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EXTREME Project Manager Makeover!
Pattie Vargas, Associate, Human Resources/Organizational
Development Services, CUSTOMatrix, Inc.
Truly enlightened organizations know that good people skills - those so-called touchy-feely soft-skills - will be the success differentiator in the coming years. After all, even with automation we still need people to get things done. And the people on your projects can either work with you and on your behalf or they can just as easily sabotage your best laid plans.
I contend that many employee problems are actually management problems. And yet, organizations spend an inordinate amount of time and energy in devising plans to deal with poor employee performance. Poorly managed workgroups are the key reason for low productivity and profitability.When teams have a leader with limited relational skills we find projects that are completed late, are missing deliverables or of such poor quality as to ensure lack of customer satisfaction. Not so touchy-feely - we're talking bottom line impact - a direct correlation between the ability to successfully lead and manage people, and the profit margin.
I learned early on that of all the moving parts of a project, there were really very few that I could control. I had little control over the budget: I was often handed a budget to begin with only to have it slashed or appropriated or otherwise manipulated by those with lengthier titles than mine. I had limited power over the project scope: I've heard many project managers brag about their ability to manage scope and yet when faced with pressure from the VP of Squeaky Wheels, they cave in with the best of us. It is simply the nature of project management. You can include these things in the risk assessment - and I would encourage you to do so - and you can implement various change control processes, but ultimately change is going to occur and impact your ability to maintain total control.
But what I could control was how my team interacted with one another and with me. This was one area where I could wield a tremendous amount of influence and have a powerful impact on the successful outcome of the project. In this dynamic, fluid business climate, I contend we don’t need more project managers – we need more Extreme Project Managers. If you’re up for the challenge, you’ll need to develop new, key Leadership Competencies:
Extreme Project Managers must:
There is nothing worse than a leader who won’t lead. If you have ever worked for a supervisor, manager or leader who wouldn’t deal with behavior issues on the team, would never serve as an advocate for their department, and who refused to communicate critical organizational information to their staff, accept my condolences. Most of us have been in this unfortunate situation at least once. If you recognize this in your own management style – shame on you. Stop it and stop it, now.
- Invest in team development
As a manager or leader, no responsibility should carry more weight than developing a relationship with your people and between your people. Those relationships will carry you when organizational disruptions occur, project sponsors demand changes, or – impossible to imagine – you screw up. Stephen Covey introduced the concept of the Emotional Bank Account in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and the imagery is simple, but spot on. As we develop relationships with our staff or team members, we are making deposits in the Emotional Bank Account. In times of change or extreme organizational stress, it may be necessary to make withdrawals. In those times, you will be very glad you have invested in developing the team and creating a strong bond with the members.
If you, as a manager, are operating under the delusion that your staff is made up of adults and therefore, you will never experience conflict on your team, let me buy you a clue. Whenever you have more than one person in a room, expect conflict. In fact, welcome it. An absence of conflict could signify that your team doesn’t care enough to have an opinion and that is never good. To manage conflict effectively managers need to plan ahead for it – with the team, set some behavioral ground rules. Don’t run into the fray, anxious to diffuse what you fear is a controversial or volatile situation. Productive conflict is the best way to reach the best conclusion in the shortest possible time.
- Balance Empowerment with Accountability
The Extreme Project Manager knows the value of empowering their staff and team members – but that empowerment must be balanced with accountability. The manager who empowers their staff to think creatively and solve problems has not abdicated their responsibility to lead. Rather they have recognized the intellect and talent of the team and given them authority to use them! He or she recognizes that management does hold all the knowledge and that collaboration trumps power in most situations. This is management being accountable to the team. Within the team, the most powerful means of ensuring the successful achievement of goals and objectives in through unleashing peer-to-peer accountability. By enrolling the team in the vision and gaining their buy-in to achieving the objective, you eliminate the need for management oversight. Commitment ensures that each member holds the goal (and one another) in such high regard they will do anything within their power to ensure success.
Marcus Buckingham, management and workplace expert, teaches that people join companies but quit managers. This little factoid alone should convince organizational leaders of the importance of strengthening the relationships among team members and facilitating collaborative and mutually beneficial partnerships with cross-functional groups. Regardless of what you may have thought in the past, project management equals people management. As a project manager, exercise control in the area where it will matter most – how our team members interact with one another. When a group of individuals finally become a team, the odds greatly increase in your favor. Creating a cohesive, gelled unit, working in community to achieve a common goal is the surest guarantee of success that I’ve found!
©2008 Pattie Vargas
EXTREME Project Manager Makeover!
CUSTOMatrix™ has a number of such talented individuals available and ready to assist. It is often practical to utilize such expertise on a sliding level of active participation, with heavier involvement on the front-end of the project, preferably beginning in the selection phase, with a gradual reduction in man hours as the project gains momentum.
Should your organization be interested in increasing its revenue or evaluating the effectiveness of it marketing investments CUSTOMatrix Consultants can assist you in assessing your situation and recommending a course of action.
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