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Finding and Training Project Managers
Howard G. Birnberg
A continuing source of difficulty for many design
firms is finding and recruiting capable project managers. Since few
engineering or architectural schools teach management skills to any
degree, it is no wonder that there is a significant shortage of skilled
project managers. As increasing numbers of firms recognize the value
of matrix project management the competition for available talent
is nearing crisis proportions.
In large cities, high
job mobility creates the opportunity to recruit project managers from
other firms. In many smaller cities, however, the total architectural
and engineering community may only number in the hundreds. As a result,
experienced managers may be unavailable or cannot be recruited from
other local firms or from larger cities.
For many firms, there
are three basic techniques to obtaining the project management talent
required:
1.
Recruit from outside your firm:
This method is often the fastest approach
to building your management staff. Recruiting from other local firms
(particularly in smaller communities) may create animosity on the
part of your peers. This may eliminate any hesitancy other firms
have had about raiding your staff. In addition, the local design
community may be somewhat inbred and firms may simply be exchanging
each other's weaknesses.
If the local pool of talent is thin,
recruiting from other, usually larger cities, may be the solution.
Unfortunately, the alleged population trend that shows people moving
back to smaller communities may not include sufficient numbers of
highly paid, experienced project managers. Offering competitive
salaries, fringe benefits and ownership (or potential) have been
used with varying success.
2.
Train your own project managers:
In smaller communities, the only significant
sourceof project managers may be in a firm's own staff. Some firms
are reluctant to make a major investment in training their staff
for fear of incurring the expense only to lose these people to competing
firms after a few years. Clearly, a certain percentage of your staff
will leave the firm for various reasons. With suffcient incentive
(salary, bonus, ownership, profit sharing, etc.), some capable staff
will remain to help the firm prosper. These individuals will have
made the cost of training well worthwhile.
This training process requires constant
budgeting of time and resources for seminars, courses, publications,
etc. Some firms recruit prospects directly from colleges and universities
to obtainthe most capable talent. They then educate these individuals
into project managers compatible with their firm's philosophy.
In large cities, successful frims with
experienced teams of project managers also seek younger talent and
bring them along as assistant project managers to fill needed slots.
In many locations, it is not unusual to find a large percentage
of the design professionals having worked for one or two local firms
at one time. Many of these firms are noted for their training programs.
3.
Recruit an experienced project manager as
the mainstay of your staff:
For many firms not experienced with
matrix project management, it is often wise to recruit one knowledgeable
manager as the center of your system. This individual should help
establish the project management program, recruit and train younger
staff and serve as a technical and managerial resource. In many
firms, it is not necessary to recruit an experienced manager since
a principal may wish to begin an intensive self-education program
to acquire the necessary skills.
KEEPING YOUR MANAGERS
Finding and training your project managers is
only the first step. Keeping your hard won managers is just as important.
It is the responsibility of senior management to provide for the psychological
and financial well-being of these individuals. The obvious incentives
of competitive salaries, bonuses, profit sharing and a fringe benefit
package are most important.
Equally important,
however is the knowledge that these project managers have real authority
that matches their level of responsibility in the firm. Second-guessing
and countermanding their decisions will quickly destroy your project
management system. As a result, many of your managers may become interested
in opportunities with other firms.
TRAINING PROJECT MANAGERS
Few members of your staff are of greater importance
to your firm's success than are your project managers (PM's). Their
pivotal role between clients, contractors and staff require them to
possess a unique set of skills. Unfortunately, many project managers
are forced to learn on the job. The benefits to them and the firm
of a formal training program are great. What should a project manager
training program include?
There are three broad areas that should
be covered: communication skills; interpersonal skills; and technical
management skills.
1.
Communication Skills:
Project managers need to possess a
broad range of communication skills. The PM's importance to the
marketing effort is well documented. Well-managed firms seek to
involve these individuals at a very early stage in contacting a
potential client. As a result, their experience and skill
at marketing and selling is essential. Some firms encourage and
pay for project managers to take courses in these topics at local
colleges.
Other communications skills are also
important to project managers. In particular, negotiating, effective
writing and public speaking are vital to PM's. Their involvement
in negotiating contracts and with other members of the project team
such as consultants, makes this an obvious area of focus for your
training efforts. There are a number of commercially available negotiating
courses.
Many design professionals are poor
writers. Much of their writing suffers from wordiness, improper
punctuation, grammar and capitalization, run-on sentences and a
long list of other faults. This inability to write effectively and
properly reflects poorly on your firm. Many local community colleges
and universities, such as the University of Wisconsin-Engineering
Professional Development periodically offer effective writing courses.
Public speaking opportunities for project
managers are many. These forums include community groups, social
organizations, client meetings, project team meetings and in marketing
situations. However, public speaking is high on most individuals'
lists of major fears.
This fear is often only overcome through
practice. While some project managers practice presentations
before project team or family members, others seek more directed
and instructive environments offered by groups such as Toastmasters.
This organization has local affiliates in nearly every major U.S.
city.
2.
Interpersonal Skills:
Project managers are people managers.
They must know how to direct, motivate and manage their project
team, contractors, clients, suppliers and many other individuals
with whom they interact. For some this is a natural ability;
for others it requires extensive training in human psychology.
There are numerous sources to help your project managers improve
their ability to work with people.
A skill that is more difficult teach
is leadership. By nature, some individuals exhibit leadership skills.
Others can learn techniques to improve their leadership ability.
Perhaps the most difficult skill to
learn is that of delegation. Many design professionals tend to be
poor delegators, are ego driven and are not always trusting of subordinates'
skills. The result is individuals who feel the need to be involved
in all aspects of the project. Not only does this overburden them,
it hinders the performance of project team members through their
constant interference. Learning how to delegate is a painstaking
process that must be reinforced by the example of top management
and by providing the tools and systems to permit adequate supervision
of subordinates.
3.
Technical Management Skills:
To be effective, a project manager
must have a complete understanding of technical management skills.
This covers a broad range of project activities. Project budgeting,
scope determination, manpower planning and quality assurance reviews
are only a few these tasks. All require the use of skills rarely
taught in college architectural or engineering programs. Skills
in these areas are usually learned on the job.
There are a number of outside sources
of assistance in developing or enhancing these capabilities. In
particular, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) offers a
self-assessment program in project administration (202-6267348),
the annual (held in early January) weeklong course offered by the
University of Wisconsin-Engineering Professional Development and
programs offered by a number of local affiliates of the national
professional societies. In addition, a number of excellent texts
are available on these topics.
Adapted from The Project Manager/Winter
1995. Howard Birnberg is the Executive Director of the Association
for Project Managers. He can be reached at (312) 664-2300.
Return
to Training Project Managers Monograph
Return
to the Association for Project Managers Main Page
Email
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