Bep141 PDF Eng 2

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BEP141
January 31, 2012
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CHAPTER FOUR
Leading Project Managers:

The Project Executive Role
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From Strategic Leadership of Portfolio and Project Management
By Timothy J. Kloppenborg and Laurence J. Laning
(A Business Expert Press Book)
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© 2012 by Business Expert Press. All rights reserved.
Harvard Business Publishing distributes in digital form the individual chapters from a wide selection of books on business from
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mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise – without the permission of Harvard Business Publishing, which is an
affiliate of Harvard Business School.
This document is authorized for educator review use only by Diana Muslimova, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business until Mar 2024. Copying or posting is an infringement of
copyright. [email protected] or 617.783.7860
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This document is authorized for educator review use only by Diana Muslimova, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business
until Mar 2024. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email protected] or 617.783.7860
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CHAPTER 4
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Leading Project Managers:
The Project Executive Role
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Managing a portfolio
Making data-based
to implement
decisions (chapter 7) Competing objec- strategy (chapter 2)
tives to achieve
1. Executive vs.
Understanding IT Manager
2. Capability vs. Sponsoring
opportunities and
successful projects
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challenges (chapter 6) Results
(chapter 3)
3. Projects vs.
Operations
4. Function vs.
Listening to customers, Function Leading project
employees, and
managers (chapter 4)
processes (chapter 5)
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Often, an executive has one or more project managers reporting to her.

This chapter describes what project managers do and how an executive
oversees their efforts. Specifically, how is it both similar and different to
lead a project manager instead of a functional manager? While there are
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many definitions of leadership, we focus on the process of establishing a

vision and then strategizing, aligning, communicating, and motivating
people to achieve that vision.1 The purpose of this chapter is to help you:
• Determine the specific duties project managers need to

perform in your organization,
• Describe the personal leadership you need to coach your
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project manager direct reports, and

• Describe the tasks need to perform as you lead your project
manager direct report.
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76 STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP OF PORTFOLIO
Messer Case to Lead Project Managers
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Founded in 1932, Messer is a full-service complex commercial con-
struction company specializing in building for health care, higher
education, and life sciences. For many years at Messer Construction
Company, we observed the performance of Project Managers and were
challenged by the fact that while they were achieving high results,
results would vary from one project to the next. This cyclical pattern
didn’t follow typical logic in that since the Project Manager had gained
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more experience on the previous project, he should be able to apply
that experience at a higher level and achieve higher results on subse-
quent projects. The challenge is that with this variation in results, it is
far more difficult to predict outcomes that would accomplish a con-
sistent and successful project and overall company business plan. Our
interest then became a study of what causes variation in performance.
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The key question Messer Construction leaders faced is how can
they effectively lead their project managers in efforts to consistently com-
plete successful projects? This is the classic question regarding leadership
of project managers and the subject of this chapter.
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Project Executives
A project executive supervises one or more project managers as direct
reports and is coresponsible for delivering project results with the sponsor
and project manager. He provides functional resources, governs methods
used on the project, helps the PM develop, and delivers project results
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according to plan. Ideally, a project executive would have experience as a

project manager and would serve on the leadership team. Lacking these
experiences, it would be helpful to enlist the ear of an experienced project
manager for advice as needed. This experienced project manager could
be an internal expert or hired from outside the organization. Effective
project executives can anticipate criticism as various stakeholders hold
differing opinions and are well-served by having a thick skin.
While much guidance has been written for supervisors generally,
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there is very little standardization of what a project executive should do.

What is written generally overlaps with the role of sponsor. In this chapter
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LEADING PROJECT MANAGERS 77
we describe the task and coaching duties an executive needs to perform

overall and at each project life cycle stage when serving as the direct super-
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visor of a project manager. While coaching and task responsibilities are
somewhat overlapping, we find it helpful to remind executives that there
are some duties they must do as well as those to help develop the project
manager. If the executive is also serving as sponsor, the responsibilities
described in the previous chapter also apply.
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Project Managers
A project manager is an individual who is responsible for leading a team
that creates unique products and/or services on a temporary basis to meet
the needs of one or more customers subject to constraints of time, money,
and other resources. We now introduce two global standards and one
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rapidly emerging trend that may become a standard in describing the role
of project managers.
Project Manager Standard Definitions
A classic, yet limited definition of the project manager’s aims is “to achieve
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the project objectives.”2 Yet this same global source, the PMBOK ® Guide,
also discusses several responsibilities the project manager must accept in
order to achieve the project objectives including:
• Identifying requirements and ensuring the project plan aligns

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with organizational goals,

• Addressing the needs, concerns, and expectations of
stakeholders,
• Balancing the competing project constraints of scope, quality,
schedule, budget, resources, and risk,
• Progressively elaborating plans as more detailed and specific
information and more accurate estimates become available,
• Controlling assigned project resources, and
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• Leading the project team as they ensure the flow of the

project and create the project’s products.3
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The standard United Kingdom (UK) source, the Office of Gov-

ernment Commerce (OGC) seeks to operationalize the project man-
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ager’s role from the UK project management standard (PRINCE2).
The PRINCE2 definition of a project manager is “the person given the
authority and responsibility to manage the project on a day-to-day basis
to deliver the required products within the constraints agreed with the
Project Board.”4
PMBOK ® Guide and PRINCE2 both use a stage gate model to
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describe the flow of project work with the need for stage ending delivera-
bles to be accepted and organize a project manager’s responsibilities into
multiple process groups or themes. The PMBOK ® Guide has the nine
process groups of integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resources,
communications, risk, and procurement.5 PRINCE2 uses the seven
themes of: business case, organization, quality, plans, risks, changes, and
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progress.6
A trend that has proven to be very popular in software development
projects and is spreading to some other types of projects is known as agile.
Agile project management is an iterative method of determining require-
ments for development projects. It requires an empowered project team,
with frequent supplier and customer input. Agile techniques are best used
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in small-scale projects or projects that are too complex for the customer
to understand and specify before testing prototypes. Project outputs are
delivered in small increments every two to four weeks.7 In an effort to
sound truly different, the equivalent of a project manager in an agile envi-
ronment is called a ScrumMaster. The ScrumMaster is responsible for
making sure a team lives by agile values and practices. The ScrumMaster
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protects the team by making sure they do not over-commit themselves.

