New to the PM Role

Hi Chantel - how exciting! That sounds like a great new challenge that I'm sure you're up for.

Starting off with a new team can be tricky in any environment, but some things that come to mind for me are:
- If you feel comfortable, asking the team directly what works for them has always been one of the best ways to understand what there needs are. I might start off with something like: what work management approaches make your life easier? For me, I like to have my tasks for the week included in a task management board like Microsoft Planner. What works for each of you?
- If they aren't sure what works best OR what you try isn't working, a weekly (or more frequently depending on how quickly you need to output deliverables) status meeting is my go-to. It's a great way to get a sense of where ever one is and be able to ask probing questions to understand where the team is doing well and where they are struggling. On some of my projects, we have to meet three times a week because the team is struggling to meet deadlines. The biggest thing here is consistency - they know when they need to have updates and what the expectations are of them.
- I always use an action item log (you can find lots of great ones on this site (or if you message me your email, I can send you one). This is great for keeping an eye on those little tasks that can often be missed, and you can post it in a place where the team can go to see what's on their plate.
- Lastly, setting expectations and giving the team something they can rely on is often one of the biggest adds of a PM in my opinion. Whether it's a weekly task list, status report updates, distributing notes, helping to identify decision points, etc. - set the expectations of what your role will be doing and then follow through on it.

With the remote aspect, it may not be a bad idea to set up some regular one on one sync ups with your team members to get a sense of how they're doing and what their needs may be. This helps to not only get to know them better (and what they like/don't like), but it also gives them a chance to share things they may not be comfortable with in a group setting.

Best of luck - you got this!

After working from more than 20 years ago remotely, leading programs and project which involves more than 250 people belonging from more than 60 different countries the answer is simple than this: you do not have to engage people, people is engaging by senior sponsor because the project is creating a solution and the solution is creating to achieve a strategical objective.

I moved into a new position recently where few people knew me and I often have to combine some pieces of both above answers to promote engagement.

One thing I did was built a good working relationship with my own manager in addition to my supporting team. He needs to know what I'm doing and that it's the right thing so that when I push for support from teams, I have support from the management side.

The team members will always respond to the senior sponsor, but sometimes I need to make it evident to the sponsor that I am lacking the necessary support. To get that support, I need my message to be visible to the sponsor (requires manager support), and to be clear about the message (help needed).

If you are reporting on performance to plan, focus on the analysis and the message, otherwise you end up being viewed as a clerk. If an individual item is late, is it on the critical path or easily recoverable? Focus on the big ones. If many little items are late, is that going to create a bottleneck later? Also remember that you are there to help, not to just point fingers at the people who are late.

Sometimes when new, I provide my analysis and nobody listens. Then the problems become larger and it becomes apparent that the senior sponsor *must* engage or you fail. After a few experiences like that, people tend to get the point that they either need to engage, or they will get unwanted "help" from the sponsor.

Valid point. I am to drive the team towards project success and hold them accountable for knowing their individual tasks and staying on course.