Today I’m interviewing Dr Lynda Bourne, author of Advising Upwards: A Framework for Understanding and Engaging Senior Management Stakeholders (Gower, 2011). Lynda is CEO of Stakeholder Management Pty Ltd, a training and consultancy firm based in Australia.

Lynda, your book is about helping project managers communicate better with executive stakeholders. Let’s start at the beginning. How do you define a stakeholder?

Individuals or groups who are impacted by or can impact the work of an organisation or the outcomes of that work. This is a far wider definition than is normally used: it is important to make sure that the stakeholder list is not just the ‘usual group’. Thinking in wider terms about stakeholders ensures that the ‘nasty surprises’ – not powerful but influential, are identified as early as possible.

One of the things you discuss is how hard it is for middle managers who have just been promoted into senior roles, and you say that project managers should be aware that their executive stakeholders may be finding their new jobs difficult. Why is it difficult for middle managers to adapt to senior jobs?

Middle managers achieve recognition and promotions through competition with their peers: they have to be better and be seen to be better than everyone else. This is the culture of ‘command and control’ that has its roots in the military and in the building of the railways in the 19th century. ‘Command and control’ and competition serves managers well until they are promoted to the ranks of the executive (the ‘C’ suite). Suddenly they are required to exhibit a different set of leadership characteristics – the level 5 humility and will of Collins’s as described in Built to Last. Not only are they required to learn on the job, but with collaboration and delegation: a complete change of approach from what got them to promotion in the first place.

Project managers must understand the management styles of their important stakeholders – whether they operate in the ‘command and control’ mode or have acquired more mature leadership styles. It is important to also understand that their senior stakeholders operate in the same uncertain environment that everyone else in the organisation experiences. A successful project manager recognises not only the specific management/leadership styles but also how best to ‘help their senior stakeholders help them’.

OK, we all want our senior stakeholders to help us get the job done. What did your research show as the characteristics of project managers who are most successful at advising upwards?

From experience and research the winning characteristics are:

• Recognition that relationships with stakeholders are most important to success (rather than the schedule, for example – the schedule is only another tool for communication).
• Recognition that building and maintaining robust relationships with stakeholders requires communication.
• Working to build personal and team credibility through proactive managing of risk and conflict, and building that reputation through appropriate information exchange with stakeholders.
• Helping stakeholders know what they need to do to support the project to success.

Those are the characteristics, but what do good project managers actually do?

Project managers need to understand the expectations (the needs and requirements) of their senior stakeholders and to:

• Ensure there is no conflict between the expectations of their important senior stakeholders. If there is conflict detected the project manager must work to negotiate an acceptable resolution with these stakeholders. The earlier the better.
• Communicate to all stakeholders, but especially the important stakeholders, information about the project in a way that best meets the needs of the stakeholder AND the project and project manager.
• Continue to ensure that the expectations of the stakeholders are understood and met – they may change during the project’s life.
• Work constantly to maintain a trusting and robust relationship (this will occur through appropriate communication)

You have curated content from various experts to produce this book. What was the most difficult part about managing all the stakeholders on this project?

Editing a book such as this is like the most complex projects! I invited colleagues who were experts in their fields. This meant that they were very busy and sometimes had difficulty meeting my deadlines. Some were accustomed to writing in their own styles and I had to manage the potential issue of my occasional edits (for style consistency). Those who were writing for the first time welcomed my input and are now moving to publish more of their work.

It sounds like a challenge! Now the book is finished, how do you feel it can contribute to improving projects overall?

Managing organisational work, especially projects, is never easy. There are so many complexities in getting the right level of support from senior stakeholders. They are so busy and need to be encouraged to even recognise a particular project. The contributions in this book provide insights and advice for those struggling to be ‘heard’.

People are complex; there is no ‘silver bullet’ in the struggle to gain consistent, sustained support from senior stakeholders. While recognising that people are complex, and offering information about aspects of communicating to senior stakeholders, the book seeks to provide project managers and others needing to achieve successful outcomes in complex organisations with tools and ideas to improve their chances of being successful.

