A Project Manager will be expected to deal with that stuff. Who else. So that means life will be tough, at times. Blame will be liberally spread whenever possible. People will seek culprits when things appear to be wrong. They'll look to you.
They also seek leadership and guidance. And, where projects are concerned, they'll look to the Project Manager. Will you be up to the challenge, though? This is where good project managers develop determination, or stubbornness. Or, resilience... What is it, and why is it important? And is it easy to develop?
Resilience is properly defined as the ability to spring back or rebound from emotional setbacks such as illness, depression or adversity. My focus, in life as well as for this article, is on the mental and emotional toughness needed to cope with adversity. For me, it’s about the ability to deal with the stuff that will throw your project or team off course, and the kind of determination needed by a successful Project Manager. Hope should spring eternal.
And I want to think about it in this article in two separate areas: firstly, with first time internal Project Managers; and secondly, with externally hired Project Managers. And for both sets, some thoughts as to what to do and where to go if this happened to you, or our project.
If you have or hire PMs in your organisation, this is for you…
I’m presuming that first-time Project Managers are internal, of course, because you wouldn’t want to hire an untried external Project Manager. Although some I have seen, or picked up the consequences of, might just as well have been…
And I don’t even mean PMs on their first internal project. Things might work so well that the individual concerned doesn’t need this kind of inner belief. Haven’t seen that many such projects myself…
The real challenge for these people is the first time they have a major setback. It’s easy to panic. I’ve done it myself. They’ll need to reach deep inside themselves or reach out to others, to help them through the kind of situation where there seem to be few options, and none of them palatable.
External Project Managers, those with scars anyway, should already have been there and gotten through it. Should, because not all do, and some escape both censure and the reputational damage that comes with failure.
They too, though, have similar problems. They might even be exacerbated because there’s no ‘alternative role’ for them to move to in the event of significant problems.
But in order to focus on the end result and achieve all the value from the project, you must put aside these emotions and feelings, and deal with these temporary setbacks.
For both sets, then, similar courses of action are available:
· Take a cool look at your project
1. Yes, again. Look hard at why you’re doing what you’re doing. Ask if the problem will affect the project’s objectives2. Make sure you’re only taking the decisions you’re responsible for; and provide advice and input to those problems outside your approval – you’re responsible for driving the project, and those with the power to make decisions outside of your ambit must know what’s happening. Before it’s happened irrevocably.
3. Get support from someone who knows how to run projects. In Oakview, we often ask for Project Assurance (see here for some thoughts) from someone attached to the organisation, yet separate from the project – someone you can go get some advice from without fear of retribution. We do this for others, too…
· Get someone onside, for support
1. Find someone with the scars of battle, prepared to spend time guiding you
2. Identify people with the kind of positive mental attitude you want
3. Get someone who presents a calm demeanour; preferably someone who doesn’t panic. It’s hard to be supported by someone whose default position is panic or paralysis
4. Find yourself someone in the organisation well-versed in its DNA, and with an understanding of your goals
· Get yourself sorted
1. Reflect on how you handle problems in your life, both business and personal. Are you happy with your own performances elsewhere? Do you need to change yourself outside projects, to change the way you handle adversity within projects?
2. Take a lead from the way successful sports people tackle their inner demons, for example. We’ve heard of top-quality world-class athletes going into events repeating “it doesn’t matter” or “ it IS only a game”
3. Fans of NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming – it’s a big subject) will tell you that a good way of handling adversity is to visualise failure in black and white, make the mental picture as small as you can, and mentally re-file the issue in the corner of your mind. Success is treated differently. Big, bold colourful pictures are writ large and visited as often as possible. Tiger Woods spins his club whenever he makes a good shot. It’s his way of emphasising good stuff
4. In project terms, imagine you’re in a darkened wood with an unmade path, and you have to get through with your team. Consider whether you’d sit and wait for help (no, by the way); retrace your steps (how?); rush headlong forward (risky); or take steps forward, knowing that you will bark your shin on unseen logs, and will get entangled in trees, branches and brambles. You’ll get scratched and thwacked. But you’ll keep going, learning to sidestep obstacles using the lessons you’ve learned on the way through, because when you get through the mess, you know you’ll enjoy the end results
Developing resiliency in your project manager career will allow you to handle temporary setbacks with less stress and greater confidence. You can begin the road today toward being a more resilient project manager. It is a quality that is essential in today’s job and interim role market, and in future projects.
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