Coaching - Project Manager as Change Agent

Abstract

Changes happen in projects. They may be initiated by project team members, stakeholder requests, complaints or a wide range of other factors, however, it is the Project Managers responsibility to manage the change and implement corrective actions . Corrective actions as e.g. re-scheduling, re-planning, and re-budgeting are well explained in the standards, another corrective action, far less covered by standards, is ensuring that a team member, the entire team, as well as stakeholders, are on track after adjusting the project. Skills, knowledge, and experience often need to be developed or enhanced to comply with new, increased demands, but also a team members mindset and attitude might need to be adjusted and aligned with the new situation. Coaching is one of the interpersonal skills that a Project Manager is recommended to possess according to standards . However, where PMBOK see coaching as a means of developing the project team to a higher level of competency and performance, merely by focusing on development or enhancement of specific skills, experience, and knowledge, other literature sees coaching as a process 'unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance' which includes working with a person's mindset and attitude. Looking into change management theory and the role of the Change Agent interpersonal skills similar to the Project Managers is found convenient. Further, four collaborative modes of intervening is presented aiming to support the Change Agent facilitating a change. A limitation or a bias regarding the use of coaching as a Project Manager is based on the origin of coaching. Coaching as a concept was invented in sports and was uncritically applied to an organizational context in the 1990s (DK) 1970s (US) without taking the shift of context into consideration. From having the coachees individual performance as the highest objective in sport, suddenly a company's competitive advantage or a project's progression was the highest objective, changing the fundamental prerequisites for a coaching process totally. Confidentiality between coach and coachee no longer existed, as well as the coach and the coachee no longer were in a power-free correlation. A recommendation for Project Managers in regards to coaching, and especially in a situation managing change, is to apply a coaching attitude in day-to-day management, rather than applying coaching as coaching sessions. If the latter is needed, a second recommendation will be to ensure a clear framing of the highest context for the coaching session.