Project management: Do you really need to be No.1?

Some time ago, I attended a very crowded and unbelievable long meeting. It was a kind of mixture between a brainstorming session and a focus group. Suddenly, the discussion remained stuck around this point

"How can we be considered the No. 1 company in our industry?"

I felt quite uneasy about the direction the meeting had been taking, until one of the more experienced and seasoned participants (which I hold in high esteem), said something incredibly interesting. I am not able to report his exact words, so I will paraphrase them to give you just the bottom line. I will write them in cursive to remark the fact that they did not come from me.


Why struggle so hard to be considered No. 1?
Do you think our customers really care about that? Why should they?
People want to make business with other people they trust, not with people whose primary goal is to be considered No. 1.
Let us just focus on business, be proactive and supportive with our customers, create relationships based on trust, be consistent and put all of our energies into our products development.
If someone will consider us the No. 1...well...all the better…but that should not be our primary goal.

An example from industry

In the ‘60s, Hertz was the number one company in the US rental cart market. Avis was second but at a sensible distance. The market share was, more or less, 61% - 29%, and this was a well-known fact by all customers.
In 1962, Avis came out with a brand new advertising, which embraced and leveraged the Avis smaller market’s share and turned it into a point of strength.


The campaign’s bottom line was “When you are only No. 2, you try harder”.
This very simple message was attuned in many different ways in the next 50 years of advertising.
The tag lines changed, but the message remained the same
“Avis can’t afford not to be nice”, “Avis can’t afford to make you wait”, “Avis can’t afford dirty ashtrays” and the reason, they could not afford these things, was that they just were the No. 2 in the market.

The “Try harder” campaign had been incepted by William Bernbach of the Doyle Dan Bernbach agency and turned out to be an enormous success. By the end of 1966, the gap in the market share percentage of the two companies shrunk to 49% - 36%.

Naturally, not being the No. 1 will not automatically make a fighter out of anyone.
“Try harder” requires outstanding traits and attitudes, that one has to find inside himself/herself or to develop within his/her professionalism.
Nevertheless, I do like the “Try harder” message, and I can see a significant advice in the background, a warning to everyone.
If become No. 1 you reach a plateau, and if you are struggling to be No. 1, you are struggling to reach that plateau. What then? Settling down?

I believe that the correct attitude is to keep on running and always try to improve, without the false goal of an arrival point. The goal should be to offer a better service to anyone who trusts you.

Let us shift this approach from a company environment perspective and apply it to project management.
Do we really have to care about what other people think and say? Do we really have to fight against windmills, like modern Don Quixote?

We just need to stay focused on our stakeholders’ needs and expectations, taking care of our projects, keeping our promises, always be present and consistent. Then, if someone will consider us to the best project managers on earth…well…all the better.
We must go straight to the point and keep simple what is meant to be simple. There is no time to take care of what is just garnishment.
We may be not using the latest buzzwords or may be not implementing the last brand new indispensable and how-could-we-manage-projects-before process…but why should we, if there is no need to?

After all, a project manager is not a pure theoretical figure. He/she is an individual placed in the real world coping with an imperfect reality. Do you know what? I believe that the best project manager would be the one taking good care of my projects and showing that he/she does really care about my needs.







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Project Management and Locus of Control - Part 02

Introduction

In the first post of this series we have introduced the Locus of Control, and we have examined some of its applications to project management.

We have seen that Locus of Control  describes the vision we have on our capability to influence outcomes. 

• External Locus of Control An individual that has an outside Locus of Control believes that every event in his/her life derives from factors outside his/her control. These factors can be summarized mainly as other people actions, luck, destiny… This kind of individuals tend to blame or to praise other people or circumstances for whatever success or failure they experiment in life.
• Internal Locus of Control An individual that has an inside Locus of Control believes that every event in his/her life derives from factors under his/her control. This kind of individuals tend to blame or to praise themselves for whatever success or failure they experiment in life.

The Locus of Control interacts with the way we perceive ourselves in relation with the external environment. It changes the perspective under which we interpret successes and failures. It biases our judgements on personal and other people’s performances and achievements. 

Locus of Control and project management processes

The Locus of Control is accountable for another insidious pitfall, since it can change and distort the focus on our project management processes. 

Please, take a look at Figure 1. The arrow depicts the position of the locus of control. The far right of the arrow indicates an extremely external position of the Locus of Control, while the far left indicates an extremely internal position. As we have seen in the previous post, these are both undesirable locations and are marked in red on the chart. The central part of the arrow represents the best possible location for the Locus of Control. The green zone represents a Locus of Control positioning that allows the project manager to achieve a well-balanced interpretation and assessment of successes, failures and performances. The Orange zones represent intermediate situations. Here I want to suggest a correlation between the Locus of Control position and the way in which we interpret events. As we can see from the graph, the more we move toward the right (external Locus of Control) the more we feel that our actions do not determine outcomes and, as a consequence, randomness governs projects. On the contrary, the more we move towards the left (internal Locus of Control) the more we feel that everything is almost under our control and, all of a sudden, everything can be considered deterministic.

