refinem july 2015: good to great project managers

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  www.refineM.com  [email protected]  405 N. Jefferson Ave, Springfield, MO 65806 417.763.6762 Good to Great Project Managers NK Shrivastava and Phillip George, RefineM LLC Good project managers can be valuable assets to a company. Creating effective project plans,  performing diligent monitorin g and reporting, and delivering proj ects successfully are all par t of being a good project manager. What, however, separates good project managers from great project managers? Skills displayed by great project managers include strong leadership and interpersonal skills, ability to build teams and develop their skills, and ability to effectively communicate project status and outlook, among others. In this article, we describe what makes project managers great and what they can do t o make the leap from good to great. What makes a project manager great, and how do project managers transition from good to great? Jim Collins, author of Built to Last, wrote Good to Great to address the question of how good companies become great. Good to Great is an analysis of factors that took seemingly average companies to heights where they outperformed competitors and the market by a wide margin. Collins isolated several differentiating factors, including leadership, team setup, and ability to perform strong self-analysis. In this article, we will examine factors from Good to Great and how they can apply to project manager s.

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Good project managers can be valuable assets to a company. Creating effective project plans, performing diligent monitoring and reporting, and delivering projects successfully are all part of being a good project manager. What, however, separates good project managers from great project managers? Skills displayed by great project managers include strong leadership and interpersonal skills, ability to build teams and develop their skills, and ability to effectively communicate project status and outlook, among others. In this article, we describe what makes project managers great and what they can do to make the leap from good to great.

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  • www.refineM.com [email protected] 405 N. Jefferson Ave, Springfield, MO 65806 417.763.6762

    Good to Great Project Managers

    NK Shrivastava and Phillip George, RefineM LLC

    Good project managers can be valuable assets to a company. Creating effective project plans,

    performing diligent monitoring and reporting, and delivering projects successfully are all part of being a

    good project manager. What, however, separates good project managers from great project managers?

    Skills displayed by great project managers include strong leadership and interpersonal skills, ability to

    build teams and develop their skills, and ability to effectively communicate project status and outlook,

    among others. In this article, we describe what makes project managers great and what they can do to

    make the leap from good to great.

    What makes a project manager great, and how do project managers transition from good to great? Jim

    Collins, author of Built to Last, wrote Good to Great to address the question of how good companies

    become great. Good to Great is an analysis of factors that took seemingly average companies to heights

    where they outperformed competitors and the market by a wide margin. Collins isolated several

    differentiating factors, including leadership, team setup, and ability to perform strong self-analysis. In

    this article, we will examine factors from Good to Great and how they can apply to project managers.

  • www.refineM.com [email protected] 405 N. Jefferson Ave, Springfield, MO 65806 417.763.6762

    What Makes Companies Great?

    In Good to Great, seven key traits of companies that make the leap from good to great are examined.

    Collins and his research team provide examples for each trait. While reading Good to Great, we were

    struck by how many of the traits could also apply to project managers and their journey from good to

    great. Collins and his team identified the following traits1:

    1. Level 5 Leadership. In the section Level 5 Leadership from Good to Great, Collins defines Level

    5 leaders as those who display a combination of personal humility, professional will, and

    determination to accomplish the companys strategic goals regardless of cost.

    2. Team-building skills. In the chapter First Who, Then What? Collins argues that team-building

    depends on assembling committed people who buy into the company vision, excluding others,

    and helping the team grow while they carry out their responsibilities.

    3. Ability to assess the company. This corresponds with the chapter Confront Brutal Facts (But

    Dont Lose Faith!) in which Collins describes companies who were able to face upcoming

    changes and respond successfully to them because they confronted the facts of their reality.

    Although the moves were sometimes painful, like overhauling store designs or closing factories,

    long-term outcomes were better because companies did not retreat from brutal facts.

    4. Ability to assess strengths and weaknesses. Collins introduces this trait in his chapter, The

    Hedgehog Concept, where he describes how companies succeed by identifying the intersection

    of their competencies, passions, and economic drivers. By acting on these three concepts,

    companies can develop more effective strategies for growth and for dealing with problems.

    5. Dedication to continuous improvement. In the chapter The Flywheel and the Doom Loop

    Collins describes how companies succeed by small pushes of positive momentum, and also how

    sudden strategy changes and other factors can stop that momentum.

    6. A culture of discipline. In Collinss view, a culture of discipline can help a company achieve great

    results without a heavy hierarchy. Discipline involves not only consistently performing good

    habits, it also means dropping bad habits. When discipline is combined with entrepreneurial

    spirit, companies thrive and grow quickly.

    7. Technology accelerators. Great companies are careful to adopt only the technology that they

    feel will help them the most. They do not rely primarily on technology as their driver, but do not

    pass up opportunities to improve their operations through technology in a way that makes

    sense for the company.

    Each of these traits was found in the companies examined by Collins and his research team. Out of these

    traits, we feel that the first six can apply very well to project managers. In the following section, we will

    describe how each of the first six traits can be applied to project managers and what steps they can take

    to go from good to great.

    1 Collins, Jim (2001). Good to Great: why some companies make the leap . . . and others dont. New York: HarperBusiness.

  • www.refineM.com [email protected] 405 N. Jefferson Ave, Springfield, MO 65806 417.763.6762

    What Makes Project Managers Great?

    Although Good to Great primarily examines companies, many of the traits of company success can

    translate to a project managers professional life, including:

    1. Strong leadership. Leadership skills help project managers align the team to key goals and clarify

    the project plan and purpose. The concept of level 5 leadership combines several important

    interpersonal skills of a project manager. First, by showing personal humility and keeping their

    egos out of the way of key decisions, project managers display strong emotional intelligence.