The ScrumMaster facilitates daily meetings and becomes responsible for
removing any obstacles that are brought up by the team during those
meetings.8
PMBOK ® Guide and PRINCE2 are both widely accepted standards
that use a process driven, planning approach. Agile, which is rapidly gain-
ing popularity, uses a reactive, emergent approach. Since it is difficult or
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impossible to fully plan many projects at the outset, many organizations

are experimenting with parts of the agile philosophy and methods that
can be used with the more traditional approaches.
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Applied Project Manager Definition for this Book
In this book, we will primarily use the larger global standard (PMBOK ®
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Guide) with ideas and techniques from the other two approaches. In
short, a project manager leads a team in developing an understanding
of the customers needs and desires (often in an iterative fashion). The
project manager is responsible for delivering products and/or services
that will satisfy those needs and desires, subject to constraints, risks,
and to managing changes that may come from customers or other
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sources.
Stage-by-stage responsibilities for both project executives and pro-
ject managers are outlined in Table 4.1. In the following section we
describe what project managers need to do at each point in the project
life so the executive who leads them can understand their duties. The
final major section of this chapter describes the responsibilities of
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project executives.
Project Manager Responsibilities by Project Stage

We now describe what a project manager needs to do at each point in
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the project to better understand the demands of an executive who has a

project manager direct report.
Project Manager Overarching Responsibilities
When considering overall project responsibilities, a project manager

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needs to remember how project success is determined. Satisfying cus-

tomers is most important, followed by meeting agreements (according
to specifications, on time, and on budget), and finally achieving broader
organizational and team benefits.
First, a project manager has to satisfy the project’s primary customers.
On some projects this is best accomplished by creating exactly the deliv-
erables that were agreed to initially and delivering them when promised,
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for the agreed amount of resources. On other projects, business condi-

tions and customers’ desires change considerably. On those projects, the
project manager needs to work very closely with customers to understand
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Table 4.1. Project Manager and Project Executive Stage-by-Stage

Responsibilities
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Project manager Project execu-
(PM) tive (PE) task PE coaching
Stage responsibilities responsibilities responsibilities
Overarching Satisfy customers, Oversee PM, Empower and
deliver promised Provide resources, promote PM, help
results on time & on Provide subject area PM with leadership,
budget, support team decision-making communications, and
decisions, manage and continuity, lead “big picture” under-
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communications, improvement within standing, help PM with
champion project functional area project team, leader-
ship team, sponsor, and
stakeholders, balance
quality and urgency
focus
Selecting Help identify and Participate in project Coach PM to identify
justify rationale for selection (if member and justify rationale for
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potential projects of leadership team) potential projects
Initiating Write charter rough Recommend direct Help PM understand
draft with team, nego- report to be selected requirements, help PM
tiate charter as PM, Help PM understand charter con-
with sponsor develop business case cept and methods, help
for project, work PM incorporate lessons
with sponsor on busi- learned from previous
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ness case as needed projects

Planning Create plans for Set project expecta- Help PM define require-
communications, tions, ensure PM ment, and schedule,
scope, schedule, creates needed plans help PM align various
budget, and project goals and develop
team culture, Progressively
delegate
Executing Acquire, develop, and Provide continuing Advise PM on achiev-
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lead project team, direction, attend ing and reporting pro-

manage risks and progress meetings, gress, help PM replan
changes, monitor, con- personally engage
trol, and report progress stakeholders as needed
Closing Transition project Ensure lessons Ensure stakeholders are
deliverables to users, learned are captured satisfied; Help PM assess
capture lessons and disseminated, team members, Help
learned, evaluate team evaluate project PM understand impor-
members, administra- manager, sign off on tance of and dissemi-
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tively close project project closure nate lessons learned

Leveraging Schedule and conduct Participate in (or Coach PM on
benefits follow-up assessment at least insist on) conducting follow-up
follow-up assessment
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their need for changes, help the customer understand the impact of the
changes on the project schedule and budget, and then make the changes
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the customer desires. The project manager is then expected to deliver the
revised deliverables according to any agreed upon revisions in the sched-
ule and budget.
Project managers facilitate teams through meetings that often include
a series of thought expansion (when exploring options) and focusing
(when selecting approaches) efforts. To do this, they:
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• Ask questions,
• Establish order out of chaos,
• Create detailed and unified project plans, and
• Think many times and then act decisively.9
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The project manager needs to support team decisions, champion
the project, and manage project communications. Often, project
team members will have differing opinions. The project manager
needs to ensure all opinions are heard, and decisions are made with
qualitative and quantitative data. Once decisions are made, all pro-
ject team members need to support the decisions so the project team
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speaks with one voice. The project manager typically spends a large
amount of time advocating for the project by communicating with
many stakeholders.
Project Manager Selecting Stage Responsibilities

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The project manager sometimes participates in project selection by help-

ing to identify possible projects and justifying the rationale for each.
At many organizations, all employees are encouraged to propose possible
projects consistent with organizational goals. The person who proposes
a project and/or another person who will be the likely project manager
will often need to compile brief justification regarding why the project
should be selected. Essentially, the leadership team makes investment
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decisions with projects. They decide if the expected project benefits (dis-
counted for risks) appear to be worth the investment in cash and other
resources needed to complete the project.
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Project Manager Initiating Stage Responsibilities
The project manager’s main responsibilities during initiating are to lead
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the team in developing a draft charter and then negotiate it with the
sponsor to authorize the project. As we have emphasized, one of the
most important project management documents is the charter. The char-
ter is a high-level project plan. Both the typical contents and process
of developing charters are described in chapter 3. Sponsors have more
organizational power than project managers, but the charter should still
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be negotiated. The project manager needs to express his strongly held
opinions on approach and feasibility. At the end of the negotiation, both
sponsor and project manager should be in agreement on all portions of
the charter and feel it is realistic.
Project Manager Planning Stage Responsibilities

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Much of the detail work in this stage is performed by the project manager,
core team, subject matter experts, and other project stakeholders. Each of
the detailed planning documents is an elaboration of a short statement
contained in the project charter. The level of detail can vary considerably
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depending on the project size, risk, and complexity. This work includes
developing the plans for communications, scope, schedule, budget, and
project team.
Project Communications Planning
Many projects fail because of inadequate communications. The purpose

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of a communications plan is to more fully understand:
• Who all of the project stakeholders are?