Locus of Control - Extreme Right Positions

If the Locus of Control is on the far right side of the graph, the project manager will be inclined to blame or to praise other people or circumstances for projects’ success or failure. This could generate a sense of fatalism and the feeling that projects’ performance are completely random. That is extremely dangerous because if we believe that projects’ performance are completely random, or completely out of our control, there is no point in maintaining and enforce project management best practices. 

Locus of Control - Extreme Left Positions

If the Locus of Control is on the far left side of the graph, the project manager will be inclined to blame or to praise just himself for projects’ success or failure. This could generate a sense of almightiness (success) or dismay (failure) and the feeling that projects’ performance are completely deterministic. That is extremely dangerous too, because if we believe that projects’ performance are completely deterministic, or completely under our control, there is not a firm effort in maintaining and enforcing project management best practices.

Locus of Control and risk management

The biases toward processes triggered by Locus of Control position could manifest itself more powerfully in risk management processes, than in other areas. Not an unexpected consideration, since Locus of Control position constantly jams with what we perceive we can monitor and control.

Therefore, an external Locus of Control could lead toward enormous expenses in risk management related processes, since almost every aspect of a project become all of a sudden an aleatory event, or something whose impact can be estimated, but not entirely, controlled.

On the contrary, an internal Locus of Control could lead toward severe underestimation of risk management contingencies since almost every aspect of a project is considered completely deterministic or manageable.

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Project Management and Locus of Control - Part 01

Introduction

Last week I paid a visit to a couple of friends. They recently gave birth to a beautiful daughter and, with the help of some friends, I organized a small surprise party to welcome the newborn. During the evening, the newbie father told me, with a touch of bitterness, that any of his present project team members had organized something like that, nor congratulated with him for the birth nor even asked news about the baby. My friend was clearly upset by his colleagues’ behavior. He felt he didn’t deserve this attitude after months of close collaboration and blamed his team members for that. They simply had not been fair in his regards, since that particular team was used to organize recreational activities for occasions like this one. 

While I was going back home, I kept thinking about what my friend told me, and I felt a little sad about that. I do not know anyone of his colleagues personally, and I assume (yes I know...assumptions are tricky...) that he was right to be disappointed. After a little, I realized that I was watching just one side of the coin, and I tried to change the perspective.

Following this line of thought, I started to consider the extent in which we can actually influence outcomes and the extent in which outcomes are instead influenced by the environment we operate in.

Suddenly I started to think about the reason why some people are more prone to blame or praise others for their success or failure while other people tend to blame mainly themselves. Where is the balance? Are these behaviors always positive or negative?

The Locus Of Control
The  Locus of Control describes the vision we have on our capability to influence outcomes. 

• External Locus of Control An individual that has an outside Locus of Control believes that every event in his/her life derives from factors outside his/her control. These factors can be summarized mainly as other people actions, luck, destiny… This kind of individuals tend to blame or to praise other people or circumstances for whatever success or failure they experiment in life.
• Internal Locus of Control An individual that has an inside Locus of Control believes that every event in his/her life derives from factors under his/her control. This kind of individuals tend to blame or to praise themselves for whatever success or failure they experiment in life.

In Figure 1,  we can see an image that depicts a possible interpretation of the Locus of Control applied to project management. On the x-axis, there is the position of the Locus of Control for a given project manager. On the y-axis, there is a measure of the success or failure of a given project. The four quadrants represent how the project manager will explain success or failure as a function of his/her Locus of Control position.

Figure 1.  Interpretation of the Locus of Control applied to project management.

Locus of Control - Extreme Positions

If the Locus of Control is on the far left or far right side of the graph in Figure 1, the project manager will tend to read success and failure in an extreme way. He/She will build a distorted perception of himself and will experience feelings that could seriously impede the execution of a project or could get in the way during team management activities. The project manager could consider himself

• Almighty - Strongly internal Locus of Control and success - I have everything under my control. I am solely responsible for the outcome of all project’s activities and accountable for the outcome of the project as a whole. I can manage any project respecting any given constraint. The project team is pretty much irrelevant.
• Incompetent - Strongly internal Locus of Control and failure - I have everything under my control. I am solely responsible for the outcome of all project’s activities and accountable for the outcome of the project as a whole. I am obviously a poor excuse for a project manager. I can virtually doom any project that I put my hands on.
• Opportunist - Strongly external Locus of Control and success - There is nothing I can control. I cannot be liable for the outcome of any project’s activity and for the outcome of the project as a whole. I take credits that I do not deserve. Other people should be praised for this.
• Frustrated - Strongly external Locus of Control and failure - There is nothing I can control. I cannot be liable for the outcome of any project’s activity and the outcome of the project as a whole and yet I am wrongly accountable for success or failure.

