credit to project management team members once tasks have been completed successfully. A little praise can go a long way, but be sure you are sincere in what you say.
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