“People acting together as a group can accomplish things that no individual acting alone could ever hope  to bring about.” – FD Roosevelt

Each team members has unique work style, personal goals, skills, background and experience.  Each team member’s unique qualities and different attributes make a team complex unit where conflict, confusion, criticism will grow and finally bring the project to failure  if team is not led the proper way. 

In many I.T. projects,  Project Manager (PM) has a team leader who assists him or her in coordination of work, driving the team effort, listening and resolving team issues, guiding in making the appropriate tactical decisions, and above all providing expert advice on subject matter, among others.  Synergy and cooperation among team members are the key things for success of the project and for that,  a good team lead should be in place.  If you got a weak team leader, team will not perform and you will be spending all of energy in team issue management.  As a PM, you need to understand that your team leader should –

1. understand the whole project along with project objectives and goals;
2. be expert of the overall process who can guide team members;
3. be able to handle pressure and conflict situations;
4. understands the team dynamics and works to promote productive working conditions;
5.  be a good team player and can get status of work from team members;
6. be capable of resolving minor issues without your involvement;
7. be able to negotiate and communicate with technical as well non-technical people involved;
8. be proactive with qualities of a mentor and a coach and
9. able to provide realistic and accurate feedback on time.

Hope this helps in making you decide whom to choose to lead your team.  Let me know what else can be added to the list.  Thanks for reading and have a good day.

Categories: Leadership, Management, PM, Project, Project Manager, Workplace