• How they are prioritized?
• What each wants from the project?
• What information each needs to share with the project team?
• What information each needs to receive from the project team?
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• The most effective means of receiving and acting appropriately

upon the received information, and
• When each communication needs to be received?
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The short answer to the project communications challenge is not to

just copy everyone on every communication, but to carefully target com-
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munications. Project managers often discover that various stakeholders
have some of the same communication needs. In these cases, the project
manager can simplify the communications by using some of the same
communications for these groups.
Project Scope Planning
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The project manager and team then ask each stakeholder what their
requirements are for the project. These requirement lists are often quite
long and contradictory, so prioritization decisions need to be made—
often with the help of the sponsor and/or project executive. On some
projects the requirements for the entire project can be determined at the
outset, on other projects the team decides to plan the early part of the
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project in detail right away and plan future portions as results from early
parts provide additional detail that help with the later planning.
In either case, the requirements are then normally used to create a work
breakdown structure (WBS). The WBS is an outline of all of the delivera-
bles that will be created on the project, broken down into fine enough detail
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so the work to create each can be accurately estimated, and one person can
be held accountable to both plan and create each deliverable.
Project Schedule Planning
Project schedules can be tricky as they may be limited by any or all of the
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following five factors:
1. The logical order in which activities must be completed,

2. The time for each activity,
3. The availability of key workers when needed,
4. Imposed dates and
5. Cash flow.10
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Creating workable project schedules requires the project manager

to use both specific methods (science) and judgment (art). We now
briefly describe each step. After the product deliverables are understood,
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the project manager and team can estimate the schedule. This begins
by determining the work activity needed to produce each deliverable
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identified in the WBS. Once the activities are understood, they can be
sequenced by asking what can begin immediately, what can begin next,
etc. Teams often write one activity per sticky note and place them on a
work surface so the team can debate the most logical order.
The project manager and team need to estimate how long each work
activity will take to complete. This should be done by envisioning who will
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do the work, what is involved, and what other commitments the workers
have. The duration estimates for each activity can then be combined with
the logical order already determined to estimate a possible schedule. This
first cut at a schedule may be too long, in which case the logical order
and/or the duration of individual activities need to be reconsidered. This
first cut schedule, however, may actually need to be lengthened when
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worker availability, imposed dates (such as fiscal year demands), and cash
flow are considered.
Project Budget Planning
A project budget can be developed from the schedule. Each work activity
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needs to be estimated at whatever rate per hour the worker costs. Many
work products also require materials, equipment, and other expenses.
Once the total project costs are forecast, they need to be put in a cash
flow according to the schedule. At that point, it is possible that the cash
flow coming in may limit how rapidly project expenses can be paid out—
thereby slowing the project progress.
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Project Team Planning
Upon first hearing of a potential project, a project manager begins to

assemble a small core team who will ideally be with him throughout the
process, helping with work and decisions. If the project has much size,
however, the project manager often needs a larger team at key points in
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time. As more planning details are determined, the need for more work-
ers, especially those with a particular expertise, begins to emerge. A pro-
ject manager will identify those needs and identify where those workers
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might be –whether internal to the company or hired from outside. While

project managers often negotiate directly, if every department only offers
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unproven workers, a project manager may need help from either sponsor
or project executive to secure the promise of at least some experienced
staff.
Project Manager Executing Stage Responsibilities
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In this section, we focus on the project manager responsibilities that
occur when the project team is executing work to satisfy the agreed upon
requirements. These responsibilities include working with the project
team, risks and changes, progress, and results.
Acquire, Develop, and Lead Project Team

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Acquiring the needed workers often starts during the project planning
when the need for particular expertise is identified. Depending upon how
much authority was granted to the project manager in the charter, they
may need help in securing the services of some workers who are in high
demand.
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Remembering that the most important project success criteria are sat-
isfying customers and delivering on promises, one might think that devel-
oping a project team is of less importance. However, developing both
individual team members and the project team as a whole is important
both to accomplish the work of the project and to groom workers for
more responsibility. The best project managers see projects as ideal train-
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ing grounds for worker development.

When leading a project team, project managers need to realize that
contemporary project management is integrative, iterative, and collabo-
rative. Projects are integrative, as many parts need to come together into
a coherent whole. They are iterative, since results of early work lead to
and constrain choices for later work. They are collaborative, since many
diverse stakeholders need to be accommodated and many diverse team
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members need to work together.11 Other than on some small projects,

the project manager has neither all of the answers nor the capability of
personally getting them. Various team members need to step up in their
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respective areas. Project managers generally find an empowering style of

leadership is more effective than a controlling style of management, yet
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the project manager is responsible for overall project results.
Manage Risks and Changes
The project manager normally leads the team through risk identifica-
tion, assessment, and response planning when creating the project char-
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ter. The project manager needs to make sure that the person who was
assigned responsibility for each major risk during chartering continually
monitors for indicators that the risk event may be coming and starts the
response plan if appropriate. On many of the larger risks, the project
manager is the person responsible for these actions. Typical responses to
negative risks (threats) either attempt to lower the probability of the risk
event from occurring or lower the impact to the project if the risk event
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does occur. Conversely, typical responses to positive risks (opportunities)
either increase the probability of the event occurring or further capitalize
upon the results if it does occur. Additionally, the project manager should
periodically lead the team in efforts to uncover new risk events that were
not originally foreseen, but may occur due to changing circumstances.
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Change is inevitable on many projects. In fact, the agile school of

thought suggests it is so difficult on many projects to plan the entire pro-
ject, that only very high-level plans are made initially and detailed plans
are developed every two to four weeks to determine possible progress.
This allows many changes to be incorporated. At the other extreme, on
some projects the entire plan is approved and every possible change needs
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to be proposed, evaluated, decided upon, and if approved included in a

revised project plan. Regardless of the tolerance for change, the project
manager needs to ensure that any agreed upon change is incorporated
into all planning and control and any unapproved change does not creep
into the project.
Monitor, Control, and Report Progress

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Project managers monitor both their personal work and that of their
team. The style of monitoring can vary from informal management by
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walking around on small projects with workers geographically close, to

formalized reports on larger projects and/or those that may be dispersed
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geographically. The level of detail and frequency a project manager needs
to monitor is often much more precise than what she, in turn, reports to
sponsors and customers.
Control is established by having a plan and comparing the monitored
progress against the plan. When the difference between plan and actual
(called variance) is too great, the project manager acts to get progress back
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on track. Again, this can range from an informal conversation with a team
member as they brainstorm alternatives, to formalized direction.
Customers and sponsors want to know that progress is being made.
Project managers and teams do not want to be micro-managed. The way
to satisfy both is to have a standard method and timing for reporting
progress. One way to envision this is to consider three time periods: the
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immediate past (since the last report), the current (until the next report),
and the remainder until project conclusion. The report may include the
following:
• Immediate Past Period

Plan as approved for that time period

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Actual progress made during that time period

Variance between actual and plan

Reasons for any variances.

