4 Mistakes Virtual Managers Make That Stress Out Project Team

To be a champion, you have to learn to handle stress and pressure. But if you’ve prepared mentally and physically, you don’t have to worry – Harvey Mackay

 
 

N

o one wants to make virtual manager mistakes because these affect the outcome of a project.
 
Fortunately, some mistakes are easier to correct than others, allowing you to get away with nothing more than a slight inconvenience to remember it by.
 
Unfortunately, some mistakes make more lasting impressions than others. These are the mistakes you really learn from. But as essential as learning from your mistakes is to your growth as a person and a virtual manager, you’d have to admit that not making a mistake in the first place should be the order of the day. To help you steer clear of pitfalls that may hinder task management for you, knowing what to avoid will definitely help.
 
Watch out for these common virtual manager mistakes:

 
Every project is defined by the goals your team has to and wants to meet at the end. Even your choice of virtual collaboration software can be affected by the kinds of goals you have.
 
Software project management goals guide you so it’s important to clearly set your aims at the beginning. Without a clear guide, how will your team even start working on anything, let alone produce the required results.
 
Before anything else, you need to make sure everyone is on the same page. This will help you avoid mistakes because you have a clear path to follow through the end.

 
Inside every virtual manager is a traditional manager, and sometimes it can be difficult to shut out that traditional little voice inside you.
 
While a lot of the things you may have learned about project management were honed through traditional experiences, you have to take what you’ve learned and use them in the context of going virtual.
 
There’s no point in calling it a virtual workforce if you’re too hung up on implementing traditional strategies. There’s no shortage of collaboration tools you can use too so take advantage of this. You’ve already dipped your toes in going virtual.
 
Take the plunge so you can make the most out of agile project management.

 

 
There is much expected from a virtual manager but nothing will come out of taking on too many tasks in so short a time.
 
Stress is always part of the job, but bringing on unnecessary levels will be counterproductive. The added burden will take out so much from the project management team, rendering them incapable of producing the required results. Taking on challenges and rising to the occasion is one thing, a suicide mission is another.
 
Biting off more than you can chew typically doesn’t lead to anything good and this is more than true when managing a project management team.

 
At the heart of prime practices for creating a virtual workforce is collaboration.
 
In this day and age, working with your team is what gets things done. As the virtual manager, you are responsible for leading your team but you also have to be just as willing to work with them. You do not just dole out tasks to be accomplished on the team project management tool. You do not simply bark out orders that have to be done at precisely the time you specified. You also have to be at the same level with your team. Are you here for the fancy title or to make things happen?
 
Your ego may just be what’s standing between you and a successful project management team.

 
While having a good grasp of project management practices will not preclude you from making mistakes, knowing what to avoid will clearly help you in dodging what are avoidable.
 
You’re a virtual manager for a reason. This means you already have what it takes to lead a team but that doesn’t mean you can’t become even better.
 
Avoiding these mistakes will surely get you closer to becoming the best virtual manager you can be.