Susanne Madsen Intl. Developing Project Leaders
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Project Management Coaching

6/5/2013

41 Comments

 

Why every project manager should have a coach!

I still remember the first time I was coached. I was on a 5-day leadership course which helped us assess, expand and refine the leadership styles we were each using. To support this process everyone was assigned a personal coach who would help us resolve any issues which were impeding on our abilities to lead effectively. The topic I chose for the coaching session was the extremely long hours I put in at work. At this point in my career I was running a large project in financial services. I felt that everything depended on me and that I personally had to oversee (meaning micromanage) every aspect of the project. Needless to say that I felt exhausted and that my approach wasn’t the most effective!
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My first coaching session was nothing short of revolutionary! I still remember the AHA moment it created as I realised exactly how much power I had over the choices I make, how I handle situations, and over my own career! I felt enlightened and empowered as I set out to improve my management and leadership style and in turn increase my performance and wellbeing as a project manager.

There are many such stories which illustrate the power of coaching. Through only a few one-on-one coaching sessions you can gain clarity over a topic or an issue which you have been struggling with for months. It’s interesting how it works really. It’s as if someone is holding up a large mirror in front of you where all your habits, fears, excuses, ambitions and talents are being reflected back to you so that you see yourself – and your situation – in a much clearer light. It’s personal and professional development on steroids!
As project managers we often lack guidance in how to develop our
leadership abilities and fast-track our careers.
As project managers we rarely work with other PMs who can give us instant feedback – and most of the training we receive is focused on hard skills and improving our knowledge. Gaining knowledge is good, but it won’t make us better leaders or excellent project managers. We need to work with someone who can pinpoint the exact changes we need to make at a personal level in order to excel and make rapid progress. Some are lucky to have that in their managers, but unfortunately not everyone has the fortune of working for a brilliant boss!

So how can you start to tap into the power of coaching and benefit from it?
1. Work with a professional coach
Working with a professional coach will stretch and challenge you to think deeper and take action towards the things you desire. Your coach will help you address immediate concerns; for instance relating to missed deadlines, a disengaged team, unhappy stakeholders, or a feeling of overwhelm and lack of achievement. A coach will also help identify your medium to long term aspirations, put together a plan of action and assist you in moving closer to your goals. This could relate to becoming a better project manager and leader, getting a promotion, or finding more joy and satisfaction in your work. I once worked with a gentleman who got the largest pay rise of his career after I coached him. What an awesome result for both of us!

2. Find a mentor
A mentoring relationship can be a good alternative to a professional coach, especially if you are looking to gain specific skills or advance within a particular organisation. You can approach a senior colleague within your firm or industry who you trust and admire. Choose someone who has made a few mistakes, so that you can learn from them. Before you start the mentoring relationship, think carefully about what you want to get out of it and prepare for each session. It’s important to recognise that your mentor’s time and resources are precious. 

3. Adopt a coaching mindset
When you have a coaching mindset it means that you get in the habit of setting and achieving goals, and that you build up momentum on a daily basis. It means that you keep an open and inquisitive mind and that you are being proactive with regards to the things you want. This type of self-coaching is useful in combination with a good coaching or leadership book that can help guide you. Read as many inspirational books as you can, attend motivational talks and listen to uplifting podcasts. Find a friend to work with who can serve as an accountability buddy – someone who you trust and who would also like to adopt a can-do attitude and achieve the things they dream of.
 
3. Ask insightful questions
Asking quality questions, and taking the time to act upon the answers, can have a tremendous impact on your career. Set time aside on a regular basis to take a step back from it all. Go to a place you really enjoy, maybe a park or a café, and enquire about the following:
Where do I see myself heading? What steps can I take to move in that direction?

What would make my job as a project manager more fulfilling? What can I do to influence this?

What keeps me awake at night? Which risks and issues could jeopardise the success of my project? What can I do about it?

How can I instantly start to add more value to the project and my client? If any roadblocks are in my way, what can I proactively do to remove them? 

Who can I start to train and delegate to, so that I free up time to focus on the activities that really matter?

What can I do to improve my relationship with my key clients and  stakeholders?

How can I better motivate and utilise the strengths of my team members?
 

