Episode 157 – The Project Coach – Boost Project Success

The podcast by project managers for project managers. As a project manager, do you have an obligation to support your team members’ development for the duration of your project assignment?  In this episode, Lisa DiTullio explains how to effectively coach team members and still get the work done. She describes how to create a learning, collaborative environment for your team, which will benefit each individual and the project delivery. Table of Contents 02:05 … Meet Lisa03:26 … Defining Coaching05:16 … Changing Landscape for Project Managers07:33 … Traditional Approach to Managing Projects09:45 … How to Coach and Deliver Successful Projects12:35 … Coaching Project Fundamentals16:40 … Asking the Right Questions18:04 … How to Evolve as a Manager Coach20:06 … Listen More, Talk Less21:58 … Coaching Through the Life of a Project25:01 … Fitting in a New Team Member29:40 … Keep it Simple to be Successful30:47 … Get in Touch with Lisa31:55 … Closing LISA DITULLIO:  And if they challenge you, like, “Well, wait a minute, you know this, can’t you just tell me,” you have to be prepared to be able to go back and say, “But when I give you the permission and the opportunity to think about this on your own, you will never forget it.  You will own it.  It is yours.  And then you can build off of that, and you can continue to succeed.” WENDY GROUNDS:  You’re listening to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  This is our bimonthly program, where we like to talk about what matters to you as a professional project manager.  And we’re so glad you’re joining us.  If you like what you hear, please visit us at Velociteach.com and leave us a comment on our website. I’m Wendy Grounds, and joining me is Bill Yates.  Our guest today is Lisa DiTullio.  Lisa is the principal of Project Chalk Talk.  She has over 25 years experience in establishing PMO and Portfolio Management models. She is also the author of several books and a regular contributor to industry blogs and various podcasts.  As past VP Portfolio and Program Management of Foundation Medicine, Lisa built the PMO from the ground up.  As past director of the PMO at Boston-based Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, Lisa was a core member of the turnaround team for an organization that went from being placed in state-supervised receivership in 1999 to being the number one health plan in America in U.S. News & World Report many years in a row.  So we’re going to talk with Lisa about the project coach. BILL YATES:  Yeah, some of these questions are going to be along the lines of, okay, do project managers also have an obligation or a responsibility to support team members’ development?  We’ve got to deliver successful projects.  What about our team members and their development?  It’s an opportunity to support team members’ development through coaching for the duration of the project assignment.  But again, you’ve got to find that balance of getting things done.  So we’re going to ask Lisa how coaching can be done simply, without getting in the way of successful project delivery. WENDY GROUNDS:  Hi, Lisa.  Welcome to Manage This.  Thanks for being our guest.  LISA DITULLIO:  Thank you so much for having me.  I’m thrilled to be here. Meet Lisa WENDY GROUNDS:  We’re excited to talk on this topic.  But before we get there, can you tell us about your current work? What are you doing right now, and how you got into project management? LISA DITULLIO:  I fell into the profession like many of us have, which is totally by accident.  I never grew up thinking I was going to be a project manager.  Didn’t even know what a project manager was.  And in typical form, most folks who are good at their day job get rewarded by being assigned a project.  And that’s exactly how it happened.  I had no background.  I had no training.  And I just knew that I had to deliver a lot of work within a certain timeline.  And I knew that the pressure was on, and I needed to do a good job.  It was a very small team.  And we were dealing with a momentous project in healthcare, which has been my primary focus throughout my career.  And that’s how it happened.  It was just simply by accident. I still believe the accidental profession is alive and well for so many different reasons.  And I left my day job again at the end of last year and decided, you know, once you start a business, then you have no fears about doing it again.  And so I’m doing it again.  I’m just having a lot of fun because I’m staying in a very narrow alley which is teaching, coaching, mentoring. And being a little bit of a change maker in this profession.  I think it’s time for us to do so. Defining Coaching WENDY GROUNDS:  Can you tell us what coaching is?  LISA DITULLIO:  Yeah.  There are so many different definitions.  A lot of people think of the traditional definition of coaching as in an athletic coach who oftentimes will give you strong guidance on how to do something to get better, to really focus and work on your talents and your strengths.  