Co-ordination for Your Renewable Energy Project: Managing Your Team Effectively
Installing a method of green energy production in your home is by no means a simple project. Without good management from top to bottom, your installation may end up running over budget or end up installed incorrectly.
To help make sure your project runs smoothly, management is more about dealing with people than sorting through building problems. Here are the things that you should keep in mind:
1) Take command
Be assertive and optimistic in your approach to the task. Managers who work in this way are more respected by the people who are working for them. Assert your own authority and do not rely on anyone else’s.
2) Evaluate quickly
On a day to day basis, you will be given a lot of information. Some of this will be irrelevant, some will be of the utmost importance. It is important that you learn to quickly figure out which category this information fits into. Learning how to prioritise your workflow will help the job get done in a more efficient manner.
3) Don’t be afraid to change course
Take your own ego out of the equation. If the project appears to be going in the wrong direction, do not be afraid to change the plans. Blindly sticking to a plan which turns out to be unsuitable means the job will take longer.
4) Communicate clearly
Communicating your instructions in a clear and concise manner will help your team to work more efficiently. Give everyone 100% of information that they require to do their job correctly and do not hold anything back.
5) Assign tasks clearly
Do not just give your team a list of tasks and expect them to get on with it. Assigning tasks, and by extent accountability, will help you see which areas need more attention.
6) Keep your communications uniform
By sticking to the same communication channels, your team will know what to expect and things will not get confusing. For example, if you usually give out your instructions by email, do not change to another method unless it is an emergency.
7) Mediate conflicts fairly
When managing a large project there will be conflicts between workers and different groups of contractors. A good project manager has the ability to resolve these conflicts both quickly and fairly; leaving no animosity or bad feelings.
8) Keep a positive mental attitude
Your attitude towards the job will reflect in the attitude of your staff. By keeping a positive mental attitude you will inspire your staff to work harder and find your own job more satisfying as a result.
Good project management is very much a case of good people skills. If you can learn to get your staff to work with you on a project instead of against you, you will find that things run much more smoothly and your job gets done on time and on budget.
Does anyone have any other tips to improve project management skills?
This piece was written by Mark Enright a writer for Enviko, the renewable energy experts.