The Role of Trust in Project Management
When many people think of project management they think of rigid adherence to rules and defined process. They often envision a project manager sitting in front of his/her laptop receiving updates from the team, entering it into Microsoft Project, and then creating status reports. While this may be the case for many projects, it does not do justice for the true role of the project manager.
Many readers of this blog, and of other project management articles, believe that project management is all about people and communication management. This hits closer to home in terms of the real responsibilities of a project manager. The project manager is not just a robot who receives information and databases it; rather he/she is an active participant in the conversation that is project management. The project manager is constantly communication with team members and all project stakeholders. They receive constant updates on the project and then work to utilize that information to make sure all parties are informed so that progress can be made.
In reading the book The Speed of Trust by Steven Covey, a book I highly recommend, I came to further realize the role that trust plays in project management. As the author points out in the book, trust is an attribute that can contribute to the success or failure of a project as much as any other.
Let’s examine how trust can impact your project:
The project manager must trust that the project team is being honest about task estimates.
We all hear stories where project teams pad the estimates for how long tasks will take to complete only to have the project manager reduce the time because they know the team is padding the estimate. This is counter-intuitive in that it requires additional time/energy to complete the estimation/planning phase of the project. If the team and project manager trust and respect each other, then the process can be smoother and no one will feel that they are being manipulate.
The project manager must trust that the stakeholders are being honest about requirements.
When a project is in the requirements phase, the stakeholders have a great deal of input into the direction of the project. If this direction is not accurate, then the entire project is off-track from the onset. Sometimes the stakeholders are not sure about all requirements, and this is ok. There are entire agile methodologies designed to handle situations where all the requirements are not known or clearly understood. It is up to the stakeholders to define the requirements clearly up front or to alert the team that there are many unknowns.
The project team must trust that the project manager is keeping them informed of all changes to the project(requirements, schedule, etc.)
The project team is responsible for the creation of all project deliverables. As such, they need to be aware of any changes that may occur to what and when they must deliver. This ties into communication, but the project manager needs to instill confidence in the team that they are heading in the right direction. This can most easily be accomplished by being open and honest with the team. This trust will help the project manager manage and motivate the team as well.
The stakeholders must trust that the project manager is keeping them informed of all changes to the project (costs, schedule, etc.)
The project manager is ultimately responsible for the success of the project and they are accountable to the stakeholders. The stakeholders hate nothing more than to be surprised on the date of a deadline with the news that the project is missing its milestone. Also frustrating for the stakeholders is to be informed by the project manager that the project is significantly over budget. Both of these situations can result in the project being terminated prior to completion. One way to ameliorate this situation is to be honest and open with the stakeholders whenever things are slipping. Don’t get me wrong, they won’t enjoy hearing this unpleasant news. But at the same time, they will respect you for being honest about the situation and this can lead to them giving you a little more slack.
In Conclusion
We have examined some high-level ways in which trust and honesty can improve the health of your project. It is not always the easy thing to be honest at all times with your team and stakeholders, but the benefits of establishing truest are worth it. A team that trusts you will often work harder for you. Stakeholders that trust you will often give you the benefit of the doubt.
The effects of not being trusted are not something that you want to encounter. They are manifested by a team that does not put full effort into the project and stakeholders that hedge their bets when it comes to the project and your career. So be sure that you treat trust as a resource that needs to be vigilantly protected.
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I have found that trust is like Liquid Plumber: it unclogs the communication pipes and allows information to flow more freely. If you, as PM, are truthful with your team, and they start to figure that out (it takes a while), they’ll be truthful with you, and ultimately, you’ll be spending less time trying to remember what “lies” you told to whom and more time solving the problems.
At least, that’s been my experience!
Great blog post!
Great post.
Communication skills and emotional intelligence is more important than any other process and technology knowledge.
Gilad
http://giladlsh.wordpress.com/home/