The coaching that I’m thinking of and from how we’re going to talk about it today is really about empowering individuals in a completely different manner because most folks that we oversee – and for project managers what’s really interesting about it is whether project managers recognize it or not, for the life of a project, those project team members spend most time with the project manager rather than their functional manager.  And they will rely on that project manager or program manager, especially if they’re good ones, to guide them along the way. And it could be that guidance can be in a plethora of areas and topics and skills.  The difference, though, for project managers, is it’s not telling our team members what to do and how to do it.  It’s challenging our team members on figuring it out on their own.  But we always offer them a safety net so they will never fail.  But it forces a complete different mindset on a project manager because it’s a whole lot easier.  We’ll just tell them what to do.  In fact, it’s worse than that.  Usually the project manager is, by the time I tell you to do it, I can do it myself.  So think about what we’re challenging these folks to do, which is, you know, sit on your hands, listen intently, ask a lot of questions, and empower the individuals.  And ultimately, as you do this on your project teams, you are creating a learning collaborative environment on your team, which is the ultimate place to be when you’re delivering really complex stuff. Changing Landscape for Project Managers BILL YATES:  That’s good.  That’s a great description. And, yeah, there’s a certain arrogance that I think it’s easy for project managers to fall into because many times we kind of grow, like you said, we kind of grow out of a technical background where it’s like, okay, I reached a level of competency where now, I’m kind of in charge of this part of the project or the entire project team.  That’s a great wakeup call.  I appreciate you talking about that.  I also wanted to talk about that changing landscape that you see for projects and project managers.  How would you describe that landscape today versus what it used to be? LISA DITULLIO:  Yeah, it’s a great question.  And, well, first of all, as a world, we’ve gone through extraordinary change in the last couple of years, and I don’t think we’re ever going back to what we used to have before on any level.  Yet, when you look at the history of project management, so the PMI was founded in 1969, and Agile became a thing in the early 1990s.  And by the way, I’m a big proponent.  Put your weapons down, stop worrying and fighting over what methodology is the best.  It’s about what’s best for the organization to meet those needs. We also have an aging profession.  I believe the latest stats on PMPs, that over 50% of our PMP holders right now have less than five years’ experience under their belt.  So now you go back to that coaching mode.  So I believe it’s an aging profession, and I think it’s also equally fueled by the Great Resignation.  But for those who are still with us who have been really well trained, real experienced, and are a full believer of the methodology, which I think is still a great thing. As long as we’ve got some flex to it, they want to tell us what to do. And the coaches themselves don’t necessarily see flexibility in the way we deliver projects.  So you have to change your mindset to be flexible in order to coach really well.  Because the younger generation, first of all they were born out of the womb with devices.  They have a different way of thinking and behaving.  And they have some extraordinary thoughts, ideas, and suggestions of how we all could do this better together.  So if we don’t open our mindset, we will never be able to coach them to extraordinary things.  It doesn’t just benefit them as an individual, but benefits the delivery of a project in a program. Traditional Approach to Managing Projects WENDY GROUNDS:  Lisa, can you describe how organizations have traditionally approached managing projects?  And what are some drawbacks to this approach? LISA DITULLIO:  Sure.  And again, I’m going to try to stay out of the debate of what methodology is better.  But for most of us, regardless of the methodology that we rely on, we rely on process.  We’re heavily driven by process and templates.  And the problem with that is we get so intently focused on process and templates, we forget to ask ourselves what does this project really need?  And speed is of the essence for just about everyone.  We are investing millions and millions and millions of dollars on these really important projects everywhere in organizations. And there’s some belief right now that there’s more money on the table for our projects than there are for operations.  And I think it’s a very compelling argument.  As a result of that,