project managers vs line managers the ultimate derby match…

Project management is a neat phrase bandied around in business that encompasses a huge range of diverse skills. When put head to head, however, who would come out on top when comparing the skills needed to deliver change and sustainable improvement – Project Managers or Line Managers?

Over the next 5 years the water industry will face more change than at any other time since privatisation. As the detailed planning for the projects and initiatives needed to drive their change agendas over the next AMP starts, should companies turn to the ‘professional’ project manager who hasn’t led the line or the experienced line manager who hasn’t delivered a successful change project?

Using the seductively simple Plan. Do. Review framework we will explore who would ‘win’ in a head to head match.

PLAN

The ultimate success of all projects can be determined by the foundations laid during the planning phase. But who has the best skills?

Set Clear Objectives:

Start with a clear vision of what you are trying to achieve. Work out early on your goals, main outputs and end objective. Then set the team the challenge of defining the exact the problem you are trying to solve or the opportunity you are looking to exploit. Only then can you avoid ‘scope creep’ and unnecessary delays which result in extra expense and a confused end result. Clarity of vision enables quantifying benefits and a sustainable outcome.

Assemble the Right Team:

Consider the people around you and use the expertise of colleagues, direct reports, and those in front end customer / asset facing roles. Create a good mix of internal and external stakeholders who will be able to feed in ideas which will help to develop creative, effective and sustainable solutions. Continue to involve these key stakeholders, checking back throughout the life of the project to ensure the outputs are fit for purpose and address the original project objective. The right team with the right mix of skills will ensure you are representing each audience.

Engaging the team from the outset means they are empowered to offer ideas and opinions, and more likely to stand behind the eventual solution presented at the end of the project. This is particularly important if the project requires process or behaviour change. People are not good at having change done to them, far better to bring them along with you during the process.

Project Managers (PMs) are generally good at planning (probably because they have the luxury of time) vs line managers who often jump straight to action. However, PMs can spend an inordinate amount of time and effort on project inception documents and planning to a paralysing level of detail. PMs win 1-0

DO

Once the project is underway, keeping it moving forward and to plan is never easy.

Get the governance balance right:

Good governance is essential, but not at the expense of project delivery. Sense check each item of governance and ask whether it is adding necessary controls that support the delivery of the project or whether it is in fact holding everything up. It is possible for large more complex projects to get 6-12 months in and have only delivered a large pile of paperwork that ticks a lot of boxes but hasn't delivered anything on the ground to improve service, compliance or financial efficiency.

Equally, no governance at all is a recipe for a loss of control and disaster. Get the balance right.

Raise Problems Early

Resist the urge to cover up problems or risks. Steering groups are there to help and can't support a project manager effectively if they don’t know what is really going on. If scenarios change, problems emerge, risks materialise, or complications develop, raise them candidly and seek help in how to effectively overcome them. Equally, if expectations are unrealistic from the start, it is important to raise this at the earliest opportunity. It is better to have these difficult discussions at the start to set expectations than part way through (or worse) near the end.

Remain agile throughout the project:

Business priorities can (and often do) change over the life of a project. Market volatility, customer demands or even the scope of the problem can mean plans need to flex. Keep an eye on the wider business and adapt the project as you go whenever possible. It is important to be aware that all projects operate in a dynamic environment and the team will need to adapt as it progresses. No one will thank you for delivering a redundant or less effective output because you've stuck to the Microsoft Project Plan.

This is where a project manager who has previously led the line (or that is going back in to the line) can be a powerful agent of change. They tend to be less afraid of raising potential issues because they know the alternative is ultimately much worse.

Good line Managers are excellent implementers and tenacious in tearing down barriers and ‘finding a way.’ PMs however, often get lost in the project management methodology or bureaucracy- endlessly updating risk and issues logs that go nowhere or submitting change / scope alteration requests while nothing at the coal face is actually changing. Overall Line Managers Win 1-0

REVIEW

The end of a project is often a time of relief and celebration. All too often the project team disbands quickly missing a valuable opportunity to learn and improve. Take time to hold a proper post project review to reflect with your project team and key stakeholders on what worked and what could be improved on next time. Once you have collected the output, don't just file these insights away. Agree next steps that will internalise the learning points and drive a change in thinking with other projects/teams. At a minimum, ensure they are understood by the next project team.

Is your project sustainable? Don't move straight onto the next thing:

Once a project has been delivered it is often tempting to move onto the next business challenge or opportunity. How long after delivery / ‘go live’ do you typically check sustainability? In our view this should be for at least as long as the project lasted, so a 12 month initiative needs at least 12 months of sustainability reviews. This is particularly important if you have rolled out new ways of working or process change as part of your project. How are you going to ensure that employees don't just revert back to the old ways that they know because they are easier and familiar?

Many a great project has stalled after the initial roll out because the team did not consider how the momentum would be sustained.

Pretty much everyone does this badly. Line Managers are already on to the next thing and PMs often go through the motions of a post implementation review but don’t really embed learning. Draw: PMs & Line Mgrs 0-0

Conclusion

When viewed through the lens of Plan, Do, Review it is clear that comparing PMs and Line Managers is actually unhelpful. Even thinking about them as competing roles will only lead to unnecessary conflict. How much more useful to realise that every Line Manager would benefit from leading a big project through to conclusion. Every PM should go back in to the line to live with and sustain the solutions they developed. With so much change on the horizon across the industry, Water Companies will need every one of their very best people to use all their skills to deliver sustainable change, the job title is irrelevant.

This article first appeared in Institute of Water on 1st December, 2018.

To find out more please get in touch / +44 (0) 20 7298 7878