While effective people management has been cited as one of the key reasons for successful project delivery, the reality is that hostility among team members, conflicting goals, inconsistent performance and unclear expectations are all challenges that we, as project managers, face daily.
Over the years, project managers have adopted numerous management techniques (some successful and other not so much) to create high performing teams to improve the chances for project success. Many believe that good team coaching can take any team, whether it’s a functional team, a project team or a team of managers, to the next level.
Coaching is about creating change that enhances performance and learning. It can be defined as “a professional, collaborative and outcomes-driven method of learning that seeks to develop an individual and raise self-awareness so that he or she might achieve specific goals and perform at a more effective level”. In short, coaches emphasise new competencies, learning and goal attainment.
The coaching methodology encourages improvement, going to the next level, achieving aspirations, identifying ways to live to one’s fullest capacity and potential. But what does a coach have to do to achieve these improved results?
It is important for the coach to provide the appropriate resources, and this includes time (which is already a scarce resource in a project environment), personal commitment, money, information and training. Another critical step in the process of effective coaching is the right attitude from both parties. Remember that coaching is an ongoing process and requires regular follow up sessions with the coachee, and the nature of projects is such that challenges often arise that demand the immediate attention of the project manager. In the absence of regular feedback and interactions between the coach and coachee, the coaching process will be counterproductive. All of this sounds extremely complex for a project manager that just wants his or her project to be delivered on time, within scope and budget with minimal disruption.
However, it was still difficult for me to accept that this technique, which promises great benefits on paper, is not already being performed on projects. This prompted me to investigate how coaching relates to PMBoK best practice project management, PRINCE2 and agile practices.
Best practice project management includes the human resource management knowledge area, which involves all aspects of people management and personal interaction – including leading, coaching, dealing with conflict and a process group where you guide, assist, communicate, lead, negotiate, help and coach. But there is no guideline for how this should be performed by the project manager.
The PRINCE2 methodology does not directly deal with social or “soft” management skills, such as negotiations, presentation techniques, coaching, or leadership, but states that it is necessary for a project manager to possess these skills to be successful. The agile methodology, in contrast, has made provision for a specific role on the project called the “agile coach”. This person is responsible for providing feedback and advice to the project team, serves in a mentoring or coaching role only, often a person from outside the organisation who is not part of the scrum team. The agile way goes as far as having a reference guide from A to Z to understand what an agile coach focuses on, what they do, how they act and, more importantly, why.
Is coaching the “silver bullet” to achieving project success?
There is no dispute to the benefits that coaching can add. These range from increased openness to personal learning and development, improvements in individuals’ performance, targets, and goals. Most importantly, it can provide greater ownership and responsibility (exactly what every project aims for!) as well as the potential rejuvenation of longer serving staff. This are also key considerations when you look at the future that we are headed towards, where the dynamics of the fast changing world of business have created new kinds of business challenges, including the need to develop people, while curbing replacements as well as the need for new skills to answer new demands.
After considering the benefits, I have decided that there is definite role coaching can play in the success of a project and maybe the question I should be asking is rather “should the project manager perform the role of coach on projects?” “The agile line of thought may have the correct approach here, so perhaps we should be considering an independent coach, line manager or even the project management office to perform this management activity?”
However, we need to bear in mind that selecting the wrong coach could have negative effects on the project team and could almost certainly result in project failure. So which way do you go?
