In my opinion and experience as a project manager, the relationship you build with your project sponsor is your most important asset that will have by far the largest bearing on whether you ultimately succeed or fail. If you want one thing to focus on getting right then that’s it. If you’re rubbish at building relationships then admit it to yourself NOW, pack your career bags and go and find spend time doing what you are good at. When I think back, every project manager I’ve ever worked with that I haven’t ultimately rated was bad at building relationships.
This is the first post that has deviated away from the theme of Involvd.com’s process and progress. I’ve decided to shake things up a bit and provide a little diversity in part because I don’t have a huge amount to report at the moment (I’m in discussions with potential development partners, more on that soon) but also because it could be fun to share a little of my love!
Therefore I’m going to throw some of my thoughts about project management out there. If they’re helpful, great. Tell me. If I’m way off the mark in your experience, great again. Tell me louder and let’s have a conversation. The best value for all will only be gained if the discussion after I hit the post button is healthy and robust. I would never claim to be a world leading expert on the subject and I’m well aware there’s plenty more to learn. Hopefully I can give a little back though.
Back to my subject. It all started following a discussion with an ex-colleague recently when this question came up – what is the most important aspect of project management that you absolutely have to get right that’s applicable to any project-type situation?
Any situation because a project means very different things to every one of us and we wanted to be gerneral. When I hear the word project I think of a professional situation that may or may not have a piece of software plonked squarely in the middle of it. Others, though, think completely differently. Some may think complex civil engineering project, others may think international NGO team on location and still others may think installation of their dream high-end home media server wired for their satisfaction into every room (who wouldn’t love to be able to play music in the toilet?).
So like any responsible consultant does we tackled this question like so many others in the past – some personal thinking time equipped with a fat marker pen, a pack of post-it notes, an empty window to use as our de facto whiteboard closely followed by discussion and consensus building. What fun you can have!
What arose were answers such as the process you use, the tools and techniques you deploy, the technical knowledge and experience you bring with you, your network of contacts, your experience of managing people, your work ethic, your management style and your favoured mediums of communication.
Now I’m not going to sit here and tell you all those things are irrelevant as they clearly aren’t. All are important in their own way and being at least OK at each one helps to make you a more all-round and competent project manager. Therefore you should definitely spend plenty of time honing your skills in these areas. The good news is that all these can be quite easily learnt or improved with a healthy bit of honest self-analysis and development so there really shouldn’t be anything stopping you.
It’s just that none of these are real showstoppers if you mess them up. Not if your relationship with the client and the people you’re working with is good. If you’re on solid ground with the person paying your bills then you’ll get a chance to recover. If you’re not then there’s a real possibility that this is the chance they’ve been waiting for to get you out of the door and you may as well start warming your network up for the next position because you are gone.
All projects go through rocky times. I don’t think I’ve had a single one in my time that hasn’t taken me, my team, my client and the other stakeholders down through ‘the emotional dip’ to some degree.
In a recent role we talked with our customers and clients about the Kübler-Ross change curve a lot. Sometimes I think we maybe over did it a bit but for many of those that we got the chance to spend a bit more time with it was useful for them to understand more about the emotional impact of change that they and others around them were going (or about to go) through.
As the eagle-eyed will note we simplified the traditional bereavement model slightly as we made the presumption that our customers were experiencing reactions to positive rather than negative change. Whether that was always the case or not is a discussion best reserved for another post but that’s where we pitched it.
It’s the dip that’s the potential killer (labelled here as informed pessimism). At some point on the journey the full facts of what you’re trying to do is going to come flooding out and smack your client, stakeholders, advocates, experts and targets full in the face and you better be ready for it.
No, it’s not as easy as you originally thought it was going to be.
Yes, I did try and tell you this would be the case.
No, that simple solution that you had in your head on day 1 isn’t going to be enough.
Yes, we are getting increased pressure from management to make sure we get a result.
No, you’re not going be going home early again for next few months.
Yes, your employees hate you even more now than they did before you took me on.
No, you’re not going to be seeing the back of me for a while longer yet…
… Oh! Actually you are. I’m fired you say? But I’m just trying to help. What do you mean I’m crap and this is all my fault? But all this work we’ve done will be for nothing and I thought we had an understanding. No understanding you say? Right … I guess I’ll see you around then. Thanks for the fish and all that!
Why did that happen? Because your relationship wasn’t strong enough, that’s why.
Don’t blame anyone and everyone else for your misgivings as it was your fault it went wrong. You messed up really badly at the beginning.
See that lovely little wave at the beginning of the process (labelled uninformed optimism), that’s the honeymoon period. What’s that for? Not for spending all your time on your own in a darkened room creating the master plan that’s for sure. That’s your space before the hard grind begins to build strong binding relationships with all the key people (identified through your stakeholder mapping exercise – more on that another time) to help you weather the storm when it comes crashing around you.
Use that time wisely as you don’t get it back. Get away from your desk, put your smile on and get talking.
Here’s what I do when I’m meeting a new or potential new client – concentrate the first three meetings on getting to know her/him/them REALLY REALLY WELL in between all the objective setting etc. I shout those words at you for a reason. By REALLY I mean as much as you can possibly get without being seen as rude or intrusive. As I said this is your honeymoon, you’ve just got married and therefore it’s time to start getting to know each other. Sure they may be all business business but that doesn’t mean you can’t take an interest in the rest of their life. I’m yet to meet anyone that all they have is their career.
Who are they under that suit (not literally)? What have they done professionally. What are they looking to do? What do they do away from the workplace? Have they a wife/husband/kids/aunts/uncles/pets etc? Where do they live? Where would they like to live? What do they live in? When and where would they like to retire to? What sports do they play? What sports do they watch? Their film preferences? Their food likes and dislikes? Past and future holiday plans? What are their dreams (again, not literally, that would be weird)? What are their prejudices etc etc?
Tell them about yourself (assuming they ask). Find points of mutual bonding as you’ll want to draw on those later. Both like Formula 1? Great! Have a penchant for Thai food? Fantastic! Both hate gardening but want a nice garden? Terrific! All the normal things you would talk about with a friend count here too.
I’m not suggesting anything cynical here, you shouldn’t be faking anything. Be sincere. Listen carefully. Be interested. Don’t lie. Take mental notes and write them all down the minute you leave the meeting. I store mine in my Outlook calendar against their contact name which syncs with my phone. That way I can read and update them whenever I need to which is especially useful if I bump into them unexpectedly.
Hi there Mike, wasn’t expecting to see you here, just need to make a quick call, hang on a second, don’t go away … [check and read] … now then Mike, how’s everything going? How’s your eldest getting on at University? Any better? The course settled down?
That kind of small attention to detail makes a big impact on the receiver. Aren’t you always impressed when someone remembers something small about your life when you next see them?
Try to get to the point where you have in-jokes between you as soon as possible. Don’t rush it because you might end up sounding like a wally, but aim to get there.
If and when you do get to the point that your relationship with your client is strong then that dip you’ve got coming at you in the not-so-distant-future will not be any less deep necessarily but may well be rideable together if you hold on tight (again, not to each other).
Any thoughts you’d like to share?
