Selecting Project Managers
Selecting Project Managers is one of the most important things you can do. If you get it wrong you scupper the project from the start. The right people with the best processes is the perfect mix. So what type of people do you want when selecting Project Managers?
Project Manager Minks
A few years ago, in the UK, the Animal Liberation Movement, set free a number of minks from a mink farm. Some of the minks, who had been bred in captivity, remained in their cages even when the doors were opened.
Others stayed out for a while but came back at feeding time. Others still stayed out but could not adapt to the wild and were either killed or died of starvation. Others however stayed, adapted to the wild and thrived in their new environment.
Try thinking of you employees and fellow workers and which categories that they would fit into. Select your Project Managers only from the ‘category 4 minks’.
Do not confuse them with the ‘category 3 minks’ who are usually loose cannons. Do not worry if they are relatively junior. Double or triple promote then if you have to.
Appreciate, also, that the ‘category 4 minks’ are the ones most likely to leave your organisation. Those are the ones that you most want to stay.
Promoting People
If you promote the leader from within the ranks, you will find problems with those that they have leapfrogged on the way up. These problems come from people who want to stay at the company but who assumed that, in the natural order of things, that their turn for promotion will come soon.
Many of these people are good analysts or programmers that you would wish to keep at the company. You need to be able to manage this or you’ll be left with good leaders but fewer good technical workers and especially fewer people with good knowledge of your systems.
Company Progression
How do you handle this? By having different ways of progressing up the company. Very often people mainly want promotions because of the extra status and income attached to it. You must find other ways of giving them this status and income if they achieve good results.