Thanks, Lynda!

Buy Advising Upwards on Amazon.co.uk
Buy Advising Upwards on Amazon.com

No related posts.

In this video I ask 9 project managers how they deal with a bad day at work.

With thanks to Todd, Samad, Nathaniel, Cindy, Adrienne, Cornelius, Taryn, Dave and Melanie.

Filmed on location at PMI Global Congress North America 2011 in Dallas/Fort Worth.

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Susanne Madsen

This short series is looking at coaching in a project management environment. Today I’m interviewing Susanne Madsen, author of The Project Management Coaching Workbook and herself a coach.

Hello Susanne. Tell me, what made you go into coaching in the first place?

I started coaching and mentoring project managers because I wanted to make a difference. I had a desire to contribute and to help others overcome some of the challenges I had experienced myself. I had seen the positive effects of coaching in other walks of life and was keen to use it in project management. But although I expected it to have an impact, I didn’t know that it would be quite as powerful as it proved to be. I didn’t know that only a few coaching sessions could be enough to give people the tools and support they needed to excel and make rapid progress as project managers and leaders. Coaching is just such a phenomenal and empowering tool.

That’s a significant claim. Tell me a bit more about the power of coaching.

Coaching is tremendously powerful for people who are willing to work on themselves and take action to achieve a certain goal or outcome. This ‘outcome’ can be anything from finding one’s true purpose, gaining more self confidence, or becoming a better project manager and leader. The power of coaching is that it helps people identify and articulate what their challenges, goals and aspirations are and subsequently assists them in achieving these goals – or avoiding certain challenges. This often creates aha-moments for the coachee and unleashes energy and potential as the individual starts to feel empowered and in control of where they want to go. The coach is the facilitator and the sounding board – and ensures that the right questions are being asked. As John Demartini says, “The quality of your life depends on the quality of the questions you ask!”

Coaching seems to revolve around asking questions. Why is asking quality questions so important?

In coaching we don’t spend hours analysing why things are they way they are. We acknowledge the current situation and then ask how the person can move just one step forward. Some of the most powerful questions you can ask is: What could make my life more fulfilling right now? What am I tolerating or putting up with at the moment? What is my hidden potential? In which ways can I start to contribute and be a role model to others?

OK, so here’s another question for you! What prompted you to write a book about coaching?

When you publish a book you are able to reach a wider range of people and contribute to their personal and professional development. I am passionate about coaching and empowering project managers – what better way than writing and publishing a book? I want the project managers out there to be the best they can and to be confident and competent at managing projects. I want them to feel good, to leverage their strengths and to focus on the 20% that contributes to 80% of their achievements. I want them to work smarter; not harder!

The Project Management Coaching Workbook I have written enables people to achieve this. It assists people in building confidence and in becoming highly valued and truly successful project management leaders.

If people want to become successful project leaders and believe that being able to coach is part of that, where should they start?

I originally studied with The Coaching Academy in London which gave me a great foundation in personal performance coaching as well as corporate and executive coaching. The Coaches Training Institute (CTI) is also a good place to be trained.

When it comes to books I would recommend Coaching for Performance by John Whitmore and Co-Active Coaching by Laura Whitworth. They are invaluable resources for a new coach.

Can you coach someone whom you manage directly?

It is possible to coach someone whom you manage directly, but the relationship and the role of the coach is slightly different. Independent or external coaches can focus on their client’s goals and aspirations 100% and will often build a very trusting relationship where the coachee opens up and talks in confidence about very personal issues and aspirations. As a line manager you don’t have that independence because you have a lot of information and pre-conceived perceptions about the employee and because you have to also consider the needs of the organisation you both work for.

On the other hand, the manager is able to coach the employee in a variety of situations as and when they occur – and is also able to provide the best possible career opportunities for the coachee. When the manager doubles up as a coach she becomes a mentor and will at times make suggestions and tell the employee what to do.

As an independent coach it is not good practice to tell the coachee what to do. I would encourage all managers to also become coaches – however that would not replace the need for independent coaches.

