The Executive's Role in Project Management
| The executive’s role in project management is as the project sponsor. The project sponsor is a leader, or a group of leaders, who provide the resources and support for a project they launch. The sponsor should ensure a vision for the project and share that vision with the project team. The sponsor should ensure that the project has the budget necessary to be successful. And, the sponsor helps by clearing any barriers that may arise so that the project team can be successful. As should be apparent, the project sponsor role is an active one and should be held by a senior leader in the association. This is the individual responsible for identifying the business need, problem or opportunity that the project will address. Once this has been proven (the business case accepted,) this individual remains responsible for ensuring the continued viability of the initiative through use of go/no criteria. In a nutshell, go/no criteria enables for reviewing key areas of the project as it progresses and thereby stopping the project at some point before significant money is invested. Areas to be examined may include, but are not limited to:
A strong project sponsor plays the role of mentor, catalyst, motivator, barrier remover and boundary manager. Being a project sponsor requires understanding and supporting the project, the ability to influence within the association, and being able to make decisions for the good of the project. |
Conversations around Change: Change the mindset in the organization to a learning-focused mindset
| Having regular conversations around change enables for creating a learning mindset – a mindset where employees appreciate, desire and engage in change. When we change, we are learning – we are growing, adapting, getting better. We want to create this mindset so that employees are more comfortable with change, within continuously improving and moving forward. Regular conversations around change enable for increasing adaptability to change and an increased acceptance of change when it does occur. When working with clients to discuss how to launch conversations around change our goal is to enable employees to look at change from a positive perspective, an opportunity to do something new, different and exciting. It is, obviously, much more difficult to embrace change when the organization is in panic mode; rather – if we think of change as continuous evolving and improving – it becomes easier to accomplish. Telling stories around change appeals to the emotional side of change – which is what helps employees to connect with and embrace change. The rational side – charts, statistics, graphs, financials, etc. – is important; we need that to stay competitive and ensure profitability – but that is not what helps employees to embrace change. As humans, we connect with the emotional side of change. When we begin the conversations around change early on, we…
As part of regular monthly meetings with his entire team, one of Abudi Consulting Group’s client’s manager, Alexander, always poses a question that will explore the need to change. Just prior to his last meeting, Alexander asked the team how the department might better collaborate with another group that had just expanded their head count by 50 new hires. Alexander reminded his team that as the other group grew in headcount, it would impact the informal way his team had worked with them in the past. By asking this question, Alexander was pushing his team to look at their current in-place formal and informal processes and to refine them to continue to work effectively with their peers. Consider how you might engage your employees in conversations around change. What questions might you pose? Here are a few to get you started…
These are just a few ideas to improve your next organizational change initiative. Want to learn more? Check out my book, Implementing Positive Organizational Change: A Strategic Project Management Approach, J Ross Publishing, 2017. |
What’s Impacting Your Ability to Manage Your Time?
| All project managers have a number of tasks to accomplish in any given day! There is just too much to do to accomplish the goals and objectives we need to get done to ensure our projects are a success. It seems easy to say to just limit what you have to do; but that is rarely possible to do – after all, projects must be completed! Here are a number of common mistakes we all make that distract us from focusing and accomplishing our goals:
I have found that when we know we are making these mistakes, and stay aware of them, we can more easily move past them! Here is one best practice to try that has worked effectively for me – I keep a prioritized “to do” list of what needs to be accomplished. I prioritize in the following two ways:
Prioritize in any way that works for you. Each day I create a “to do” list to be completed that day. I set aside time to work through that list; blocking time on my calendar to do so. During this time I send my phone to voice mail and keep my email off so I am not distracted. Since I am a “morning person,” I complete my more complex “to do” items during the early morning hours. How do you effectively manage your time? |
Getting the Group to Work as a Team: A Mini Case Study
| Martha has been assigned a team of 10 people to help her plan a major customer appreciation event. They have been working together for over a month now and they just haven’t really come together as a team. She was sure she started off well. She contacted each individual on the team and let them know their responsibilities on the project. Each of the members gets the tasks completed, but don’t seem concerned with the others on the team. If someone needs help, no one pitches in to assist. If a team member has a problem, no one helps him to solve that problem. Just yesterday one of the team members had an emergency and asked if someone on the team could have a call with the sales team so she could leave early. No one offered to help so Martha jumped in to assist. Martha had to do something. This was a bad experience for everyone frankly and some folks already were talking about getting off the project. Plus she felt the event won’t be as good as it could if they just came together as a team.
Here is what Martha should have done: Martha never got the team together prior to starting the project to get to know each other and discuss how they will work together to accomplish the goals of the project. She could have done this by getting the time in one location or even using a virtual tool. In order to get the group to come together as a team now, Martha might step back and hold a team building session. During this time she should plan to accomplish the following:
When the team members get to know each other, they will begin to support each other and will be more concerned about their team mates. Bottom line, they will function as a team. |
The Five Stages of Team Development and the Role of the Project Manager
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Every team goes through the five stages of team development; there are no exceptions. Regardless of whether a team is working on a small, simple initiative or a large, complex global initiative, the team will progress through the five stages. What’s important for the project manager is to understand the five stages and how to manage the team through the stages so that they can work more effectively as a team sooner rather than later, thereby making progress on the project tasks earlier on in the project launch.
Let’s look at the role of the project manager in each stage, as well as explore each stage in more detail: Forming: In this stage the team members are testing each other and the project manager and exploring where they fit in to the project. Team members are worried about how they fit in with the others and how their capabilities and skills compare. They are looking to the project manager for clarity and direction. Your role as the project manager: Be very clear about the team goals and project goals and provide clear direction on the project. The project manager must work with the team to establish team norms for working together. Storming: In the Storming stage, there are struggles for power and to determine how the team will work together. In this stage, differences of opinion are common and the team is trying to determine how to work together effectively, what the rules are and how to resolve differences. The team competes for their ideas to be heard and implemented.
Norming: The individuals are beginning to see how they form a team, how to work together effectively and have set rules and group norms to work by. They have learned how to resolve their differences of opinion and are becoming much more comfortable with each other, trusting each other to get the job done. Performing: The team is performing consistently at a high level. They are focused on reaching the project goals as a team. The individual does not exist, the team members are interdependent. They can solve problems on their own and do not rely on the project manager for day-to-day oversight of the group. Adjourning: When the team is done with the project, there is a feeling of loss about having to move on to other projects. This is particularly common with very high performing teams. They have learned how to work together effectively and will miss the interactions. Your ability as a project manager to facilitate the team through the stages ensures that you have a high performing team as quickly as possible to meet the project’s objectives. As a project manager, you must learn to guide your team effectively - providing strong guidance and direction early on and letting the team solve their own problems and resolve differences as they move through the stages. |
The first four stages of the team development model was proposed and developed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965. In 1977, Tuckman teamed up with Mary Ann Jensen and added the 5th stage – adjourning.
