In the previous post of this series about Project Manager Competence Development we introduced the PMI, Project Management Institute’s (2007), Project Manager Competency Development (PMCD) Framework – Second Edition. In this post we will explain why coaching makes a difference when developing project manager competence.
Evidence shows that a majority of projects fail or are challenged. The roots of this problem can be found in two main issues: Inadequate organizational project management maturity and lack of adequate project manager competence.
William Ibbs and Justin Reginato (2002), Quantifying the Value of Project Management, investigated organizational project management maturity and clearly made the link between this and project performance.
The importance of the project management environment has also been pointed out by Andy Crowe (2006), Alpha Project Managers: What the Top 2% Know that Everyone Else Does Not. As Andy Crowe points out based in statistical analysis: “Alpha project managers work in organizations that support project management.”
According to Andy Crowe, the second differentiator for high-performing Alpha project managers is commitment to improvement and self-awareness. For the project manager competences to be developed to the level that will make a difference in terms of project performance we should see evidence of commitment to improvement and self-awareness.
What is awareness? We can read in Wikipedia: “Awareness is the state or ability to perceive, to feel, or to be conscious of events, objects, or sensory patterns. In this level of consciousness, sense data can be confirmed by an observer without necessarily implying understanding. More broadly, it is the state or quality of being aware of something.”
In John Whitmore (2009), Coaching for Performance: Growing Human Potential and Purpose – The Principles and Practice of Coaching and Leadership, 4th Edition, we can read that “Building awareness and responsibility is the essence of good coaching.”
We can conclude that the essence of coaching is precisely what Andy Crowe points out as the main human differentiator for high-performing Alpha project managers.
Effectively, having coached project managers for more than one hundred hours in the last year, when I was preparing my professional coaching certification, I can testify about dramatic changes in the ability to communicate and interact with project teams and stakeholders of my project manager coachees.
Coaching makes effectively a difference when developing project manager competence. The reason probably can be found in the fact that project managers can only control and improve those competences of which they are aware, and can only improve them when entering into a process where they are responsible for their own performance improvement. Only awareness and responsibility combined lead to competence development. In the words of John Whitmore: “Coaching is unlocking people’s potential to maximize their own performance.”
Jaume Gallifa, MBA, PMP, ACC is Managing Director at Gallifa & Partner LLC and can be reached at jaume.gallifa@gallifa.ch