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Author: Gareth Byatt

Which Came First – The Process or the Tool…?

Written by Gareth Byatt on . Posted in Articles. 5 Comments on Which Came First – The Process or the Tool…?

There are many aspects involved in successful project and program management: hard work, experience, good teamwork, solid processes and work practices, having good tools with which to work, adopting and displaying the right behaviors…the list could go on. This article focuses on two aspects of project/program management – the processes and the tools we use as program and project managers – and asks: what comes first – the process or the tool?

We do not seek to discuss the merits of different project management tools and techniques, nor will we examine the differences between program and project management; rather, we put forward what we hope are thought-provoking points for you to consider.

The case for processes first, tools second

Processes for project and program management are well documented and readily available today – from professional institutes and organizations  such as the Project Management Institute (PMI) and the International Project Management Association (IPMA), to chartered institutes of various project-orientated professions, books and research papers, training organizations , and internal groups (for example, staff working in Program and Project Management Offices) in commercial and non-commercial organizations .

Ensuring a thorough understanding of processes to follow and how to “embody them” in your program or project is crucial to setting your program or project up for success. One key to success is to ensure processes are represented in ‘the way you do things…’, which in this article we will call behaviors  and actions. Simply put:

  • ‘Behaviors’ can be thought of as the way people in a project team conduct themselves during the course of program/project. 
  • ‘Actions’ can be thought of as the physical activities and interactions the project team undertakes and manages during the course of the program/project. 

For example, having a solid understanding of the processes required to create a Project Management Plan (PMP) is fundamental to ensuring the PMP accurately portrays how the team will deliver the project. You must then display the behaviors and take the actions to make it happen. The same could be said of the project estimating and cost control process, the scheduling process, the procurement process, the quality process, the process of controlling risks and all other aspects of program and project management.

But even if you are aware of the processes you should follow and the behaviors and actions required, is this enough to guarantee success, or is there too much room to “manoeuvre”? Are you hindered if you know the processes to follow but cannot follow them because you do not have the right tools? Do you need a level of “control” that an appropriate tool can provide?

Consider this scenario: you are a Project Manager and have just hired a group of professionals from outside your organisation to run portions of your project. Neither you nor other members of the team have the time to show them “the way things are done around here,” and the specific processes you expect them to follow. In this case, is it enough to ask them to adopt the processes outlined in your procedures guides without providing specific tools that will provide direction?

While a tool can embody good processes, one can argue that it is the behaviors and actions of individuals that make the real difference – regardless of the tool or tools they use. Such behaviors are a result of understanding how to perform certain activities; this cannot be taught by a tool.

The case for tools first, processes second

We all need and expect good tools to help us do our jobs. Whether you are an office-based professional Project Manager who uses a multitude of computer-based tools, or a professional that works in a different environment, you can’t do your best without the right tools…or can you?

Years ago, project management was carried out with tools that were more manually-intensive than those used today – but they were tools nonetheless. In the same way, carpenters relied on manual saws and now use a variety of powered devices to help them get the job done more quickly and with less physical effort, and designers used hand-built models in the absence of specialist computer simulation software.

Project management tools of varying levels of complexity abound today. Some have evolved into entire systems for managing the project itself, whilst others are specific to particular disciplines. Many project management tools have been developed by the organizations that have refined them over the years through the use of feedback and wisdom from user groups. Whether they are scheduling tools, resource management tools, estimating tools, scope management tools or a combination of all these facets and more, they can provide a solid platform (“railway tracks”, if you like) to control projects.

As an example, consider scheduling. Today’s computer-based scheduling tools are very powerful, and allow real-time consolidated views ranging from a single project to a portfolio view on a global scale.

Tools can undoubtedly provide structure to our work. As long as they are task-appropriate and designed to support the process, they help us to become more efficient. And that is one of the keys to using tools – we need to use the right one for the job at hand: it should be a platform to achieve efficiency, and should be used appropriately and properly as a result of training.

