< News
November 24, 2025
| Summary: Project success in industrial environments relies on strong leadership, clear communication, and a cohesive team culture. Seconded and client-side project managers play a critical role in shaping culture, guiding contractors, and maintaining safety and quality. This article explains the key behaviours, processes, and leadership traits that drive successful industrial project delivery. |
How Seconded and Client-Side Project Managers Build Strong Team Culture
Ever wondered what the benefits of a seconded or outsourced project manager are and how they deliver project success even when they’re new to a team or project? In this blog, TEG Projects Director Ross Norgrove shares the strategies his team uses to build trust quickly, align stakeholders, and lead industrial and capital projects to successful outcomes. From communication and team culture to contractor management and leadership, Ross offers practical insights drawn from years of hands-on project delivery.
To deliver capital project success across in the food and beverage industry seconded Project Managers look beyond the triple constraints of cost, scope, and time to deliver an enduring legacy of high-value assets, all while juggling business-as-usual priorities. To achieve this, seconded client-side Project Managers prioritise building a cohesive cross-functional team, including creating a safe environment where team members feel empowered to speak up and contribute, a foundation that leads to a high-performance project team culture.
Successful seconded Project Managers also understand that fostering positive working relationships depends on their ability to:
- adapt to the unique client culture,
- avoid internal politics, and
- maintain professionalism.
Engaging in informal conversations, leading by example, ensuring everybody is heard, and showing appreciation all help build trust and collaboration within teams. Communication is emphasised as a vital tool for maintaining engagement and motivation, especially when certain team members are excluded from core project activities. Treating people as they want to be treated and focusing on problem-solving, rather than dramatising issues, contributes significantly to a healthy project environment.
Why Leadership Is Central to Project Delivery Success
Leadership is identified as central to project success. Whether acting as an interim Project Manager, a contract Project Manager, or an outsourced Project Manager, project managers set the tone through their words, actions, and communication of goals. Their role extends beyond managing tasks to guiding contractors and aligning them toward common objectives.
Success often hinges on the quality and attitude of contractors, not just documentation or processes. Selecting contractors based on capability, safety, quality, and alignment with project goals is critical. Our TEG Project Managers stress the value of leveraging accumulated experience, sector knowledge from food and beverage manufacturing, and word-of-mouth recommendations in contractor selection. This ties closely to having a clear and well-defined secondment agreement for project management services, which helps maintain expectations and alignment.
Leadership also includes educating clients by guiding them through project steps, defining success criteria, and helping them understand the importance of thorough tendering, especially when weighing the benefits of outsourcing project management or comparing the roles of a contract manager vs project manager.
What Defines Project Success Beyond Cost, Scope, and Time?
Project success is a multifaceted concept involving safety, quality, budget, and team wellbeing. The avoidance of accidents is paramount, as safety incidents can have lasting impacts on culture and memory within organisations. Success extends well beyond meeting deadlines or budgets; it is also about maintaining a positive and sustainable work environment.
Long-term projects provide opportunities to embed positive culture and influence new team members, adding value over time. TEG Project Managers recognise that their expertise often supplements clients’ skill sets, particularly when providing project management outsourcing support, allowing them to suggest alternative approaches that improve outcomes and add measurable value.
How Communication and Team Culture Influence Project Outcomes
Building team culture requires deliberate communication and the creation of a supportive environment. Even when individuals such as site engineers are not official members of the core project team, it is important to keep them engaged through regular communication and appreciation gestures.
Our Project Managers reinforce a supportive culture by holding regular toolbox meetings, providing work lists, and showing appreciation through gestures like coffee and muffins. These efforts help ensure team members feel involved, even if they are not directly embedded in the project, and maintain open lines of communication that support strong team cohesion across all industrial project management environments.
How Project Managers Add Value Through Continuous Improvement
Each TEG Project Manager reflects on how to add more value to clients and the organisation, identifying communication, relationship-building, and proactive problem-solving as key areas. They understand the importance of personal development, including leadership, motivation, change management, and procurement skills. to enhance their effectiveness as project managers.
Upskilling through courses and technical training is seen as a crucial way to improve service delivery and better support clients’ needs. Continuous reflection and adaptation are essential to sustaining and growing value, especially when working in seconded, outsourced, or contract Project Manager roles across complex food and beverage or industrial sectors.
Overall, these insights highlight the practical and interpersonal dimensions of project management, emphasising leadership, culture, contractor management, and ongoing professional growth as core pillars of project success across industrial projects, utilities, and food and beverage manufacturing environments.
Looking for an experienced Project Manager to join you in-house team, talk to us about secondment: https://tegprojects.com/contact/
FAQs: Project Management in Industrial and Capital Projects
What is the difference between a contract manager vs project manager?
A contract manager focuses on commercial agreements and risk, while a project manager leads delivery, people, contractors, and day-to-day project execution.
What are the benefits of outsourcing project management?
Outsourcing provides specialist expertise, scalability, and continuity without the need for permanent recruitment. It’s ideal when internal teams lack capacity or specific industrial project experience.
What does a client-side project manager do?
A client-side project manager represents the client’s interests, manages contractors, aligns stakeholders, and ensures decisions support long-term project goals.
Why are seconded project managers valuable for industrial projects?
Seconded project managers integrate into client teams, understand internal culture quickly, support business-as-usual operations, and bring external best-practice insights.
