Succeeding with Senior Management: Getting the Right Support at the Right Time for Your Project

by G. Campbell

Overview

Senior managers speak the language of strategy. Project managers use the language of tasks and activities. These significantly different communication styles can lead to breakdowns and setbacks at project sites that are difficult to overcome, especially for the project manager. The key to working through this is communication—specifically communicating up. Succeeding with Senior Management explains how the project manager can bridge the gap and engage the upper ranks. By establishing relationships early on, understanding executives, and keeping them involved, project managers can win the support they need—which will be especially critical when problems arise. This all-inclusive communication guide that covers a wide range of industries explains how project managers can: • Navigate the company’s political waters • Link the project to the business • Provide options and recommendations for major decisions • Use the right listening style • Involve the sponsor in resolving cross-functional problems • And more! Learn how to keep senior management involved with your project, motivated to push obstacles aside, and focused on a successful conclusion. When troubles arise—and they will—you’ll be glad you kept them in the loop.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400252367
Publisher:	AMACOM
Publication date:	12/17/2024
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

G. Michael Campbell, PMP (Houston, TX) has managed many large, global projects involving senior executives. He is the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Project Management and Communication Skills for Project Managers.

Read an Excerpt

Understanding the Facts of Life for Executives

EVERY PROJECT MANAGER who has run a project knows that the support of senior management is a critical factor in delivering a successful project—and honestly does not know how to get it. There are great books out there on running a project, from the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge), to countless others ranging from the Idiot's/Dummies' guides with practical advice to the 1,200-page tomes like that of project management guru Dr. Harold Kerzner on every detail a project manager could imagine. Again, none of these books can help project managers plan the engagement with senior management—or tell them how to get the support they need when only senior managers can address the issues facing a project.

So if there is an obvious need, why haven't any books been written? I believe part of the answer lies in the nature of project management itself. Project managers think, as the name implies, like managers as they manage their Work Breakdown Structure, schedule, and budget. Senior management generally thinks more strategically and is really not interested in the details of the projects they sponsor.

One senior executive told me that the status report from his project manager was, in his words, "death by details!"

Therefore, sponsors and project managers don't speak the same language, nor do they approach the execution of a project the same way. For example, most leaders ponder long and hard over whether a project should be undertaken and whether the reward is worth the investment. From their strategic perspective, the capital being invested in any given project could have been used in other ways to make the company money, but they determined that this project was the right move, and so they placed their bet. Once they have sifted through all the options and have made the decision to go ahead, they believe their work is largely done. They assign the project to a project manager and expect that person to return when the project is completed—with occasional reports submitted along the way. The only senior manager who is still interested in the project, even though it is often a remote interest, is the executive named as the sponsor.

Project managers, however, are persons whose predisposition is to view a project as a tactical implementation. Therefore, they are often not well equipped to engage with senior management since they tend to focus on tasks and activities and not on the strategic business outcomes that are the focus of senior management. In that respect, they are very similar to middle managers who suffer from the same lack of ability to communicate and engage with their senior executives.

The goal of this book is to provide you, as a project manager, with a clear set of principles, as well as a blueprint for engaging with senior management to get the support you need when you need it.

Excerpted from SUCCEEDING WITH SENIOR MANAGEMENT: Getting the Right Support at the Right Time for Your Project by G. Michael Campbell, PMP. Copyright © 2017 by G. Michael Campbell. Published by AMACOM Books, a division of American Management Association, New York, NY. Used with permission.

All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: Understanding the Facts of Life for Executives 1

CHAPTER 2: Preparing the Leadership 13

CHAPTER 3: Questions Every Project Manager Really Needs Answered 25

CHAPTER 4: Establishing the Relationship and Managing Up the Organization 35

CHAPTER 5: Working with the Executive Sponsor to Understand the Project 41

CHAPTER 6: Reviewing the Stakeholder Analysis with Your Sponsor 53

CHAPTER 7: Listening Styles and How Using Them Effectively Helps You to Engage an Executive 61

CHAPTER 8: Your Attitude and Its Role in Engaging an Executive 71

CHAPTER 9: Preparing Sponsors for Their Role 79

CHAPTER 10: Clearly Establishing the Communication Channels to Stakeholders 87

CHAPTER 11: Creating Internal and External Communications with the Sponsor 97

CHAPTER 12: Using Deputies of Executives Effectively 109

CHAPTER 13: Executing Risk Mitigation Strategies and Executive Sponsor Support 117

CHAPTER 14: Addressing Scope with the Sponsor 127

CHAPTER 15: Providing Options and Recommendations for Key Decisions 135

CHAPTER 16: Communicating Problems and Issues with the Sponsor 145

CHAPTER 17: Communicating with Operations Using the Sponsor 153

CHAPTER 18: Using the Sponsor to Gain Operations Support 161

CHAPTER 19: Getting Help with Cross-Functional Issues 169

CHAPTER 20: Navigating the Political Waters 179

CHAPTER 21: Engaging Senior Managers When You Have a Multinational, Cross-Cultural Project 189

CHAPTER 22: Handling Competition with Other Initiatives 197

Notes 205

Index 207

Editorial Reviews

…great job of outlining when and how to communicate with Senior Management and the project team, [Campbell] is providing us with the building blocks to establish and maintain that trust throughout a project.” —PMWorld Journal

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