Susanne Madsen - Developing Project Leaders
  • Home
  • Services
    • Workshops
    • Speaking
    • Coaching
    • Stress management
    • Testimonials
  • Bio
  • Books
  • Blog
  • Resources
  • Videos
  • Contact
  • Library

What does it take to up-skill our project managers?

1/12/2015

0 Comments

 
​I was recently asked how a company can up-skill their project managers so that that they can take on more responsibility and deliver better projects. This is what I responded.
Picture
The first step is to consider what your project managers are really good at and what they are not so good at. In other words, what are the symptoms you are experiencing and how do you know that you have a problem? Are your projects delivered late, are they over budget, is quality poor, or do they not add sufficient value to the organisation and end customer? 

​The second step is to identify the root cause of these symptoms. Projects often run into difficulties because of unclear scope and objectives, lack of business focus, poor estimation, inadequate risk management, and lack of engagement from key players, including the project sponsor and senior decision-makers. Tellingly, the report The High Cost of Low Performance shows that despite it being a top driver of project success, fewer than two in three projects have actively engaged sponsors! Research also shows that over 80% of high performing organizations believe that the most important skill for project managers to manage complex projects is leadership. Mastering project management processes is necessary but insufficient when it comes to delivering successful projects.
 
How do these findings stack up against your own experiences? Are the project management issues in your organisation related to lack of tools, techniques and processes or are they concerned with poor leadership (by either the project manager or sponsor) and an insufficient ability to influence and engage the stakeholders and the team?
 
Depending on your assessment of the situation you will need to invest in a programme that addresses several of the above aspects. Traditional classroom training is a good way to train people in conventional project management disciplines such as planning, estimation and risk management, but less efficient when it comes to people skills and leadership. If a project manager is to become better at leading people, overcoming resistance to change, motivating the team and influencing senior stakeholders there is a need to work with deeply rooted behaviours. This is best done with small action-learning groups and one-to-one coaching sessions that allow the underlying attitudes and behaviours to surface.
 
In addition, your organisation may need to train their senior managers, as project sponsors need to understand the importance of their roles and what good sponsorship looks like. If the sponsors aren’t investing sufficient time in the projects they are accountable for it will have a direct and negative effect on the outcomes.
 
I suggest that you develop a programme for your project managers and sponsors that contain the following elements:
 
Classroom training to improve your project managers’ competence around defining, scoping, planning, estimating, tracking and managing risks of projects. Go into as much depth as required, but remember that the techniques must be practical and user friendly if you want people to adopt them.
 
Small group and one-to-one coaching to improve your project managers’ people skills and leadership behaviours. These sessions should be run by a trained coach and typically last for 60-90 minutes to allow for sufficient depth. It would be ideal to offer a monthly session to each project manager over a six to twelve months period.
 
Sponsor workshop to improve senior management’s understanding of what it means to be a sponsor and how they can best contribute to successful project delivery. Keep the workshop short (e.g. 3-4 hours) and focused on the specific behaviours and responsibilities of the executive sponsor’s role.
 
On-going mentoring for continued development and support from inside the organisation. Pair your project managers up with more senior managers from other departments and encourage them to meet on a monthly basis to learn from their mentors.
 
When you implement the pillars of this powerful development programme, you will find that your project manager’s abilities to lead successful projects increase – not least with the support and buy-in from senior decision-makers. 


If you liked this post, you may also like:

Why do projects continue to fail and what can we do about it?
The world needs your genius and it needs your leadership! 
16 Essential Questions to Project Leadership Success
Project Management Coaching
What are the differences between management and leadership?
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Agile
    Authenticity
    Building Relationships
    Coaching
    Delegation
    Estimation
    Feedback
    Handling Conflict
    Innovation
    Iron Triangle
    Limiting Factor
    My Story
    Perception Of Failure
    Podcasts
    Positive Attitude
    Proactive Project Management
    Progress Reporting
    Project Costs
    Project Failure
    Project Initiation
    Project Leadership
    Project Management Mistakes
    Recruitment
    Requirements
    Resistance To Change
    Risk Management
    Self Esteem
    Stakeholder Management
    Stress Management
    Team Motivation
    Time Management
    Trust
    Vision And Mission

    Picture

    Susanne Madsen

    Susanne is a project leadership coach and the author of The Power of Project Leadership (now in 2nd edition). Read more..

    Picture

    Download FREE PM RESOURCES

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    November 2020
    September 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    February 2011

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    RSS Feed

Developing Project Leaders