Maybe you’ve heard it before — the only thing constant is change.
In a world that is fast-paced and constantly evolving, it’s easy to feel like we’re trying to catch up.
The same can be true in our organizations. As our churches and organizations grow, it can feel like we’re drowning in the piles of work that are quickly growing around us. The good news is that as we implement effective project management, we can set our organizations up to thrive rather than simply survive.
Project management is a dynamic discipline that blends strategic thinking, leadership, communication, and problem-solving. It enables organizations to seamlessly turn ideas into reality. Whether it's developing ground-breaking technology, writing the next New York Times bestseller, or an innovative smaller-scale project, the ability to manage projects with care and finesse has become a valuable skillset across all kinds of industries.
Having a project manager on your team is an asset. They can help to establish vision, bring clarity to a project, set achievable goals, and keep the team on track while empowering them to produce their best work. Project managers make your team more effective, which makes your organization more effective.
When it comes to project management, there are some key elements present in all of our projects that have proven to be helpful over the years.
1. Establish Vision
Strong project management requires the ability to see the vision and communicate it clearly to the team. Having a clear vision determines everything else for the project. A great way to establish vision is to ask question that will elicit a deeper response.
Who is the intended audience?
What do we want the audience to experience?
What action step do we hope to lead people to take?
What knowledge or insights do we want them to learn?
By defining the vision from the start, leaders can set a clear path for the project and make sure that everyone is working towards a common goal. When a team is unified under the same vision, there’s alignment in the team and excitement for the project ahead.
2. Define Deliverables
Once the vision is established, we have a clear understanding of the final product or result we’re working toward. From here, we can break it down into specific, tasks, and outcomes that need to be accomplished. Clear deliverables act as a roadmap for the team, ensuring everyone understands what needs to be done. By outlining these specific goals, project managers can track progress and milestones, making sure the project is completed in the necessary timeframe.
Knowing the strengths and skills of team members is essential as we delegate tasks. Assigning tasks to people’s areas of strength creates a sense of personal ownership in the project and empowers them to contribute their most excellent work.
3. Communicate Clearly
Say it once, say it twice, and just when we think we’ve said it enough, we should say it again. Over-communication is always better than under-communication.
Communication is a cornerstone of successfully managing a project and leading a team. Clear and consistent communication keeps everyone informed and focused on the tasks at hand. For a project manager, interpersonal skills are crucial — we can best lead people when we have history together. Establishing relationships internally with the team and externally with vendors is vital to a project’s success.
Project managers are often great listeners. Active listening is crucial — the lines of communication should be open and accessible for team members to ask questions and share thoughts, concerns, ideas, and feedback. Transparent communication helps build a culture of trust among the team and improves collaboration.
4. Anticipate Problems
Effective project management foresees potential pitfalls along the way. This means assessing risks and having a plan B in our back pocket. No project comes without challenges, but rarely is a problem unsolvable. There are always opportunities to anticipate problems and proactively take steps to solve them, minimizing their impact on the project and the team.
With that said, sometimes issues arise that we can’t predict. It’s important to remain flexible and find ways to pivot as needed. We can have grace for ourselves when we miss something or make a mistake. A failure is only a failure when we don’t learn something from it and adapt in the future.
5. Utilize Tools
We can choose method over madness. There are all kinds of programs and platforms we can utilize to help us manage the projects ahead of us. It may take some trial and error to find what works best for you. Personally, I use Excel to lay out larger projects so I can see from a macro level. In addition, we have two platforms we primarily use, Basecamp and Slack.
Basecamp
Basecamp is our go-to project management platform. We use it church-wide across all departments.
Basecamp houses all of our projects, and each project is assigned to the appropriate staff and servant leaders. Within each project, there’s a message board, schedule, list of to-dos, and a place to add necessary resources.
One of the biggest benefits of Basecamp is that it helps us track communication between the assigned team members. It helps bring clarity and eliminate confusion about who is working on what.
Slack
With Slack, teams can create channels dedicated to specific projects, departments, or topics, allowing for focused discussions and streamlined communication. This helps to keep conversations organized and easy to access.
With different sets of teams working across multiple projects, slack helps us stay unified and on the same page with moving timelines and project updates. For all weekly communication we aim to keep all conversations in Slack. On Sundays, with our team across multiple locations, we will work in text group chats.
At the heart of it, project management is about empowerment. Empowering those in our teams to fully tap into their potential, reminding them of the gifts and talents God has given them. As we put practical project management steps into place, we better position our churches and organizations to grow deeper with wider impact.
