Project managers are rarely in direct control of their project team members. Team members are seconded on to the project, or loaned from another department. If you aren’t their direct boss, how do you get them to do anything? Or, taking a step back, how do you get them released on to your project in the first place?
Much of what we think of as project management is actually influencing. Communicating, negotiating, discussing, planning, strategizing: it’s all influencing someone. If you need a hand with where to start, here are our six easy steps for successfully influencing others.
1. Establish Your Objective
First, remember that it influencing isn’t about always getting your own way. Yes, it would be great to think that we could ‘influence’ and then get what we want, but that isn’t influencing, that’s mind control.
However, successful negotiation starts with knowing what you want. You can’t win anyone round to your way of thinking if you don’t know what you think. Be clear about your objective. If you need someone to take on the responsibility for managing Earned Value Management (EVM) on your project, make sure you understand exactly what the role encompasses and the skills required to do it.
2. Establish Who Could Help You
You may already have someone in mind, but before you go running to them to ask them (or their manager) to be involved in your project, take time to assess your other options. Is there anyone else who could help? Even people who may not be your first choice could still have something to offer.
3. Establish What You Have To Offer
Negotiating and influencing are two-way streets. As you plan what you are going to say to the person in question, consider the project from their viewpoint. They may, for example, have the opportunity to improve their presentation skills. They may be able to improve their financial management skills by working on EVM calculations. They may get to learn how to use the enterprise project management software.
You can also think about less tangible benefits: being involved in a high profile project, attending meetings with the executive sponsor, being exposed to the workings of the PMO, helping to define best practice EVM processes for the company, and so on. There are dozens of things that you have to offer, even if you can’t offer a salary increase or a new job. Think about the person you will be meeting as well, and tailor the benefits of your task to what you think they would want.
4. Discuss With The Other Person
Now you are fully prepared and ready to meet the individual concerned. It’s better to do this face to face if you can. The purpose of the meeting is to get commitment from the other person to help out on the project, but that relies on you having a good working relationship with them already. If you don’t know them well, you may have to have several meetings to build up a rapport before you successfully achieve your objective.
Share with them the level of commitment you require and explain the benefits to them, working through the list of things you identified earlier. Watch their body language to see how they respond to the various options that being involved with your project brings. If the discussion goes well, you will be able to gain agreement. Of course, you may not be able to gain agreement, in which case you can offer more, request less or move to the next person on your list and try to gain agreement from them instead.
5. Agree Your Joint Approach
After your meeting, you have the agreement of the other person. But what have they actually agreed to? Document what you discussed and share it with them so that you both have a record of what was agreed and what is now expected.
6. Follow Up
At this point you have their agreement to manage EVM for your project, or whatever it was that you required. You can expect them to carry out their side of the agreement, which has been documented. What you probably didn’t document though, was your side: whatever benefits you discussed with them. It’s difficult to put ‘have the opportunity to attend meeting with sponsor’ in writing, because it can look a bit petty. However, that doesn’t let you off the commitment you made to them. Make sure you keep a record somewhere of what you promised and deliver on it.
At the point that you do offer them the opportunity to go to that meeting, gently remind them that this is part of the discussion you had together. Following up like this will show them that you can be trusted, and that bodes well for influencing situations in the future.