• Current Period until Next Report

Current plan including any approved changes

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Risks likely to occur during this time.

• Remaining Period until Project Conclusion

Plan until conclusion

Risks likely to occur during this time.12

Deliver Results
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The reason a project is conducted is that some customer wants the result-
ing deliverables. Therefore, the most important responsibility for a project
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manager is to deliver results that the customers can use. One of the great
contributions of agile thinking in projects is the concept of incremental
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benefits. This means the customer should not need to wait until project
conclusion to receive any benefits from the project. To the extent possible
(it is easier on some types of projects than others), the project manager
should deliver drafts, prototypes, partial products, information, or other
interim deliverables as soon as possible to help the customer realize some
gain from the project early. Regardless of how many incremental benefits
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are possible the project manager is primarily accountable for delivering
any results that have been promised. That means all of the work with the
team, risks, quality, and reporting are merely means to help ensure the
project will deliver results.
Project Manager Closing Stage Responsibilities

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During the closing stage project managers transition project deliverables
to users, evaluate team members and provide input to their performance
reports, capture and share lessons learned, and administratively close the
project.
Project managers often use a checklist to make sure all deliverables have
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been accepted by users and all needed support has been included. This often
means including instructions, warrantees, training, or other support. Since
the most important measure of project success is customer satisfaction,
merely transitioning deliverables, without the ability to use them, is not wise.
Project managers often do not formally evaluate team members—their
functional managers do. Project managers can do two things to lessen the
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potential negative impact of this. First, they need to continually keep

functional managers informed and eager to see the project succeed. Given
other demands on the functional manager, this is not always easy. Second,
project managers can provide unsolicited input to the functional manager
regarding the performance of team members. If the team member spent a
large amount of time on the project and the input is well-written, specific,
and reasonable, a busy functional manager may be tempted to use it in
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the performance review. Project managers can tell their team members
that they will be providing input to the performance evaluations.
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The project manager often works with the sponsor to secure lessons
learned as described in sponsor responsibilities in the previous chapter. At
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this point, the project manager needs to formally close the project with all
workers and resources reassigned as appropriate.
Project Manager Leveraging Benefits Stage Responsibilities
The leveraging stage is for an assessment of how well the end-users of
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the project deliverables are able to use them. Were the benefits that were
promised during project selection delivered? Has the client capability
improved because of the project deliverables and has the company capa-
bility improved because of utilizing lessons learned from the project pro-
cess? Have any methods developed on the project been reused on other
projects and have any project results been used in additional ways beyond
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the immediate project results? The project manager needs to schedule
and conduct a follow-up assessment to ascertain which of the promised
benefits have been realized.
Project Executive Responsibilities by Project Stage

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The first part of this chapter described what a project manager needs
to do at each stage of the project life cycle. The remainder of the chap-
ter deals with what an executive needs to do when a project manager
directly reports to her. While some of these things can be delegated to
others such as a sponsor or a human resources person, the executive
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a project manager reports directly to needs to ensure these leadership

responsibilities are accomplished. These are responsibilities typically of
an executive who a project manager reports directly to—not of a spon-
sor as described in the previous chapter. We focus specifically on how
to lead a project manager. Some of this is just a difference in emphasis
in comparison to leading a functional manager or individual contribu-
tor, but much is unique to leading project managers. At each project
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stage we describe both task and coaching responsibilities for the project
executive.
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Project Executive Overarching Responsibilities
The sponsor has primary responsibility for directing a project, the project
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manager has primary responsibility for managing the project, but the pro-
ject manager’s supervisor has responsibility to oversee the project manager
as the results of the project reflect on her part of the organization. Some-
times it can be a delicate dance to work effectively with a sponsor who
has differing goals.
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Lead in Functional Area
A project executive often has functional responsibilities within the com-

pany. She is responsible for decision-making within that function. For
instance, an engineering manager is responsible for how engineering is
conducted. The project executive provides continuity and spearheads
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improvement within her area. The project executive also directly super-
vises the project manager.
This executive needs to commit the necessary resources from her divi-
sion to the project. Often the project manager does not have personal
authority to commit resources. Many projects also require resources from
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other parts of the organization. It is the project manager’s primary respon-

sibility to secure those resources, but both sponsors and supervisors can
be helpful.
An executive may have both project managers and functional manag-
ers as direct reports. Some performance criteria may be the same for both.
This forms the cohesive bond between the two groups. Typical common
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project-specific performance goals may include items such as:
• Milestone completion on time and with acceptable quality,

• Customer satisfaction,
• Budgeted cost versus actual cost, and
• Project on-time completion.
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Performance goals such as these directly help to achieve current

business success. More challenging is developing appropriate and easily
measured goals for helping to develop the long-term capability of the
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firm. While long-term organizational growth is more often considered by

functional managers, it can be fostered by also including project manager
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specific performance goals such as:
• Realization of promised benefits,

• Reuse of portions of the project plan and/or results,
• Development, retention, and promotions of team members, and
• Reapplication of lessons developed during the project.13
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Help the Project Manager Communicate Effectively
Projects typically have many diverse stakeholders and a variety of team

members from differing backgrounds. Projects often have significant time
pressures. Finally, many projects create products or services that in turn
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force significant and not always understood change. All of these combine
to make communications more important and more challenging. Project
managers spend large portions of their time communicating one way or
another. Two analogies that may help are to consider the project manager
as both a bridge and a ladder. Project managers need to bridge gaps in
understanding between various stakeholders and various team members.
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Project managers also need to serve as ladders, providing a structure to

keep the project making progress. Effective communications help project
managers in both their bridge and ladder roles.
Leading in a manner that enhances cross-functional integration helps
with incorporating the various stakeholder needs in planning, in making
timely decisions, and progressing well. One critical communication chan-
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nel in this process is between you and the project manager who reports
directly to you. To the extent you can have frequent, rapid, and candid
conversations, you set the stage for the project manager to have the same
kind of communications with a myriad of others.
Project executives often encourage managers to develop standard
approaches or even templates for communication needs such as:
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• Project elevator pitch to briefly describe what the project is

and why it is important,
• Project charter to authorize the project,
t
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• Stakeholder register to list, prioritize, and describe needs of

each stakeholder,
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• Communications matrix to outline who needs to know what,
when, and by what means,
• Risk register to outline major risks with strategy to handle
each and who is responsible,
• Progress reports to help key stakeholders understand progress
and challenges, and
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• Customer feedback to understand how users feel about both
the project methods and results.
Empower the Project Manager
Project managers often enjoy little position power because they often have
few if any direct reports. This means they cannot order something to be
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done, but have to persuade others to perform. Leaders can encourage
project managers to develop other forms of power such as:
• Referent power based upon establishing personal relationships,