Let’s revisit our project scenario: in this situation, you are taking on a group of professionals from outside your organisation to run sections of the project, but you do not have the time to show them “the way things are done around here” and the specific processes you expect them to follow. Are you still confident that if you give them the tools they need with no attention given to the processes to follow, they will adhere to the processes in the manner that you anticipate?

Conclusion

We believe that processes and tools need to work in harmony with each other, and that the process should determine how the tool needs to be used. Tools vary in their level of sophistication, and they can definitely help your efficiency and level of consistency and control if (1) they are appropriate for the task at hand, and (2) they are used properly. You cannot use a tool effectively unless you know the processes it guides or instructs you to follow. The need to know “why” and “how” to use a tool is the reason that you first need an understanding of processes (and behaviors). Without the “why” and the “how,” we will not understand the real meaning behind the task at hand.

Program and project managers need to combine process familiarity, embodied through behaviors and actions, with the tools to carry out their work. Understand your processes first, and then use the most appropriate tool available to you to undertake the process.

Don’t forget to leave your comments below.

Gareth Byatt is Head of the Group IT Portfolio Management Office for Lend Lease Corporation. Gareth has worked in several countries and lives in Sydney, Australia. Gareth has 14+ years of project, program, and portfolio management experience in IT and construction. He can be contacted through LinkedIn.

Gary Hamilton is the Manager of the PMO and Governance within Bank of America’s Learning and Leadership Development Products organization. Gary lives in Bristol, Tennessee, USA and works out of Charlotte, North Carolina. He has 14+ years of project and program management experience in IT, finance, and human resources. He can be contacted through LinkedIn.

Jeff Hodgkinson is a 31 year veteran of Intel Corporation, where he continues on a progressive career as a program/project manager.  He is the most experienced Intel MAPP (Make A Project Plan) Day Facilitator at Intel with over 150 facilitation events to his credit. Because of his contributions to helping people achieve their goals, he is the third (3rd) most recommended person on LinkedIn.

Is the PgMP® Credential Right For Me?

Written by Gareth Byatt on . Posted in Articles. 7 Comments on Is the PgMP® Credential Right For Me?

Gareth, Gary, Jeff, and Brian are PgMP (Program Management Professional)® credentialed through the Project Management Institute (PMI)®.  (In fact, that’s how we met, became good friends and collaborators on articles.) We know from personal experience what it takes to obtain.  Additionally, in early 2010, Jeff and Brian did a study and presentation on the overall results and benefits of having the PgMP credential, based on a survey of 225 PgMPs, over half of the PgMPs credentialed at the time.  Their benefits study was one of the focus topics at the 2010 PMI North America Congress in Washington, DC.

As we weigh the value of the credential, let‘s first consider the PgMP credential itself.  Per PMI, the PgMP credential is intended to “recognize advanced experience, skill and performance in the oversight of multiple related projects and their resources, aligned with an organizational objective.”  We won’t be going into the formal details and process steps to obtain the credential; that information is readily available through the PMI. However, the PgMP credential process can be broken down to three main areas or steps:

  1. Pre-PgMP (includes the application and the preparation phase)
  2. Intermediate phase (Audit and Exam)
  3. MRA (Multi-rater assessment)

It is important to keep in mind that you must have four years of Program Management experience (not just managing related projects; the projects have to be organized as a program) and four years of Project Management experience. Then you must take a comprehensive exam and have at least 12 professional references attest that you are a competent program management practitioner in order to obtain the PgMP credential. Assuming that you have the relevant experience, one still must ask “Is the PgMP Credential Right for Me?”

Before deciding if the credential is right for you, let’s first take a look at an average profile of those who have obtained the credential. If you scan through the email signatures of PgMPs, it is clear that most PgMPs are in senior positions, boasting titles such as ‘Senior – – ’, ‘Director of – -‘ , and ‘VP of –’ with several who are successfully managing their own companies and/or consulting firms.  Humbly, it’s an impressive group with the typical PgMP having the following attributes:

