VOICES I Project Toolkit
D efine Your Role
Young
Leaders
Establishing a track record as a proven
leader while supervising staff members of
varied ages can present unique management
challenges. We asked practitioners:
What are your best tips fo r
leading a team as a young
project manager?
20 PM NETWORK JULY 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
I'm the youngest on the team, so I had to
:t , prove my competence and earn the team's
trust overtim e.
A t first, an older member on my team wouldn't listen
or provide any relevant status updates to me, because
she didn't like the fact th a t I was the same age as her last-
born child. She couldn't comprehend why I was in charge.
I told her it's nothing personal and we shouldn't have any
issues if I'm able to verify her work. She agreed, but still
was reluctant.
I told my boss about my challenges and suggested I
give a presentation about what project managers do to
ensure work gets done. After explaining the differences
and benefits of our roles, she understood i was there to
help the team and not to impose power on them. She has
since changed her demeanor to me."
—Yewande Akin, CAPM, information technology project
manager, Fiserv, Sugar Land, Texas, USA
Focus on the Outcom e
As a young project manager, I achieve
outcomes and deliverables through
IP influence rather than a directive
leadership style.
When a new project manager who was 20 years my
senior joined my project, he viewed me as his apprentice.
Though 1was accountable for the project controls and he
was accountable as the project manager, he was under
the impression he would be teaching me about project
management and leadership. That was okay because,
for me, it's good to gain insight into various project
management approaches from various
project managers.
We had some heated discussions, but once I
understood his needs and he understood my capabilities,
we developed a working relationship and earned each
other's respect."
—Chris Booth, CAPM, project management cadet, BHP
Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance, Moranbah, Australia
Be Assertive
Listen to w hat your team is te llin g you
and, more im portantly, w hat they're not
te llin g you.
I was once selected to manage a change management
project instead of one of my colleagues, who had more
 Leadership Gap
According to Deloitte's 2015 M illennial Survey, there are large gaps between w hat m ille n n ia l perceive as the
priorities o f th e ir organization's senior leaders, and w hat th e y would prioritize as leaders.

Meeting short-term financial goals Employee growth and development H What

m illennial
would
prioritize
as leaders

W hat they
Personal income/rewards Employee well-being believe their
current leaders
prioritize

than 25 years of experience in the organization. I had
less than five years experience and was about 30 years
his junior.
During the project, he was not actively disruptive. But
he wasn't fully engaged, either. The last straw was when
I discovered that I had been operating on incomplete
information because he wasn't actively working with me.
To resolve the issue, I invited him out to lunch. I told
him i fe lt he was contributing the bare m inimum and
wasn't supporting me. I said I fe lt he was setting me up
to fail and I couldn't let that happen. We either needed
to work things out together or I was going to be forced
to take action that would ensure the success of
the project.
He admitted having feelings of resentment and we
had a very meaningful discussion. We left the restaurant
w ith a tenuous agreement to better support each other.
It didn't happen overnight, but we slowly began to trust
each other."
—Andrea Emrick, CAPM, project manager, Alberta Bone
and Joint Health Institute, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Show Your Chops
All good leaders prepare themselves for
some resistance. It's im portant to take
charge from day one to set the tone for
relationship and communication management for the
rest o f the project. My approach has always been to
focus on the work at hand, acknowledge th a t every
team member contributes value to the project and
maintain basic principles o f respect and hum ility in
executing the project.
I remember the first steering comm ittee meeting I
attended w ith the director of one o f my previous projects.
When we arrived, the attendees assumed I was her personal
assistant. Then I conducted the main project initiation
presentation. Showing them my understanding o f the project
dynamics and how I handled the questions that followed
earned me the respect of the team. From that point on, I
worked well w ith the project team."
—Rethabile Thaba, CAPM, PMP, project manager, iSchoolAfrica,
Johannesburg, South Africa
Build Trust
I've found that establishing a work
environment built on trust is the key to
Finding
success. Ensure that your team members feel
Your Place
comfortable approaching you w ith questions and concerns W h a t are y o u r
about a project. leadership secrets
At a previous employer, the culture was less friendly to fo r y o u n g p ro je ct
managers? W h a t
younger workers. But at a relatively young age, I was tasked
d iffic u ltie s did you
with training and supporting a group of mostly older program
face and h o w did
and project managers on the rollout of a new piece of software. yo u solve them ?
To earn my colleagues' trust, I went above and beyond Share y o u r tip s on
to resolve their problems. More importantly, I was open and th e PMI Project,
honest with them. When I didn't know something, I quickly Program and P ort­
fo lio M anagem ent
found someone who did. It worked for me because I set clear
Linkedln G roup.
expectations and followed through.
Never give up. Every project w ill have difficult moments,
but it's during these trying times your teammates need you
most—so keep pushing."
—Kristen Wypych, CAPM, project manager, Igloo Software,
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada PM

JULY 2 0 1 5 PM NETW ORK 21

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