For more questions, please read this blog. 


If you enjoyed this article, you may also like:
16 Essential Questions to Project Leadership Success
My Story –Working Smarter; Not Harder!
My Big Cry -Confronting my Limiting Factor
Rise Above the Most Common Project Management Mistakes

41 Comments
David Wedge link
6/5/2013 08:03:28

I think you are absolutely right, nobody progresses to their full potential on their own. For it was mentoring that made all the difference, I have been lucky enough to have had several good mentors at different stages of my career. If you do have some success as a PM it is very rewarding to coach and mentor others yourself.

Reply
Susanne Madsen link
6/5/2013 08:25:45

Thank you for sharing David. It's good to know that people believe in coaching and mentoring, and have experienced the benefits of it.

Susanne

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Alpha Fuel Xt link
7/8/2014 06:03:27

Good Information

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Fatih Cullazoglu
24/12/2019 01:37:38

I should say that this is a great blog articles and I found that this topic is very helpful for me. Thank you very much. I am looking for new articles.

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Alan T. Fanton
14/5/2013 19:17:21

Unfotunately I never had a PM mentor but had a couple of good mentors in regard to improving relationship and listening skills. One of my memorable moments was taking a person who had been demoted from his PM position and within one year promoting him back to a PM and getting positive feedback from his internal clients in a refinery and as you said its a great feeling of achievement. I am all for mentoring and coaching PM's and believe it is essential to improve project management capabilities. I have been in the business since 1976 and continue to learn every day and am passionate about project management and adding value to the clients business and ensuring the project achieves this goal. By the way I have just bought your book.
Regards
Alan

Reply
Susanne Madsen link
15/5/2013 01:12:44

Thank you for your comments Alan and for your support. It's appreciated!

Susanne

Reply
Alvin
19/7/2013 16:22:44

I would be happy to have a project management coach just starting out

Reply
Susanne Madsen link
20/7/2013 02:01:14

Dear Alvin,

You can email me directly on mail@susannemadsen.com and I'd be happy to assist.

Susanne

Reply
seo services jaipur link
20/7/2013 04:11:53

For it was mentoring that made all the difference, I have been lucky enough to have had several good mentors at different stages of my career. If you do have some success as a PM it is very rewarding to coach and mentor others yourself.

Reply
frankfurt coach link
4/9/2013 00:19:02

Hi,
I think, this is a general thing that managers are using coach, motivational books and orientation programs to improve their working skills. This way they not only perform better but also motivates their team to perform in more better way.

Reply
Houlton Institute link
18/12/2013 07:09:50

Thanks for nice sharing

Reply
trubodywellness.com link
2/1/2014 07:12:48

I like your content :)

Reply
grosir obat kolesterol link
14/5/2014 16:04:08

I should tell you that your blog articles and other content is extremely great. It truly is not simple to retain this kind of top quality in the webpage. Keep up the good work.

Reply
Jill Poyton
1/7/2014 07:35:14

I recently attending a talk that you gave to the WiPM in London. It was a great session and I've been spurred into taking action. One of the actions I'm taking is arranging 'helicoptor' chats with a mentor. I'm looking for some topic headings to prompt the conversation, Could you point me to the right section please?

Reply
Susanne Madsen link
1/7/2014 13:25:28

Hi Jill,

Great to hear that you are taking regular helicopter time out. What you should spend this time on with your mentor is to assess all aspects of the project. What is working well, what is not? Are you spending sufficient time with people, how can you better innovate etc. There is an endless array of topics you can address. And remember to ask that magic question "what if..?". It really opens up any conversation.

Good luck!
Susanne

Reply
Jane Parslow link
16/1/2015 02:46:13

Susanne, thank you for starting the debate and leading the way in coaching for PMs. Like you, it was the experience of being coached that led to me becoming a coach for project managers myself. It continues to amaze me that people can get such great results from reflecting on a few key questions. PMs are doing a tough job in tough times and can really benefit from having a coach or mentor. It's really the same case as for Executive Coaching - PMs need someone outside their team with whom they can take time to reflect and be open and honest about the changes they want to make. Keep up the good work!