→      an average of fifteen (15) years of project management experience

→      an average of nine (9) years of program management experience

→      most likely has a Bachelor’s degree and may have a Master’s

→      salary ranges from $131,000 – $140,000 USD

Given the above statistics, you will probably agree that such people are mature individuals who had achieved some level of ‘success’ as a program/project manager even before the PgMP credential was available.  This was a necessary prerequisite to applying for the credential.  Those that have obtained the PgMP also invested, on average:

→      $2500 USD for the application (the exam) and study materials

→      ~140 hours of personal study and/or classes

→      ~5 months (or longer) to complete the process

At the time of this writing, there are just over 500 PgMPs globally – and that’s after the credential has been available to obtain for 3 years.  At current rates, approximately a dozen people become new PgMPs per month versus 3,500 –  5,000 new PMPs per month.  In studies and analysis of program and project management credentials and certifications, the PgMP is in the upper 25% quartile of difficulty to obtain.  Again, the above information provides a baseline regarding expectations and history of the credential, with some basic statistics as to the credential and who obtains it.  Now that you have that information, we’ll focus on the key question: Is the PgMP right for you?

Referring to the survey and other comments from the PgMP community, no one to whom we have spoken has regretted obtaining the PgMP credential.  Some have benefited materially in new jobs, promotions, or salary increases and, given the state of the global economy, felt they kept their jobs as a result of achieving the PgMP. In their responses, nearly everyone stated that it has helped their professional networking activities. Consequently, the realistic benefits may be hard to gauge, but what has been indicated is that all are glad to have obtained it and feel more confident, both personally and professionally, for having done so.  Further, most felt that they were in a better position for future opportunities, should they decide to make a career move. 

Are you still wondering, “Is the PgMP credential right for me”? The answer to this question also depends on your career objectives to ensure that the investment made in time, capital and effort will reap the anticipated benefits.  If you expect to be working as a program management practitioner for 5 or more years, then it is likely to be a good investment.  If you plan to consult, author, or teach at some future date, it will definitely help towards such a second career.  Regardless of the commercial/career reasons, you may also want to use the personal challenge to test yourself.

In addition, you may question the demand or marketability of the PgMP. The PgMP credential is relatively new (it was released in October 2007) and just as the PMP or any credential or certification required, its job market value depends on the potential employer’s job description.  We have noticed, particularly in the U.S.A., (check www.indeed.com) that the employment postings that stated, ‘PMP highly desired or required’ for project manager positions are now include, ‘PgMP highly desired or required’ for their program management positions. Of these, a large number of companies working with the U.S. Government are requiring the PgMP due to the requirement for positions on national program progress board using ‘stoplight’ indicators to measure progress.

Are there circumstance under which the PgMP is ‘not right’ for someone?  Yes. If you don’t plan to become a program manager or to continue as a PM practitioner, it is unlikely to be worth the investment.  If you do not have the relevant work experience or references for the MRA, then don’t apply.  As the application is timed, if you are not in the position to make a firm commitment in terms of time and money, it’s best to postpone starting until you can.  However, from our discussions and phone consultations with many people, there have only been a few who found that the timing or circumstance was just not right.  Unfortunately, we know several people who have started and failed to successfully complete the PgMP process. Of those with whom we spoke, an average of 10% of unsuccessful candidates were unsuccessful due to a lack of experience, 70% failed the exam (some after 3 attempts), and 20%, believe it or not, did not score appropriately on the MRA. 

There are two old sayings, “Knowledge is Power”, and “Knowledge is Freedom.” In these competitive times any advantage helps, even if it is intrinsic in ‘creating confidence’ within the person.  For us personally, and others who have provided feedback, the PgMP will provide benefits. The bottom line? If you meet the requirements, can dedicate the time and accommodate the expense, then ‘Go for it’!  If we can help with advice, our contact information is below and we welcome you to connect with us on LinkedIn.

Don’t forget to leave your comments below.

Gareth Byatt is Head of the Group IT Portfolio Management Office for Lend Lease Corporation. Gareth has worked in several countries and lives in Sydney, Australia. Gareth has 14+ years of project, program, and portfolio management experience in IT and construction. He can be contacted through LinkedIn.

