ARE OUR PROJECT MANAGERS EQUIPPED TO LEAD?

By Don Russell, FCMAA

We have trained our Program and Project Managers to function as managers—but have we trained them as leaders?  The challenges to be met in delivering successful projects have changed in the last few years, and the skill sets and focus necessary to meet those challenges have also changed.  Have we equipped our project managers appropriately?  According to many of our clients, the answer is “No”.

Good Management Isn’t Enough

Our most recent Owners’ Survey has sent us the same “red flag” it has been sending for the last couple of years.  Many of our clients believe that their building programs have been suffering from a lack of leadership at the project level. Most owners believe that in the past, they have typically provided the leadership for their construction programs, as well as the planning, coordination and administration functions.  Designers, managers and contractors were simply hired to implement the owners’ programs and the plans.  But because of budget cutbacks for personnel, plus a variety of other factors, more and more owners are not able to provide what they think is adequate coordination and leadership for their project teams.  As a result, they believe that the quality of the construction in their projects has suffered.  Many of these owners are looking to the CM industry to step in and fill the void.  Our project managers are ideally positioned to provide the overall leadership, as well as the management, of a project team.  We have equipped them to succeed as managers—but have we equipped them to succeed as leaders?

Leadership and Management

As discussed more thoroughly in the new CMAA publication, Construction Management Leadership Development Guidelines, effective leadership and management functions are both absolutely necessary for the delivery of a successful project or program.  The roles may be played by the same individual, i.e., the CM’s project manager, but the functions are distinct and different.  In simple terms, the leader is responsible for ensuring that there is a comprehensive and effective Project Management Plan in place, and that it is kept current with respect to the resources available, the overall purpose, goals and objectives of the owner’s building program, and the owner’s current Business Plan.  The Manager is responsible and accountable for the effective implementation of that Plan. 

What Will Our PMs Need to Succeed as Leaders?

The first piece of equipment the Project Manager will need is a little help from above—not divine intervention—but rather some participation by the most senior management the firm can provide at the time.  The task is to find out if the owner really wants the CM to fulfill a leadership role on the project, and if so, how much.  It is a delicate question, at best.  How many owners have you seen who want to admit that they have not developed the capabilities or cannot obtain the resources to do their job? What will the spin be for what they may see as an admission of weakness to their bosses or constituents?  Even if they are willing to cross that line, to what extent are they willing to delegate their project leadership role to the CM?  They won’t or can’t delegate total and open-ended authority to the CM to commit the owner, and yet partial delegation of authority is always problematic.  These are delicate and difficult questions for even the most seasoned professionals on both the owner’s and the CM’s staff.  So, unless your pre-selection information gathering has convinced you that the prospective client is totally confident in their abilities and intent to lead the project team, the first tool the CM firm needs to give its Project Manager is a meeting (or two!) of senior CM personnel and the owner.  The seniority of the person needs to be based on a careful assessment of who can meet with the client, one-on-one, and determine just how much leadership the owner really expects the CM to provide.  That’s the kind of question that typically requires a little “gray hair”.  If the owner’s answer to the question is “none, just manage the job in accordance with what we tell you”, then the team can proceed to provide top quality management services, and not worry about the rest of this discussion on project leadership.

However, if the owner and the senior CM agree that the CM needs to provide certain aspects of the project leadership role, then that same senior CM rep needs to provide the Project Manager with a second tool—their participation in the development of an effective Project Management Plan.  Is such a task a waste of senior talent?  Think about it for a minute.  If the project is important to the CM firm (and if it isn’t you shouldn’t be there), and if the Plan defines how the project will be run and how the players will interact, and if the hand-off of leadership responsibilities from the owner is a delicate subject—how can the firm not willingly provide that kind of knowledge of the business, lessons-learned, perspective, experience, and hopefully wisdom, that we expect our senior officers to carry?

Once we get past the two tools that involve senior management, there are a number of things we can provide to our project managers (“PMs”) to help them to be better leaders.  Many of these tools can be provided by training programs—some are simply a matter of helping the project manager understand that a re-focus and re-arrangement of some priorities is necessary. 

·        Focus the PM on the fact that the owner wants him/her to lead the team, not just manage the process, and has therefore delegated certain authorities that make the PM’s leadership possible.  We need to create understanding that there is an additional service and accountability to be provided by the PM.

·        Focus the PM’s priorities such that gaining the client’s trust is a top priority that needs to be accomplished ASAP in the project.  We need to create the understanding that only after that trust has been won, will the PM be able to effectively provide counsel and make decisions that the owner will regard as reliable .

·        Focus the PM on demonstrating to the client that the PM has really taken “ownership” of the project—that the PM really believes they will only consider themselves to be successful if the client considers the project to be successful.  We need to help the PM understand that until that happens, the owner will never be totally comfortable with allowing the PM to lead, and therefore is little more than a “hired gun”. 

·        Focus the PM on the need to understand the basics of the client’s business, and how this building program will support their business.  Whether it is a school, a manufacturing plant, or a prison—the PM needs this understanding so they can respect and relate to the requirements and constraints with which the client must deal on a daily basis.  The PM must come to understand that effective project leadership must acknowledge that there needs to be a balance between the organization’s project goals and their business goals.

·        Train the PM to be a better leader.  Develop your own formal leadership development program, or send individuals to any one of a number of excellent seminars/training courses that are commercially available.  There are a variety of leadership skills and techniques that can be learned with proper instruction.

·        Train the PM to select and/or manage the “right” construction delivery process.  The right process is the one that minimizes the risks, and maximizes the probability of success, of each member of the project team—all with respect to the project’s requirements and constraints.  The PM needs to learn that the fears and dreams of team members are usually well-hidden, but they can, and must, be discovered if a strong team is to be developed.  Wonderful things have happened when a strong, well-balanced delivery team has been matched up with the optimum delivery process that was then well-managed.

·        Train the PM in the techniques of team-building and the methods of developing a truly collaborative culture within the project team.  Incredible results have been achieved throughout history as a result of strong collaboration by experts in their specific areas of expertise, when they were all focused on a common, mutually-beneficial goal.  It’s not easy—but it’s doable.  Think of it as the graduate level course in Partnering.

·        Train the PM in some basic principles of Organization Dynamics.  Focus on the analysis of goals and missions and the selection and alignment of resources to satisfy them. Then spend twice as much time on the subject of when and how you will need to re-align resources as the project environment changes over time.

·        Train the PM in dispute resolution techniques that are usable at the team or working level.  Ensure that the PM believes that dispute resolution by the project-level team members is a minimum-requirement—then teach him/her how to convince the other team members of that requirement. 

·        Train the PM to develop agendas and then conduct the project kick-off meeting with a focus that supports all of the above.

·        Train the PM to establish and implement a regular communication forum with the owner, to specifically address leadership issues; things such as assessments of current realities versus the current Management Plan, adjustments in the team’s direction, realignments of resources, team morale and focus.  These things are usually tough to address in most typical project meetings.  But they are important, so if they need a special and focused forum, do it!  The time and effort will be well-invested.

Teams must have leaders to be successful.  Is having our Project Manager provide leadership to a project delivery team a new phenomenon?  Of course not.  As CMs, we have been providing management and leadership on projects for 30+ years.  What is changing is the mix.  Management responsibilities have not decreased—but the need for more leadership by our Project Managers is increasing.

  Let’s make sure our people have all the tools they need.

Don Russell is a member of the Board of Directors of Vanir Construction Management, Inc.  He is a former President and Director of CMAA, and is a member of the CMAA College of Fellows.  He can be contacted at don.russell@vanir.com.