Do you believe that it is our job as PMs to engage teams?

Thank you Ganesan,

PM as facilitator is a good image for me.

Hi Simon
I too am passionate about leadership and team building.

I did some research at the end of last year about expectations of project managers, and I am just about to launch a second survey just for project managers to find out about their sense of readiness to engage team members.

I have been a PM for many years, and have always invested time and energy in creating as much of a sense of engagement in the team as I could given any organizational constraints. In my last two roles have been specifically tasked with building engagement (although that is not the language that was used). Based on all the research and studying I have done and the experience I have, I am writing a book about the engaging PM.

I love to get input and feedback from others to help me be as helpful to others as I can be!
Best wishes
Ruth

Hi Philippe
Thank you for the feedback, What do you look for when you are considering the "right mindset" ? What skills are you looking for - the technical skills to create the deliverables, or some interpersonal skills to help create a team?

Best wishes
Ruth

Thank you Sachin

Do you have particular things that you like to say to motivate the team? Do you have some examples of how to develop a sense of responsibility in team members?

Hi Satish
Thank you so much for your feedback. I have had similar experiences with teams. Differences can be put aside or even valued if there is a sense of mutual respect and appreciation. I believe a PM can go a long way in creating the sense of community and commitment whatever the ethos of the organization as a whole if he/she can use the skills you describe.

I like that line "if you can engage, you can deliver"

Hi Ruth,
In my case (PMO/Portfolio Manager) I first consider interpersonal skills are mandatory to build an efficient PMO team. Then the PMO experts must behave as consultants for difficults target project members like Project Managers or Business Managers).
For me I give a priority to the both criteria above to ensure we can deliver the expected services.
Without underestimating the necessary technical skills I do prefer to to consider people that are "open minded" and eager to learn new topics because whatever the team is, the members are trained to the PMO services delivery.

Best regards,
Philippe

Hi Ruth,
Experience is mandatory to assess these skills thru interviews.
First of all, the CV gives information about the candidate's mindset by analysing how he/she defines the previous roles. Then during the interviews I ask the candidate how he/she would manage some concrete cases that requires these interspersonal skills and open mindset. These cases come from my own experience with different types of customers (cooperative, difficult, ...) in small, medium or large organizations.
I also ask the candidate how he/she perceives the job. Here you can identify those who look to progress in a new job as part of a team and those who just want to be the boss in place of the boss!
Finally when the candidate indicates hobbies or private activities in the CV, it is relevant to ask questions about how he/she behaves when practicing these activities.

As a conclusion I would say I do prefer interview people on situations that demonstrates a behaviour when facing some specific situations rather than asking questions on pure experinece. With some experience you can detect a lot of information on people mindset when you meet them for hiring.

Regards,
Philippe