Gary Hamilton is the Manager of the PMO and Governance within Bank of America’s Learning and Leadership Development Products organization. Gary lives in Bristol, Tennessee, USA and works out of Charlotte, North Carolina. He has 14+ years of project and program management experience in IT, finance, and human resources. He can be contacted through LinkedIn.

Jeff Hodgkinson is a 31 year veteran of Intel Corporation, where he continues on a progressive career as a program/project manager.  He is the most experienced Intel MAPP (Make A Project Plan) Day Facilitator at Intel with over 150 facilitation events to his credit. Because of his contributions to helping people achieve their goals, he is the third (3rd) most recommended person on LinkedIn.

Brian Grafsgaard, PgMP & PMP, is a senior consultant and Director of Professional Services at Quality Business Solutions (QBS), a Minnetonka, Minn. based consulting firm. In June 2007, Brian became the first person in the world to attain PMI’s Program Management Professional (PgMP)® credential and has been actively involved with PMI at the local and national levels. He is one of thirteen people initially selected by PMI Global in North America to help author the new PgMP exam. He can be contacted at [email protected]

The Trouble with Continuous Multi-tasking

Written by Gareth Byatt on . Posted in Articles. 3 Comments on The Trouble with Continuous Multi-tasking

feature_jan5“To do two things at once is to do neither” – Publilius Syrus

Picture the following scenario: you have gone into a “quiet room” such as your office or den to write a long-term program or project plan that you have been meaning to get to for several weeks. The plan requires your full concentration, and it has taken you say three plus weeks to get to because of short-term issues and urgent requests from others that have continually taken priority.

‘Today’ is the first day you have managed to budget or decided to set aside time to work on it. You are fifteen minutes into your task, but you find yourself struggling to concentrate on it. Your mind wanders. Then you see an email come into the Inbox on your computer and also your mobile device, which you have put on the desk in full view – both flash at you with the new message alert. Without thinking twice, you open the email, digest its contents and click Reply. Upon finishing your response, you check something loosely related to it that you were working on last week…and in the space of twenty minutes you are disconnected mentally from writing the plan you set yourself the task of completing today… does scenario this seem all to familiar?

Take a moment to consider how much of your time at work you spend responding to ad-hoc tasks while having multiple tasks in progress at once, and compare this to the time you spend on what you consider to be your most important tasks. Does the balance of what you do match up with how you want it to be?

It is arguably true that we are all faced with more and more pressures to multi-task, particularly given the ease today with which we can be contacted, and with which we can contact others. Tackling several tasks in parallel can give us a feeling of high productivity (after all, it means we are achieving several things simultaneously, right?), but if we continually multi-task we may end up lacking the appropriate level of focus on the “must do” or important tasks we need to complete, and we may find it difficult to concentrate fully on these specific tasks when we need to.

The more tasks we undertake simultaneously, the more we increase our cognitive workload as those tasks vie for our concentration. If we get ourselves into a loop of continuous multi-tasking, we run the risk of paying “continuous partial attention” to the activities we undertake (because we have many things milling around in our mind).  In fact the numerous switching from small task to task, then refocusing on larger tasks again can cause un-factored delays to your overall productivity.

It is true that 90% of a Project Manager’s job is communication, and project management requires us to wear many different hats, but that is not saying that we need to continually multi-task.

Much research exists into efficient ways of working. We do not propose to discuss such theory in this article; rather we wish to highlight some of the challenges of multi-tasking too much.

Here are a few suggestions to consider if you are faced with the challenge of “continuous multi-tasking”:

