Strategic Project Management

"Because I said so!" has never worked.

I know...30 years ago when your boss told you to do something, you did it. At least those of us in the workforce 30 years ago did. And no, we didn't like it then either. Let's face it, times have changed. Generation X and Y are used to having more control over what they do and when they do it than any other generation of workers before them. They've also been trained to work in a more collaborative environment and are used to receiving immediate feedback and recognition for what they do.

Like many of you, I've had the unpleasant experience of working in organizations where people are treated like pawns to be pushed around a resource grid. It's not very fun or very fulfilling. The days of top-down or command-and-control management style are quickly coming to an end. Assigning work has evolved into a collaborative process between the organizational layers and among peers.

As project leaders, it's critical for us to embrace the reality that those doing the work should have control over it . The experts are really those at the grass roots and their manager is their leader—not their drill sergeant. Today's project leader is expected to look into the future and plan how to overcome obstacles, facilitate better communication—not micromanage process.

One of the challenges faced by savvy and intuitive leaders who recognize this is the limitation of the tools they use. Traditional project management methodologies rely on the "old school" concepts of command-and-control management techniques that were developed in the beginning of the industrial age to manage the assembly line. Organizations that are content with a workforce that is simply putting in time to get their paycheck may be content with these archaic approaches to "managing" their people, however, if organizations want to achieve maximum productivity and empower their employees to maximize their potential, they must embrace this paradigm shift in management philosophy.

I have had many opportunities over the years to participate as a project leader and as a project team member. Random assignments that are arbitrarily pushed down the pipeline at me or my team were annoying and aggravating. As a team member, those times when I was given the opportunity to participate in the project plan and contribute to the setting of goals and milestones were satisfying and rewarding. As a project leader, as I have shared that philosophy with my project teams, I have found that they take ownership, are engaged, and regularly outperform my expectations.

It really isn't rocket science. My grandma used to say, "Treat others as you would want to be treated yourself." That's always been good advice.
 

While reading this weeks newsletter from OpenView Venture Partners, Diana Winings Martz cites an article from Entrepreneur.com titled, Seven Ways to Retain Top Employees, which discusses what I feel is a pretty common sense strategy for keeping good employees (team members), now that the economy is showing signs of improving.

I firmly believe that project success is dependent upon the individuals that make up the project team and how successfully we lead them. With that in mind, here are seven suggestions for keeping your best team members:

1. Revisit old promises: It's important to address any benefit cuts or salary freezes which were agreed upon by team members due to economic conditions, but it's also important to review any other promises made to the team that may have been forgotten. For example: the extra day off for working the weekend, the bonus that was promised but wasn't realized, etc. The team will remember, so you had better remember too.
2. Take action: If employees have concerns or complaints, don't ignore them. If team members are asking for additional responsibilities, give them an opportunity to participate in an expanded role on the team. When team members feel that their voice matters, they are more inclined to feel satisfied at their work.
3. Have fun: A lot of teams plan activities outside of the office, if that works for your team, that's great. However, it is possible to make the work environment a fun and enjoyable place to be. Focusing on all work all the time can make the job a drag. Sometimes all it takes is a 5-10 minute break during the day or bringing in a pizza once in a while to ease the tension and make the workplace fun. Be creative. One of the teams here spends time once in a while shooting hoops for a few minutes during the afternoon to keep everyone's mind fresh.
4. Keep talking: Keep the team up to date regarding the status of the company and its prospects. This can go a long way to ease fears about the future. Our company meets together for lunch each month to talk about our successes (and failures) from the previous month. We also get an update on our company's health. I find this hour very valuable and appreciate that our CEO makes it happen each month. It may not be a company-wide meeting in your organization, but you can certainly keep your team up to date.
5. Be transparent: Make sure to communicate both the company's good and bad news without "sugarcoating" the bad news. It's important to speak to every member of the team individually from time to time to let them know how they are doing and how they fit into the company's (and the team's) plans for growth.
6. Address inequities: Rewarding employees based upon performance is a good idea, but if there are significant pay inequities on the team, they aren't a secret. Now is a good time to address pay inequities with raises where appropriate. As a project leader, you might not have the authority to implement a pay raise for a key employee, but you sure have some influence with who does.
7. Be realistic: As the economy improves, you may very well loose some team members to the "bigger or better" opportunity. However, if you can show the team that they are important to the organization's success, and are open and honest with them regarding what's happening at your company and their future, they will more than likely stick with the team.

