The Opsimath

Facilitation - vital skills for a Project Manager

At pearcemayfield we have recently been delivering some really interesting workshops for one of our valued clients around the subject of facilitation skills.

For many project managers (and of course programme and change managers) this is a crucial area. We have to attend many meetings and work with many different groups and teams of people - so how can we ensure that we get the best out of these situations?

During the sessions we looked at many different aspects of facilitation, including a number of do's and don'ts. Here is a list of tips that one group developed. The tips are in no particular order, but I find them very useful and challenging, I hope you do too:

1. Make sure  that no-one feels they are having something done to them
2. Better still - make people in the group feel valued
3. Always begin by establishing the ground rules for the group
4. As a facilitator, always have some stock responses ready to enable you to deal with difficult situations
5. Be aware of the mode in which you are operating and be ready to change it - be self-aware
6. The need for preparation and planning cannot be over-emphasised
7. Keep reading the room and be ready to change the timing and your mode
8. Ensure the right people attend the session
9. Ensure the right person facilitates

Management lessons from the Beautiful Game

Football management is a very visible form of management in action. Because of our obsession with the game in the UK (and increasingly most of the world), we read daily of the exploits of major football clubs. As a result, we can learn a number of lessons from how football clubs are led and managed.

Here are three recent ones.

Managers need time
Chelsea Football Club have an interesting recent history with their managers. Recently they 'parted company' (lovely phrase) with their latest manager Andre Villas-Boas (known fondly as AVB). AVB had managed the club for less than one whole season, and although the club are in the top six of what is considered the top league in the world and they are still in two cup competitions, including the European Champions league, this was not enough.

The most successful club in recent British history is undoubtedly Manchester United. Yet their manager, Alex Ferguson, spent several seasons in charge before winning anything, but the club gave him time. Time to adapt, time to influence, time to build his team. Managers need time.

Managers need to focus
Managers must lead with a  sense of purpose.They must single-mindedly focus on the goal (no pun intended there).

Under Harry Redknapp, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club have enjoyed their most successful spell for a long time. Just recently they were in 3rd place in the Premier League, with a significant points advantage over the team in 4th place. Until a major distraction.

England's national football coach, Fabio Capello recently resigned. Since that event there has been non-stop speculation that Harry Redknapp is the red-hot certainty to replace him. Except that no decision has been made, leaving a very uncertain situation.

The result? Tottenham's form has dipped, their results have been poor and they have just lost their once seemingly unassailable third position in the league.

Distractions are so unhelpful - managers need to focus.

Managers need rational, not reactive, leadership
Wolverhampton Wanderers were having a poor season, and with a 5-1 defeat at home to their local rivals, it did not look like it could get worse. So, in what seems like a 'knee-jerk' response, they dismissed their manager, Mick McCarthy, the day after that embarrassing defeat.

But, worse it has got. The club, in the four games that have followed, have seemed to go into free fall. Conceding goals at an alarming rate, and unable to score a goal in 3 out of the 4 games, their fate - relegation - seems sealed.

Which makes you think - was Mick McCarthy actually doing an impressive job with the team? Before he left they were outside the relegation zone, now they lie in last place in the league.

Was the decision reactive? Should the club ownership have allowed themselves a little more time to rationally assess the situation? After all, they dismissed him with just a few games left in the season, they had no replacement in mind, and they have had to temporarily appoint the assistant manager - a man with no experience of managing, and hardly any time to make a difference.

Managers need rationality not reactivity.

The beautiful game, but sometimes the management and leadership of it is anything but!

What makes an effective leader?

In my previous post I mentioned the demand for more and better leaders and managers that the UK has over the next five years. So what will 'better' look like?

I'd like to suggest three areas:

Skills and Competencies
Isn't it surprising how many managers are put in a position for which they are not trained or prepared? For example, we often come across line managers who are asked to become project managers. Do both of those positions demand the same set of skills - of course not. Little wonder that many people leading projects have problems. Let's give our managers and leaders of the future a fighting chance and let's invest in them with training, coaching, support and anything else that they need to develop the right skills and competencies.

Experience
Less than half the managers in a recent study stated that they get the opportunity and support to try out any new skills that they learn on training courses. This does make you wonder about the reason for their managers approving the attendance on the course in the first place! Let's give them chances to try out new things, and to learn real-life lessons which will give them a great basis for developing and improving.

Emotional Intelligence
The third area is a key one. Effective leaders and managers understand themselves. They have a self-awareness that enables them to understand how they are operating in any given situation. They have the self management and the ability to be able to adapt their leadership style to suit that situation. And they have the social awareness to be able to understand the effect that their performance is having on the people that they are leading.

Better leaders? - we should really start investing in them now!

Wanted - more leaders (better ones too!)

A recent report from the Chartered Management Institute stated that over the next 5 years that will be an increased demand for leaders in the UK. In fact they say that we are going to require an additional 2 million...!

Two million more leaders!

That's a lot of leaders/managers - but it gets worse, because they say that our current ones are not doing that well. Nearly half of existing managers say that their managers are ineffective. They cite:

• not setting clear direction
• failing to manage conflict
• not providing development opportunities
• not asking for feedback

All of this leads to reduce levels of commitment, and that in turn leads to a negative impact on the bottom line for companies.

In high performing organisations, 80% of managers are considered effective, while in low performing organisations that figure drops dramatically to 39%.

So where do we find better managers and more managers?

Where is the preparation? Only one in 5 managers has a relevant qualification - shouldn't we be addressing that right now. I think we should.

Are you developing the next generation of managers and leaders...

Leaders can't change their leadership style ... can they?

The senior manager said this first as a statement, and then added a little uncertainty at the end. Surely we are born with our leadership style (if we have one) and that is it - we cannot change it, that is the way we lead, that is 'our style'.