  • Before you start work each day, think about what your known “must do” and important tasks are, and set yourself a goal to achieve them – whilst accepting that you won’t always be able to do everything, because unplanned things may arise that you urgently need to respond to, or other factors may impede your progress in your “target tasks” causing you to refocus on others. Don’t confuse what’s important or a “must do” with what’s urgent, however.
  • As you think about your tasks, take a few minutes to analyze and categorize your daily task list into A, B, and C priorities. 
    • ‘A’s are your ‘must do – critical’ tasks that you know about, or potentially that crop up during the day.  These need focus ahead of the B’s.
    • ‘B’s are your ‘should do – important’ tasks.  What you don’t complete today might become the A’s tomorrow.
    • ‘C’ are the ‘nice to do – beneficial’ tasks that can hold off a while, or that you can work on when the A’s and B’s are done or progressed as far as they can be.
  • When you know you need to focus on something important, block out time in your diary (calendar) and if necessary let people who work with you know that you will be working on it (you may want to let certain people know how to contact you in an emergency or if something comes up that is urgent to respond to, and to leave this particular “communications channel” open to them).
  • Try switching off your electronic and phone messaging tools when you work on important tasks (or keep one “emergency channel or tone” available for the few people who you will allow to contact you). 
  • Turn off or set you status as “Offline” or “Do not Disturb” on your instant messaging application so others are not likely to “ping” you.
  • If you are in a room, hang a ‘Do Not Disturb’ or ‘Priority Interrupts Only’ sign outside. Or a ‘Post-It’ note will do fine.  If you are home and the family is there, would you consider wearing your office badge around the house which signifies you’re ‘working’ and invisible for the moment?  You never know, it might keep you in a “work” frame of mind.
  • When you have a complex or detailed task to undertake, know that it can take a while to get into the right frame of mind, so allow yourself time to “get into it”. Try not to resist the temptation to veer off to “check new emails” and the like.  If you have too, close Outlook or other email and take the phone off the hook.
  • Remember that you choose the attention you give to any given task.

In conclusion, the challenge of multi-tasking is ever-present today. How we choose to allocate time to our tasks determines what we are able to get done. Striking the right balance between multi-tasking and focusing on singular, important tasks that we want to complete is a challenge for us all.

We hope that reading this short article has not distracted you from something you were working on…!

Don’t forget to leave your comments below.

Gareth Byatt is Head of the Group IT Portfolio Management Office for Lend Lease Corporation. Gareth has worked in several countries and lives in Sydney, Australia. Gareth has 14+ years of project, program, and portfolio management experience in IT and construction. He can be contacted through LinkedIn.

Gary Hamilton is the Manager of the PMO and Governance within Bank of America’s Learning and Leadership Development Products organization. Gary lives in Bristol, Tennessee, USA and works out of Charlotte, North Carolina. He has 14+ years of project and program management experience in IT, finance, and human resources. He can be contacted through LinkedIn.

Jeff Hodgkinson is a 31 year veteran of Intel Corporation, where he continues on a progressive career as a program/project manager.  He is the most experienced Intel MAPP (Make A Project Plan) Day Facilitator at Intel with over 150 facilitation events to his credit. Because of his contributions to helping people achieve their goals, he is the third (3rd) most recommended person on LinkedIn.

Managing a Virtual Project Team

Written by Gareth Byatt on . Posted in Articles. 7 Comments on Managing a Virtual Project Team

Let’s face it; virtual teams (where we work with colleagues in remote locations, be they close by or in different countries) are now a reality in the workplace. If this trend in the workplace environment continues, virtual working will increasingly influence the way we operate, and the ‘effective virtual team worker’ will be a valued asset. A key benefit to forming virtual teams is the ability to cost-effectively tap into a wide pool of talent from various locations. There are several definitions of the virtual team worker, but within the context of this article, we are talking about people who work on project teams and who display the following attributes:

  • They work primarily from a particular office (maybe a home office, or maybe a fixed work location), and they are not expected to travel each week as a part of their job (i.e. road warrior) or be physically in the office on a daily basis.
  • They likely work from home one or more days per week.

Most project managers with a few years experience or more are likely to have managed a project where some or even all of the project members were remotely located. How different is managing a virtual project team from a co-located team? Are there additional considerations or risks involved in managing a virtual team? Before we answer these questions, one must first understand the dynamics of the virtual team worker.

Being a virtual team worker is not for everyone or every organization. A virtual team worker is more likely than the collocated worker to suffer from feelings of isolation if the set-up is not right, and they need to be more self-managing and focus their efforts in a particular way. In order to effectively manage their virtual project team members, the project manager needs first to understand how to achieve this. We contend that there are five primary aspects in which a project manager should direct their efforts to ensure effective project management of the virtual team; 1) Manage Goals 2) Manage Communications 3) Keep People Motivated 4) Regularly Assess the Effectiveness of the Remote Communications, and 5) Use Collaboration Tools.

