Seif AbdelghanyGlobal Category & Portfolio Manager| Electrolux ABCairo, Outside Us Or Canada, Egypt
How can you deal with Project Politics when your sponsor is playing high level politics and creating power situations with other departments ? Saving Changes...
Seif:
First of all, what is your role? Are you part of the Executive Team, is this your peer or are you technical staff like a Director, Functional Manager or Project Manager? Are you a third party vendor assigned to the contract?
Second of all, what is the impact to you and I assume your program or project or initiative?
Third, what exactly do you mean by "deal with Project politics"?
Knowing more about your situation will help; if this is a random question; my best answer would be "it depends". One thing for sure if that you want to think carefully about any action you may take that many be career limiting. Tell us more and perhaps we'll have more insights to share. Saving Changes...
Seif AbdelghanyGlobal Category & Portfolio Manager| Electrolux ABCairo, Outside Us Or Canada, Egypt
I am the project manager and this is the project sponsor , a director. impact is micromanaging the project manager decisions and always requesting regular feedback and questioning the project manager way and wanting to have it his way.
Project politics , interfering how to deal with stakeholders and how to take decisions even if those are not related to charter.
...
1 reply by Naomi Caietti
Apr 04, 2017 4:50 PM
Naomi Caietti
...
Seif: Great, this is helpful.
You are the project manager so although I understand how this may seem overbearing and micromanaging let me share a few key points:
1. Your sponsor is accountable for this project and your are responsible. This may sound strange but they hold the purse strings for the project budget/resources etc and need to provide engagement, support and perhaps even oversight to their projects. 2. Your role as PM is to support, engage, and use a leadership style complimentary to your sponsor. Why? You need to develop a relationship with this sponsor, understand their leadership style and work to provide them what they want when they want it. 3. The sponsor and PM roles is a partnership that will either make or break many careers. You must develop your leadership styles, competencies and behaviors so you can manage up, down and across your organization. Your team is counting on your leadership. 4. Listen and ask questions of your sponsor. Get to know their styles, communication style and most of all ask for feedback. You have the greatest opportunity for this sponsor to mentor you so you grow into your role. 5. Pick your battles; many times this may be occurring because your sponsor also has a boss that wants all the details. So your micromanaging sponsor may continue until their boss is comfortable; stay calm in tough situations and you'll come out on top.
Now, I never recommend for anyone to stay in a role that is not "their cup of tea" or is so stressful that your performance is impacted. Reach out to your close network, weigh your options and if you can work through this your career may be brighter than it appears today.
I am the project manager and this is the project sponsor , a director. impact is micromanaging the project manager decisions and always requesting regular feedback and questioning the project manager way and wanting to have it his way.
Project politics , interfering how to deal with stakeholders and how to take decisions even if those are not related to charter.
Seif: Great, this is helpful.
You are the project manager so although I understand how this may seem overbearing and micromanaging let me share a few key points:
1. Your sponsor is accountable for this project and your are responsible. This may sound strange but they hold the purse strings for the project budget/resources etc and need to provide engagement, support and perhaps even oversight to their projects. 2. Your role as PM is to support, engage, and use a leadership style complimentary to your sponsor. Why? You need to develop a relationship with this sponsor, understand their leadership style and work to provide them what they want when they want it. 3. The sponsor and PM roles is a partnership that will either make or break many careers. You must develop your leadership styles, competencies and behaviors so you can manage up, down and across your organization. Your team is counting on your leadership. 4. Listen and ask questions of your sponsor. Get to know their styles, communication style and most of all ask for feedback. You have the greatest opportunity for this sponsor to mentor you so you grow into your role. 5. Pick your battles; many times this may be occurring because your sponsor also has a boss that wants all the details. So your micromanaging sponsor may continue until their boss is comfortable; stay calm in tough situations and you'll come out on top.
Now, I never recommend for anyone to stay in a role that is not "their cup of tea" or is so stressful that your performance is impacted. Reach out to your close network, weigh your options and if you can work through this your career may be brighter than it appears today.
...
1 reply by Deepesh Rammoorthy
Apr 04, 2017 8:00 PM
Deepesh Rammoorthy
...
Naomi deserves every Project consulting dollar that she makes ! great pointers !
Saving Changes...
Seif AbdelghanyGlobal Category & Portfolio Manager| Electrolux ABCairo, Outside Us Or Canada, Egypt
Thank you Noami Very much for this insightful and detailed advice I truly appreciate it
Soliman ,growing up in this field, we gather experiences.I remembered a particular project , I thought I was right having lots of arguments with the sponsor,he was young without any project management knowledge , but his position was strategic in a weak-matrix multi-national firm. With experience, afterwards I discovered that politics is inevitable
But remember he's got a KRA/KPI to met ,he is also accountable to the executive, you aren't. Some departmental stakeholders may not want the project. But he has the support from the executive. Don't mind his politics , work with him to manage all stakeholders effectively.
