Ruth PearceAttorney, Author, and Coach | Guardian Ad Litem in North Carolina| A Lever Long Enough (ALLE LLC)Durham, Nc, United States
Employee engagement (measured by Gallup) continues to be very low. It continues to hover at around 30%
Do you believe that it is our job as PMs to engage teams? Or does that sit somewhere else in the organization?
Gallup also estimates that 70% of people who leave a job do so because of their "manager".
Does that include us? Do we need to do more to help people stay? Saving Changes...
Ruth:
This is a great question; actually I think it's more complex that what others have alluded to or discussed.
There are actually three types of projects: Developmental, transitional and transformational.
Engagement need to occur with leadership of the sponsor, PM and change leadership roles. PMs should focus on team and stakeholder engagement but in order to add the real value for a transformational project will require heavy lifting starting at the top of the organization who must first buy in, engage and embrace the change. You can hear more about this on my webinar here on this site; Projects are Easy, Change is Hard.https://www.projectmanagement.com/videos/2...Change-is-Hard-
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1 reply by Ruth Pearce
Feb 10, 2017 6:49 PM
Ruth Pearce
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Thank you Naomi, I look forward to watching the webinar.
Saving Changes...
Ruth PearceAttorney, Author, and Coach | Guardian Ad Litem in North Carolina| A Lever Long Enough (ALLE LLC)Durham, Nc, United States
Feb 10, 2017 5:44 PM
Replying to Naomi Caietti
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Ruth:
This is a great question; actually I think it's more complex that what others have alluded to or discussed.
There are actually three types of projects: Developmental, transitional and transformational.
Engagement need to occur with leadership of the sponsor, PM and change leadership roles. PMs should focus on team and stakeholder engagement but in order to add the real value for a transformational project will require heavy lifting starting at the top of the organization who must first buy in, engage and embrace the change. You can hear more about this on my webinar here on this site; Projects are Easy, Change is Hard.https://www.projectmanagement.com/videos/2...Change-is-Hard-
Thank you Naomi, I look forward to watching the webinar. Saving Changes...
Philippe SchulerSenior Instructor/Lecturer in Project/Program/Account PMO Management| Independant ConsultantLes Choux, France
Feb 10, 2017 4:16 PM
Replying to Ruth Pearce
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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
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
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1 reply by Ruth Pearce
Feb 13, 2017 12:25 PM
Ruth Pearce
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Hi Philippe
Thank you for your feedback. How do you assess the interpersonal skills? How do you figure out whether someone is open minded?
Saving Changes...
Ruth PearceAttorney, Author, and Coach | Guardian Ad Litem in North Carolina| A Lever Long Enough (ALLE LLC)Durham, Nc, United States
Feb 12, 2017 2:37 PM
Replying to Philippe Schuler
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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 Philippe
Thank you for your feedback. How do you assess the interpersonal skills? How do you figure out whether someone is open minded? Saving Changes...
Yes, as a PM it is our job to look for employee engagement. In addition, one should also know that nothing can be imposed forcefully. Saving Changes...
Philippe SchulerSenior Instructor/Lecturer in Project/Program/Account PMO Management| Independant ConsultantLes Choux, France
Feb 10, 2017 4:16 PM
Replying to Ruth Pearce
...
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
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.
I believe this is part of the project manager's responsibility. The project manager has to engage the team in order to bring out the best in all members. I think this can be learned through great mentors and modeling behavior. Saving Changes...
It very rarely happens that the designated Project Manager is given a freehand to select his Project team.The Project Manager finds himself in a situation where he is required to perform and produce results with the help of the given/available team under his command .It is logical,therefore,that he has to engage with the team to bring out the best performance output through education,training,skill development,motivation using interpersonal skills . Saving Changes...
