PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills (Leadership)

Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! We are in the 4th step to revolutionizing your PMO leader mindset. If you haven't listened to episode 000, the Introductory episode or 001, The PMO Reset, or 001, The PMO Reset, or 002 talking all about instilling focus,  003 redefining what success looks like, or the previous 004 on how to perform relentlessly - then take a few minutes go back and review those first. Starting at the beginning show you the evolution that landed us here, and help you understand how adapting plays into securing your PMO's future.

Survival of the fittest?

What’s all this talk about PMO “survival skills” for PMO leaders? It’s time to shed this belief that the best you can hope for as a PMO leader is to simply survive. PMO leaders that are in constant survival mode can’t possibly have the mental space or peace of mind to drive high-IMPACT. If you are continually worrying about whether you will have a job in six months, how can you possibly perform at your best? I think this survival mindset that is being perpetuated in writings and teachings is setting PMO leaders up for failure from the start. We need to be looking for techniques that will help us thrive, grow, develop, and mature our PMOs. This means we need to stop getting ourselves into this position in the first place. IMPACT PMO Leaders avoid survival mode by being flexible, adaptive, and providing services and support that are exactly what their business leaders need when and how they need it.

1. Adapt Your Management Style

To thrive, you will need to be able to adjust your management style, based not only on the needs of the individual but the significance of the change you are creating. Yes, we must manage everybody independently, because different people have different needs in terms of personality, reward, and accountability. We also need to manage them according to how familiar they are with the change we are trying to create and the IMPACT that change will have on the organization. For example, if you’re building a PMO for the first time in an organization, it’s never been done before, then people’s understanding of what to expect and how to engage is going to be low. This means that we will need to deeply consider the organizational change management components of doing something that’s never been done before. Meaning, how will we bring people with us through the change process so that they embrace this change fully and engage in driving toward the IMPACT we are all trying to create? You will have a different set of challenges if the PMO has been tried before many times and failed, but those challenges still require a strong focus on bringing people with you through the change process, doing change with them instead of to them. You’re likely to hit a lot of change resistance and a slow ability to absorb the changes that are being created by your PMO. Being able to flex your management style to meet your stakeholders where they are instead of where you want them to be is a key trait of an IMPACT PMO Leader.

2. Build Business Knowledge and Acumen

To drive IMPACT, leaders with an IMPACT mindset learn the business knowledge necessary to speak intelligently about the organization they are supporting and build business knowledge in their teams. It’s critical that you and your teams can talk about why this change is important, in terms of business value and have a general sense of the work of the business so that they can see the value of the projects they are creating or services they are providing to that business unit. I do not believe you need to be an expert in the business. Your expertise is PMOs, but I do think it is important to have some business understanding for the organizations that you support. Isn’t it so much easier to have a conversation with someone that “gets” what you do? Be that person for the business if you want to thrive.