I’ve been at this
project management stuff for less than 30 years, so I probably don’t qualify as
an expert. Still, I have built up a few working hypotheses and dark suspicions:
1. Most people who hold the title “project manager”
are not real project managers, and most activities called “projects” are not
real projects.
2.
Nearly all people who manage real projects do
not carry the title “project manager,” and many of them – maybe most – don’t even
know they’re managing projects.
3.
Most appointments of true project managers do
not result from job postings, which is a good thing because most job postings
essentially say “Superman Wanted,” and have very little to do with what the job
is really about.
4.
The most fundamental trait of real project
managers (designated or not) is that they can’t bring themselves to turn their
backs on problems, no matter how hairy and scary the problems might be.
5.
Projects, real projects, require original
thinking, flexible leadership, courage, persistence, integrity and strong
skills of communication, collaboration and persuasion. And other strengths.
6.
There is one important skill set that most good
project managers are lousy at.
Oranges used to
be really big in the negotiation industry.
One practice case
opened with the story of a dozen oranges – unlike any others in the world –
that possessed powerful medicinal properties.
A group of
scientists needed the oranges to save an entire village from certain death. A
competing group had to have those oranges if it was to create a vaccine that
would save future generations from great suffering. Both groups insisted they
needed all the fruit.
A simpler case
involved a brother and sister disputing possession of a single orange. The essential
nature of the situation was the same as that of the scientists. However, in the
siblings’ case, the Dad stepped in to deal with the problem (not satisfactorily).
I use a similar approach in negotiation training for project managers.
No fruit, but I mix in a marriage, employment security, a failing project and
the survival of an entire company. Positions that are apparently irreconcilable
must be brought into agreement in a role-play exercise to which we commit about
half an hour.
Here they are at
the old boys’ class reunion, sharing memories of those long-ago highs and lows
in the classroom, the dorm, the gym and the dining hall.
Sure enough, it
happens, one of them tells a story, and the guy across the picnic table from
him stands up and says, “That’s a really old joke.” The guy walks off a few
feet and stands impatiently, waiting for his buddies to leave.
The insulted
person sits there looking at the insulter. “You haven’t changed a bit,” he
says, silently to himself. What does he do now?
We all dream of
coming up with the perfect response for these moments. Actually, any response
at all is just one option.
If the targeted
person says aloud what’s on his mind – “You haven’t changed a bit” – he is
acting on the fight option, albeit at the lower-octane range of that
approach. He is fighting fire with fire; not taking the putdown lying down.