• Expert power based upon knowledge and skills, and
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• Connection power based on relationships with important

people such as sponsors.14
Project managers need to develop a deep understanding of vari-

ous stakeholders. Managing stakeholder relations is a key part of any
project manager’s duties and should be assessed. Completing a project
No
on time, on budget, and to specification is of less value if important

stakeholders are ignored or treated poorly. The sponsor and leadership
team are particularly important stakeholders. A project executive does
her project manager a great service when he helps the project manager
plan for meetings with these critical stakeholders. The project execu-
tive also needs to help the project manager handle informal interac-
tions with many powerful stakeholders—effectively navigating political
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reality.
Another project-specific skill is to quickly lead her new team to develop
a common understanding of the upcoming project and then negotiate
t
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it with a sponsor and possibly other key individuals. This requires the
ability to:
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• Understand projects are investments,
• Think in big pictures,
• Integrate various components,
• Envision how the schedule could play out,
• Foresee risks,
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• Understand people (the project team, sponsor, and key
stakeholders), and
• Be willing to suggest the project may be a nonstarter if the
risks are too high.
A special opportunity sometimes arises with project managers. Some

op
project managers are very experienced. If you have one of these individu-
als reporting to you, consider how you can capitalize upon some of their
expertise in mentoring more junior project managers.
Develop the Project Manager

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We described project manager responsibilities in the early part of this

chapter, both on an overall basis and a stage-by-stage basis. Many of these
responsibilities are similar to those faced by functional managers, such as
satisfying customers, ensuring work is completed on time and to accept-
able quality, leading a team, etc. However, a few of the project manager
responsibilities differ from those of functional managers, and a leader
No
needs to help the project manager develop the project-specific competen-

cies such as dealing with stakeholders, charters, schedules, and replanning.
Projects often have aggressive timelines. The entire reason projects are
undertaken if someone wants to use the deliverables that will be created
and sooner is better than later. That said, executives can be most effective
when leading with an appropriate sense of urgency balanced by an insist-
ence on quality. This does not mean setting unrealistic expectations. It does
Do
mean a continual focus on delivering useful results in a timely manner.

Leading in an empowering style often sets project managers and
others free to make quick decisions and keep making rapid progress.
t
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Projects are especially good vehicles for progressively delegating more

responsibility. An executive can work closely with the project manager at
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the outset to help ensure the project gets off to a good start. As the pro-
ject manager proves he understands the big picture of where the project
fits and what is most critical to key stakeholders, more and more detail
and visibility can be given to the project manager. By encouraging the
project manager to empower core team members, the project manager
will have more capacity for higher level decision-making.
yo
The last portion, and perhaps most important, in personally leading a
project manager is to always have the goal of retaining and even promot-
ing the project manager for the future. This implies continually keeping
an eye open for development opportunities, but also trying to help the
project manager have a sense that he wants to remain at your company.
This may include both monitoring the project manager’s feelings and pro-
op
moting advantages of staying with the company.
Project Executive Selecting Stage Responsibilities
The project executive, like all other employees, needs to identify potential
projects that may help to further the organization’s strategic plan. The
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executive can best do this by understanding the strategic direction of the

firm and the selection criteria for projects. Additionally, if the executive is
part of the leadership team, he will actively participate in deciding which
projects to select.
The project executive also needs to coach her direct reports on how to
identify potential projects and justify the rationale for each. This coaching
No
on how to write very brief business cases will serve the project manager
well. Project managers need to be able to briefly describe what a project
involves and why it is important. Project managers need to actively pro-
mote their project to many audiences at many levels.
Project Executive Initiating Stage Responsibilities

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Project executives need to carefully recommend which of their direct

reports might be appropriate to manage a specific project. Projects are
great training grounds, but everyone is not a good choice for every project
t
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either as the project manager or in other roles. Leading a person who is

not a good choice for their respective role is difficult.
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Projects are typically initiated (made official) by a signed charter. The
most essential element of a charter is the business case. Project executives
can help their project managers develop compelling business cases by get-
ting them to consider three questions. First, how is the project strategi-
cally aligned to one or more company goals? Second, what is the return
on investment of time and money? Third, what is the emotional hook
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that will convince members of the leadership team to select the project
and will convince the project team and other stakeholders to persevere
through tough spots?
Part of the wisdom a seasoned executive hopefully brings is an adaptive
style based upon lessons learned from previous projects. Role-modeling
the adoption of what worked well in the past and how to change things
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that worked poorly sends a clear message to project managers that they
need to do the same. Managers who do not use lessons learned keep
repeating previous mistakes and inefficiencies. Part of leading in an adap-
tive style is also being flexible. No two projects are exactly alike and
flexibility within normal good practice and procedures is essential.
Projects are performed to satisfy a need. Requirements gathering ses-
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sions are often conducted to elicit needs and wants from various stake-
holders. While more in-depth requirements gathering will occur during
planning, a project executive helps her project manager by insisting that
high-level requirements be determined as early as possible.
No
Project Executive Planning Stage Responsibilities
Project executives can help project managers have more stature by visibly
supporting them. Setting clear expectations and delegating to the project
manager by stages both let the project manager understand exactly how
much authority he has, thereby increasing his confidence. Executives can
lead project managers by exception. That is, the project manager can lead
his team in the manner he wishes (subject to ethical standards and any
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mandatory policies and procedures) as long as the progress and results are
within a stipulated tolerance. Once the performance exceeds the toler-
ance, the executive can dictate.
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Once a project manager understands the wants and needs of the myr-
iad stakeholders, it is time to prioritize them. She needs to make tradeoffs
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such as determining what features and functions will not be included,
which stakeholder demands are met first, or when schedule or budget
demands are loosened to allow more scope—or vice versa. As an execu-
tive with a big picture view of the organization, you can help ensure the
project manager makes sensible tradeoff decisions.
A special case of stakeholder alignment is the members of the pro-
yo
ject team—both core team and subject matter experts. A project execu-
tive can encourage their project manager to have one-on-one discussions
with each member to understand their personal goals. Often those can
be factored into the assignment of specific duties on the project. Effec-
tive project managers try to align personal goals with project goals to the
extent possible.
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A project-specific skill is creating and managing project schedules.
Developing realistic project schedules is an iterative activity that takes
into account many factors. A project executive helps her project manager
by imposing as few arbitrary dates as possible and working with the pro-
ject manager to resolve key worker availability and cash flow issues.
The project manager has primary goals of satisfying customers and
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delivering project results as promised. However, the company benefits

