There's simply never a good time for a project manager to leave a project, particularly when the flight takes everyone by surprise. Management scrambles to find a replacement, the project team may be in a state of shock because their leader is now flying the coop, and the potential successor needs to work double-time to figure out how to take the reins quickly. In this situation, the key is to minimize the impact of the flight so that the project is not significantly impacted. To minimize the impact, it is important to always be prepared for a possible flight and take deliberate action if a flight occurs. To be prepared for a possible flight:
- Assess whether a project manager is a flight risk. In some cases, a project manager may be at flash point and ready to leave or already looking to leave.
- Have a project succession plan in place for key project team members. This includes not only the project manager but key analysts, developers, and other hard-to-replace team members.
- Document specific skills required of the position. Some project management positions can be filled by a good generic project manager, while others may require a specific functional, technical, or industry skills.
- Execute the succession plan if the planned successor is ready to assume control. Sometimes the successor can easily slip into the shoes of the prior project manager. At other times, the successor may have to share workload with his or her manager, or other project team members, to lighten the load and better minimize project impact.
- Don't expect much out of the fleeing project manager. He or she may physically be around for another week or two, but mentally the transition to the new job has already begun.
- Stay close to the situation. Don't just assume that because there is a new name in the project manager box on the org chart that all will go well. Keep close watch over the new project manager and be ready to assist if you see problems starting to crop up.
- Keep the team calm. When a leader flees the situation is ripe for confusion, dissention, and infighting which can lead to budget and schedule problems. Keep the team focused and motivated through the transition. Most importantly, keep them informed on what is going on.
- Position the next successor. This is good for two reasons: it helps mitigate the risk of another PM flight and is a natural learning opportunity to build up new project manager.
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About the Author
Lonnie Pacelli is an internationally recognized author and is president of Leading on the Edge International. Lonnie has over 20 years of leadership experience as an executive, project manager, developer, tester, analyst, trainer, consultant, and business owner. During 11 years at Accenture, he built leadership expertise consulting with many Fortune 500 companies, including Motorola, Hughes Electronics, and Northrop Grumman. During 9 years at Microsoft, he continued building leadership expertise through the development of some of Microsoft’s internal systems, leading their corporate procurement group, managing their corporate planning group, and leading company-wide initiatives on continuous fiscal improvement and training-process optimization. He has successfully implemented projects ranging from complex IT systems to process reengineering and business strategies.
Read more about Lonnie at www.leadingonedge.com and www.smallbizmadesimple.com.
