Two weeks ago, I was tasked with taking the lead on a client project with an actual client! Going into the week, I was excited; I thought being in charge was going to be enjoyable. It was; however, it took some time to get there. Over the course of the week, it became clear that there was a learning curve to managing a project that I would need to overcome to be an effective manager.
Day One: The plan for Day One was to get a footing for the project. We had a call with the clients, and I wanted the team to be informed so that we could ask the important questions. We were able to do so, and we were ready for the call. This is where the main problem of the week lies. There were instances where we were so fixated on the little things that we wasted time on the bigger picture items that we needed to discuss and work on. As a project manager, I needed to guide the conversation back to what we needed to discuss. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of entertaining the little details for too long. By the end of day one, we had everybody's roles assigned and started scoping out what we were able to accomplish for the week.
Day Two: For day two, I had another call with the client. We had come up with some more questions the day before that I was ready to ask the client. I made the choice to take the call with the team present for it. This was another mistake on my end. During the meeting, the client said something that rubbed the team the wrong way. It made them think that the client thought they were above us. After the meeting wrapped up, I had to deal with the seemingly endless frustration from my team. I did not handle the frustrations well. The mistake I made was letting their frustrations get to me and becoming frustrated myself. The right thing to do was to try to ease the frustration to get them back on track with what we had planned. Instead, we wasted an hour after the meeting just being frustrated with ourselves, not doing anything.
Now I have to address the sales team and how they influenced the week. Dealing with one client is one thing, but managing a client, a sales team, and your coach is another. These are three distinct entities, each with their own wants and needs. Managing that was something I struggled with throughout the week. Receiving three different perspectives on the project was confusing and challenging to navigate. It was tough, but as the week went on, what worked for me regarding the multiple opinions was to just trust your gut. Something that I only started implementing in the second half of the week.