Entrepreneurship is a career path that many have pursued before you, yet no one directs you on your unique journey. It is a path you will forge on your own. Whether you’re trained in it or pick up project management skills along the way, entrepreneurship demands this from you, no matter the industry or nature of the business.
In the spirit of supporting you on your way, we share some project management tips for non-project managers below.
Lead with confidence
When you start anything of your own, especially a business, one thing you need to acknowledge is your responsibility to own what you’re doing fully. This means you need to take responsibility for sharing your vision for your business, and be deliberate about pursuing it. This will require you to lead with confidence.
You will find that with the right amount of passion, this confidence will become infectious to your teams. Then you’ll see how this impacts the efficiency of your systems and workflows, making the task of project management that much easier.
Embrace teamwork and collaboration
Closely related to the above is the need to embrace collaboration. But the only way collaboration can truly succeed in an organisation is under great leadership. You can have all the tools and software in place, but if you don’t have an aligned team, chaos will rear its ugly head..
One way to enhance collaboration is to make a point of getting to know each of your team members individually. It takes the guesswork out of delegating tasks, resulting in quicker, more efficient outcomes. But most importantly, an employee that feels seen is more likely to go that extra mile.
Become familiar with project management software
The Internet has no shortage of project management tools but how to manage your tasks at work successfully is entirely up to you and your teams.
You will need to assess what level of detail you require, what you’re comfortable with, your budget, and what, if any, metrics you’ll need to pull. Don’t underestimate the free options, either. Often, a basic overview of projects, their statuses and the personnel involved can go a long way in your project management efforts.
Set clear goals and realistic timelines
Along with the vision for your business, the goals you set out will be the golden thread that weaves through everything and holds it together. It’s no use assigning tasks and plotting projects if your whole team isn’t clear on the bigger goals and objectives.
Just as importantly, be clear about when you want to achieve the goals you’ve set out. It will also be useful to break the bigger goals into smaller milestones, and assign timelines to those too. Again, if you are not informed about this, you and your teams could potentially spend inordinate amounts of time on something insignificant to the greater vision.
We know you’ve come across multiple project management tips on your entrepreneurship journey, but you may struggle to find the time to implement them. For that, you can enlist the services of a virtual assistant who is well-trained in everything from basic admin to project management.
Outsourcery is proud to offer fully-flexible, outsourced virtual assistant packages tailored to your needs and the needs of your business. Get in touch for a free consultation.
