PROJECT MANAGER SUCCESS CRITERIA
The research resulted in defining the following eight behaviors of the best project managers:
1. Are strongly committed to a clear mission
2. Have a long term and big picture perspective
3. Are both systematic and innovative thinkers
4. Find and empower the best people for their teams
5. Are selective in their involvement in project issues
6. Focus on external stakeholders
7. Thrive on relationships and influence
8. Proactively gather information and insist on results
Professor John P. Kotter of the Harvard Business School published an article entitled,
What effective general managers really do, in the November-December 1982 Harvard
Business Review. This was a follow-up to similar research by others including Henry
Mintzberg in his book and article, The Nature of Managerial Work, Harper &
Row(1973). The conclusion of all of this research was to quote Kotter: “A rather large
gap exists between the conventional wisdom on management functions, tools and systems
on the one hand and actual managerial behavior on the other. The former is usually
discussed in terms of planning, controlling, staffing, organizing, and directing -”. Does this
sound like the PMI® PMBOK®? The study focused on a group of successful general
managers and consisted of interviews, questionnaires and observations. These various
studies all found that actual managerial behavior did not consist of Planning etc. but was
much less programmed. Project managers are in effect mini-general managers so the
results of Kotter’s and the others research are relevant for Project Managers also. In fact
the project manager track is an excellent way for organizations to develop future general
managers who gain a view of many different functions of a business in contrast to
someone who has grown up in just one function.
Kotter found effective GMs concentrated their effort on three behaviors as
follows:
1. Agenda setting
2. Network building
3. Execution: getting networks to implement agendas.
Kotter defines the dilemma facing a new general manager in terms that sound exactly like
the challenges facing a new Project Manager.
1. “Figuring out what to do despite uncertainty, great diversity, and an enormous
amount of potentially relevant information.
2. Getting things done through a large and diverse set of people despite having little
control over most of them”.
Effective general managers develop agendas for what they want to accomplish consisting
of “loosely connected goals and plans that address their long, medium and short term
responsibilities”. They do this with informal discussions with a very wide range of people,
especially by asking questions.
Kotter also found that effective executives, “allocate significant time and effort when they
first take their jobs to developing a network of cooperative relationships among those
people they feel are needed to satisfy their emerging agendas – including outsiders”. Does
this not sound like a Project Managers job? Does the PMI® certification process measure
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this? “They try to create the appropriate “environment” (norms and values) they feel is
necessary to implement their agenda”.
Then comes execution. “After they have developed their networks and agendas, effective
GMs tend to shift their attention toward using the networks to implement their agendas.
They marshal their interpersonal skills, budgetary resources, and information to influence
people and events in a variety of direct and indirect ways.” Does this again not seem to
describe the Project Managers job? Does the PMI® PMBOK® discuss this in a way that
a potential project manager could learn how to actually perform these behaviors in a real
situation? “Excellent performers ask, encourage, cajole, praise, reward, demand,
manipulate, and generally motivate others with great skill in face-to-face situations.” Are
these behaviors measured in the PMI® certification process?
Kotter draws several conclusions that are relevant to the project management
situation today.
1. “Management training courses probably overemphasize formal tools,
unambiguous problems and situations that deal simplistically with human
relationships.
2. Another example of inappropriate courses is those that emphasize formal
quantitative tools.
3. The formal planning systems within which many GMs must operate probably
hinder effective performance.”
For a conclusion I will quote from an article by Kate Belzer, Project Management: Still
More Art than Science, CNIDR Isearch. “Today’s project manager must be able to apply
the processes, tools, and techniques of the trade efficiently and effectively to be successful.
However, without mastering the timeless soft skills to supplement the hard skills,
few project managers will succeed.”
By Robert Youker
