Better behavior

james Davison used to be a reputed fighter—in the office. Whenever conflict arose on his projects, he would feel the pressure of performance goals and that pressure would manifest in the way he led his teams. “I would go into battle a lot,” says Mr. Davison, a project manager with Thought Works, a London, U.K.-based professional services and software development company. “I would find someone who didn't agree with me and fight it out with them. At the time, it seemed the right thing to do, and more often than not, I was successful, but it didn't always work out for the best.”

He soon realized this approach wasn't effective. Subsequent coaching taught him another way to manage projects successfully. This meant moving away from arguments about technical aspects of the project to understanding and addressing the needs of the people he was working with. “I learned about finding a point of shared understanding and working together from that point,” he says. “Now when I work with those people, I can actually call them my friends.” His relationships are much more productive, he says.

There is no doubt that technical knowledge, both industry understanding and project management skills, can earn significant career rewards for a project manager. However, those who place a premium on technical skills often disregard the people skills required for working effectively with others. Sooner or later, a lack of those harder-to-internalize skills will compromise success. “Communication, negotiation and influencing skills are critical given the nature of project management,” says Jennifer Sabine, managing director of the International Institute for Learning in Paris, France. “Project managers must motivate people, negotiate for resources, communicate clear objectives and help resolve conflicts or solve problems—perhaps even personal ones—to achieve project objectives and obtain customer satisfaction.”

Adapt to the World

People management becomes even more demanding in the international arena where cultural differences also can affect personal and business behavior. Best business practices may be the same the world over, but the way people operate is not: “You need to have different styles of management and adapt your style to get the best out of every person you work with,” says Ian Henderson, director of SPC Associates, a performance development consultancy in Braintree, U.K. “The attributes of the manager for the 21st century will be the understanding of that difference in behavior and the ability to respond to it.”

Mr. Henderson says SPC's own research has identified a tendency for managers to be promoted on the grounds of technical skills, longevity of employment, popularity within the company and even family connections before people skills are considered. Small wonder then that people skills can be ignored by the discipline.

There is a feeling among some in the project management discipline that people skills are underplayed, both by official qualifications and through the usual career progression of project managers. Brian Sutton, director of learning at London, U.K-based training company QA cites a research paper from Templeton College, Oxford, U.K., that states that 27 percent of a project manager's time is spent on direct communications and another 45 percent on other interpersonal activities. “[Training courses] often map about 25 percent of the job—the technical side,” he says, “The other 75 percent—the people side—isn't even referred to.”

The Templeton paper also found 16 percent of project manager's time was being spent on development and implementation, activities that Mr. Sutton describes as “project doing” rather than “project management.” He asserts that project managers must learn to relinquish direct control over what happens within a project and empower their team to do the work required. “Without the right guidance, a lot of managers get out of managing and into doing,” Mr. Sutton says. “That's very therapeutic for the manager, but it's not project management.”

Trade-Offs

Aspiring project managers often find it difficult to achieve the self-awareness required to know when to address the balance between technical and people skills. A manager may not necessarily realize deficiencies in people skills, and therefore continually attribute failure to technical issues. This creates a vicious circle in which people management skills will never be addressed, let alone developed.

However, there are some clear indications when particular attention must be given to people skills, rather than technical issues. The tendency for managers to rely on authority rather than teamwork to get results and the constant use of the chain of command for making even the smallest of decisions are both tell-tale signs, according to Ms. Sabine. The skilled, effective project manager conducts an appropriate number of team meetings, uses relationship building to drive quick and successful project implementation and leverages the personal likability factor to connect with others across the organization,” she says.

Neville Turbit, director of consulting and software company Project Perfect Pty Ltd. in Sydney, Australia, has two tests to measure whether the people angle is being properly handled. First, he asks stakeholders how a project is going. “If the answer ranges from ‘I have no idea’ to ‘According to the project manager, it is going well,’ then there is a problem,” he says. Second, if the project manager dashes around constantly to catch up with team members, instead of providing decisions or resources when they are needed, the individual may have difficulty communicating.

Innate or Learned?

Taking people skills to the next level is not as easy as gaining the next level of technical knowledge. Many say that there is an element to people management that requires a natural ability in the first place. “Teaching the theory of people management to someone who does not have the aptitude is probably a waste of time,” Mr. Turbit says.

Quanto Strategies Pty Ltd., a management consultancy in Randburg, South Africa, also supports the idea that people skills are part of a person's inherent characteristics—a matter of capability rather than a learned skill or competence. However, director Helen Comninos explains that anyone trained in people management can become at least adequate in these leadership skills, if not adept. She stresses that project managers always can improve their leadership performance, even if they don't have a natural aptitude for people management. “When we are called in to deal with problem areas, we assess both capability and competence and determine the gap,” she says. “We can then design and recommend appropriate training to leverage the individual's natural ability.”

[Training courses] often map about 25 percent of the job—the technical side. The other 75 percent—the people side—isn't even referred to.

—Brian Sutton, Director of Learning, QA, London, U.K.

Know the Symptoms

If these indicators of poor people skills sound familiar, it may be time to shift your learning focus.

Poor Conflict Resolution. There is a period of “bedding down” with any project that can involve conflict and difficult negotiations from start to finish.

Lack of Motivation. The team must understand and embrace the overall aim of the project and how their contribution fits.

Working in a Bubble. Project managers may be working in complete ignorance of their personal impact on those around them.

These are not conventional training courses; they are experiential interventions, Ms. Comninos says. “We create behavioral simulations, assessments, forums and workshops that work on a behavioral level rather than imparting knowledge.” [See sidebar, People Skills Development.]

S. Ramani, principal, project management practice of the Quality Assurance Institute in New Delhi, India, agrees training can have a positive impact on people skills, listing role playing, case studies which facilitate self-expression and even role switching as effective development tools. Mr. Ramani also believes you can gain an idea of your own people skills by becoming a good listener—but that in itself already is an indication of budding people skills. “Structured feedback from peers, superiors and a 360-degree appraisal from the team are seen to be more effective [than self-analysis],” Mr. Ramani says.

Such appraisal and consequent training always should involve a qualified third party because this work addresses the personal attributes of an individual rather than personal knowledge or learned skills. Badly received feedback can be extremely damaging on both professional and personal levels; the same exercise conducted by qualified professionals can be liberating and positive.

But rather than simply signing up for training initiatives, project managers can take practical steps in their everyday work to improve their people skills. “The only way you can do it is by sitting in the middle of the team you're working with and listening to what's going on,” Mr. Davison says. “As much as you encourage feedback, it is better to be sitting there and hearing it first hand.”

Simon Kent is a U.K.-based freelance writer. He specializes in human resources management and training topics.