Locus of Control - Mild Positions

If the Locus of Control is on the near left or near right side of the graph in Figure 1, the project manager will tend to interpret success and failure in a proper way. He/She will build a balanced perception of himself and he will experience feelings that could aid the execution of a project and team management activities. Furthermore, since feelings in this part of the graph are far less extreme than those experienced in the extremities, they are not mutually exclusive. Chances are that the project manager could experience a full range of feelings and could consider himself as a balanced set of the four categories below. Project execution will be largely and positively affected.

• Proud - Internal Locus of Control and success - I have many things under my control. I am partially responsible for the outcome of all project’s activities and accountable for the outcome of the project as a whole. I can manage projects respecting and balancing reasonable constraints. The project team is fundamental.
• Motivated - Internal Locus of Control and failure - I have many things under my control. I am partially responsible for the outcome of all project’s activities and accountable for the outcome of the project as a whole. I am not infallible. There is room for improvement, and I want to allocate time to professional development.
• Grateful - External Locus of Control and success - I have not many things under my control. I cannot affect the outcome of all project’s activities, but I am accountable for the outcome of the project as a whole. Other people in the team greatly contribute to the project’s success, and I have to praise them for their efforts.
• Helpful- External Locus of Control and failure - I have not many things under my control. I cannot affect the outcome of all project’s activities but I am accountable for the outcome of the project as a whole. Other people in the team can contribute to the project’s failure, and I have to help them to realize their true potential. I have to contribute to their professional development in as many ways as I can.

Where is our Locus of Control?

I do not know if it is possible to measure the exact position of our Locus of Control and I am not sure that we can change it in some way. What I am certain about is that a too extreme position of the Locus of Control can severely impact the ability of a project manager to effectively and  efficiently manage projects and teams. So I believe that is of the greatest importance that every project manager try to estimate his/her Locus of Control position each time he/she is bound to evaluate project’s performance, to avoid polarization in his/her judgement. 

Every time I have to evaluate my performances regarding success or failure of some activity, I always try to localize my Locus of Control, asking myself “Are you sure to be absolutely not polarized? Are you objectively evaluating the chances you got to influence this outcome? Have you done everything that you could have done?”.

Feedbacks from our peers and our project management team can be of the greatest help in this kind of activity. As a matter of fact, the localization of the Locus of Control is a very difficult activity, since this is something that is at the very core of our way to perceive reality.

In the next post, we will examine another hidden trap, related to the Locus of Control that could threaten proper management of projects.

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Reflections on leadership - Part 02

Success is a team play and great achievements are possible just through cooperation and trust.

I strongly believe in this statement and I keep on repeating it like it were a mantra. 

Today I would like to focus specifically on the part about trust.

Let’s try a little experiment

Let's pretend not to be in a big city in the middle of the twenty-first century, but in the middle of a wild jungle some thousand years ago. We are part of a tribe of hunters where farming and agriculture have not yet been adequately developed. Our hunting area is dangerously depleting and the lack of animal proteins is putting at risk the survival of our clan.

The only possible solution consists in an enlargement of our territory and a group of hunters, of which you are a part, will be forced to explore new areas, going well beyond the boundaries within which our tribe has lived until now. How do you feel about that?

Please, write on a piece of paper which are the three things you worry about most. 

The highway to extinction

Even if there are no rules and different people react differently to the same stimuli, chances are that in your list you have included, in the first positions, your beloved ones. 

Your children, your partner, your parents, especially if they are elders...in essence all the people that count on your presence and your care.

In the end you would take part to the expedition just the same, knowing that a failure could put at stake the entire clan survival, but probably you would not be able to commit at 100%. Too heavy would be the burden, to heavy knowing that someone you love could be negatively affected by your death. Probably all your team mates will experiment the same concerns and this could seriously jeopardize your mission and your tribe’s survival. 

A trustful environment leads towards evolution

This will be the outcome if you cannot trust that your community will take good care of the people you love the most. Because if you know that someone is going to help them in case something terrible will happen to you, if you know that they won’t be left alone, if you know that your clan will take good care of them...then you will be able to accomplish extraordinary deeds...and probably you will be destined to great achievements. 

Obviously not everyone survive the process. Casualties occur along the way. The bottom line is to have a team whose value is at least equal to the values of its members.

A trustful environment allow to follow the difficult path towards evolution, this was true 6000 years ago in the middle of a wild and hostile environment as today in our polished and sparkling towns. 

