Small business owners have a lot on their plate, from building a brand, recruitment and staff retention, budgeting amidst a cost-of-living crisis, balancing quality and growth, and implementing effective marketing strategies without the resources of a large company.

Thus, for small businesses, efficient project management is crucial because it ensures tasks such as renovations, improving process improvement, developing websites, and launching new programs or product features, are completed to schedule, within budget and to the desired quality. Effective project management helps mitigate risks, manage your resources, and keep stakeholders involved throughout the process.

Project management is therefore a key contributor to business success. However, the responsibilities of a project manager and team members are often blurred within a small business and delegated in a way that causes confusion and bottlenecks in progress. That’s why Priority Management has assembled everything you need to know as a small business owner on project management skills, so every facet of your company can run more smoothly.

Basic Project Management Concepts

Consistent understanding of key aspects of project management among you and your employees is crucial to maintaining efficiency and productivity before commencing with the task ahead.

Agile project management methodology breaks tasks into small steps that stakeholders review until a final iteration is agreed upon. This is a highly flexible project delivery structure, but for small businesses, reflects the resilience required for day-to-day management.

Projects measure performance against three baselines: scope, cost, and schedule. Although tracked and managed independently, these baselines work together to control project planning. The team can revise them, but they establish goals and timelines that everyone understands before the project begins. Essentially, a small business should set clear project objectives to ensure efficient communication and teamwork.

A contingency plan is your plan B, the backup plan in case your team encounters problems. It’s a good idea for small businesses to practice risk management, so difficult stakeholder management and decision making are prepared and ultimately, limited.

The deliverable is the output, result, or product your project will end up with. A deliverable can be tangible or intangible and external (to a customer) or internal (a client in the same company as the project team).

Essential Project Management Skills

In large organisations, project management knowledge is valued and necessary for daily activities. So, many invest in training courses for their employees to develop the mindset and requirements to become project management professionals.

In small businesses, however, learning project management procedures rely on you and your staff’s capability. As a boss, you may have expectations that your employees can already track work development and meet deadlines.

Time management is a skill that one can go their whole life without mastering. The challenge of a small business is how fast-paced the business world is around you. Managing project timelines can involve unexpected advancements or delays, which can cause confusion without comprehensive planning.

Delegate roles according to each team member’s strengths and comprehensive knowledge of the project scope to manage resource allocation effectively.

Having the foresight of a detailed risk assessment will inevitably aid in change management as methodologies, budgets, and personal constraints threaten the project’s success.

Tools and Techniques for Small Businesses

Examples of affordable and effective project management software to suit your team’s needs and maximise your success include:

• ClickUp: Boasts a stocked free plan with unlimited users, multiple task assignees and 24/7 support services. ClickUp is the best project management software for small businesses. However, as expected with a free service, ClickUp’s project timelines functionality is limited.
• Monday.com: The best for project security. The standard plan features a timeline, Gantt and calendar views integrated with Zoom, unlimited docs, and communication with your team with instant messaging services. Monday is a paid service.
• Coda: With unlimited users, live chat, and time tracking, Coda is renowned for its simplicity. Allowing Kanban, Gantt, and calendar views, Coda’s monthly package seamlessly juggles Google Workspace and Dropbox with a team hub where project managers can outline everyone’s roles and responsibilities.

Creating a Project Management Plan

Project planning can be broken down into 5 simple steps:

1. Initiation: Establish clear objectives and milestones. Compile the right team for the end goal.
2. Planning: The roadmap stage, detailing project tasks, timeline, resources, and budget for your project.
3. Execution: The team works diligently and follows the project plan as closely as possible, while remaining flexible to address any problems that arise.
4. Monitoring: The team reports status updates against the project lifecycle and reviews them against the objectives for quality control. This phase operates in conjunction with Step 3.
5. Closure: The team finalises and shares deliverables with customers, and notes lessons learned as examples for future situations.

Identifying and Empowering Team Leaders

Appointing the right project managers for the task is of the utmost importance to the project’s success. Task leadership must align themselves with the project goals, face challenges, and approach the experience with confidence.

However, in a small business, the right person for the project might not be among your staff. To extract the best performance, try organising a team of people who have the following traits:

• Decisiveness: quick yet thorough decision-making and strategic thinking under pressure.
• Enthusiasm: a positive and motivational attitude to prolong the team’s endurance.
• Adaptability: problem-solving when things go wrong.
• Innovation: creative solutions to budget and time constraints will give you a competitive advantage and aid your business growth.

Supercharge Your Business Success

If you’re a small business owner struggling to maximise the outcomes of your projects and the capabilities of your employees, check out our project management courses. From Microsoft Project, project planning and scheduling training, to aiding the completion of a Certificate IV or Diploma of Project Management. Priority Management is dedicated to professional development in the best practices for project success.

Book now or call 1300 187 203 today to equip your business with the project management tools it needs to thrive!