You need to see his mails from the executive, I will not forget this, at a very critical phase of that project ,the project sponsor I am talking about showed me mails from the then DCEO who is now the CEO of that company , one of the mails says ''....even if we have to change the consultant, you must golive by ......'' among other threating mails.
Soliman, this sponsor you are referring to, is seating on a hot seat. concentrate on your job, communicate a lot with the sponsor ,if possible more of deliverables reports as ( Daily status Report), Milestone report (Weekly). Of course , get to know his success criteria , strategic goals,(Engage!, Engage!! , Engage!!! )
Risk Management: know his risk tolerance, then communicate risk , he will appreciate your proactiveness , I was like a prophet when all my identified risks occurred, and were appropriately managed , as at that time, the said MICROMANAGER knew that I was on top of my game. I got other projects due to the success of this project.
I don't blame the sponsor, now he has been promoted because of the successful completion of the project ,when the DCEO who told him to fire the consultant is now the CEO. I also respect Naomi's perspective about this.
...
1 reply by Naomi Caietti
Apr 04, 2017 8:15 PM
Naomi Caietti
...
Thanks Gbadeyan. Sounds like experience has been your greatest teacher; how lucky we are to hear how your story. The biggest lesson to learn is to focus on your role and to support those around your counting on your leadership.
Saving Changes...
Deepesh RammoorthyICT Project Manager ( PMP®AgilePM®Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®))| Australian Red Cross Blood ServiceTarneit, Vic, Australia
Apr 04, 2017 4:50 PM
Replying to Naomi Caietti
...
Seif: Great, this is helpful.
You are the project manager so although I understand how this may seem overbearing and micromanaging let me share a few key points:
1. Your sponsor is accountable for this project and your are responsible. This may sound strange but they hold the purse strings for the project budget/resources etc and need to provide engagement, support and perhaps even oversight to their projects. 2. Your role as PM is to support, engage, and use a leadership style complimentary to your sponsor. Why? You need to develop a relationship with this sponsor, understand their leadership style and work to provide them what they want when they want it. 3. The sponsor and PM roles is a partnership that will either make or break many careers. You must develop your leadership styles, competencies and behaviors so you can manage up, down and across your organization. Your team is counting on your leadership. 4. Listen and ask questions of your sponsor. Get to know their styles, communication style and most of all ask for feedback. You have the greatest opportunity for this sponsor to mentor you so you grow into your role. 5. Pick your battles; many times this may be occurring because your sponsor also has a boss that wants all the details. So your micromanaging sponsor may continue until their boss is comfortable; stay calm in tough situations and you'll come out on top.
Now, I never recommend for anyone to stay in a role that is not "their cup of tea" or is so stressful that your performance is impacted. Reach out to your close network, weigh your options and if you can work through this your career may be brighter than it appears today.
Naomi deserves every Project consulting dollar that she makes ! great pointers !
...
1 reply by Naomi Caietti
Apr 04, 2017 8:08 PM
Naomi Caietti
...
Thanks Deepesh!
Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
I learned a lot from the advice given above. Really great responses. Thank you both. Saving Changes...
Soliman ,growing up in this field, we gather experiences.I remembered a particular project , I thought I was right having lots of arguments with the sponsor,he was young without any project management knowledge , but his position was strategic in a weak-matrix multi-national firm. With experience, afterwards I discovered that politics is inevitable
But remember he's got a KRA/KPI to met ,he is also accountable to the executive, you aren't. Some departmental stakeholders may not want the project. But he has the support from the executive. Don't mind his politics , work with him to manage all stakeholders effectively.
You need to see his mails from the executive, I will not forget this, at a very critical phase of that project ,the project sponsor I am talking about showed me mails from the then DCEO who is now the CEO of that company , one of the mails says ''....even if we have to change the consultant, you must golive by ......'' among other threating mails.
Soliman, this sponsor you are referring to, is seating on a hot seat. concentrate on your job, communicate a lot with the sponsor ,if possible more of deliverables reports as ( Daily status Report), Milestone report (Weekly). Of course , get to know his success criteria , strategic goals,(Engage!, Engage!! , Engage!!! )
Risk Management: know his risk tolerance, then communicate risk , he will appreciate your proactiveness , I was like a prophet when all my identified risks occurred, and were appropriately managed , as at that time, the said MICROMANAGER knew that I was on top of my game. I got other projects due to the success of this project.
I don't blame the sponsor, now he has been promoted because of the successful completion of the project ,when the DCEO who told him to fire the consultant is now the CEO. I also respect Naomi's perspective about this.
Thanks Gbadeyan. Sounds like experience has been your greatest teacher; how lucky we are to hear how your story. The biggest lesson to learn is to focus on your role and to support those around your counting on your leadership. Saving Changes...