One of the writers that we regularly reference on our Change Management training and coaching interventions is Daniel Goleman.

Goleman has helpfully suggested that there are six different styles, which the complete leader will understand and use appropriately:

The Coercive Style
This is appropriate in times of emergency but at other times will tend to disempower others.

The Authoritative Style
This style is appropriate when a new direction is required or a clarification of the goals to be achieved.

The Affiliative Style 
Useful when creating teams or for healing dysfunctional relationships, as there is a focus on people, team-building, and creating alliances.

The Democratic Style
When attempting to involve a wide range of people in decision making or building a consensus this is the style to use.

The Pacesetting Style
The leader sets an example by working to extremely high standards of performance, and then expects others to. This is useful to raise the game of a competent and motivated team.

The Coaching Style
This style focuses on helping to improve people's strengths, and is especially useful in building skills to develop managers and future leaders.

Most people will tend towards one particular style as their natural style, but be comfortable and competent in two or three different roles. The complete leader, however, will be using all six, and using them in an appropriate fashion, as and when the situation requires.

If it helps, think of the six styles as clubs in a golf bag. You use the clubs to suit the circumstances.

You can always hack your way around the course using just a putter - but it won't be pretty!

Stop sending people on PRINCE2 Training courses...

... that is, unless you are truly serious about improving your organisation’s project management culture.

As part of my role within pearcemayfield, I get the occasional pleasure of delivering PRINCE2 training courses. It is almost guaranteed that at some point within the course we are going to have a discussion that includes a phrase like, “if only our senior management team could understand this...”

I was part of the team that developed the latest version of PRINCE2 (launched in 2009) and at the time it was recognised that one of the major areas of concern in the world of project management was the lack of understanding that many project boards/corporate management teams/directors had about leading projects. That situation has changed little.

This lack of appreciation of what is involved in successful project management leads to project managers and project team members being ‘sent’ on PRINCE2 training courses. The aim is that by training ‘them’ all the problems will be solved.

The reality is that on a PRINCE2 training course delegates are exposed to current best practice in project management and then can easily see the gap between what they are learning and the present reality of the workplace to which they will shortly be returning. At times their frustration is all too evident.

Of course, I do not want people to stop attending PRINCE2 training. It is an important part of how we can change the world of project management for the better. What I want is for senior managers to become more open in their recognition of the need to change their behaviour. This will mean addressing such things as

· Direction-setting

· Delegation, and

· Decision-making

In this way, project managers returning to their workplace, complete with PRINCE2 certificate, will be able to apply all their learning in a supportive, best practice environment.

Go Project Manager, Go!

Continuing our series on the duties and behaviours of the Project Board

7 Support the Project Manager

One of the things that the Project Manager should rightfully expect from their Project Board is support.

It's one of the ways in which the Board can 'lighten the load' from what can be a very stressful role. This support can be achieved in a variety of ways, including:

 

• Committing resources, and using their influence to ensure this happens
• Ensuring the Project Manager is properly equipped for the task
• Let everyone know that the Project Manager has the delegated authority to carry out their role
• Listen to the Project Manager's advice, and to their requests for guidance
• Allow the Project Manager time to plan (and not insist that work starts 'yesterday')
• Be available
• Respond promptly
• Make decisions in a timely fashion

There are more, but this gives you a flavour of this important duty.

Next time - the final duty that we can expect from a Project Board...Effective Communication

Decision Time

Behaviours of the Project Board (part 6) - Effective Decision Making

The key decisions on a project are made by the Project Board. Well, hopefully made by the Board, because the lack of effective decision making is a key factor in projects that fail.

Whenever a Project Board need to make a decision they should consider it a 4-step process:

1. Look Back - review the current status in relation to the plan
2. Look Forward - preview the next plan
3. Assess the overall viability of the project - is the Business case still valid?
4. Make a decision-decide whether to proceed

It should be kept that simple! The success of the project requires it.

Effective decision-making - second only to setting direction in importance for the Project Board.

Resources - the missing ingredient

Duties of the Project Board Number 5 - committing resources

Unless the appropriate resources are committed to the project it has a minimal chance of success. That is obvious, isn't it? But how often do we hear that resources have not been made available to projects?

Project Board members are responsible for committing resources to the project, and this will involve:

Resolving conflicts with line management over the competing needs for resources

Being clear about the priority of the project

Demonstrating senior management commitment and support for the Project Manager, and making rational decisions

Encouraging the Project Manager to develop an accurate assessment of resource requirements

Assessing and approving the plans (and therefore the resources needed) produced by the Project Manager

Resource management problems are often the most frequent ones to be escalated to the Board, and these problems are most easily solved by the Project Board by demonstrating their commitment to the project by making those resources available.

Behaviours of the Board - continued

4 Facilitating cross-functional integration

Now although that sounds like the output of a random management phrase generator, it is actually quite an important aspect of good project leadership.

Almost all projects cut across the various functions of an organisation, they cross those internal boundary lines that we sometimes call silos (mostly in an uncomplimentary way). In fact, some would say that all real projects cross functions in this way.

For a project to stand a chance of success, the engagement between it and these line functions must be working in an effective manner. If not, we will encounter such problems as resources not being made available to the project; products not delivered in the time frame expected; a lack of cohesion across the project.

The roles of project management and line management relative to one another must be clear, they must be understood and there must be buy-in to them from all parties.

There is a joint responsibility here. Both the Project Board and the overall organisation must make this happen. Mature organisations - those that have developed a culture of project management - are well placed to do this, but it should not be taken for granted.

The Project Board must ensure that the project is recognised within the organisation, its aims and objectives are clearly understood, and its Business Case fits with corporate objectives. Then we should see evidence of that cross-functional integration that we need.