    Project managers who display strong emotional intelligence radiate leadership without trying,

    which helps them build trust with team members and stakeholders. Second, by exerting

    professional will and an unwavering faith in the project, project managers carve out a greater

    position from which to influence without authority. This ability is one of the most important

    interpersonal skills for a project manager because he or she often has to manage the project

    without a lot of authority.

    2. Team-building. Great project managers are also skillful at assembling the right people for a

    project and helping them develop their skills. In his section First WhoThen What, Collins

    reports that companies who were able to build high-performing teams, with people who were

    invested in the companys strategy and vision, were better able to transition from good to great.

    For project managers, this means building the right project team and putting them in position to

    succeed. Through the right mix of stakeholders, subject matter experts, and team members, the

    team can refine the project objectives and deliver the right project for the company in the most

    effective way.

    3. Realistic project assessment. Great project managers are able to accurately assess the state of

    their projects, including current status, past trends, and future outlook. Being able to report the

    status of a project, whether it is good or bad, is a skill expected of any project manager and is

    also expected from PMI, which includes honesty as one of the four traits of ethical conduct in

    project management2.

    Where great project managers separate themselves is their ability to report the status and

    outlook of the project. Great project managers not only have a strong grasp of any projects

    brutal facts; they are also able to develop plans to get the project back on track. They

    accomplish this goal through actively monitoring and controlling during project execution. They

    can do this using earned value management (EVM) to create trends and forecasts, or by other

    methods. Great project managers recognize that no project plan is executed perfectly, and they

    are prepared to manage changes throughout any project.

    4. Realistic self-assessment. Project management activities can be classified by the process groups

    (from initiating to closing) or by knowledge areas (risk management, communications

    management, and others). It may take many years before a project manager is sufficiently

    skilled in all of them to call himself or herself a master.

    2 http://www.pmi.org/About-Us/~/media/PDF/Ethics/PMI-Code-of-Ethics-and-Professional-Conduct.ashx

  • www.refineM.com [email protected] 405 N. Jefferson Ave, Springfield, MO 65806 417.763.6762

    Even without full mastery of project management, project managers can start assessing their

    strengths and weaknesses, either on their own or with the help of others. By knowing their

    weaknesses, project managers can identify resources to help fill gaps. For example, project

    managers lacking necessary business analysis skills can seek out a business analyst. Seeking out

    this help aids the project in the short term, and aids the project managers long-term learning.

    5. Dedication to continuous improvement. Because no project manager can be expected to solve

    every possible project problem, continuous learning and improvement are both important.

    Good project managers capture lessons learned for each project, but great project managers

    also turn the mirror on themselves and determine what they can do better next time to ensure

    project delivery success and keep their own flywheel spinning. Continuous learning can take

    the form of self-analysis from project lessons learned, as well as seeking out professional

    development opportunities to refine technical, business, and leadership skills.

    6. Discipline. Great project managers build a culture of discipline not only for themselves, but also

    for their teams. Building discipline involves not only deploying processes consistently, but also

    monitoring project execution consistently. For example, a good project manager will create a

    risk register, but a great project manager will also monitor and update it regularly as new risks

    emerge and new information on existing risks becomes available. By using processes

    consistently and following through on them, project managers get the most value out of each

    process and also improve their skill with each process.

    Project managers can build discipline for their teams through consistent reporting and regular

    meetings. Giving team members a regular chance to discuss their status and share their

    concerns promotes collaborative problem-solving and reinforces project management

    processes. By keeping regular status meetings and updates, great project managers build

    consistency, which translates to a culture of discipline.

    Table 1 is a summary of good and great project managers with tips on how to go from good to great:

    Good Project Managers . . . Great Project Managers . . . How to Become Great

    Exhibit leadership Exhibit Level 5 leadership Practice interpersonal skills

    Build the right team Help their team grow Think of team success first

    Report project status Report status and forecast Use forecasting tools like EVM

    Know their strengths Know strengths & weaknesses Seek feedback from others

    Capture project lessons learned Capture own lessons learned Analyze own performance

    Create project plans Follow through on plans Regularly monitor for updates

    Table 1. Summary of good to great project managers.

  • www.refineM.com [email protected] 405 N. Jefferson Ave, Springfield, MO 65806 417.763.6762

    Conclusion

    Great project managers make project management seem simple, but it only seems this way because

    they have invested in their practice to get as close to perfection as possible. By putting their projects

    and teams above themselves, exhibiting strong leadership and assessment skills, and displaying humility

    and willingness to examine themselves, they make the leap and become great project managers. They

    also build a culture of discipline for themselves and their teams.

    One final point to remember about great project managers is that they all started as good project

    managers. Making the leap from good to great takes a lot of time, effort, and dedication. This idea is

    true not only for someones professional life, but also their personal life as well. We enjoyed reading

    Good to Great and recommend that project managers reflect on the books concepts. Seeking mastery

    of those concepts, as well as following the tips from this article, will help you make the leap and become

    a great project manager.

    References

    1. Collins, Jim (2001). Good to Great: why some companies make the leap . . . and others dont. New

    York: HarperBusiness.

    2. Project Management Institute (2015). Code of ethics and professional conduct. Retrieved from

    http://www.pmi.org/About-Us/~/media/PDF/Ethics/PMI-Code-of-Ethics-and-Professional-Conduct.ashx