Your energy is the first resource you manage on a project

Have you ever stopped to think about how a service provider's energy affects your willingness to come back? It's not just about the service itself. It's about the energy the person conveys while doing the work. Compare getting an upbeat good morning with a smile to barely getting a nod from someone. The difference stays in your memory.

It works the same way for a project manager. The energy you bring to the day to day isn't a detail, it's part of how you do the work. When I take on a new project, one of the first things I try to calibrate is that energy, because it sets the tone for how the team will see what's ahead. When I take over a project that's already underway, I do the opposite: I observe the energy that already exists on the team before anything else. That's why I like to talk with each person individually during the structuring phase, you can really feel the mood there, much more than in a group meeting.

I'm not talking about faking excitement or layering forced positivity over everything. That's different from euphoria. It also doesn't mean softening every bit of pressure. There are moments that call for tension, for a more direct push, and that isn't bad energy. It's part of an environment where everyone is fighting for the same goal. Good energy isn't the absence of pressure, it's how we sustain that pressure without draining the team's energy and disengaging them.

We, project managers, need to carry more energy than the average person in the room. If the team is feeling down, someone needs to pull the pace back up, and that person is usually you. People like being around someone who conveys good energy in what they do. And that shows in meetings, in quick hallway conversations, in how you respond to a problem, and in your approach overall.

Good energy is also what opens space for trust. If someone enjoys your presence, they'll certainly be more open to connecting with you and, as a result, trusting you.

Trust is the foundation of everything when it comes to making a team truly collaborate, as I mentioned in this other post.

In other articles I'll talk about other behaviors I believe are useful for a good project management professional. For now, here's a short list to keep in mind: Energy. Enthusiasm. Preparation.

The observations in this piece reflect personal perceptions and do not refer to any specific company.

Leandro | PMP | PMO and Project Manager