Manage Goals: Setting clear goals and objectives are important in any project. When a portion of the team is virtual, this is all the more important. The virtual team workers cannot physically walk into your office to ask clarifying questions, review goal statements posted on the walls or physically attend team focus meetings. Setting clear goals, expectations, and how each virtual member’s contributions align to the goals is crucial. In order to allow inclusion of virtual team members, consider adding the project team goal statements on the front page of team work sites or find other ways of making them readily available. .  

Manage Communications: If you have read any of our previous articles, or indeed other project management material, you may recall that project management time is arguably 90% communication. There is no difference for this between collocated or virtual teams. The key difference for virtual team working is that project managers need to understand the specific communication needs of the virtual team workers, as well as their own communication style. Apart from perhaps an initial face-to-face meeting (which we recommend, if it is feasible), virtual team workers are connected to each other through electronic forms of communication (email, instant messaging, conference calls, videoconferences). The constraint of being bound together by a “virtual” communication medium places a risk on project performance that needs to be managed. In order to mitigate this risk, the project manager needs to understand the importance of selecting the appropriate communication medium for each message. Be highly perceptive of cultural differences if your team is multi-national, and how different cultures may prefer different communication mediums. Is something during your project significant enough to warrant a video conference (e.g. the achievement of a Milestone)? Only through video conferencing can you detect positive or negative body language. On phone calls (which are a common form of virtual communication), pay attention to the tone of voice being used; be perceptive to any signs of discontent or frustration. You can also hear if anyone is “tapping on a keyboard” during a conference call. Check that people are paying attention by making any conference call interactive.

Keep People Motivated: Any feelings of isolation and disconnection from the team have a direct correlation to the motivation of the virtual team member. It is also possible that “out of sight” means less focus on the virtual project, and more on activities with people who are physically next to you. The project manager should look for ways to keep the virtual team workers engaged and motivated throughout the project. Regular phone calls, perhaps combined with web meetings, are a useful way to achieve this. Many of the same steps you take to motivate a collocated team can be used, but you need to adjust your style for the “virtual space”. A few tips are to add pictures of the team in the teamwork site, use video conferences whenever possible (remembering that they are more expensive than phone calls, so you may need to budget for this), hold a “virtual team lunch” to discuss lessons and updates, and make an allowance if you can for face-to-face time to celebrate successes and/or other major project milestones.

Regularly Assess the Effectiveness of the Remote Communications: The virtual working arrangement does not suit everyone. People work differently, they have different work styles, and they have varying degrees of comfort with using electronic communications technology. In order to effectively manage the communications of a virtual team, the project manager needs to accurately assess each person’s level of comfort or willingness to be in a virtual setting, and look for any behavior that may signal that a virtual team worker is suffering from “disconnection”. If so, assess the problem, have a conversation with the team member, and be prepared to implement appropriate actions to overcome the issue.  

Use Virtual Collaboration Tools: This subject is broad enough to be an article by itself. A virtual team worker needs to have the means to work effectively in a virtual project.  Phones with conferencing ability, online web meeting spaces, a global time clock (if the team is global), and mobile computers are some of the requirements. Modern online communication systems allow you to see if someone is “online” or not, or in a meeting (which can guide you as to whether to chat using an instant messaging tool). In the same manner as you ensure your team members software is compatible (particularly if they work for different organizations), the project manager needs to ensure the team members are trained in and have a comfort using such technologies.  

In conclusion, virtual teams are increasingly prevalent in today’s world, and a lot of high quality information exists on how to work effectively as a team. As well as the economies that can be achieved from virtual teams, this style of project offers great potential for harnessing talent from many locations. Managing a virtual project team can be richly rewarding, and requires many of the same core competencies as managing a collocated team, with the added element of being highly sensitive to communication styles and ensuring appropriate styles are used depending on the occasion. The elements we discuss above are all part of effective communication needed to mitigate the project risks associated with not being collocated. . The project manager should assess their own ability to be a virtual team worker, as well as being able to assess their team members. When project communication is working well, high-performing project teamwork can be achieved.  

