Management

Within the creative industry projects are often so complex and extensive that there are many people involved. That can be both colleagues or other self-employed people. As a manager, you try to influence the team to achieve the set goals and you keep things running smoothly. You also ensure that everyone can be themselves and feel safe within the team.

To manage projects

Within a project you often carry large responsibilities. As a manager you naturally carry responsibility for your own work, but also for the work of others. That may be exciting, but it also offers opportunities to make the most of a project. The purpose of leadership is to motivate people so that get into action. Set clear goals.

Responsibilities come with powers. Before a project starts, make clear who is responsible for what, who does what and how it is communicated. Clear agreements help to avoid problems so that the focus remains on the content.

Style
Choose the style of leadership that suits the situation and the person. Sometimes you need to guide strongly to achieve a goal, sometimes you only need to slightly adjust and you can leave most of the work to your team. Your first task as a manager is the mapping of your team, so you can choose a suitable style of leadership. Different styles of leadership are:

  • Authoritarian: the leader sets the goals and how they should be performed, little involvement from employees.
  • Democratic: the manager leaves decisions and responsabilities to the group as a whole.
  • Consulting: intermediate form of democratic and authoritarian. Employees have a say in decision-making, management asks employees for advice but retains responsibility.

As a leader, you may have several roles:

  • Entrepreneur: you find creative way for new opportunities and innovations.
  • Negotiator: you bring parties with different ideas together and communicate well.
  • Troubleshooter: you instantly solve problems and conflicts and prevent situations getting out of hand.
  • Monitor: you are good at collecting information and ensuring that it reaches the right people.

Evaluation
Projects are temporary in nature and afterwards participants start to participate in other projects. Therefore evaluation is often not thought of. You can learn a lot from evaluating, both about your own performance, as about that of others. That way you can get gather a group of people around you with whom you work well together.

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Project management

Tips

Taking charge in your own office sounds easy, but for many people it is not that simple. Be aware of your pitfalls as a manager. Recognize your weaknesses and make use of feedback you receive. A pleasant and efficient style of managing helps you to make your project better.

  • Dare to delegate. Many entrepreneurs spend time with trivialities, and have too little time to do what they do best.
  • Adapt your leadership style to the situation and look closely at the competencies and independence of the people on your team. An intern obviously needs much more support than a teammember that has a lot of experience.
  • Everyone has their own background and a personal story. That's why team members can react differently to each other and to a manager. Pay attention to how this affects the relationships in the team.
  • Beware of stereotyping and your own bias. Don't judge team members. Give team members the space to be themselves and create a sense of security within the team. If necessary, delve into someone's story and background to get to know and understand them better.
  • Be carefull with managing in a dominant way, while demanding too much of your staff. When you delegate a lot, and also control a lot, you are creating a tremendous workload.