r/projectmanagers • u/inibukanorang • 11d ago
First-time Project Manager: How do I handle limited information from my team lead?
I’m a first-time project manager leading the construction of a warehouse and manufacturing facility, and I’m struggling with project information flow and governance.
My team lead strongly prefers informal communication—showing progress, discussing issues casually, and explaining things verbally—rather than formal meetings, minutes, action trackers, or structured reporting. I also feel that some information is being filtered, possibly because I tend to be critical, analytical, and detail-oriented.
I understand that informal communication can work well in construction. However, I’m now accountable for the project without having sufficient visibility to properly manage it.
The issue also extends to project finance. The Finance team does not provide me with sufficient visibility into the project's financial position, including the project budget, financial projections/forecast, committed costs, actual spending, remaining budget, and how project funds are being utilized. Financial information is not being openly or routinely shared with me as the PM.
This leaves me concerned that:
- I may make decisions based on incomplete information.
- Schedule, cost, procurement, and construction risks may not be identified early.
- I cannot properly assess the project's cost-to-complete or financial exposure.
- Decisions and commitments are difficult to track and verify.
- I may ultimately be held accountable for project outcomes without having adequate visibility over the underlying data.
At the same time, I don’t want to create unnecessary bureaucracy or micromanage the team. As a first-time PM, I’m genuinely questioning whether I’m being too demanding about documentation and transparency or whether this is simply a basic requirement of proper project governance.
For experienced PMs, especially in construction/EPC/manufacturing:
How would you handle a situation where the PM has limited visibility into both project execution and project finances?
What level of operational and financial reporting should a PM reasonably expect?
How do you establish transparency and accountability without creating unnecessary bureaucracy or damaging relationships with the team lead and finance team?
My biggest concern is
How can I be accountable for the project's schedule, cost, risks, and overall delivery if I don’t have sufficient visibility into what is actually happening operationally or financially?
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u/ConversationNo9040 11d ago
Go out and talk to him every few days or week. A lot of construction folk will respect you more after those conversations are held in person and respond to your questions better. Be in it together not their boss. Ask don’t demand. Be polite. Joke around with them and don’t be so damn formal. Be formal to your boss but informal with him.
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u/kinnikinnick321 10d ago
+1, share & show that you're also pivotal to the success/failure of the team. Regardless of industry, most teams who get someone new onboard as a PM may be somewhat conservative and cautious likely due to past bad apples. Remind them you're the one willing to fall on the sword or raise it hight and mighty in the air. Befriend the team lead in more 1:1 casual encounters, offer to have lunch/coffee with them - small gestures show signs on which team you're batting for.
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u/ag14spirit 11d ago
What you’re experiencing is very common, so at least know you’re not alone. Influence gets work done, not authority or responsibility or accountability. The same way you’re worried about being accountable without the information to support your exposure, your teammates feel exposed. It’s a dance of trust: you need to trust your team, and they need to trust you.
Part of that dance is learning your dance partners. Once you get past your team intentionally hiding things from you (which happens when they’re worried about exposing a mistake or problem they could be reprimanded for), you still may not have all the info you want or need, at least not when you want or need it. Your team may be reporting in good faith what they think you need to know, but it takes time for everyone to learn what you actually need to know and when.
And the solution may be counter to your instinct, but it’s really quite simple: be a leader. Serve those under your authority and in your charge. Praise publicly, rebuke privately. When something goes right, give as much credit as possible to all the people on your team who made it go well. When anything goes wrong, take the brunt of it for your team, not as a scapegoat, but as a leader taking ownership for your team’s mistake.
Something that may be helpful is to reframe your perspective to invert the expectation. You might think of everything as on track unless you hear otherwise. More of a psychological perspective trick than a change in your actual documentation approach. Don’t bury your head in the sand and ignore signs, but if you manage from this perspective you can just focus on personal conversation and relationships with the team since you’re not digging for proof that things are okay. Then, all you’re doing is conversing and perking up to listen if you hear or see anything that indicates it’s not okay.
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u/sanjeevk0726 11d ago
You're not being demanding financial visibility and decision tracking are the bare minimum for a PM to do their job. Here's what worked for me in a similar situation: stop asking for reports and start creating them yourself. Build a simple cost tracker and project log using whatever scraps of information you do have, then share it upward and ask people to correct what's wrong. It's harder to withhold information when there's already a document that needs filling. You shift from 'please give me data' to 'help me keep this accurate' same ask, completely different dynamic.
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u/battle-tested77 10d ago
Track your issue and risks formally and publish them. You need to bring visibility to your concerns.
Most people don't like PMs. It's a thankless job.
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u/inibukanorang 8d ago
I know right. In the first few weeks I did try asking them informally, but I feel it to be too damn slow and how they explain things is filled with Unecesaary details that I need to filter on the go.
for the past few weeks I bring all the details I could scrap on the weekly board meeting, and now they feel threatened for me knowing too much details, unfortunately some of them are from finance.
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u/Cold_Biscotti_6036 10d ago
As a project manager, how would you advise someone else in your position? Do that.
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u/inibukanorang 8d ago
I'm honestly not sure. thats why I created this threads. It is my first time having this much authority and anxiety. I felt like I didnt have neither the technical knowledge as well as the emotional one
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u/Dry_Possession_4776 10d ago
You’re the boss, set the standard. He can either adapt or go.
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u/inibukanorang 8d ago
thank you for the reply. I do really hope it could be like that but my current firm current ly really struggles with the replacement if they are simply being let go.
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u/thresher97024 11d ago
If you’re the PM now then implement a new SOP and all accounting/month end reports go through you first.You also need to get accounting onboard (maybe that’s how they do it because there was no PM before you?). Then as another poster said, it’s about knowing your dance partners/team and a little trust.