This is a true story. The company name
has been changed.
The team’s view
Acme Corporation was implementing a new
ERP system with many modules such as general ledger, payables, procurement, sales
orders, manufacturing, and receivables.
Not all teams could be accommodated in
the project workroom, so the project manager had to choose a team to be
situated in an adjacent building.
The manufacturing team lead was
knowledgeable about the business requirements and already familiar with the
product. In addition, the project manager felt this team needed less interaction
with and support from the other teams, so the project manager selected the manufacturing
team to work in the alternate location.
The manufacturing team lead did indeed
turn out to be capable of managing the team in a separate location. She was
able to assist the team with proper resolution of most issues that came up. In
addition, she had a good understanding of which issues required input or
approval from other teams and ensured they were involved in necessary
decision-making.
The manufacturing team lead called the
project manager every day to report progress for the day and to ensure he was
up to date on the status of all of the important issues related to the
manufacturing team. She also made sure issues were escalated to him where
appropriate.
The project manager was so pleased with
his choice of which group to separate from the others. The manufacturing team
lead clearly was capable of running the team herself with little oversight.
What the project manager didn’t realize
was that the manufacturing team members no longer saw him as the person in
charge of the project. He was assumed to be too remote and lacking insight into
their issues.
The manufacturing team started to
question the time that their team lead spent every day calling the project
manager. They were fine on their own, why should she waste time keeping the project
manager up to date? They also questioned the need to escalate issues to the
project manager. After all, what use would his input be, since he didn’t know
anything about what they were doing?
Putting the project manager back in charge
The manufacturing team lead told the project
manager what she was noticing, that the manufacturing team was increasingly
seeing her as the authority for anything related to the project, and didn’t
recognize the project manager’s right to manage issues that affected them.
The project manager was shocked. After
all, he was always up to date and knowledgeable about the manufacturing team’s
progress and problems, due to the team lead’s diligence in reporting to him
daily.
The project manager started to visit
the manufacturing team in the other building every day. He started with brief
casual conversations with each team member. The project manager started to ask
team members how the project was going and to discuss the issues and progress
of the manufacturing team.
At first, the manufacturing team members
were puzzled. What was the point of the project manager dropping by? Didn’t he
have anything better to do than to bother them with chitchat? However, as the
project manager began to discuss progress and issues, he started to regain the
confidence of the manufacturing team members.
After he had been visiting the site
daily for a few weeks, the negative comments about the project manager were
nearly eliminated. Instead, the team members started to agree that the project
manager ought to be kept up to date daily, and that certain issues ought to be
escalated to him.
It wasn’t much longer before team
members were comfortable with the project manager having input into the key
issues facing the team.
Conclusions
Because of the efforts of the manufacturing
team lead, the project manager was well informed about the progress and issues
of the team. However, because the project manager was not visible to the team
members, they did not see him as a having an understanding of their issues and
successes. In addition, they did not see that it was necessary to ensure the
project manager was informed on key issues, so they could be considered in
light of the needs of the entire project.
This could have become a problem, if
the resolution of an issue had required that the project manager make a
decision that over-ruled the preferences of the manufacturing team. For
example, perhaps a decision would have to be made to satisfy the needs of the
project as a whole, but would be inconvenient for the manufacturing team to
implement. In the existing situation, the project manager would not be seen by
the manufacturing team as competent to understand the issue and intervene for
the benefit of the project.
Fortunately, the manufacturing team
lead recognized the problem and told the project manager what was happening.
Since the project manager was dealing with an existing visibility problem, he
was wise to introduce himself gradually into the team’s daily work. Since the team
already saw the manufacturing team lead as the authority figure, a more
forceful approach by the project manager could have made matters worse.
Gaining the respect of the team members
required the project manager to make a daily investment of time in getting to
know the manufacturing team members and allowing them to get to know him as
well. The amount of time he spent each day was small, perhaps fifteen or twenty
minutes, and was time well spent.
Copyright
2015 Debbie Gallagher