more if project managers also help to groom team members for greater
responsibility. Projects have a culture just as organizations do. You can
encourage the project manager to develop a project culture that gives
team members confidence to offer ideas, make decisions, and take action.
An empowering project culture makes it easier for the project manager
No
to develop team members. As the team members develop specific project

competencies, the project manager has more confidence in them.
Project Executive Executing Stage Responsibilities
Project executives need to provide continuing direction. They can dem-

onstrate how to use balance when intervening. On most projects, there
Do
will be times when everything is not going well. A seasoned project execu-
tive often develops a sense for when apparent failure partway through
a project really is a danger signal and when it represents acceptable
t
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progress. When it appears a project is in trouble, you may want to inter-

vene rapidly and aggressively to demonstrate your sense of urgency. On
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the other hand, you may want to intervene more cautiously and carefully
to emphasize how you are empowering the project manager.
You will also want to help your project managers develop a feel for
when to let their team members or other stakeholders work and when
to intervene. By encouraging the project manager to monitor both team
members’ motivations and their ongoing morale, it will be easier for him
yo
to determine when to intervene.
Project executives can discuss an escalation process with their project
managers before it needs to be used. Project managers have more confi-
dence when they understand the limits on the type, size, and timing of
issues they can personally decide versus those that need to be escalated.
Timely and clear communication also gives project managers confi-
op
dence and authority to make decisions when needed. Helping the pro-
ject manager understand when she needs to wait for more information
and when she needs to make a rapid decision also empowers her. As the
project manager performs well, showing that you have confidence in
her and giving her more authority to make bigger decisions continues
the empowerment process. Having the project manager capture, share,
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and use lessons learned to better manage provides more knowledge and
confidence.
Since many project schedules are critically important, it may be nec-
essary to quickly remove a project manager who is not performing. It is
often necessary to replace a project manager more rapidly than a func-
tional manager.
No
Hopefully, the sponsor has ensured that quality measures are des-
cribed for each milestone. The project executive can be helpful in focus-
ing efforts on those quality measures. As the project progresses, the
project executive will often observe how the project manager keeps track
of and deals with:
• Ongoing issues that will need to be settled when time and/or

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information permit,
• Risks that increase or decrease in probability and sometimes
occur,
t
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• Proposed changes to the project that need to be approved or

not and include in plans, and
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• Project communications that can enhance or detract from
performance.
Sometimes, the project manager’s supervisor will attend project

reviews or meet with customers to listen to the voices of customers,
employees, and processes. This allows the executive to:
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• Show support for the project manager,
• Provide ongoing direction to help the project manager stay
aligned with higher level goals,
• Suggest possible improvements to the project process or
results (as long as those changes do not adversely impact
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project priorities),
• Consider opportunities for the larger organization to gain in
new ways from the project, and
• Recommend anything up to and including project cancella-
tion so the company does not throw good money after bad in
a losing cause.
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Project executives may need to have their project manager replan.

Replanning skills start with the project manager having workable methods
for managing issues, risks, and changes. Strong project managers develop
the ability to track cost and schedule in a timely and accurate manner and
then the courage to report both honestly. When a project needs to get
No
back on schedule, the project manager may need to take actions to reduce
the project scope, overlap sequential activities, temporarily increase work-
load of individuals, or acquire additional workers. At the extreme, a pro-
ject may truly be failing and the project manager either needs to rescue
it by extreme means or suggest terminating it. Any of these may require
approval from the sponsor and/or other key stakeholders.
When you have a project manager reporting to you, insisting that
Do
they use standard approaches and templates will help them to control
information and help you to have confidence in them. Meeting manage-
ment can be a particular communication challenge to project managers.
t
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Meetings are important as key decisions get made and lots of expensive
staff time is tied up in them. Project managers can be more effective in
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meeting management if they use:
• Advance agendas to effectively plan each meeting and solicit

timely input from stakeholders,
• Minutes to record decisions made, unresolved issues, and
action items with responsibilities,
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• Issues logs to add any pending decisions and remove those
that are resolved, and
• Meeting evaluations so meetings can progressively improve.
Project Executive Closing Stage Responsibilities

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Project executives need to evaluate their project manager direct reports
and the end of a project is a natural time for reflection. It is reasonable
to partially assess a project manager by how well-managed the project
was. A project in trying circumstances could be well-managed and yield
mediocre results, while a project in easy circumstances could be poorly
managed and still yield good results. A project manager should be par-
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tially rewarded based on how well she managed regardless of the challenge
faced.
One further challenge project managers often have is that team
members are evaluated by the functional manager they report to. Project
executives can encourage their project managers to communicate fre-
quently with functional managers and to provide input that may be used
No
in the employee evaluation.

