Strategies to Integrate A Project Manager on Your Team

Adding a project manager to your team can help you get more done, but it can also be frustrating if the transition doesn’t go smoothly. But there are steps to take to help your new team member feel more at home – increasing productivity output from day one – by putting a few things in place before they start.

Prepare Ahead of Time

Once you decide to hire a project manager, prepare all the necessary paperwork. Gather all the essential forms, documents and training manuals for your new hire on their first day. Onboarding remote workers requires a high degree of attention to detail. Put a system in place to ensure consistency and prevent critical information from falling though the cracks.  Working with a firm that specializes in project management can take over of some of these onboarding processes to help ease this burden.

Make Communication a Priority

Project managers work remotely and typically only interact with their managers and customers. There is no office comradery to make them feel like a part of the company. Consistent communication is critical to employee engagement. Let the project manager know the preferred form of communication – calls, emails, etc. Consider software or apps that make it easy to collaborate as needed such as Google docs, Slack or GoToMeeting.

Promote Good Habits

Project managers working remotely will have their own way of doing things – managing their time, tracking their productivity, following up with customers, etc. But initially, it’s important you manage them closely. Consider daily end-of-day calls for the first week or two to discuss what they accomplished today and what they have planned for tomorrow. Taper off once you are confident they’ve got the hang of it.

Establish Clear Metrics

Project managers are goal oriented. It’s up to you to set clear expectations. The metrics you track are up to you, and can be changed as your new PM gets comfortable on the job. For example, a new employee may need process goals such as number of calls per day. Once they are established in their role you can shift to results-oriented goals such as monthly revenue.

When you invest a little time and effort at the start by helping a new employee feel comfortable in their role, you’re setting everyone up for bigger successes. A happy project manager will be productive, engaged and more likely to achieve targeted goals.

Is your next big project just around the corner? Let the project management experts at Magnify Resources help you find your next great project manager today!

|

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *