pmnetwork201010 full bloom

8/3/2019 Pmnetwork201010 Full Bloom

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by Denene Brox



1

76 PM NETWORK OCTOBER 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG

hen you look at influential

business figures like Bill Gates

and Warren Buffett, it seems

like they were born leaders. Not

only are they able to articulate

a clear vision, they also have anuncanny ability to inspire people

and help them turn those visions

into reality.

Yet the ugly truth is that project

managers—caught up in a whirlwind

of budgets and schedules—often lack

those finely honed leadership instincts.

That doesn’t mean such instincts can’t

be cultivated, though. “Leadership skills

can be learned,” says David Davis, PMP,

PgMP, a program manager at telecom

giant AT&T, Sylvania, Ohio, USA.However, this is only possible if the

project manager wants to learn them.

“This self-motivation is half the bat-

tle, and the rest becomes a combination

of style, day-to-day behavior and situ-

ational experience,” he says.

Sure, it helps to attend leader-

ship development seminars and read

the appropriate books. But the best

classroom is often the front lines of

a project—developing plans, commu-

nicating with clients, inspiring your

team and solving the problems that

pop up along the way.“Project managers have the

opportunity to share their vision

about the scope of a project with

the team, to build trust through a

participative process when planning

the project, to listen to the team and

promote a work environment that

stimulates adaptation when changes

are necessary,” says Alcides Santopi-

etro Jr., PMP, project planner and

controller at SNC-Lavalin, an engi-

neering and construction group inMontréal, Québec, Canada.

All of those responsibilities help

build a better leader, but you’re still

going to have to work at it. Here are

some other tips:

Avoid the power trip.Humility might not be the first leader-

ship skill that jumps to mind, but even

team leaders must understand their

complementary role as a team player.

“I have seen many project managersbe condescending to their team and feel

that the title of project manager pro-

vides them with a certain power,” Mr.

Davis says. “You are still part of a team,

and your role is to make sure the team

understands what is trying to be accom-

plished, the timeframe to accomplish it,

their individual tasks and how the tasks

are related.”

Sometimes project managers have to

admit that someone else on the team is

more capable of carrying out a certain

task.

“Project management leaders insp-

pire confidence and trust when they

have the confidence to defer tasks

to those better-skilled, the ability to

admit they do not know an answer

and the wisdom to coach rather than

command,” says Joseph R. Czarnecki,

PMP. He is senior consultant of global

learning solutions for Europe, the

W>>To be seen as a leader,

project mangers should play

up their natural mediator

skills when dealing with

sponsors and stakeholders.



32

OCTOBER 2010 PM NETWORK77

Middle East and Africa at project

management training firm ESI Inter-

national, London, England. “Those

who have a high regard for others,

regardless of their experience and role,

are always inspirational leaders.”

Maintain balance.Project managers must contend with

demands coming from several direc-

tions: the organization, team members

and clients. And they need to juggleall those requests while staying on

schedule, within budget and without

scope creep.

To be seen as a leader, project man-

gers should play up their natural media-

tor skills when dealing with sponsors

and stakeholders.

“Subtly call out the elephant in

the room,” Mr. Davis says. “A project

manager leader has a knack for getting

people with opposing opinions into a

situation where he or she can address

the matter and look for a result. A proj-

ect manager must be good at presenting

the pros and cons of each position,

hopefully leading to a less-emotional

resolution.”

When it comes to team members,

avoid focusing too heavily on tasks

versus the individuals involved, says

Michel Operto, PMP, IT transforma-

tion lead at Orange Business Services,

a global telecom services provider in

Valbonne, France.

“People make or break projects,”

he says. “We ought to balance our

investment between the ‘project’ and

the ‘management’ aspects of project

management.”

Play to a team’s strengths.Great leaders realize each team member

has his or her own work style and per-

sonality, and they take the time to getto know players on an individual level.

Expecting everyone to work in the same

way is naïve at best and can jeopardize a

project at worst.

“The ability to get the most out of

all team members can make the dif-

ference between a good project and a

great project,” says Gareth Byatt, PMP,

PgMP, head of the global informa-

tion and communication technology

program management office at Lend

Lease, a global project and construc-

tion management firm headquartered

in Sydney, Australia. “When people

feel empowered to perform to their

best ability, they display a sense of

enthusiasm and drive that benefits the

overall project.”

Project managers should be able to

detect each team member’s motiva-

tional factors and adjust accordingly,

Mr. Santopietro notes.

The ability to get the most out

of all team members can makethe difference between a good

project and a great project.—Gareth Byatt, PMP, PgMP, Lend Lease, Sydney, Australia



4 578 PM NETWORK OCTOBER 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG

People make or break projects. We

ought to balance our investment

between the ‘project’ and the ‘manage-

ment’ aspects of project management.—Michel Operto, PMP, Orange Business Services, Valbonne, France

“Some individuals are naturally

more competitive than others. For oth-

ers, recognition of their work is very important. And there are people who

value the process as much as the results

that come at the end,” he says. “The

true project manager leader will identify

these specific aspects and create a work

environment that satisfies as many of

them as possible.”

A project manager who doesn’t

respect team members as individuals

isn’t truly a leader. Mr. Czarnecki recalls

such a person: “He never valued the

judgment of his team member ‘experts.’He always asked for our advice and

input, but never once used it,” he says.

“It ended up making the project hugely

over budget and resulted in a very

unhappy client. He was completely

unaware of how unhappy the entire

team was under his leadership.”

Be willing to cut your losses.Imagine working for months on a proj-

ect, investing countless hours, only to

discover it’s a sinking ship. It’s unfor-

tunate, but a great project manager is

willing to do what’s hardest, Mr. San-

topietro says.

“A true project leader has the cour-

age to start over,” he says. “That means

scrapping a project plan and the work

that’s been done up to that point, rede-

fining the project objectives and scope

statements, and calling the client to

explain all of that.”

As tempting as it might be to just

wait it out and hope things will get bet-

ter, project managers must be willing todeliver the unpleasant news.

“It’s a leadership skill that probably

isn’t practiced as much as it should be,”

Mr. Czarnecki says. “It is usually the proj-

ect sponsor that makes the final decision

to keep or kill a project. But a good proj-

ect manager leader ensures that the right

information gets to the sponsor with the

right recommendations at the right time.”

That message must be conveyed

with the conviction and confidence that

comes with knowing—and believingin—the right decision, he adds.

Look for hidden opportunities.If there’s one thing that became read-

ily apparent during the recession, it’s

that change can occur overnight. Those

project managers who adapted to the

shifts—and indeed even discovered

some hidden gems in the rubble of the

downturn—came out all the stronger.

“From a leadership perspective, the

recession has been both a good and a

bad thing,” Mr. Czarnecki says. “For

many project managers, especially dur-

ing the first six to eight months of the

recession, it was an excellent opportu-

nity to practice and grow leadership

skills. Natural leaders had an oppor-

tunity to rise. While it wasn’t pleasant,

the leadership lessons learned will guide

many professionals for years, if not

decades, to come.” PM

>>READ MORE ABOUT

LEADERSHIP SKILLS IN

VOICES ON PROJECT

MANAGEMENT ON PAGE 80.

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