Project executives need to have their project managers ensure stake-
holder input is captured and understand how satisfied all of the stake-
holders are. It is sometimes difficult to fully satisfy all stakeholders, but
project managers need to do their best.
Project executives need to insist that lessons learned are captured and
disseminated. Effective use of lessons learned on future projects can help
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reduce variation. One way to ensure this is to withhold evaluating the

project manager and signing off to officially close the project until useful
lessons learned are discussed and captured.
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Project Executive Leveraging Benefits Stage Responsibilities
Projects are selected based upon expectation of yielding benefits. Some of
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the benefits on most projects are impossible to determine until the results
have been used for a period. Project executives need to ensure that after
the results have been used for an appropriate length of time, the project
manager leads a benefits assessment. Several types of questions can be
asked. Were the project deliverables as useful as promised? Are any of
them able to be reused in different circumstances beyond the original
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plan? Are any of the methods developed on the project useful in other
situations?
Messer Case to Lead Project Managers

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Construction is a service industry. While there is equipment involved
in building structures, the work largely is performed by skilled crafts-
men lead by effective Project Managers. Senior Project Executives are
direct supervisors of Project Managers and, as such, are concerned
with both project success and development of Project Managers.
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Lessons Learned
Project executives have found six specific ways to help their project
managers learn.
1. Align the Project Team

No
We don’t produce our product by trial runs until we get it right, we

only get one shot at it. So our attention turns to understanding the
complexity of projects and the identification of processes to better
assure success. When you look at a typical project, the people assigned
to the project are mostly coming together for the first time. The indi-
viduals represent many contractors, subcontractors, designers, and the
client. As you can imagine, everyone rightfully has their own agenda
and goals that they want to achieve, whether that is for their company
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or for themselves personally. The first challenge is to align these many
(Continued)
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agendas and goals so they can all be accomplished while assuring a suc-
cessful completion of a project as defined by the client.
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2. Achieve Success on Unique Projects
Another dynamic is that this team is building something that has never
been built before. As said earlier, each project is widely different than
the next, and we get one shot at it. While these two dynamics are alone
challenging, the additional forces on the projects are that they need to
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be completed more safely, faster, for less cost, with high quality and
higher overall value—all in an environment that is not typically con-
ducive to the construction process.
3. Remove Variation from Project Processes

Given all this, we understand the incredible amount of variation intro-
duced into the process. Management control systems developed over
op
the years have done little to improve project performance because they
don’t remove variation in the process and typically are lagging indica-
tors of success. The reality is that this is more than managing a process;
it is about removing the variation in human performance at the project
level where true value is created. Value creation in our industry is done
through people. And to the extent a Project Manager can influence the
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many others in creating this value, the project success will be directly
affected. The key to this success is leadership—they ability to influ-
ence the outcomes by personally engaging the stakeholders. The pri-
mary responsibility of the Senior Project Executive, in leading multiple
Project Managers, is to grow their individual leadership abilities.
4. Collect Institutional Knowledge

No
As stated earlier, this is not about implementing more controls. People

typically don’t respond well to being “controlled.” The human spirit,
having a passion for what you do and pride in your work, when lever-
aged, will produce high outcomes and more predictable and consist-
ent results every time. Collectively, our leaders at Messer have more
than likely experienced virtually every kind of project challenge; but
because of the fragmentation of the construction process, we strug-
gle with leveraging institutional knowledge to improve our individual
Do
performance.
(Continued)
t
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In solving this, we first needed to find a way to capture this knowledge.

In 2003, based on an idea, we created a platform to collect and store our
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institutional knowledge so that we could share it with leaders across the
company. Today we call it our “Center of Excellence.” Understanding that
evolving technology was going to play a major role in providing access to
information, we designed a program to allow all employees in all locations,
including remote jobsites, to be able access this knowledge whenever they
needed. This form of just-in-time learning radically improved our ability
to transfer knowledge—far better than traditional training.
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5. Share and Use Institutional Knowledge
Structurally, the Center of Excellence is set up primarily like a library,
with information arranged by the major divisions of construction
work with search capabilities. For each division of work, we identified
internal experts who were known for their expertise with this particu-
lar type of work. These experts came together and began the process
op
of downloading everything they knew about that work. This is not the
content you find in textbooks. This is information that only comes
from years of experience. The content includes:
• Best practices
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• What to watch out for

• What not to do
• Planning checklists
• Templates
• Outlines
• Pictures
No
• Videos, and
• Anything that they could share about what worked in
creating successful outcomes.
If someone has information they would like to add, they simply

forward it to the consultant who reviews it for inclusion. When view-
ing the content, if someone still had a question or problem that needed
further information or insight, the person could click on an icon that
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would put them directly in contact with the internal experts for that
(Continued)
t
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work. We continually add content to the Center of Excellence and are
op
migrating the Center to a more dynamic platform, which will allow
everyone to add content without having to channel it all through an
administrator.
The next opportunity to ensure Project Managers were perform-
ing at the highest level was to find a way to elevate how we share
information. The Center of Excellence is one way, but in order to
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share current issues in a timelier manner, we developed our Best Prac-

tices Meetings. From an organizational perspective, each of our nine
regions holds a regular “Best Practice” meeting. At this meeting, an
agenda drives the sharing of best practices from the company to the
region and from the region to the company. Included in this meeting
are the region Executive, the Senior Project Executives, and all the
Project Managers. Each meeting typically has several predetermined
No
best practices that are presented and discussed, as well as an oppor-

tunity for others to share “on the fly.” At the bi-weekly Executive
meetings, the executives have the opportunity to share best practices
from these meetings that they believe should be implemented across
the company. Each region leader is then responsible for taking those
best practices back to their region to share for implementation. This
allows for more expeditious process improvement and greater adop-
tion of the best practice.
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(Continued)
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Example of Sharing and Utilizing

Institutional Knowledge
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Messer has for years been the leader of the building construction process
focusing on delivering high value to the customer. One element of this
value proposition is quality. While we strive to deliver high quality on every
project, we are challenged in this effort mainly because a large portion
of construction projects are built by many different subcontractors—all
who share different definitions of quality. For our Project Managers, the
yo
creation and communication of the specific quality expectations for each
project is a continual process to assure each subcontractor’s definition of
quality is consistent with our definition of quality. Over time, we have
created many quality plans for the many projects we’ve built. Within a
discussion of best practices, the decision was made that we needed to
build further consistency in how communicate, plan, execute, assure and
sell quality at Messer. To accomplish this, a quality development team
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was established to focus creating an overall Messer quality framework as
well as the tools necessary to carry out quality construction processes. The
elements of the quality system are as follows:
“Quality Leadership System”
1. Quality System Guidelines

