On a recent six-month project to select a new electronic health record (EHR) system for a hospital, I led a team of technical experts, nurses, hospital administrators and physicians. Within these groups were a few egomaniacs who longed for control.
I understood their plight: They were thrust into roles that didn't mirror their day-to-day jobs where they felt comfortable.
But I didn't want a power struggle. I wanted allies. So I asked myself: When a project has a team member who feels the need to be on top, how can a project manager lead that large personality without bruising his or her ego and losing project support?
Begin with baby steps
To start, communicate project processes, as these are often new to team members. You need to quickly build familiarity in a very unfamiliar world.
As soon as an infringement of one of the processes occurred, I noted it publicly in a weekly meeting without placing blame or referencing any one individual. I also recognized there was a learning curve. This showed all parties that the processes were being taken seriously and monitored earnestly.
Contact a higher power
The project manager also needs to find an executive-level resource who can be trusted and relied upon for input and advice. This higher-up should already have a relationship with the individual and have the authority to assist when issues arise.
In my EHR project, I reached out to an executive who had experience with physicians. To lend more credibility to project processes, I asked him to speak publicly at physician meetings to state and re-state how project objectives benefited the hospital's overall success and, ultimately, individual healthcare success for practitioners and patients.
Create a splash zone
Often, egomaniacs feel like big fish in a small pond. In my case, I let one team member splash on occasion without creating big, disruptive waves.
One way to do this is assigning the individual a lead role in a piece of communication to a particular audience. By keeping the person busy on a required—and public—activity, you satisfy attention-seeking egos without disrupting the project.
For example, one physician on my EHR project was paid to be the liaison between vendors and physician partners. He met regularly with other physicians in after-work sessions that included food and drinks—and kept his peers both updated on the project and happy.
Schedule face time
Midway through the EHR project, I discovered that written updates about project activities were, by and large, ignored by stakeholders. The reason? They felt like their feedback on the project wasn't being heard.
I changed my communications method to generate more face-to-face feedback opportunities with the physicians at off-site locations. Given a comfortable, open environment, the physicians felt their opinions were heard and respected.
Be nice—and genuine
The project manager must also privately and publicly commend individuals on good performance. To prompt even better performance, these compliments have to be sincere. Made-up flattery will get you nowhere, as the stakeholder is likely to see it as the mere ego-massage tactic it is.
Keeping big egos in check is a tall order, but done carefully and methodically, even me-first personalities can be team players. PM