Don’t forget to leave your comments below 

Gary Hamilton is the Manager of the PMO and Governance within Bank of America’s Learning and Leadership Development Products organization. Gary has 14 years of project and program management experience in IT, Finance and HR. He holds an advanced MBA degree in Finance and several certifications and credentials program management including PMI’s PgMP® (and PMP®.. Gary can be contacted through LinkedIn. 

Gareth Byatt is Head of the IT Global Program Management Office for Lend Lease Corporation. He’s a PgMP®, PMP® and PRINCE2 practitioner, and holds an MBA and first-class undergraduate management degree. Gareth has 13 years of project and program management experience in IT and construction. He can be contacted through LinkedIn.

Jeff Hodgkinson is the IT Cloud Program Manager for Intel Corporation. He is a 30-year veteran of Intel with a progressive career as a Program/Project Manager. Jeff’s credentials include PMI’s PgMP® and PMI-RMP® (Risk Management Professional) Jeff was 2nd place finalist for the 2009 Kerzner International Project Manager of the Year Award. He can be reached through LinkedIn.

Work Passion and Heart as Critical Behaviors; What Every Project Manager Should Bear in Mind…

Written by Gareth Byatt on . Posted in Articles. 5 Comments on Work Passion and Heart as Critical Behaviors; What Every Project Manager Should Bear in Mind…

sept_15_pt2Many project managers have likely been subjected to “resource selection” well before they knew what selection criteria, roles and responsibilities, or project management for that matter was. Many may recall their elementary or primary school days, and perhaps the selection of sports team members in the school yard or playground. Typically, two captains were likely chosen by someone in authority (such as the sports teacher), and then each captain selected their teams based on a perceived ability to perform, the positions or roles they needed, and maybe how well the captain thought the people would fit into their team. That was then. Fast forward to today.  School yard “captains” are now the equivalent of project managers and/or resource line managers, and their “sports team” has become the project team. How different is your project resource selection from that of the school yard and do certain risks exist in your current approach?

It is commonplace to create a project “roles and responsibility matrix” to define required team members (also referred to as “resources”), and the skills and competencies required to effectively staff a project. The organizational environment in which you work will dictate how much flexibility you have as the project manager in the team members selected for your project. You may rely on functional managers to provide all resources, based on the needs you have indicated, or you may pull from an available resource pool and have all or some control in selecting your specific project team (this latter approach is typically the case in a matrix or projectized organizational system). What is important to recognize is the criteria for which project team members are evaluated and selected. Do the criteria you use solely rely on the hard and soft skills each team member must possess, or does it lack detail on the technical and professional competencies for your project? If so, we contend that an element of risk exists in your project roles and responsibility matrix that may ultimately impact the success of your project.

Let us elaborate. Consider the example where your project is an agreed “top priority” for the enterprise. The CEO or other authorized person assigns his or her best people to oversee the project and to give you, the project manager, the control to finalize all required team members. On the surface, this is a good situation for the project manager to be in. After all, how can the project fail, if staffed with the best possible talent available that you can choose? The key is to make sure the most appropriate people are selected. Choosing the best functional expert does not necessarily translate to performing well within the confines of a specific project. We have all probably been on a project with strong functional team members. Having a strong functional representative can be powerful when it is leveraged in the right way, but it can cause tension if too much reliance is given to functional department needs and not enough on the project needs, with no consideration to how the whole team will “gel” together. Project resourcing decisions need to go beyond a functional skills assessment. 

This idea is not new; followers of traditional leadership and management disciples will recognize similar suggestions put forth by the likes of Ram Charan, and the Blanchard Group. Ram Charan, in his book, “Execution – The Disciple of Getting Things Done”1, speaks of effective leaders for organizations  must possess “Heart” and that lack of heart will add risk or could lead to a failure to execute. The Blanchard Group has published works on the “Work Passion” of employees and how a lack of work passion poses a risk to the organization.

