The Cascading Effects of Hiring a Project Manager
When companies consider hiring a project manager, they may consider the ROI for the project itself. But what most people overlook is the longer-term effects of working with outside leadership.
3 Benefits of Contracting a Project Manager
Contracting a project manager gets teams past barriers like inefficiencies, lack of bandwidth and lackluster efforts. And they can turn the tables when your team is stuck or your project stalled. Beyond that, they can help your team or company move forward beyond the project they were hired for. Here’s how.
1. The Project Advances More Efficiently
One of the biggest benefits of contracting a project manager is the visible effect on the project. After the initial ramp-up time, your project will run more seamlessly and efficiently than you would have thought possible.
Outside leadership brings a unique point of view to your business that delivers clarity to decision making and planning. Strong leaders take on the role of manager, listening to others, considering the big picture, and making decisions. To do that they either rely on their own perspectives of logic, emotion, critic, optimism, and creativity, or they tap into those varied perspectives from the team to support them in their managing role. This, combined with the vast past experiences they have with other firms like yours, helps break through inefficiencies that slow down or stall your team.
While they do bring a variety of perspectives, project managers have only one job: manage the project. That means they have the bandwidth that in-house leadership may be lacking. Imagine somebody focused only on your project, not on the everyday maintenance of your business. Picture how much efficiency they could bring to your project.
When your project runs more efficiently, you have more time and energy to focus on what you’re best at, rather than making sure everyone else is doing what they need to do. Plus, the momentum from progressing on and succeeding with the project can launch you into success in other areas.
2. You & Your Team Gain New Tools
Sometimes your team gets stuck in the “same old same old” way of doing things. Because outside project managers work with different clients on a variety of projects, they have a wider repertoire of processes, project management tools, and team management approaches.
I was brought in to a firm once to lead a client migration into a new environment. The goal was to ensure it had as little disruption to their day-to-day business tasks as possible. After meeting and gathering feedback on the proposed transition, I was able to gather new learnings that shifted the focus of the project and highlighted unexpected needs. This and other quick wins on the project allowed us to torpedo into an enterprise-wide program engulfing the initial project I was brought on for. Now both efforts are off the ground, cross-functional teams are aligned, and everyone is working together to accomplish the end goal.
So, as you can see from this example, whether it is a new project management team or communication software, a team reorganization, or a process for more efficient meetings – outside leadership champion fresh approaches or tweaks to existing processes that make projects run more smoothly. This isn’t to say they bring change for the sake of change, but good leadership brings in new tools or implements changes in processes to keep the project flowing smoothly.
The impact on the project they manage is clear, but you and your team will have new approaches and tools to carry into future projects, no matter who manages them.
3. You’re Better Prepared for the Next Project
Sometimes companies get into scramble mode, putting out one fire and then rushing and scrambling into the next phase or the next project. With outside leadership keeping a key project moving forward, you can keep your finger on the pulse of the big picture. What needs to happen next? What ongoing work needs to continue? You’ll be ready to shift gears into a new project.
By breaking past inefficiencies, you and your team will have more left to give to the work that comes after the big push of an important project. And you’ll bring new tools to the next task at hand.
If you’ve been thinking about a project manager, you are probably focused on the task at hand: getting this project done and done well. An independent project manager will do that. The cascading effects are building lasting benefits to your company in addition to getting that project launched.
If you’re ready to get a project going and need outside support or want to see these cascading effects in action, let’s talk.
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