208 - TZL - Justin Smith

the quarterback to know the strengths and weaknesses of every position. So that if we call a play, and they come to the line, and they see that what the defense is giving them is not going to work, they know enough about where we're trying to go, that they can call audibles at the line, and we're confident in their ability to do that. So we want to build a playbook that is flexible enough that it allows the project manager the latitude to make changes as they need to, but we want to make sure that the goals of project management. So how that particular firm measures the effectiveness of project management is non-negotiable. Everybody understands it and they're calling plays with a clear understanding of what's expected of the role. Randy Wilburn [22:39] I love that football analogy too because when you think about the best quarterbacks in the game, those that can read a defense and can call audibles on a regular basis. Because a lot of times, coaches, leaders, and in this same vein when you think about a coach being somebody in the C-Suite is somebody that's leading the company doesn't always give their quarterbacks the ability to audible, but when a company has people that are trained adequately and they have confidence and trust in the process, then you can give people audibles and know that they're going to follow through properly to make sure that things don't fall by the wayside. Justin Smith [23:21] That's exactly right. And I think having a program that leadership teams have a hand in creating is a huge component of building that trust. It's essentially the ability to come in and level set expectations across the whole organization and feel confident in the ability of everybody that's in the project manager role. So that you know what their ability is, you know what they've been trained in, you know how much latitude to give each person, and you send them out to manage your company's most valuable resource, which is your client relationships. But you've got to be confident that they've got the nuts and bolts nailed down before you can allow them the latitude to go out and audible. And I think what we see a lot of is putting project managers in the seller doer role without putting any focus on, are they actually equipped and enabled to do the job that they're supposed to be doing first before we reach for that next thing. One of the best things that project managers can do to further deepen the strength of those relationships is to deliver successful projects over and over and over again. And I think, a lot of times when project managers think about this term marketing or seller, doer, they think about this as well, I got to be taking people to lunch and it's no in your role, what you need to be focused on is deliver success and be a steward of the client relationship for the organization; that's really what it's about. But you can only do that if you've got a really good process that repeatedly delivers good results.

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