PM isn’t just “project management,” it’s “people management.” While software and systems have their place in efficient project management, intuition and emotional intelligence also bring a lot to the table.
An exceptional project manager has great interpersonal skills, clear and consistent communication, and masterful organizational skills — in that order.
That’s how Molly Gamborg, PMP, Dragonfly’s manager of project management, defines what she looks for in a team member. Good project management, she says, isn’t “just about the details.” It’s also about understanding people.
While much of the conversation around project management these days centers on software, Molly and her colleagues on Dragonfly’s project management team agree: the tools are secondary. Taleiah Todd-Hill, the PM for Dragonfly’s editing department, and Lexy Nesbitt, the PM for the graphic design team, both say their back-end systems are simple spreadsheets that calculate estimates based on word counts and hours required.
And in many cases, the system — whether it’s Workfront, Monday.com, Asana, or something else — is usually driven by client preference. According to Taleiah, who works in five different client systems, flexibility and people skills play a much bigger role than software in determining project success.
Nuanced, genuine communication
Emily Gref, the PM for one of Dragonfly’s bigger consulting firm clients, says clear and frequent communication is the foundation for project success. Molly adds that, as professionals juggle dozens of work and personal priorities, “It’s easy for people to not know what’s happening on a particular project.”
While status reminders could be handled by automated notifications, good people skills make those check-ins more effective by layering in an appreciation of emotion and motivation. “It’s about saying, ‘Here’s where we are and here’s where we need to be. Can you help us get to this point?’” says Emily.
Jenny Stout, the PM for Dragonfly’s content writing team, emphasizes the importance of good, nuanced communication over email, which is notorious for perpetuating misunderstandings. This skill is even more critical when the news isn’t good.
“Whether it’s taking responsibility, offering a solution, or just acknowledging a stressful situation, a surprising number of people don’t know how to do those things,” Jenny says. “Our motto is to take away stress from people. Adding things like, ‘It’s okay, I’ve got you’ goes a long way.” And, Jenny adds, that’s something a piece of software will never do.
Respect for different points of view
Another key aspect of project management is assuming and appreciating different perspectives. As Lexy explains, an exceptional PM must step back and see the project through other people’s eyes. “While I’m the design department’s PM, I also have to take into account what the editing team needs to know and how much time they need to complete their portion,” she says. “And I have to try to predict what the client wants or needs to know and when.”
Andi Trzeciak, Dragonfly’s PM for a large nonprofit client, says the need to keep multiple points of view in mind simultaneously is a bit like getting used to bifocals — and it can create headaches. “You have to have a big-picture view, but you also have to have your eye on every little thing and keep track of all of the minutiae,” she says. “That’s not everyone’s cup of tea.”
Respect for hierarchy and political capital
Looking at a project from different angles also requires recognizing organizational hierarchies. In her work for her consulting client, Emily interacts with many different teams across the globe, and their thought leadership projects often involve numerous authors, including contributors from external organizations. Then, the communications teams may add yet another layer of perspective and priorities, broadening the goals beyond those of the subject-matter experts.
“There are a lot of moving pieces, and each contributor has a varying degree to which they want input on the final product. And I often have just a small amount of control over them,” Emily says. “It’s an interesting negotiation, and it’s always an education in people management when you start bringing in more stakeholders.”
An essential component is keeping track of where each contributor fits into the hierarchy — both in terms of the specific project and longer-term relationships. “That helps you modulate how firm you can be,” Emily explains. “When you’re following up on a due date with a CEO, instead of telling them they’re late, you frame it more politely: ‘It would be great if we could get this over the line by X date.’”
If getting a project across the finish line results in ruffled feathers or burned bridges, the client may not think the effort was worth it — in which case, it’s hard to call the project successful.
PMs also assign tasks to people who aren’t their direct reports, both inside and outside their organizations. These can include delivering “to-dos” to a client’s corporate leaders or important external partners. Good people skills allow PMs to be firm but polite, making sure things get done without jeopardizing important relationships.
