Category Archives: Articles

Gen Z as Project Managers – Shaping the Future of Work

Articles, , ,

(This article was first published in the Critical Path, the monthly newsletter of PMI Sydney Chapter publish in May 2024)

In one of my early articles for The Critical Path (April 2022), I discussed the dynamic entry of Gen Z workers into a multigenerational workforce, where they interact with Millennials, Generation X, and the remaining Baby Boomers who are on the offramp for retirement. This generational diversity, I concluded, is a blessing. Leaders can harness the rich tapestry of wisdom, expertise, enthusiasm, creativity, and curiosity that each generation brings to advance work practices.

As more Gen Z workers join the workforce, I’m intrigued by how these digitally born and bred future project managers, with their unique values, aspirations, and work styles, will influence and blend with other generations in the evolving landscape of project management. Today, let’s explore this interplay and provide insights into maximising the potential of future Gen Z leaders.

The Gen Z Workforce: Digital Natives with Distinct Values

Gen Z, the newest entrants into the workforce, grew up with online platforms and social media, giving them unprecedented power to share their opinions, influence distant people and institutions, and question authority in new ways. This generation also faced the global pandemic during their early working years. Studies indicate that one-third of Gen Z took time off work due to stress and anxiety caused by COVID-19, a higher percentage than any other generation. Notably, 40% of Gen Z felt that their employers did not adequately support their mental well-being during the pandemic.

Flexibility and adaptability are paramount to Gen Z, who see these traits as critical for successful businesses. They value training to enhance their skills and knowledge, seeking organisations that adopt employee-centred human resource practices, support work-life balance, promote diversity and inclusion, and offer attractive compensation and career advancement opportunities. To support and retain Gen Z, organisations must understand what matters to and motivates this youngest generation.

The Growing Demand for Project Management Talent

The demand for capable project management resources continues to rise, prompting universities to offer more degrees in project management and graduating increasing numbers of project management-aware Gen Z cohorts. However, it’s crucial to ensure that this talent pool is equipped with the real-life experience and attributes necessary for successful project-based work. Early career project managers face challenges such as managing adversarial stakeholder relationships, adopting different project leadership styles, and responding to fast-paced industry changes.

Strategies to Attract and Retain Gen Z Project Professionals

With the impending retirement of Baby Boomers and the resulting loss of their valuable organisational knowledge and expertise, it’s essential to devise strategies to attract and retain Gen Z project professionals. Here’s how:

  • Understand and Value Gen Z: Organisations must understand what matters to this generation and appreciate them as valuable, inimitable resources capable of contributing to organisational success.
  • Address Skill Gaps: While universities are producing more project management graduates, organisations should recognise that Gen Z, despite their degrees, are still relatively inexperienced early in their careers.
  • Implement Mentoring Programs: Mentoring is a proven tool for attracting, developing, and retaining talent. Gen Z can greatly benefit from mentorship by senior professionals who can guide them through challenges, enhancing their confidence, satisfaction, performance, and retention.

By 2025, Gen Z will comprise approximately one-third of the labor market. To benefit from the talents and skills of this generational cohort, organisations cannot afford to overlook their needs, values, and beliefs. Embracing and integrating Gen Z into the workforce is not just beneficial, it is essential for future organisational success.

Stakeholder Management: Deliberate Relationship Building

Articles, , , , , ,

(This article was first published in the Critical Path, the monthly newsletter of PMI Sydney Chapter publish in February 2023)

Stakeholder Management is one of the key pillars of effective project management.  Managing their expectations and keeping them in the know of project progress and status are good practices that work well with committed and already engaged stakeholders.  However, to surpass good project management towards making a real difference by delivering long-impacting projects, you need to go beyond merely managing your stakeholders: you need to deliberately build a purposeful, collaborative, and positive relationship with your stakeholders – particularly the difficult ones.

Melanie McBride in her PMI Global Conference 2012 Paper “A PM, a bully, a ghost, and a micromanager walk into a bar – difficult stakeholders and how to manage them” provided an innovative description of effective stakeholder management: “the purposeful crafting of a collaborative and positive relationship that truly separates the very good project managers from the superb project managers.”  Let me explain the impactful words in this interesting definition:

  • Purposeful: deliberate and planned stakeholder management and relationship building.  Doing it ‘on purpose’, not by chance or as a by-product of other Project Management activities.  Devise a clear plan for relationship building.
  • Crafting: An excellent use of the word ‘crafting’ rather than ‘building’.  It is important to ‘craft’ the relationship with art and innovation.
  • Collaborative: A good relationship is always a two-way relationship built on collaboration – give and take.
  • Positive: Always look for the positive side of things: search for the ‘silver lining’ and promptly address any potential setbacks.

To build such an effective relationship, you should be aware of the characteristics of your stakeholders.  The more ‘difficult’ your stakeholders are, the more effort you need to put in crafting the relationship.  Here are some examples of difficult stakeholders and few suggestions on how to deal with them.

The Bully, that stakeholder who dominates you and others through aggressive force of will.  There aren’t many around, but they derail your project while they are thinking they are doing the right thing.  For bullies, you need to establish a strong ‘first impression’.  Don’t hesitate to confront, explain with confidence, and persuade.  The important thing is to keep the discussion professional and avoid being dragged into “winners vs losers” game.  Look them in the eye (or in the camera if virtual meeting) and be ready to call ‘timeout’ and regain your position if needed.  One way you can deal with a bully is to give them an assignment to produce data to support their argument.  If they are unable to produce supporting data, they are likely to notice the flaw in their argument.

The Ghost, the stakeholder who doesn’t return your calls, emails, or messages and are ambivalent to your project status.  You should aim to limit your project’s dependence on their input and direction.  Agree with them on how far you will run without their direct input, knowledge, or approval.  Ensure that they remain happy and be extremely concise and direct in your communication with them.  One thing you can do is consider whether they can delegate their authority to another, more engaged, stakeholder.

The Visionary, the stakeholder who has the ‘big picture’ of what they want, but they can’t explain it.  You have to be patient with their long talks and twisted tales.  They are usually happy with the project, and they acknowledge how it is important to their future.  Ensure that you drive the discussion into deliverables that will achieve their vision.  It would be good if you can develop early prototypes to review them and discuss them with the visionary stakeholder.  Make sure you are conclusive and explicit about the deliverable and what can and can’t be done – or what is in or out of scope, otherwise you will be dragged into an endless list of amendments and new features.

The Micromanager, the stakeholder who looks for the tiny details and undermines the Project Manager authority.  To satisfy the ‘micromanagement’ desire of your stakeholder, provide consistent, regular, and concise status updates.  Show them “here is how you can help up” in your updates and provide them with actionable items they can work on.  With the current move into ‘virtual’ ways of working where the stakeholder is not physically close to ‘stop by and see how things are going’, a consistent and regular update with actionable items is more important than ever.

The Prisoner, one of the more toxic stakeholders: they don’t want to be on your project, but they are “nominated” (forced) by their managers.  Your main strategy is to see how you can get them off your project – peacefully.  Have a candid discussion with their direct manager and see if they can be assigned somewhere else.  If you are lucky and the prisoner is not disrupting the team dynamics, let them be there.  However, if they are ‘sucking the joy out of the room’ then you need to think seriously about removing them – make them aware that you are going to escalate about them. In conclusion, do your homework: don’t manage your stakeholders in an adhoc manner – have a structured and deliberate plan to deal with them.  A well-crafted email is not enough, you should own and drive the conversation.