The Project Book

CHAPTER 66 DEAL WITH POOR PERFORMANCE

At some stage in your project, the project manager will let you down. Hey, we’re all human and we make mistakes; it’s a fact of life and how we grow. Unless they’re provided with feedback, and expectations are reset, however, there’s a good chance they’ll continue to let you down and the project will slowly die.

I firmly believe that if, over the past 15 years, sponsors had been more engaged in projects and had actively managed the poor performance of project managers, the statistics around successful delivery wouldn’t be as bad as they are today. Nonetheless we are where we are, so let’s draw a line here today and resolve to be different.

Managing poor performance isn’t something we’re all immediately good at. It often takes time and a process to get better at it. Indeed, some of the most stressful situations I’ve ever been in have involved performance management, but I didn’t avoid them. I embraced the requirements of my role and sought to get better at it.

Here are four things I’ve learned when it comes to managing the project manager.

1. Create a shared understanding of what’s expected

Managing poor performance starts with setting expectations when everything is good. Victor Lipman, author of The Type B Manager: Leading Successfully in a Type A World, writes, ‘Managers will have day-to-day expectations about employee behaviour, collaboration and culture — the ways in which team members should interact with one another. Clear expectations ...