According to Molly, this is one area where the concept of servant leadership is really helpful in project management. As she explains, servant leaders emphasize education and connection over process and product, trying to coach rather than control.
“We don’t have control over at least half of the process,” Andi acknowledges. “But if we can at least organize the parts we can control, the project goes much more smoothly, and that says something to our clients.”
Respect for hitches and human nature
One irony of project management is that a PM’s job is to keep projects on track. But things don’t always stay on track, and that’s when you need a PM the most.
Emily notes, “Clients have a lot of competing priorities, so sometimes we have to adjust the schedule.” A good PM sees this not as a failure but as a fact — and a prompt for further communication.
Taleiah agrees. “It’s important to be very up-front when something changes,” she says. “If we were expecting a 20-page document, and then the client sends us a 40-page document, that’s okay, but we need to reset expectations about a realistic timeline and budget. And you have to do that right away, as soon as you see a problem.”
This approach has helped Lexy earn client kudos even when a project has gone over budget and past the deadline. “Because I stayed on top of the communication, the CEO complimented us at the end, not just on our design, but also on our excellent project management.” While Lexy acknowledges that frequent timeline reminders can feel like nagging, they’re important to project success. “I thought that CEO would hate me because of my constant reminders. But there’s no such thing as too much communication,” she insists. “You’re never going to go wrong.”
PMs prevent sticker shock
When a project is a relay that gets handed off from one team to another, just like a baton, one person should be in charge. If the clock runs long at one stage and no one is aware, or if scope creep is a factor, the last team — often the designers — will be rushed or short-changed, or the client will end up with a big bill.
“If one of the contributors wants to add another case study, or if the printer needs to add a rush fee to deliver on time, I can’t just say, ‘sure, go ahead.’ It’s not our money, so we can’t make any assumptions,” Jenny says. Rather, it’s the PM’s job to provide that information to the client, so they can make a decision they’ll still be happy with when they get the final invoice.
According to Molly, “Many times, a client tends to say, ‘just do it,’ because they want the project done. But it’s important that we explain ahead of time what the budget impact will be, so there are no surprises.”
A consistent experience strengthens brands — and relationships
Having one person overseeing project flow provides a consistent experience.
Before moving to using a dedicated PM, Emily’s global consulting firm struggled with brand consistency. With so many people involved in authorship of reports, there were a lot of opportunities for variations to be introduced in writing style and brand voice, and there was no “central authority” to review and catch these aberrations. But, Emily says, centralized project management helped this client improve the consistency of their reports across offices and teams, which strengthened their authority as a global thought leader.
If consistency adds value to marketing efforts, it also enhances business relationships. As Molly says, “Our clients don’t want to have to remember who to talk to at what stage of a project. They don’t care what our titles are, and they shouldn’t have to remember those things. Our job is to make their jobs easier.”
This speaks to an essential element of emotional intelligence: understanding what makes people feel good. When someone remembers our name or our birthday, we feel special. In the business world, a dedicated PM knows the players and remembers preferences, so clients don’t have to start from square one with every project. As Andi notes, this makes them feel appropriately valued.
When she first stepped in as dedicated PM for the large nonprofit, Andi says a review of past email conversations showed they reached different people each time they had a need. “There was nothing wrong with any of the people or their responses, but when the client is busy and scattered, it’s such a comfort to them to know who will be on the other end of that email,” she explains. “Having one person to talk to at Dragonfly, and the same person every time, meant the world to them.”
Both Andi and Emily note that their clients have each increased the volume of work they bring to Dragonfly year over year, which they take as a sign of their clients’ confidence in the people managing their projects.
“One thing that we’re good at here at Dragonfly is sounding like a human being, as opposed to some auto-generated message,” Lexy says. “I think clients really appreciate that. You’re telling them what they need to know, but breaking through the formality and being genuine. It is possible to do that and still be professional.”
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