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8/3/2019 Pmnetwork201010 Full Bloom
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/pmnetwork201010-full-bloom 1/4
by Denene Brox
8/3/2019 Pmnetwork201010 Full Bloom
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1
76 PM NETWORK OCTOBER 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
hen you look at influential
business figures like Bill Gates
and Warren Buffett, it seems
like they were born leaders. Not
only are they able to articulate
a clear vision, they also have anuncanny ability to inspire people
and help them turn those visions
into reality.
Yet the ugly truth is that project
managers—caught up in a whirlwind
of budgets and schedules—often lack
those finely honed leadership instincts.
That doesn’t mean such instincts can’t
be cultivated, though. “Leadership skills
can be learned,” says David Davis, PMP,
PgMP, a program manager at telecom
giant AT&T, Sylvania, Ohio, USA.However, this is only possible if the
project manager wants to learn them.
“This self-motivation is half the bat-
tle, and the rest becomes a combination
of style, day-to-day behavior and situ-
ational experience,” he says.
Sure, it helps to attend leader-
ship development seminars and read
the appropriate books. But the best
classroom is often the front lines of
a project—developing plans, commu-
nicating with clients, inspiring your
team and solving the problems that
pop up along the way.“Project managers have the
opportunity to share their vision
about the scope of a project with
the team, to build trust through a
participative process when planning
the project, to listen to the team and
promote a work environment that
stimulates adaptation when changes
are necessary,” says Alcides Santopi-
etro Jr., PMP, project planner and
controller at SNC-Lavalin, an engi-
neering and construction group inMontréal, Québec, Canada.
All of those responsibilities help
build a better leader, but you’re still
going to have to work at it. Here are
some other tips:
Avoid the power trip.Humility might not be the first leader-
ship skill that jumps to mind, but even
team leaders must understand their
complementary role as a team player.
“I have seen many project managersbe condescending to their team and feel
that the title of project manager pro-
vides them with a certain power,” Mr.
Davis says. “You are still part of a team,
and your role is to make sure the team
understands what is trying to be accom-
plished, the timeframe to accomplish it,
their individual tasks and how the tasks
are related.”
Sometimes project managers have to
admit that someone else on the team is
more capable of carrying out a certain
task.
“Project management leaders insp-
pire confidence and trust when they
have the confidence to defer tasks
to those better-skilled, the ability to
admit they do not know an answer
and the wisdom to coach rather than
command,” says Joseph R. Czarnecki,
PMP. He is senior consultant of global
learning solutions for Europe, the
W>>To be seen as a leader,
project mangers should play
up their natural mediator
skills when dealing with
sponsors and stakeholders.
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OCTOBER 2010 PM NETWORK77
Middle East and Africa at project
management training firm ESI Inter-
national, London, England. “Those
who have a high regard for others,
regardless of their experience and role,
are always inspirational leaders.”
Maintain balance.Project managers must contend with
demands coming from several direc-
tions: the organization, team members
and clients. And they need to juggleall those requests while staying on
schedule, within budget and without
scope creep.
To be seen as a leader, project man-
gers should play up their natural media-
tor skills when dealing with sponsors
and stakeholders.
“Subtly call out the elephant in
the room,” Mr. Davis says. “A project
manager leader has a knack for getting
people with opposing opinions into a
situation where he or she can address
the matter and look for a result. A proj-
ect manager must be good at presenting
the pros and cons of each position,
hopefully leading to a less-emotional
resolution.”
When it comes to team members,
avoid focusing too heavily on tasks
versus the individuals involved, says
Michel Operto, PMP, IT transforma-
tion lead at Orange Business Services,
a global telecom services provider in
Valbonne, France.
“People make or break projects,”
he says. “We ought to balance our
investment between the ‘project’ and
the ‘management’ aspects of project
management.”
Play to a team’s strengths.Great leaders realize each team member
has his or her own work style and per-
sonality, and they take the time to getto know players on an individual level.
Expecting everyone to work in the same
way is naïve at best and can jeopardize a
project at worst.
“The ability to get the most out of
all team members can make the dif-
ference between a good project and a
great project,” says Gareth Byatt, PMP,
PgMP, head of the global informa-
tion and communication technology
program management office at Lend
Lease, a global project and construc-
tion management firm headquartered
in Sydney, Australia. “When people
feel empowered to perform to their
best ability, they display a sense of
enthusiasm and drive that benefits the
overall project.”
Project managers should be able to
detect each team member’s motiva-
tional factors and adjust accordingly,
Mr. Santopietro notes.
The ability to get the most out
of all team members can makethe difference between a good
project and a great project.—Gareth Byatt, PMP, PgMP, Lend Lease, Sydney, Australia
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4 578 PM NETWORK OCTOBER 2010 WWW.PMI.ORG
People make or break projects. We
ought to balance our investment
between the ‘project’ and the ‘manage-
ment’ aspects of project management.—Michel Operto, PMP, Orange Business Services, Valbonne, France
“Some individuals are naturally
more competitive than others. For oth-
ers, recognition of their work is very important. And there are people who
value the process as much as the results
that come at the end,” he says. “The
true project manager leader will identify
these specific aspects and create a work
environment that satisfies as many of
them as possible.”
A project manager who doesn’t
respect team members as individuals
isn’t truly a leader. Mr. Czarnecki recalls
such a person: “He never valued the
judgment of his team member ‘experts.’He always asked for our advice and
input, but never once used it,” he says.
“It ended up making the project hugely
over budget and resulted in a very
unhappy client. He was completely
unaware of how unhappy the entire
team was under his leadership.”
Be willing to cut your losses.Imagine working for months on a proj-
ect, investing countless hours, only to
discover it’s a sinking ship. It’s unfor-
tunate, but a great project manager is
willing to do what’s hardest, Mr. San-
topietro says.
“A true project leader has the cour-
age to start over,” he says. “That means
scrapping a project plan and the work
that’s been done up to that point, rede-
fining the project objectives and scope
statements, and calling the client to
explain all of that.”
As tempting as it might be to just
wait it out and hope things will get bet-
ter, project managers must be willing todeliver the unpleasant news.
“It’s a leadership skill that probably
isn’t practiced as much as it should be,”
Mr. Czarnecki says. “It is usually the proj-
ect sponsor that makes the final decision
to keep or kill a project. But a good proj-
ect manager leader ensures that the right
information gets to the sponsor with the
right recommendations at the right time.”
That message must be conveyed
with the conviction and confidence that
comes with knowing—and believingin—the right decision, he adds.
Look for hidden opportunities.If there’s one thing that became read-
ily apparent during the recession, it’s
that change can occur overnight. Those
project managers who adapted to the
shifts—and indeed even discovered
some hidden gems in the rubble of the
downturn—came out all the stronger.
“From a leadership perspective, the
recession has been both a good and a
bad thing,” Mr. Czarnecki says. “For
many project managers, especially dur-
ing the first six to eight months of the
recession, it was an excellent opportu-
nity to practice and grow leadership
skills. Natural leaders had an oppor-
tunity to rise. While it wasn’t pleasant,
the leadership lessons learned will guide
many professionals for years, if not
decades, to come.” PM
>>READ MORE ABOUT
LEADERSHIP SKILLS IN
VOICES ON PROJECT
MANAGEMENT ON PAGE 80.