What are you doing to keep your project teams together?

On the way home from work, do you ever feel like you've been riding a unicycle, trying to keep your balance while juggle everything you do throughout the day? If you do, you're not alone.

A big part of the average workday typically includes a lot more than working on structured activities and formal projects. If you're day is like mine, there are requests from colleagues, personal tasks, and the stuff I do every day that isn't related to any specific project (like writing this blog), that I try to do.

Because contributing to projects is only a part of what the average person does each day, managing all of their work life and enabling them to collaborate with co-workers regarding the work that matters most is critical. Simply because it's not all project-related doesn't mean that people don't need to collaborate and share insights regarding all the work they do. What's more, does your boss have visibility into all the "drive-by" initiatives you work on every day?

I was speaking to a friend of mine over the weekend who complained that she struggles to get her project work done because of all the other incidental tasks that get dropped on her desk (which are important, but don't seem to be acknowledged at the end of the quarter when she faces her performance review). Sound familiar? If your boss could actually see everything you were successfully accomplishing in addition to your "defined" project-related work, would he or she be surprised?

Before we can effectively increase project productivity and improve our ability to successfully manage projects, we need to better understand all the work done by project teams. In my mind, project management is a critical part of work management, but it's only a part of managing work. When we have a better handle on all the work that is accomplished each day by the workforce, then we'll really be able to accurately plan and schedule, realistically manage capacity and resources, and actually get the right work done.

What do you do to manage all of your work?
 

President Harry S. Truman said, "Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better."

I don't think it matters whether you are talking about political leaders, military leaders, or project leaders, there are a number of traits that successful leaders share:

1. A collaborative management style: Engaging the team and stakeholders in problem-solving and decision-making is critical for work management success.
2. Adaptability: Project teams and individual projects are always different. Successful project managers are able to adapt and overcome the challenges new projects present. A fluid project management approach is a very effective method for managing project-based work.
3. "Figure-it-out" resourcefulness: This implies creativity and occasional out-of-the box thinking to solve problems along with a tenacious, never-give-up approach to overcoming obstacles and resource allocation issues.
4. Highly-developed communication skills: It's paramount that project leaders are able to effectively communicate with stakeholders, project teams, and their peers. If project leaders are unable to customize their communication style to the appropriate audience, success will be elusive.
5. Flexibility: Adapted from a line in "To a Mouse," by Robert Burns, "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." No matter how well a project is planned, there will always be something or someone that throws a monkey-wrench into the works. Flexibility is the genesis of creative thinking—which is critical for project success.

Are there any skills you would like to add to the list?

 

During the first 85 years of the Tour de France, no American had ever won.

In 1986, Greg LeMond was the first American cyclist to win the Tour de France. He won again in 1989, and again in 1990. This makes LeMond one of only nine cyclists to have won the Tour three or more times. A powerful competitor and fantastic racer, LeMond has said, "Perhaps the single most important element in mastering the techniques and tactics of racing is experience. But once you have the fundamentals, acquiring the experience is a matter of time."

I think the same can be said of successful work management. Experience comes after fundamentals. Let me suggest a few of the fundamentals I think apply to successfully managing projects and project teams:

1. Make sure the project has a clearly defined business objective—and that everyone involved in the project understands what it is: It's important for stakeholders and project teams to understand the business value of what they're doing. Keeping the project vision visible and accessible enables everyone involved in the project to stay focused on what's important.
2. Make sure the project has executive commitment to see it through: One of the quickest ways to kill a project is to pull the funding out from under it. A committed executive can also help promote the merits of the project to others within the organization to build a broader base of stakeholder support.
3. Make sure there is a shared sense of determination to finish the project: If the only member of the team committed to finish is the project manager, it's not likely the project will ever be completed. Individual team members and executive stakeholders need to have the same determination. Without a shared sense of determination to finish, projects languish and eventually fail.

Mastering (and practicing) the fundamentals isn't very exciting, but it's often the difference between someone who is successful and someone who isn't.

Project and portfolio management software, along with other project management tools, offer both experienced and new project leaders a number of valuable tools to help them establish work management best practices and methodologies. That being said, nothing can substitute for establishing a good work management foundation.

Do you have any fundamental skills you would add to the list?