PMPlanet guest columnists Donnie MacNicol and Brenda Hales of Team Animation identify the 10 behaviours every PM needs to develop and encourage in themselves and others to enhance their success.
There is growing acceptance that relationship skills are the primary differentiator of successful PM’s. The PM is at the centre of an intricate network of relationships―customers, suppliers, stakeholders, team members―each with a different perspective on the project. Within each of these groups are individuals who have different personalities, values, styles, interests and perceptions. Core skills such as planning are important but can be sourced independently.
The primary role as PM is to shepherd everyone in this network to contribute positively to the objectives of the project and thereby increase the probability of success. Here are 10 PM behaviours that underpin successful project relationships:
1. Be aware of how your behaviour influences others. Understand yourself―e.g., what you do when faced with conflict. You must be a positive role model to the team. For example, how you run your team meetings will influence how your team run their meetings.
2. Adapt to others. Remember that people like people like themselves so communicate with others in the way that suits them. If working with a reserved architect, raising design changes at an open meeting without discussing them in advance will only lead to resistance.
3. Actively listen. It is easy to hear when people are agreeing with you but when disagreeing with you the temptation is to persuade them that you are right, creating resistance. If you experience this within a client organisation you may miss important requirements.
4. Adapt project management to suit the context. Methodologies, processes and tools should be adapted to work in the project context. One project may require a high level of control but if applied for another client, they may perceive it as being overly prescriptive.
5. Be direct (particularly with bad news). Once you know that you are going to miss a deadline, tell the client. The vast majority of customers want someone they can trust. You create trust by being open.
6. Help everyone to own the vision and their part in achieving it. Communicate how the teams efforts link to the achievement of the overall objectives. Success is subjective and context specific so identify with your client what success will be for them―what they will see, feel and hear. Check regularly for changes.
7. Encourage others to thrive on relationships. Ask people about how their key relationships are going and what they are doing to strengthen them. This demonstrates that relationships are important. When you have problems on your project it is much easier to resolve them with someone you have a strong relationship with.
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