I love puttering in my garage. No matter what else I’m doing on Saturday, I usually wind up puttering around on some project or another in the man cave. My wife would tell you that I am not the most “handy” guy she’s ever known (and she would be right), but I do like the notion of being “handy” and she patiently smiles and allows me my fantasies.
On the other hand, her father and older brother are two of the most “handy” guys I’ve ever known. They are highly-skilled carpenters and cabinet makers, but their skill with tools goes far beyond carpentry. In fact, I’m not too sure there’s anything that requires building or fixing skills they can’t do—they’re just wired that way. For years, I liked to blame my lack of skills on the fact that I didn’t have the right tools for the job. Wandering through the hardware store I’m still influenced by that delusion and purchase the tools that I think will make me more “handy”—but it’s not the hammer, it’s the carpenter.
“All project management is people management,” said Tom Peters earlier this year at the Gartner PPM Summit in San Diego. I agree. My father-in-law wouldn’t lay the hammer or saw down on the bench and expect the tools to build the furniture—would you?
Over the years I’ve come to appreciate the value of the people on my team. As important as it is to create processes and practices, the linchpin to project success really isn’t the process, the project manager or the project management tools you use—it’s the individual contributor on the project team—it’s the people. As project leaders, our job is to make sure we are doing the best we can with the tools we have, or in other words, successfully lead the members of our project teams as we manage the process. Tom Peters also suggested that the culture we create on our project teams “isn’t just part of the game, it is the game.” And he argued, “If you don’t like it, you need to find something else to do.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. When leading people, he suggested “…personal relationships are the fertile soil from which all success comes.”
Over the course of my career I’ve discovered that the key to success on any team (including a project team) depends on our ability to build and foster healthy and productive relationships with our colleagues. This is particularly true for organizations and project managers that rely on cross-functional teams where the project “leader” may have no direct-line authority over the team and must rely on his leadership skills or personal charisma to rally the team.
That’s not to say that only naturally charismatic people can experience this level of success. It all starts with learning who all the players are on the team, learning their strengths (and weaknesses) and leveraging their collective strengths to create the synergy needed to achieve success. Although this might sound over-simplistic, it starts with:
- Learning everyone’s name
- Understanding their backgrounds and skills
- Discovering what their career goals are and helping them achieve them
- Showing genuine interest in them as people (not simply as resources)
I once worked for someone who said that he worked very hard not to make a personal connection with his employees. He didn’t want the “baggage” associated with caring about the people who worked for him. Needless to say, he lived an empty and fairly shallow existence. My colleagues and I share the lion’s share of our time each day together and I’m convinced that it’s all about the people we work with, the people on our project teams and the challenges we share.
When project leaders really know the team, they can leverage their strengths and minimize their weaknesses, creating synergies that allow teams to be more productive, allow team members to maximize their contributions and organizations to ultimately be more profitable.
I’m sure there are those out there who don’t see the value of learning more about the members of the team, but as Tom Peters suggested, “All project management is people management,” and “If you don’t like it, you need to find something else to do.”
Ty, I really enjoyed this post. On this topic – here are some references you may or may not be familiar with.
‘Engagement is not Enough: You need Passionate Employees to Achieve your Dream’ by Keith Ayers.
‘Helping People Win at Work’ by Ken Blanchard and Garry Ridge (CEO of the WD40 Company).
I couldn’t agree more, earlier in my career, some days I would wonder if I had achieved anything as a manager or on a project. Howevever when I reflect back on things, I realized a lot of the time I was building those relationships with people and teams and have found that this has paid of in the long run.
I now spend a lot of time learning about myself and how I interact with others, but also what types of personalities I am dealing with in my teams and peers. This has allowed me to gain the co-operation from all levels of business. By doing this, you can achieve great things and get the best out of people.
Ty
An important topic. If relationship skills are important for non PMs then they are critical for PMs given the fact that must deliver success through people in a short timescale and often with many constraints and challenges with a high level of ambiguity and uncertainty thrown in for good measure (especially when you move into the world of Programs). I have written and presented on this over the years and it seems to be finally becoming mainstream. Happy to share / point you in their direction if you make contact.
Donnie