Reply
Siobhan McGinty
27/1/2015 03:33:27

Susanne, I am working with a Coaching PMO that wants to visit a "best practice" coaching PMO in the Energy or Utilities space in London. Just wondering if you would have any suggestions?

Reply
Susanne Madsen link
27/1/2015 05:02:33

Dear Siobhan,

I'm not aware of a particular PMO within the Energy or Utilities space that exhibits best coaching practices. I suggest you enquire on LinkedIn PMO groups.

Warm regards,
Susanne

Reply
Basil Abraham link
16/10/2017 23:52:54

Very informative article. Thanks for highlighting the importance of having someone to share your thoughts with, to reflect on what you have done in the past and to guide you in the right direction. This is a very important life lesson, you have linked it beautifully to the professional side of life too. Thanks.

Reply
Zina
20/10/2017 22:21:42

Great read! Thanks for sharing it is tough finding a coach or mentor in my line of work but joining pmi Atlanta certainly helped

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SANGHUN LEE
1/11/2017 08:35:45

Thank you very much. It was very helpful for me.

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KiYoung.Mun
23/11/2017 05:50:51

Thanks so munch for your good information

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Wegman Tam
17/12/2017 07:15:02

There is always a mentor/mentee relationship with the PMO/PM from the counterpart in every project I did.

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Anuj Deva
29/12/2017 20:07:56

Great interview and good read Susanne.

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Andrea Pressley
18/1/2018 17:21:09

It is definitely important to ask, "Where do I see myself heading?" because if you have no idea where you are heading, then you have no idea of what steps you need to take to get there.
It always surprises me to find individuals who want to "advance", but have no plan to get to another level.

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Viola Atey
26/1/2018 10:19:06

It would really be great if all PMs had a coach. We get swapped with trying to successfully complete a project and rarely take time to improve ourselves except when we are forced to by the PDU system. Some PMs are lucky that their Organisation has a culture of sharing knowledge and coaching. It helps bring a breathe of fresh air and leads to better project implementation.

I like the question "Who can I start to train and delegate to, so that I free up time to focus on the activities that really matter? ". By default this kicks in the need to coach and mentor someone. If we all asked ourselves this question we would create a chain of people coaching and training people. Thanks for sharing Susanne

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Arun Agrawal
7/2/2018 21:52:03

It helped me to decide if I want to be a Coach or a Mentor depending on the situation. Great interview.

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Gururaj Hebbar
3/3/2018 16:01:15

It is great knowledge to know about coaching

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Michal Cerny
28/4/2018 16:50:53

Excellent podcast and article, thank you

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John C George
30/4/2018 19:20:02

Thanks a lot for the article

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Gintas
16/5/2018 13:07:04

Very nice podcast - thank you! I always aim to ask myself questions and re-evaluate myself and raise 'what if ...' questions as well as trying some 'what if ...' scenarios in some appropriate cases. Every day is a school day and this is a huge driver for me!

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Han Jeungsuk
7/9/2018 10:33:03

thannks

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Arvind Agarwal link
19/11/2019 09:17:18

A great interview and a very informative article

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Alexandre Lemos
6/10/2020 17:39:56

Excellent podcast and article, thank you!!

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Sunita Ganjoo
16/10/2020 17:11:50

Great read and a very informative article.

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Bobbi Morton link
19/12/2020 05:36:32

Interesting reading your blog

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Ravi Srinivasan
15/5/2021 10:21:57

Mentors are really a way to improve performance. Thanks for the article!

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Etienne Bronkhorst
12/7/2021 08:50:17

Susanne. Great presentation. I am a project manager and fully subscribe to coaching. I would like to move from project management to coaching project managers. What training do I require?

Reply
Susanne Madsen link
12/7/2021 13:00:18

That's good to hear Etienne. You may start by taking some quality coaching training - look out for courses that are ICF accredited. You may also benefit from reading my book "The Power of Project Leadership. Most of all, begin to get some experience by coaching a few PMs on the side :-) Good luck!

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Vipul Patel
28/9/2021 15:58:47

Thank you very much. Very detailed and thorough article.

Reply
Kathy
6/12/2023 16:36:40

Thanks for sharing. It is honestly important to have a good mentor to guide you through the journey of PM

Reply



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

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