The Blanchard Group defines work passion: “Work Passion is an individual’s persistent, emotionally positive, meaning-based state of well-being stemming from continuous, reoccurring cognitive and affective appraisals of various job and organizational situations, which results in consistent, constructive work intentions and behaviors.2” 

The crux of this position is that, when team members lack the passion or heart for the work they are assigned, there is significantly more risk to the success of the activity they are assigned to perform. Passion and “heart” correlate directly to motivation. Less motivated people increase risk to a task’s successful execution. Within the confines of project management, this situation is very real. A project team member who lacks passion or heart is at risk of missing deadlines, or may cause roadblocks and tensions, and perhaps significant team disruption. Passion is not the only behavior or competency one must evaluate, but it is certainly a key one and it is an area of focus for us in this article.  

What measures can a project manager take to ensure their team selection gives due consideration to work passion and heart?

  1. Do not base your team selection solely on functional skills. Selection criteria should include personal behaviors and traits to provide a more comprehensive perspective of the person. This may include official performance review outputs, key behavior indicators, and past peer, manager and direct reports reviews. For example, has the person recently been given a positive review, or have they been passed over for a promotion? Have they shown real team spirit on past projects, or is there evidence of derailing behavior on past projects? These are all vital questions a project manager should ask before adding a person to the project team.
  2. Conduct interviews and ask questions beyond the skills assessment. If your situation does not allow for this (for example, if you are taking over an existing team), there should always be one on one on-boarding sessions with each project member so that you can get to know them, their motivations and behaviors (these would be starting on-boarding meetings if they are new, or if you are the new project manager, get to know them with one-on-one interviews). Such an action should not be a one-off meeting. Have recurring meetings with each resource, as their behaviors, motives and desires are likely to change throughout the project. The frequency of each recurring routine should be based on the criticality of the resource to the project.  The more critical the resource is, the more frequently your routine should be.
  3. Ensure you hold team meetings and gatherings, particularly when milestones are reached – take the time to celebrate your successes.
  4. Add all risks about team structure and strategy to the project’s risk register, and make sure the right actions are taken to prevent them turning into issues. Base the severity of each risk on the outcomes of the routines. If you start to see behaviors of any team member changing in a negative way, update the risk and know when to set a prescribed mitigation plan into action. As a project manager, you must be prepared to take the lead on this, regardless of the person in question. A team member may have been a “superstar” on one project, but if they show signs of behavior that is detrimental to the current project you will need to quash it..

In conclusion, when you are setting up your project team, basing your resource and team structure decisions entirely on functional skills adds risk to your project. Focus also on personal behaviors and traits of potential candidates to join your team – a core element of which is passion and heart for the work at hand. Once people are already in place, be sure you can continue to ensure the team performs effectively

1 “Execution – The Discipline of Getting Things Done”, Larry Bossidy abd Ram Charan, published by Crown Business, New York, New York 2002.
2 From Engagement to Work Passion © 2009 The Ken Blanchard Companies.

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Gary Hamilton is the Manager of the PMO and Governance within Bank of America’s Learning and Leadership Development Products organization. Gary has 14 years of project and program management experience in IT, Finance and HR. He holds an advanced MBA degree in Finance and several certifications and credentials program management including PMI’s PgMP® (and PMP®.. Gary can be contacted through LinkedIn. 

Gareth Byatt is Head of the IT Global Program Management Office for Lend Lease Corporation. He’s a PgMP®, PMP® and PRINCE2 practitioner, and holds an MBA and first-class undergraduate management degree. Gareth has 13 years of project and program management experience in IT and construction. He can be contacted through LinkedIn.

Jeff Hodgkinson is the IT Cloud Program Manager for Intel Corporation. He is a 30-year veteran of Intel with a progressive career as a Program/Project Manager. Jeff’s credentials include PMI’s PgMP® and PMI-RMP® (Risk Management Professional) Jeff was 2nd place finalist for the 2009 Kerzner International Project Manager of the Year Award. He can be reached through LinkedIn.