Project managers as leaders: self-assessment can be painful, but well worth the journey - Program Management and Leadership

Program Manager, May-June, 2002 by Keith Lymore

"It is not important what you are going to do, but what you are doing now."

--Napoleon Hill

This article was written as part of the graduation requirements for the Advanced Program Management Course (APMC), at the Defense Systems Management College (DSMC), Fort Belvoir, Va. APMC is the Defense Acquisition University's premier acquisition course, and is the capstone course for new program managers. Fourteen weeks in duration, the course provides insight into new regulations, dissemination of new techniques from across the Services, and an opportunity to develop professional relationships with members from all three Services.

What Weaknesses?

Initially the tasking to identify the weaknesses in my management style and then come up with a plan to resolve those weaknesses was a little overwhelming. Typically very few among us are willing to admit that we even have any weaknesses, let alone trying to identify ways to improve upon them. So at this point I was floundering and searching for the life vest--until we began our study of Program Management and Leadership.

A key portion of the block of study was the Defense Project Manager Research Study (DPMRS), authored by Dr. Owen Gadeken, a professor of Engineering Management at DSMC. Cadeken's study included interviews with over 900 individuals. The individuals interviewed were program managers, functional managers, and project management executives from various services at DSMC, the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), and the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT). Specifically what intrigued me was the block that discussed attributes typical of the best PMs:

* Are strongly committed to their mission.

* Have a long-term and big-picture perspective.

* Are both systematic and innovative thinkers.

* Find and empower the best people for their project team.

* Are selective in their involvement in project issues.

* Focus heavily on external stakeholders.

* Thrive on relationships and influence.

* Proactively gather information and insist on results.

"The greatest of all miracles is that we need not be tomorrow what we are today but we can Improve if we can make use of the potential implanted by God."

--Rabbi Samuel M. Silver

Insight renewed, I began formulating and outlining my paper to incorporate attributes of the best program managers. As I worked to produce a final cut of my paper, some attributes more than others seemed to cry out for attention. At this point, I decided that my paper would be a multifaceted effort, best approached by following six specific steps:

Steps to Success

* In Step 1, I would seek out the author of the DPMRS to gain a better appreciation of what he had found.

* Step 2 would be to identify a couple of PMs on campus who have obtained some measure of success and interview them about their careers. Admittedly, interviewing only one or two individuals on campus would in no way validate or invalidate the earlier results of the DPMRS. Through the interviews, I hoped to identify some of the attributes listed in Gadeken's study By taking this step, I would be validating, in my own mind, that the attributes were valid.

* Step 3 would be a Visit to DAU's Acker Library to review items already published by various authors on leadership, further augmenting my knowledge base on the topic of leadership.

* Step 4 would be to review my PROFILOR results to determine my personal strengths vs. weaknesses. The PROFILOR Is a 360-degree instrument developed to provide feedback and development focus, as well as recommendations to individuals about their management skill strengths and development needs. Under the PROFILOR assessment, feedback surveys are completed by your superiors, peers, and direct reports.

* Step 5 would follow once I had a firm grasp of my strengths vs. weaknesses. I could then begin to develop a plan to, first determine how I can more fully leverage the strengths that I already exhibit: and second, develop a plan to strengthen my Identified weaknesses.

* Step 6, the last step, would be to document the whole process and complete the assigned paper.

"Things turn out the best for the people who make the best of the way things turn our."

--John Wooden

Step 1

I began Step 1 by meeting with Gadeken, the primary author of the DPMRS. We had lunch and talked about the study and how he went about accomplishing it. Gadeken provided me with a number of additional articles, along with the digital files for some of the data from the DPMRS.

One article in particular, "Project Managers as Leaders; Competencies of Top Performers," Army RD&A, January-February 1997, discussed an article in the August 1988 edition of Training magazine.

Two researchers were trying to determine what makes University of Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant such a great coach. Instead of writing up their notes, they decided to watch him in action with his players. What they found was that he didn't do most of the things he alluded to in the Interviews. However, they discovered other behaviors such as detailed observation of player performance and immediate feedback, which actually accounted for Bryant's successes.