Published
There is one thing that we both recognise and ignore, in equal measure, on major projects: the significance of character.
On the one-hand, we are quick to recognise the contribution individual project directors, project sponsors or SROs make to a project and we reference the impact that this or that project leader may have had and how they have moved the dial forward for projects in general. On the other, we don’t recognise how, individuals in general, influence how a project is delivered.
When we think of ‘character’, in relation to projects (if we think about it at all), it’s often through the lens of ‘project bias’; how our particular and unconscious, cognitive shortcuts lead to poor decisions.
But our individuality is hugely influential on projects. Each of us brings different lessons and different experiences with him or her, when we join a new project and, in many cases these can be decisive in terms of how a new project establishes norms and benchmarks. How many of the lessons learned and how much of the innovation carried from one project to another is done so through the individuals who come from the original project to the new one?
And to what extent is the culture of the project established, not through the official organizational structure but through the unofficial network? ‘Who knows what’ can be a more powerful source of influence on behaviour than ‘this is what you are supposed to know’; witness the experience of the Carta Organization, when they mapped their unofficial, shadow, organization structure, a few years ago.
None of these aspects of character (in the case of individuals) or culture (in the case of organizations) is inherently wrong or bad; it is just a realistic reflection of the nature of human endeavour. Understanding the existence and influence of these complex, soft systems is a good first step. The next step is not, as you might suggest management – at least not in terms of any of the traditional definitions of managing – but rather perhaps ‘celebrating’; providing opportunities for individuals to show their character and cultivating a culture that facilitates the kind of organic knowledge flows associated with the shadow organization structure.
Major Projects Association is doing our bit. Our byline is “Connecting People. Sharing Experience. Improving Major Project outcomes”. The latest expression of this is the development of an Opiner community, one that can use this new medium to ask and answer questions posed and responded to by individuals at every level and from right across the membership.
More about our Opiner experiment and to join the community.