Experience Matters—Who's the Chief Master Sargent in Your Organization?
From the Strategic Project Management Blog
by Ty Kiisel
I have a friend who is a Chief Master Sargent. He's a little gray around the edges—he's been in the military for a long time. When he walks down the sidewalk in uniform, enlisted men step off to let him pass and officers acknowledge him with courtesy and respect. The Chief Master Sargent has earned his stripes. He's experienced personally what his younger colleagues have theorized and only read about.
I often talk about the need to empower teams to create and invent. I think that's important. If we want to build teams that can creatively problem solve and maximize their value within an organization, we need project teams that can think on their feet and make smart decisions for themselves. With that being said, I don't think we can afford to minimize the experience and expertise of the Chief Master Sergeants in our organizations.
When I entered the workforce, I was fortunate enough to have one of these guys take an interest in me and my career. I gleaned valuable insight and advice from what he shared with me (although I don't know if I recognized it at the time). He helped me navigate the intricacies of my job, helped me understand my role within the organization and offered advice that was intended to help me progress. I owe a lot to this man.
If one of these guys or gals exists in your organization, take advantage of his or her experience and willingness to share—because experience matters. There's a difference between reading about something in college and having actually done it many times. As a project leader (or a member of the project team for that matter), it's important to leverage the talents and experience of everyone on the team—and that particularly applies to the Chief Master Sargent.
If you're a younger member of the team, pay attention to those who have more experience, show them a little respect and courtesy, and they might just share some insight into what you're doing that you may have never thought of on your own. Being an empowered member of the team doesn't mean you don't have to pay attention to someone who's been in battle a few times.
Posted on: May 09, 2011 09:25 AM |
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Comments (3)
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Wai Mun Koo
PMO Director| Intergraph PP&M
Singapore, Singapore
Ty, agree with you that a Chief Master Sergeant is definitely a gem in the organization. It is very important for the less experienced ones to pick up the skills of the trade from the veterans. In our organization, we do practice mentorship which we have observed good results in grooming the juniors.
Ty Kiisel
Manager Social Outreach| AtTask
Lehi, Ut, United States
Can you explain more about practice mentorship?
Wai Mun Koo
PMO Director| Intergraph PP&M
Singapore, Singapore
We practice assigning a senior project manager with 8 years or more experience to a junior project lead/manager with less than 5 years of experience. This is a one-to-one close-knit mentor/mentee relationship similar to those of doctors and lawyers. In the earlier stage when the junior just joined, he will not be managing any project but instead following his mentor and helping him in his projects. This give the junior a chance to pick up and learn the tools and skills for the trade and also allow them to have time to familiarize with the environment, business processes and methodologies. We called this ''''Observe'''' stage and this period of understudy usually last for 6 months to a year depending on individual''''s performance and will be decided by the mentor if the mentee is ready to take up his own project. When the mentor feels that the mentee is ready, the mentee will start to manage his own project but under close supervision by his mentor. The responsibilities of the mentor at this stage are to watch over the project and ensure everything is going on smoothly as well as continue to provide advices and guidance to the mentee. The mentor may have to step in if he sees any risk or the mentee requested for help. We referred to this stage as ''''Practice'''' stage and it usually lasts for a year. When the time comes where the mentor feels that the mentee is ready to go solo, the mentee will need to manage all projects by himself and this is what we called the ''''Solo'''' stage where the mentee has to manage all projects independently from that point onwards. All mentors will meet regularly to discuss and share the progress of the mentees among themselves and report up to the PMO manager. We will then plan for trainings or counselling sessions if needed for the mentees who have underperformed.
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