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2. Project Processes
3. Quality System Administration Tools
4. Building Information Modeling
5. Exterior Building Commissioning
6. Building Systems Commissioning
7. Prefabrication
No
8. Lean Construction.
The draft of the Quality Leadership System was then presented to

the Executive Officers by the quality development team. The result
of the presentation was complete buy-in and support for moving for-
ward with this initiative. This is a crucial step, in that each of the
Executives is responsible for driving the adoption within her region
by all Project Managers on all projects. The implementation plan for
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(Continued)
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the QLS includes the identification of a high-level QLS manager to

oversee the QLS and future improvements, pilot projects in each of
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our nine regions, pilot project feedback on the QLS process plus best
practices communicated to a quality steering committee, refinement
of the QLS based on the feedback received, establishing quality cham-
pions within each of our nine regions to facilitate real-time support,
and then company-wide Operations training and implementation
on all projects. Beyond Operations, the QLS will be introduced to
all corporate support functions to result in a QLS across the entire
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company.
6. Develop Project Manager Leadership and Manage

their Careers
As implied earlier, at the core of managing multiple Project Managers
is the ability of the Senior Project Executive to personally impact the
op
growth of those leaders. For some years, our performance manage-
ment process has had well-supported discussions between the Senior
Project Executives and Project Managers regarding their line-of-sight
goals—for both performance and development. To elevate the process
and to ensure greater consistency in performance, individual devel-
opment planning, and career planning, this year we are implement-
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ing a competency-based development process. For each position in

the company, a set of competencies are identified and used to create
an individual development plan for that person for the next year. As
it relates to Project Managers, we leverage the complexities of their
specific project as the subject for the goals. Senior Project Executives
observe the progress of the Project Manager regularly throughout the
year and annually conduct a formal review of progress. Along with
No
these discussions, the Senior Project Executive is able to discuss the

next level of competencies for the Project Manager so that they can
develop stretch goals that take the Project Manager to the next per-
formance level. The competency-based development process will lead
to more consistency in leadership skill sets among Project Managers
resulting in more consistent performance.
William S. Krausen
Professional Development Vice President
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Messer Construction Co.
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How Leading Project Managers Can Help Achieve

Competing Objectives
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Executives Setting Strategy and Managers Implementing It
Executives who have a project manager directly reporting to them focus

on project results and continually describe how they are aligned with
the company’s strategy. They provide continuing direction to the project
manager while emphasizing the alignment. Executives who closely follow
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project progress can continually consider additional ways project results
may benefit the company. They ensure timely and clear communication
with the project manager, help the project manager understand and man-
age stakeholder needs, and help the project manager understand how the
project is an investment in the company’s future.
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Sustainable Organizational Capability and Achieving
Current Business Results
Executives who treat the project as a training ground deliver current

results and improve the participants. Executives with project manager
direct reports personally use and insist the project manager use lessons
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learned to both improve the current and future projects. They demon-
strate to project managers how to use judgment on when to intervene,
understanding that quick interventions may lead to current results while
delayed interventions may lead to employee development. Executives
need to use judgment on replacing the project manager since quickly
replacing often yields immediate benefits while a struggling project man-
No
ager may learn. Effective executives lead the project manager with a goal
of keeping and promoting him, establish and use appropriate perfor-
mance goals, and set clear expectations for the project manager.
Project Goals and Operational Goals
Executives can simultaneously work toward both project and operational

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goals by encouraging the project manager to plan for and use open com-
munications with various stakeholders. They can establish some common
performance expectations for both project managers and functional
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managers so they are encouraged to work together. Executives can also

encourage their project manager direct reports to provide input to func-
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tional managers for possible inclusion in team members’ performance
reports.
One Function’s Goals and Another Function’s Goals
An executive who is the direct supervisor of a project manager can work
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with the project sponsor to support the project. She can help the project
manager communicate effectively with all stakeholders and help the pro-
ject manager prioritize stakeholder expectations.
Top 10 Assessment Questions

1. How are your project managers trained to know their specific respon-
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sibilities for each stage in a project?
2. What are three to five typical performance expectations you have
for project managers in your organization?
How can the executive who has a project manager (direct report) help:
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3. The project manager develop personal leadership?

4. Empower the project manager?
5. The project manager to develop project specific competencies?
6. The project manager to communicate effectively?
7. The project manager to be more effective with the project team?
8. The project manager to remove variation from the projects?
No
9. The project manager collect, share, and use institutional knowledge?

10. The project manager manage their careers?
Do

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t

Leading Project Managers:

© 2012 by Business Expert Press. All rights reserved.

Often, an executive has one or more project managers reporting to her.

many definitions of leadership, we focus on the process of establishing a

• Determine the specific duties project managers need to

project manager direct reports, and

Messer Case to Lead Project Managers

according to plan. Ideally, a project executive would have experience as a

there is very little standardization of what a project executive should do.

we describe the task and coaching duties an executive needs to perform

Project Manager Standard Deﬁnitions

• Identifying requirements and ensuring the project plan aligns

with organizational goals,

• Leading the project team as they ensure the flow of the

The standard United Kingdom (UK) source, the Office of Gov-

protects the team by making sure they do not over-commit themselves.

impossible to fully plan many projects at the outset, many organizations

Applied Project Manager Deﬁnition for this Book

Project Manager Responsibilities by Project Stage

the project to better understand the demands of an executive who has a

Project Manager Overarching Responsibilities

When considering overall project responsibilities, a project manager

needs to remember how project success is determined. Satisfying cus-

for the agreed amount of resources. On other projects, business condi-

Table 4.1. Project Manager and Project Executive Stage-by-Stage

ness case as needed projects

lead project team, direction, attend ing and reporting pro-

tively close project project closure nate lessons learned

Project Manager Selecting Stage Responsibilities

The project manager sometimes participates in project selection by help-

Project Manager Initiating Stage Responsibilities

The project manager’s main responsibilities during initiating are to lead

Project Manager Planning Stage Responsibilities

Project Communications Planning

Many projects fail because of inadequate communications. The purpose

of a communications plan is to more fully understand:

• Who all of the project stakeholders are?

• The most effective means of receiving and acting appropriately

The short answer to the project communications challenge is not to

Project Scope Planning

Project Schedule Planning

following five factors:

1. The logical order in which activities must be completed,

Creating workable project schedules requires the project manager

Project Budget Planning

Project Team Planning

Upon first hearing of a potential project, a project manager begins to

might be –whether internal to the company or hired from outside. While

Project Manager Executing Stage Responsibilities

Acquire, Develop, and Lead Project Team

ing grounds for worker development.

members need to work together.11 Other than on some small projects,

respective areas. Project managers generally find an empowering style of

Manage Risks and Changes

Change is inevitable on many projects. In fact, the agile school of

to be proposed, evaluated, decided upon, and if approved included in a

Monitor, Control, and Report Progress

walking around on small projects with workers geographically close, to