what makes a great project manager

Barbara LaViska, PMP

April 24, 2013 and Oct. 17, 2013

For PMI Mass Bay Chapter

What Makes a Great Project Manager

What Makes a “Good” Project Manager?

Does everything PM supposed to do…

Organizes teams

Plans Projects with right documentation

Is PMP certified, follows PMI methods and ethics

Keeps track of teams and/or vendor activities

Reports Status and Progress

Is responsible and accountable to the organization and the project

So… what else is there?


Q: What makes a Great Project Manager?

A: Outstanding soft skills

*Instilling Confidence

*Meeting Expectations and Managing

Expectations

*Forward Thinking

*Problem Solving

*Communication Strategy and Style

*Signs of Trouble and Final Thoughts


Instilling Confidence:

*Creates a positive perception about you

*Perception is reality

*Are you confident?

-That you can deliver the project

-Do you instill confidence within the team

*Are you in over your head?

-Is the project bigger than you can handle

* What if you don’t have the industry knowledge, but

do have extensive PM knowledge


Meeting Expectations *What are the expectations of Senior management/Project Sponsor

* It is possible to deliver project that is beyond time frame and budget and still have happy stakeholders – YES!

* Reverse is also true –

* Because you met their expectations – But you have to find out what they are –

* Senior Management has expectations of you – And you may assume you know what they are, but you don’t.

* And even if you ask them they may not tell you – here are some tips:

* Communicate in the time frame and manner that suits them, not you.

* Is it - once a week, month? face to face? presentation or one on one?– ASK

* TIP: Pose the question this way -- was there another project that you thought went particularly well? What happened and what did that project manager/team do that impressed you?

BIG one – Never make them look bad


Managing Expectations

*Replicate what you heard from the previous slide

*Fine out as much as you can from others about the

project sponsor and head of PMO - critical

*Don’t say you can make the date, if you can’t

AND

*Don’t say you can’t make the date, if you are not sure

*Do -Say that you can make the next milestone and

show your plan to do so, and keep doing that


Problem solving *Know that you are here to solve problems for senior

management – not the other way around.

-Common misconception

* If you continue to run to management with every problem that you encounter, you will find it very uncomfortable and not know why

* Instead, seek out the solution and present the problem with the solution or couple of options (only for big ones) and ask for support

- Very different feel

*Goes something like this “ Just want to give you the heads up that “this is happening” and my plan is to do “this” and would like/need your support.

- My experience has taught me that this approach works well in this situation.


Problem solving

*There will always be problems/ challenges with any

project –however, if you have a plan for the solution,

and are creative in your options for solutions…

*then management will have confidence that you can

handle anything that comes up.

*This shows up with risks as well

The best project opportunities are given to those who

management thinks…

“I have confidence they can do a great job with this”


Forward thinking

*A little different – positive – seeks opportunities

- If we can get this done then something else can fall into place

- Or that something else will have a positive effect down the line

*Shows you are strategic, looking out for the company benefit

- Even better, looking to make Project Sponsor look good

*Team can come up with these as well – if they do, give them credit and pass the message up

*Not the same as Risk Management which mostly plans for a negative events


Communication Strategy and Style

Are you following the organization reporting structure?

Are you managing the “silent” lines of communication?

*Make sure ANY information about the project comes from you and ONLY you

*Make sure all levels of management know you are keeper of the “real” message

*Anything else is rumor or mis-information

*Get out in front the message – particularly if the message is negative.

* If management is going around you to get to the truth, it is a sign of “no confidence”


Signs of Trouble

*Lack of confidence in you – shows this way:

Low confidence – high touch

High confidence – low touch

* If management has lack of confidence in you – they want to hear from you very often

*Best approach to turn that around…

*You do the high touch when the weather gets stormy – you go to them – because if they have to continually come to you –you are in trouble

*What ever you do – don’t hide

*Confront – report the news and what you will do about it

*Do not shy away from conflict, issues or problems – Takes guts

And do it with CONFIDENCE


Final Thoughts

*What All this means;

– you are in the relationship business

*Relationship with each member of the team

*Relationship with senior management

*Relationship with functional managers

-middle management

-and all the stakeholders


Last and final thoughts

*Have a backbone of steel

*Never lose your cool – be calm – ALWAYS

*And NEVER let them see you sweat!


Questions?


Barbara LaViska, PMP

Email: [email protected]

For more info, see LinkedIN.com

mailto:[email protected]

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