12.6 Coaching and Mentoring

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One of the benefits of parenting is watching your child's ability to interact with the world grow under your tutelage. You understand that the youngster needs to be taught most things because the world is not an intuitively obvious place for children. ^[3] As a project manager, you will feel frustrated at times by team members who do not seem to produce. Or perhaps they hide problems that you have to ferret out, ^[4] and then fix for them. I am quite confident that if you reflect on past struggles, you will recognize this behavior.

You, on the other hand, have been elevated to the role of project manager because you have pulled a rabbit out of the hat at least once in your career, and that got you noticed. You are probably a doer and a practical, "stick to the verbs" kind of thinker. It is naïve to assume, however, that all your team leads are accomplished in this way, or that they can imagine knocking down tasks in a time and resource-constrained environment like you probably can.

It is in your best interest to recognize team member performance issues right away. Exhibit 2 suggests the most likely causes.

Exhibit 2: Performance Issue Root Causes

People procrastinate with tasks they do not know how to tackle.
Inaction may be related to a previous failure with a similar responsibility.
Their organization may not support the required course of action.
They are overwhelmed with other duties.
They lack time management and prioritization skills.
They erred grievously and a cover-up, instead of remediation, has ensued.
Their energy level will not allow them to keep pace.
Discontent over job security or recognition leads to diminished performance.

Those readers old enough to recall the 1980s remember that, as managers, we were asked to recognize these characteristics in our charges, and help them grow past any such deficiencies. We expected the same from our bosses as well. Not that the workplace was a never-ending group therapy session, but coaching and mentoring were part of the employer-employee relationship.

In today's world, that relationship can more accurately be described as "lead, follow, or get out of the way." We are no longer incentivized to provide a handhold for the less efficient among us, even when we need productivity from their slots. So, you ask, if it is highly unlikely that I will have the opportunity to replace underachievers or miscreants on my team and doing the work for them is undesirable, what recourse does a project manager have under these circumstances?

Obviously, the preferred remedy is to set up a tutoring session with the troubled soul, exchange high fives when he or she connects with your teaching, and move on to your next challenge. This approach is most effective in the areas where your team lead's weaknesses align with your strengths and responsibilities (e.g., planning or vendor management). You cannot, however, take ownership for training someone on his or her technical deliverables. Back in my youth, I could do a credible job of network design. I had the experience, and the technology was far simpler than it is today. Now, my previous expertise is useless. If I would not hire myself as the network team lead, why would I then pinch-hit myself for a player who does not perform as required?

Therefore, this business of tutoring, coaching, or mentoring may not be the most practical way to address performance issues. Still, you have to do something. The right approach will depend on many things, most notably the personalities involved, including your own. Remember, in today's world, this is not a conversation about training, motivation, or career development. It is about getting tasks done with the understanding that failure is not an option. If a key team key player disavows task ownership, you must reassign those orphaned deliverables to someone else because denying responsibility is one project disease for which there is no known cure. Your options are:

Do the work yourself. (Avoid this at all costs.)
Get the nonperforming individual replaced. (Good luck!)
Assign it to one of your own project office staffers.
Get funding for consultants or a vendor to do the work.
Get an alternate project team member to assume responsibility.

This situation calls for common sense, tact, and quick action once you recognize what is going on. I believe in following my instincts instead of waiting for the disaster that my inaction practically ensures. In other words, "you snooze, you lose."

^[3]Not to mention adolescents and most adults!

^[4]If you are not blindsided by them first!

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