You may not know it yet, but if you are a project manager, you are probably also a “change catalyst”.
When people are at a comfortable state, their inertia prevent them from making changes. Oftentimes employees resist new processes and some see change as threat to their existence. But no matter how hard they try to resist, there is no stopping the world from changing. For instance, like it or not, the global pandemic has already changed the way we engage with others, conduct meetings, work and shop.
How is this related to project management? Projects impact and change the dynamics and functional flow of organizations. The more we understand what those impact and changes mean to the stakeholders, the better we are able to manage the implementation, leading to truly successful project outcomes.
You might ask: isn’t it already a success when my project is delivered on time, within budget and met all scope specifications? Yes, the triple constraint of time, cost and scope is an essential framework to track and monitor projects. But when the top level evaluate success, they look at it on a business level. And on a business level, we want to make sure that the stakeholders are on board and embrace the changes in addition to meeting the time cost and scope.
Therefore, understanding the dynamics of change and how it impacts people on individual and collective levels is essential for project managers to achieve business level project success. Think of the project manager as the conductor of an orchestra – the project manager needs to be able to pick up nuances in a complex piece, pulls out or tones down areas of disruption before they become liability to the project. And this can be something as simple as proactively addressing potential concerns over a changed procedure before it developed into grievance, causing unnecessary resistance.
To sum up, project managers need to be aware of their role as change catalyst to ensure their projects achieve business level success. When considering training and development for project managers, besides the usual PM programs, it is worthwhile to invest in communications and change management skillsets as well.
About the author:
Dr. Mike Leung has more than 30 years’ experience in information technology, creative, marketing, advertising and management, and has achieved outstanding results in both academic and project implementation arenas. He has worked extensively in the United States, Canada and Hong Kong, providing consulting advice and expertise to a wide array of multinational corporations. He is a visiting lecturer and speaker in various universities and training institutes in Asia.
Mike has a Ph.D. in Management Sciences from the University of Waterloo, Canada and has been trained in Psychology and Anthropology at the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong respectively. Besides attending executive training at the University of Toronto and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, he also attended executive workshops at Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States. He was invited to visit Google and Facebook headquarters in the United States to understand their culture of project management and innovation. Mike is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and certified Management Consultant (CMC).