I know you can’t coach everyone who reads A Girl’s Guide to Project Management, but have you got a few words of advice for us?

I would like to encourage everyone to imagine more and look around less. Listen to yourselves, be honest about the things you would like to achieve – and never give up! Read motivational books, surround yourselves by inspirational people, get a coach, listen to podcasts and attend events that interest you. When you mix with likeminded people you will be reminded of the things that are important to you and you will be more inclined to pursuing them.

Thanks, Susanne!

Read the review of Susanne’s book, The Project Management Coaching Workbook here.

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Phil Hayes

Phil Hayes is a coach with over 20 years experience in team development. He’s executive director of London training and coaching company Management Futures. I spoke to Phil about how team coaching can work with project teams.

Phil, I’ve heard about coaching individuals, and I can see how you could extend that to a functional team that works together. But project teams come together for a short period of time so how can coaching work in that environment?

The less connected the team is likely to be, the faster it needs to agree how it’s going to work. It’s more important for loosely affiliated teams. It’s key to establish ground rules early on and practical protocols for how the team is going to work together. This includes the team ethos and acceptable interpersonal behaviours as these can create friction.

Project managers rarely have line management responsibility for their team members. Does this help or hinder team coaching?

Where the project manager is not the line manager it creates a stronger case for working on the communications and values aspects of the team. Team coaching with project teams is about getting the team aligned as quickly as possible. With project teams, individuals bring in the interests of their own parts of the organisation or even from external organisations and as a result the politics and dynamics of the team can be much more complex. The whole system comes into the room with the individuals – it’s not like working in the goldfish bowl of the intact team that has regular contact and shared long-term goals. Team coaching interventions are vital to establish how to get the best out of each other and how to handle conflicts.

Yes, there can be a lot of baggage that people bring into the project team from their normal functional role. That sounds complicated to manage. Is a project manager equipped to hand these challenges?

Sometimes they are not! Project managers themselves can sometimes benefit from individual coaching. Often they are skilled technical experts with poor people and leadership skills.

If you do want to give team coaching a go, what should you consider?

It’s best to have a background in at least one of four areas: training, 1 to 1 executive coaching, organisational development consultancy or facilitation. Preferably in more than one of these areas.

OK, that probably rules out a lot of project managers. Knowing how much damage could be done if a team coaching intervention doesn’t work out as planned, it might be a good idea to call in the experts! How did you get into it?

By osmosis, really. I started working with teams over time, delivering team building, team facilitation and training. Teams started asking for me to work with them. You have to build a reputation in those areas but there is no clearly defined career path. In a sense, you have to look for the work.

So if I want to get a professional, experienced team coach to help my poorly performing project team, what should I look for?

You want someone with a track record who can demonstrate through case studies and examples the benefits of team coaching. You should ask for references and you should feel that they are personally credible. That’s a bit subjective, but it’s a combination of personal impact and track record. They should be easy to work with, and they should talk about pragmatic outcomes, not theory. It’s a very practical discipline. The teams I work with want results, not rhetoric, so look for someone who is grounded in practice.

OK, so let’s say I’ve found my perfect team coach. How do I convince my Project Sponsor to pay up?

It depends on the Sponsor! There’s not much research on team coaching, but organisations like CIPD have done some work on the efficacy of different interventions. You could get someone who has been through the experience of team coaching to talk to them about it and the benefits they have seen. If that doesn’t work, try talking to them about the consequences of not addressing the issues. What is the cost of not developing the potential in the team?

Good point! Team coaching is the next natural step from team building activities. Not everyone is going to be able to afford the investment in a team coach, or be capable of doing it themselves, so what’s your top piece of advice that we could use to put coaching principles to work on our teams tomorrow?

Creating authentic communication in teams means getting beyond facts, beyond opinion, to feelings and values. A lot of energy can be subverted because of the fear of saying how people really feel. Ask yourself if your project team can communicate congruently, authentically and honestly and if the answer is no, focus on how you can build trust in the team. Getting people to trust each ther more is at the heart of building effective teams.

Thanks, Phil!

