Leadership Question: Does the PM work for the resources?

This is a fundamental question that on the surface has the obvious answer of the resources work for the PM. Is this true or really a matter of leadership style.  Having a background as an officer in the US Navy, I learned long ago that the leader who takes care of his people is the leader whose people take care of him/her.  I would propose that the PM works for the resources. 

In my opinion, good Project Managers are good leaders and good leaders spend a significant part of their day on several activities:

1. Risk Management (clearing issues that will restrict the team’s capability to function freely)
2. Solving organizational issues such as the team makeup and tasking for resources
3. Working with external organizations who support the project like a customer support organization who fixes commercial product issues
4. Negotiating with the customer for resources, tools, and environments (DEV, TEST, etc)
5. Prioritizing the work when conflicts occur

In each of these instances, this work is in support of the technical resources working on the project.  In other terms, the PM is working to make the work environment easier, clearing resource constraints, or helping prioritize work for the project resources.  By working for the resources in this manner, the PM gets in return:

1. A more efficient work force
2. A happier workforce
3. Less downtime while external factors impact the project schedule

At a practical level, I try and address my team’s needs first and once their needs are met, then I can start my day.  In many instances, my day does not begin until dark but the project moves forward efficiently. By prioritizing the needs of the team first, the PM also builds a level of respect, rapport, and confidence from the team that will be needed if the project gets into a situation where additional time or effort is needed to reach a milestone.

By viewing their role and leading the project team in this fashion, the PM will reap significantly more benefits than viewing the resources as working for the PM.

Comments

[Mark D. Gibson PgMP, PMP]

Agreed. Listening and understanding are the most critical aspects of communication...

Mark Gibson
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Follow me @ Twitter/mdgibson

[Mark D. Gibson PgMP, PMP]

Another great example of the power of this perspective. In order to kick start this with a new team, I will present my role as working for the team and focusing my efforts on easing the many challenges we will face together. The immediate and visible implementation moves the team into the cooperative and positive team dynamics you mentioned in a much quicker fashion.

Mark Gibson
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Follow me @ Twitter/mdgibson

[Max Walker]

Hi Mark, great comments. A few years ago, one organizational leader with whom I worked regularly espoused this idea with his management team: "We hired good people. None of them get up in the morning to come to work to do the wrong thing. So if they end up doing the wrong thing, it's because we didn't have the right processes, tools, or training in place for them to do the right thing. Our job is to fix that so that next time they can do the right thing just as they intend to." I've adopted a similar stance with my teams and have had great results and improvements in team dynamics, employee engagement, and productivity.

[Brian Mossing]

Mark, great perspsective on a critical leadership issue. In addition to the benefits you mentioned, I find the project just "goes" better when the leader recognizes this key role and proactively addresses the five activities you mentioned. There's less conflict, resources are available when needed, customer concerns are addressed before they become problems, etc. And the lifeblood of those five activities - and project management - is communication. Good article.