It could be objected that do exist subjects that do not conform to this behaviors. There are individuals that take giant risks without safety net (behavior leading sometimes to great evolutionary leaps) or that don't think to themselves as part of a community. That is true, but it is also true that you cannot rely on those behaviors because they are normally unpredictable and not sustainable in the long run.

A trustful environment transforms ordinary men into heroes

Projects are quite similar. If you nurture a trustful environment then your team mates will be capable to achieve extraordinary results, because they will be eager to take the extra risks that sometimes are required by evolution. They will try their best, because they will feel protected and supported, and you could count on a team whose value is greater than the values of its members. Because they will know that no one will be left behind. No matter what.

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Reflections on leadership - Part 01

Today I would like to challenge you with a simple quiz.

Take a look at Figure 1 and before proceeding further with the reading, write on a piece of paper who the people represented in the images really are.

Figure 1.

I guess that you have been able to recognize almost everyone in the given pictures. I also guess that your piece of paper should look something like this

• Adolf Hitler
• Abraham Lincoln
• Winston Churchill
• Napoleone Bonaparte
• Ernesto Guevara de la Serna
• Gaio Giulio Cesare
• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
• Margaret Thatcher
• Martin Luther King

Well, that is not what I meant. 

Having identified those people, having collected some personal data or biographical facts, it does not really say much about them. It does not really say much about who they really were. Their names are actually just the garments with which they crossed this world. What I mean is that all the people depicted in Figure 1, share a unique, common characteristic.

They all have been leaders.

They lived in distant countries and at different times, delocalized both geographically and temporally. Some of them have been good, some of them have been wicked, some of them have been an example to follow for all mankind, others an example that reminds how villainous and dangerous a human being can become.

Politicians, champions of civil rights, soldiers, warlords, adventurers, spiritual leaders, artists...it does not really matter.

What it does matter is that all of these people, at a time of their lives, have been able to move the collective conscience, have been able to make fall in love millions of people with their ideas and values.

Even today, despite none of these leaders is still alive, we are not indifferent to their presence. Their visions still animate our discussions; their deeds resonate in our minds, populating our dreams and our nightmares.

But then, what is this thing that we call leadership? What is this kind of black magic that seems to be emanating from some of us? How could it be defined, if human beings so different from each other can exert it with similar proficiency on other people?

I do not have the answer, and I guess nobody has one as well. Perhaps a more pragmatic approach lies not in defining leadership as such, but, following an approach similar to what you would normally do for the definition of mathematical models, identifying the characteristics that we believe are desirable.

Always behave in such a way that other people feel like sharing part of their life experiences with you

In 2012 I attended the Project Management Institute North America Global congress. On that occasion, also thanks to a talk held by James Kane and another one held by Marcus Buckingham, I started my

first reflections on leadership matter. In the latter talk I mentioned, Mr. Buckingham involved the audience in a very simple exercise, that I will propose you now. The exercise had been intended for other purpose but I think that could fit also in this line of thought that I am following. 

Imagine that your life is a company and that you have been given mandate to build from scratch the C-board. Write on a sheet of paper the names of the people that will take a seat in the C-board. Feel free to add as many people as you wish.

Many people add more than 8/10 people on their C-board. Most probable choices are close relatives (living or not), old friends, university professors that have given a meaning to your studies, mentors met while moving the first steps  In your career… it doesn’t really matter who you chose. What it does matter is that, again, all the people you added have something in common. All the people that you would like to have in our C-board have played a major role in some periods of your life. They have been extremely important people to you for some reason. As a consequence, being granted a place in someone else’s C-board is an overwhelming honor and a great responsibility. 

Always act in such a way that someone, one day, will grant you a seat in its C-board. If this will happen, it is a signal that you have been a good leader.

Live the message you spread

You have to be an example not only with your words but also with your acts. If you do not believe yourself in your message, whoever will? 

Pay attention, please. You are not allowed a single mistake regarding this aspect. You have to be the angular stone on which the project will be built. Your reliability and the consistency of your acts must be beyond any discussion.

Since we are looking for leadership characteristics and we talked about mathematical models, it seems reasonable to require some sort of transitivity for the properties described in the preceding two paragraphs.

Would you likely share part of your life experiences with this man/woman?

Consider as a true leader a man or a woman whom you would offer a seat on your C-board. Consider as a true leader a person that you would allow to take part in decision about your life, about your children’s future. If not you are probably following the wrong leader.

Spread the message you live

This is the only way to be always truthful and always consistent with yourself. Obviously you always have the due to improve yourself but you do not have to fake what you are not. One of those people in Figure 1 used to say “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time”. Guess who?

Take care of the message you spread

Do not let anyone, involuntarily or voluntarily, distort your message. Take care of it as if it were a child, with perseverance and love. It will be what will remain of you.

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