How to pave the way in an international project environment – tips for the coordinator

As our Erasmus+ ENRICHER hubs project is reaching its halfway mark, it is a perfect time to reflect on my role as a coordinator in this international project with nine partners (Higher Education Institutions) from Finland, Austria, Italy, Georgia and Moldova.

The challenging role of project coordinator

Coordinating a project is fascinating, since it offers a chance to co-work with other professionals from different universities and different countries, share knowledge, learn from each other and co-create something new and meaningful to reach wider impact. At the same time the coordinator role has its challenges: it is time and effort consuming to ensure good overall coordination of the project and make sure it will reach its objective and key performance indicators.

The coordinator role requires good communication skills, as answering questions, reporting and acting as the only contact point to EU officers is part of the responsibilities. Solving issues and communicating with partners takes often more time than expected.

Fast-approaching deadlines or work in progress – organizing events, training weeks or co-writing multiple reports – comes with pressure. Everybody needs to be kept onboard to carry their duties and responsibilities.

The coordinator needs to build well-functioning management structures and trust between partners, which takes time as well as leadership and management skills, and also social skills to enhance open communication between partners. Finding a balance between building a good atmosphere and raising challenging issues for discussion requires social intelligence, as well.

Five tips for better project management

Building on my own experience, I offer my five tips for better project management.

1. Be one step ahead: plan and prepare
To avoid chaos and ad hoc situations, plan and prepare well ahead. Read the Grant Agreement with project plan often enough and remind partners of their tasks and responsibilities. Prepare an action plan as a tool for the project team to visualise the timetable with deliverables, tasks, milestones and events for the lifecycle of the entire project. Also, create a list of deliverables (reports) with schedules and internal deadlines to help everybody in planning. Keep project management meetings regularly (for example once a month) and involve all the necessary people.

2. Try to avoid micromanagement
Micromanaging can lead to the coordinator doing the work partners are supposed to do – especially if the coordinator is conscientious and precise by nature (as Finns often are). Make the roles clear from the beginning, as the coordinator role is in overall project management, not coordination of work in other work packages and activities. Monitor, and offer support when needed and stay in your role.

3. Work in progress needs time and resilience
Be realistic with internal deadlines. Be clear with your messages. Follow the schedules and send reminders when needed. You need to take into consideration cultural differences. The concept of time is different in different countries, and everybody is always busy with other daily duties. It may help to design a Code of conduct together with partners in an early stage of the project (read Code of conduct – co-creating working practices for the project, eSignals 2024).

4. Do not overthink – ask for help when needed
Ask for help if your thoughts are filled with project work constantly and giving you stress. Remember that you are not alone, your project team, supervisor and EU officer is close by for support. Transparent communication is important for doing things right and finding solutions together. Maybe a project manager from another institution has run into similar situations in a previous project? Co-coordinators can share the responsibility with the coordinator, for example coordinating the work in different countries. In our project this really helps.

5. Celebrate the progress – even small milestones matters
Remember to celebrate the progress with the project team. Say thank you often enough to partners who have worked hard for reaching the goals. One coordinator gave me a good tip once on the importance of showing the timeline in a visual format with the progress, accomplished deliverables and milestones. Its psychological effect is to underline what has already been achieved. The approval of annual reporting is, for example, a significant step for the project team to celebrate together.

Project management is not easy, especially in an international project as lead partner, but it is fruitful, and educative. Teamwork and sharing responsibilities with clearly defined roles is the key to success. All in all, stay positive as it motivates everyone to do their best and everybody wins in the long run.

Picture: Haaga-Helia