Your business has many moving parts. With numerous projects going on, employees working on diverse tasks, and clients with changing demands, it’s a wonder anything gets done at all. When your business doesn’t have a project manager to oversee certain aspects of your business, it’s easy to run into trouble.

If you experience any of the following obstacles at your workplace, it may be time you swallowed that pride and got yourself (and your team) a project manager…

1. You (and/or everyone else) is disorganized

Are paper piles quickly turning into skyscrapers? Has the frequent misplacement of necessary information caused you to put tasks on hold?  Does important contact information tend to land anywhere but your phone or Rolodex? If you answered yes to any or all of those, good news is that you’re not alone!

When physical stacks of papers are enabling your office’s disorganization epidemic, we know to implement a document management system. However, when it comes to all other forms of disorder, a project manager may be the best solution.

A project manager’s job is to organize everyone’s tasks, keeping track of all necessary materials during the process. They ensure that every piece of the project lands in its correct place and that each one of those pieces is easy to access among the appropriate team members. With a project manager, you won’t lose time scrambling to gather all the materials you need to make a sale or close a project. In many cases, their job isn’t that different from a kindergarten teacher’s…

2. Tasks aren’t getting completed

While you may be a fantastic, well-loved boss, it doesn’t change the fact that you or your team’s procrastination could end up hurting your business. Do you have dozens of projects with promising starts and enthusiastic beginnings but lack the momentum to keep them going? Have you halted the production on a campaign that bored you or wasn’t going anywhere fast enough?

If you start projects and processes, but can’t ever seem to see them through to fruition, a project manager may be your saving grace.

Their job is to keep you on-task and ensure that you’re working towards a completed goal. He or she will designate a time frame for objectives, as well as configure checkpoints along the way. The manager will take a big daunting task and break it up into smaller tasks that are easier to digest, comprehend, and eventually accomplish.

3. There is no point of contact 

When your clients call you with concerns, are they being shuffled around from one employee to another? That isn’t good for business. If customers don’t have one person on the case who is handling their needs, they’re going to quickly get frustrated. And there is nothing worse than a frustrated and angry customer.

Same goes for your employees. They must have someone they can turn to when their questions need answers and pressing issues need to be resolved. If you don’t have that higher-up person there for support, responsibilities may get convoluted, causing work to get compromised and frustrations to fester.  If you thought dealing with a frustrated customer was difficult, try handling an entire team of members who are unsure of what they do and who goes where.

A project manager can be that necessary point of contact for your clients, your employees, and yourself. He or she will be equipped to answer any and all questions, figuring out solutions on the fly and with great care. When every answer comes from the same source, and that source is a person whom is accessible to your project’s team, communication will make sense again.

4. Employees are confused over their roles

If your employees are wearing too many hats, they’re likely to lose focus. The more tasks you give each team member, the less commitment they’ll have towards each one. This over-tasking could result in employees stepping on each others’ toes, which could lead to unnecessary disagreements, stress and confusion.

When you continuously pile tasks on top of your employees’ (already full) plates, you’re making a risky and costly situation for yourself. Employees, when faced with too many demands all at once, will oftentimes unknowingly redo tasks that were already completed or will miss a very important task that fell between the cracks of everything else. If you stop confusing your team they may be able to figure out what they’re actually supposed to be doing. High demands are rarely ever the best way to go about delegating.

Along with overseeing a project, your project manager will give employees the direction they require to succeed confidently. Each employee will be designated a specific role, as well as allocated expectations and time limits. Think of them as not only a project manager but also a task supervisor.

5. Employees are dissatisfied

Employees without direction are going to be dissatisfied with their working conditions. Every worker needs a solid structure of the items they need to take care of and the goals they must reach. Without that foundation, chaos could ensue. Imagine that kindergarten class from earlier…

Your employees need to know what you expect from them, and how they can do their best to meet those expectations. If you’ve been concerned that members of your staff have been lamenting over their current work situation, a project manager may be your dream come true.

A project manager can be the lucky person to tell your employees everything that’s happening. No more working in the dark. The project manager can also act as a morale booster in the workplace, keeping heads up and spirits lifted. Because we all know you don’t have time to manage a company and satisfy your entire staff’s needs. Leave the office coddling to someone that actually enjoys doing it. Think of a project manager as the Wendy to your Lost Boys. Which allows you to be the Captain Hook of this equation, left alone to do your own duties and rule the ship…

Get the BEST Project Manager for Your Team

Before jumping up and hiring the first project manager you meet, make sure to have some basics in place:

• Discuss previous teams they’ve managed so that you can compare and contrast your company’s current team with their experience. This will help you decide if they could be a good fit.
• Upon hiring, provide your new project manager with the correct (up to date) technology and necessary platforms. This ensures that they will be able to do what they were hired to do effectively and immediately.
• Introduce your new project manager to the team they’ll be leading before rushing out the door. We recommend staying within close quarters for at least a couple of days, in case anyone has a question or concern. This is your team’s babysitter and so you’ll want to make sure everyone plays nicely. When a new person is suddenly put in charge, some employees may feel threatened or worry that their jobs are at risk. But, if you remain noticeably confident about your decision and the future of your team, that positive energy is sure to rub off on everyone else.

The Takeaway

Though you’re going to spend more money adding a new member to your staff, you’ll see a vast improvement in your business. Pay attention to the day by day after this addition takes place. Keep an eye on ROI, goals accomplished, deadlines met, and projects completed. That way if you ever doubt your decision in the future, you’ll have numbers to look back on as proof of your business’ incline.

Most importantly, take notice of all the positive changes that hiring a project manager has made. With less disruptions to your workflow and fewer 12 hour shifts, your calendar will gain a piece of mind. And with all that extra free time, lunch dates no longer have to be a thing of the past.

Do you want to learn how Contentverse’s platform can help your project manager effectively perform his or her responsibilities? Check out our solutions today!