- “A mentor is someone who sees more talent and ability within you, than you see in yourself, and helps bring it out of you.” — Bob Proctor
Project management coaches work with project managers to help them face and overcome challenges in their projects and careers. This leadership role is translated to assisting project managers in discovering the capability within themselves to be organized in project planning, be confident in project control, be strategic in building relationships with clients, and be creative in problem-solving. The coaching subjects vary from person to person. We list some common ones.
Organize the work. Project managers deal with many things: meetings, follow-ups, tasks, stakeholders, etc. The first action of any project management coaching is to make sure we have time to work on the improvement. Organizing the work makes the time for consecutive steps. The best way is to help project managers understand the PMO standard and follow their project's established structure and control. The exercise should start with 1-2 weeks of shadowing their work to understand the process. The typical errors include too many meetings, team members are not engaged, no clear timeline for tasks, and a lack of proper tracking and reporting tools. The process setup and adequate time management can also boost the project manager's confidence in interacting with the team because they have a sense of control and a clear path of where the project he should direct the project to go next.
Drive action based on values. Project managers have to know-how to focus on the most valuable tasks to an organization. That means the functions that drive results.
Build relationship. PMO is a people organization. Therefore, people connections are essential for project management success. The foundation of healthy project management relations should start with a good master of project schedule, task, goal, and stakeholders, set up in the "Organized the Work" steps. With this, the next step is to understand your audience. This is about what they are good at, what matters to them, what's their challenges, and how you can help. A relationship is essentially a Give and Take situation. A project manager needs to give help first and take the trust and Support back.
Mitigate risks. Risk mitigation requires experience and tools. PMO should set up the Risk migration practices. It will be easier for project managers to follow and see the results with minimum effort/
Ultimately, the coaching should help project managers demonstrate their value by delivering successful results and advancing their careers with a promotion and raise.
Organize the work. Project managers deal with many things: meetings, follow-ups, tasks, stakeholders, etc. The first action of any project management coaching is to make sure we have time to work on the improvement. Organizing the work makes the time for consecutive steps. The best way is to help project managers understand the PMO standard and follow their project's established structure and control. The exercise should start with 1-2 weeks of shadowing their work to understand the process. The typical errors include too many meetings, team members are not engaged, no clear timeline for tasks, and a lack of proper tracking and reporting tools. The process setup and adequate time management can also boost the project manager's confidence in interacting with the team because they have a sense of control and a clear path of where the project he should direct the project to go next.
Drive action based on values. Project managers have to know-how to focus on the most valuable tasks to an organization. That means the functions that drive results.
Build relationship. PMO is a people organization. Therefore, people connections are essential for project management success. The foundation of healthy project management relations should start with a good master of project schedule, task, goal, and stakeholders, set up in the "Organized the Work" steps. With this, the next step is to understand your audience. This is about what they are good at, what matters to them, what's their challenges, and how you can help. A relationship is essentially a Give and Take situation. A project manager needs to give help first and take the trust and Support back.
Mitigate risks. Risk mitigation requires experience and tools. PMO should set up the Risk migration practices. It will be easier for project managers to follow and see the results with minimum effort/
Ultimately, the coaching should help project managers demonstrate their value by delivering successful results and advancing their careers with a promotion and raise.
References
- Susanne Madsen, The Project Management Coaching Workbook, Feb 2012
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