Read the review of Phil’s book, Leading and Coaching Teams to Success, here.

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Josh Nankivel, speaking at PMI Global Congress

It’s January, which means it is cold and grey and we are looking to do things better than last year. That’s why I’m spending January focusing on coaching and the role it can play in improving your performance and that of your team. Today I’m talking to project management coach Josh Nankivel about what he does when he coaches people. Josh founded pmStudent.com in 2006 and has been writing and training in the project management space ever since, primarily focused on helping new and aspiring project managers.

Hello Josh. I know you coach new project managers, but what does a coach do?

I identify with the definition put forth by Eric Parsloe in The Manager as Coach and Mentor.

Coaching is “a process that enables learning and development to occur and thus performance to improve. To be a successful a Coach requires a knowledge and understanding of process as well as the variety of styles, skills and techniques that are appropriate to the context in which the coaching takes place.”

So it’s about teaching?

A successful coach enables learning and development through teaching, but even more than that a good coach cares deeply about empowering the people they coach to reach their goals.  I teach people how to land a job or manage project effectively, but if they don’t go out and actually DO it to earn success for themselves, I’ve failed as a coach.

Therefore, much of what I do is making people see why they are empowered to make things happen for themselves and inspire them to tap into their own potential. I’m not satisfied unless they execute on theory and make it reality.

If you want to start coaching people in your team, where should you begin?

Begin by listening, observing, and building trust. Until you have gained the trust of your team members, you won’t be able to coach them effectively. They need to know at a gut level that you are there for THEM, not the other way around. They need to know your goal is for them to grow and be successful.

If you charge in with great ideas and ‘best practices’ you will lose them immediately. Only after you’ve figured out what the heck is going on and have gained trust can you coach.

Sounds like a challenging job. What do you enjoy about coaching?

I love seeing people succeed. That could be a light bulb going on, having them implement a strategy I coached them on and having it land them a job, etc. It makes all the hard work worth it.

I also enjoy challenging people. Some of the advice I give to people I’m coaching or in writing on my blog is hard to swallow. I tend to be rather candid (but nice!) when pointing out how people can improve. These are the times when I see the most light bulbs going on, because I’m challenging basic assumptions and getting people outside of their comfort zone.

You write a lot and you work with people online, for example through your Work Breakdown Structures that Work (And How to Implement Them) course. Isn’t it necessary to coach people face to face?

It’s not necessary to coach people face to face, but without that direct interaction steps must be taken in order to have the best communication possible.

In my online programs for instance, I have had students create their own plans for sample projects and then in a coaching session I record my screen and voice as I critique their ideas and work. We go through iterations back and forth, improving the item under discussion as we go.

These lessons are made available to all students and are a very powerful way of coaching on specific nuts-and-bolts topics that you can’t really understand unless you are doing it yourself.

Regardless of the medium, the best method of coaching is to be able to observe what someone is doing directly and give candid feedback on how they can improve. That is why having a mentor at your workplace can be so valuable, because they can observe you managing your team or running a meeting and give you direct feedback based on their observations of your behaviour.

What do people do with the feedback?

Just as with everything else in life, results are dependent on the work put forth. You get out what you put into any endeavour, including a coaching relationship. Great athletes can’t rely on their coaches to make them successful, they have to put in the hard work and persevere. Many people I have coached have gone on to land jobs in line with the career trajectory I helped them define and pursue.

That’s pretty good. Do you have any examples?

There are several examples of people on the Career in Project Management LinkedIn group where people have shared their personal success. Some leave comments on pmStudent.com and many more send me personal email. Sometimes I ask for permission to share these stories when they involve lessons learned that can help everyone else too.

I’ll take a look at those. Thanks, Josh!

Josh has been managing projects in Computing, Financial Services, Telecommunications, and Aerospace for over a decade. Josh’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Project Management and he is PMP certified. He uses his experience and love of teaching to empower people to get started and get ahead in their project management careers.

Some links in this post are affiliate links, so if you click them and sign up for one of Josh’s products, I’ll make a small commission. Thanks, if you do that.

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