Boost your project team’s product launch capabilities by training them on key skills, including leadership, communication strategy, and product knowledge.
If your organization is preparing to launch a new product, you already know you’ll need access to a wide range of skills to complete your initiative successfully. Though other functional areas will work alongside your project team to contribute their expertise as you plan and execute the rollout, your group also needs its own working knowledge base that extends beyond core project management skills. However, with so many demands on team members’ time, knowing where to focus your limited training resources and which competencies will deliver the most value can be difficult.
Your project team can achieve consistent product launch success by building proficiency in complementary areas. We put together some key skills that can enhance your team’s capabilities and better prepare them to overcome the challenges and complexities of new product introductions.
Time management.
Product launches frequently have aggressive timelines, and the activity sequences may not have gaps or wiggle room. Using time efficiently is crucial to moving new products to market on schedule. Giving your team the option to pursue time management training enables them to optimize their own work hours plus better understand where efficiencies can be found across the group’s wider workflows.
Leadership skills.
Project team members need to know how to motivate and collaborate with various personality types across many different functional areas. Your group will also likely be on point when it comes to providing guidance and support to ensure stakeholders remain focused on the team’s shared goals. Leadership training can give project professionals the skills to foster a positive environment for stakeholders and work through conflicts more effectively.
Budget management.
Product launches are often high-dollar efforts. Managing the budget is critical to the success of new product rollouts and providing access to some targeted budget management instruction can help keep your project in good financial health. Building additional budget management skills ensures the project stays within budget, enables the team to spot potential variances earlier, and allows your group to identify areas for potential cost reductions and more effective funding allocations.
Communication competencies.
Having effective communication skills is crucial for the success of any project. To ensure a new product launch goes smoothly, keeping all stakeholders aligned and sharing information across different teams is important. Managing project communications involves developing a purposeful messaging strategy to avoid delays and misunderstandings. This will also help your team reduce the risk of communication gaps or errors that could lead to poor decisions or even derail your project.
Product Knowledge.
Your project team will rely heavily on product experts throughout the launch planning and execution process, but it’s still prudent for your group to develop a good understanding of various product elements, such as innovative features, the target customer base, and the anticipated market position. Even some basic product education can help the team understand where competitive or other risks may need to be explored more fully and how things like focus group feedback or specification updates will likely affect the product release cycle.
Creativity.
Your team will probably encounter tricky challenges as your new product launch moves through the project lifecycle. Some background in how to spark, capture, and act on creative ideas and implement innovative solutions to problems can help overcome issues and keep the project moving forward. Knowing different techniques to get stakeholders to think outside the box and work as a team to resolve problems may mean the difference between launching a product on time and becoming mired in obsolete or ineffective practices. It can also elevate your organization’s approach to product rollouts and give you an important competitive advantage in the marketplace.
PMAlliance, Inc uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project portfolio management.