I had a pleasure to meet Alan Harpham, the co-author
of “The Spirit of Project Management”, during the PMI Gdansk Branch seminar on
the evening 17th
January 2013.
First part of the session was a brief introduction to the ‘Swirl’ Best Management Practice portfolio
inc. PRINCE2®. The second part was devoted to the book he wrote together with
Judi Neal: “The
Spirit of Project Management”
During the break I took an opportunity to ask Alan a few questions on
Poland, Poles, project management and his book – the recording of this
interview below.
Video by Obiektywni
As I was impressed by his story I decided to read the
book and share my thoughts on this with you.
The book is divided to two
parts. The first part of the book explains a few models for understanding the
significance and value of spirituality in projects. The second part helps to
integrate these ideas into our day-to-day management of projects. Thus there
are chapters on spirituality from the perspective of the individual, the
project team, the project organization and even project management within a
sustainable world framework.
I have asked Alan why he wrote “The Spirit of Project
Management”. His answer was that this book brought his two lives (being a
liberal Christian, too liberal for some people as he describes himself and
being in project management), his two passions into one.
I’ve also asked him why we should read it? “Because spirituality in work (SiW) is brining new
ideas to bear. The book enables people to start to look how spirit and
spirituality can help in projects and projects management. I truly believe that
one of the big topic that’s is coming and people will get paid for, it’s
spirituality not just only in project management, but in work and business in general.
It’s a topic its time is now, just beginning and it’s fantastic.”
I agree and really appreciate that had an opportunity
to meet Alan in person. I always knew that being a great project leader goes
beyond having a good knowledge of project management tools and techniques
(planning & implementation) and that emotional intelligence competencies
are more important that intellectual ones. But only “a few cutting edge leaders are
aware of the emerging research and application of spiritual intelligence,
particularly for the emerging discipline of managing complex projects “ and thanks to Alan and his book I’m becoming one of them.
“Spirituality” is most
commonly defined as connection that which gives meaning and purpose. And both project
managers and teams want to work on meaningful projects.
They are looking for that feeling
that comes from creating something much bigger and greater than the self and
for the benefit of others.
Now I understand the success of English Camps – a
charity program run by Project Management Institute Gdansk Branch since 2004.
Two times a year a group of people who believe that together can change the
World devote their free time, working mainly weekends and nights for 4-5 moths
or even more (those involved in a few editions) to make a difference for a
group of young members of our society. We succeed as we manage to create a
spirit of unity – although of diverse backgrounds and skills we really work
well together as a single team to achieve a common goal - meaningful and purposeful goal – both children and our growth.
“Spirituality also is the
quality of being spiritual, of recognizing the intangible, life-affirming force
in self and all human beings. It is a state of intimate relationship with the
inner self of higher values and morality. It is recognition of the truth of the
inner nature of people.”
Spirituality
in the workplace ≠ religion in the workplace
Spirituality in project
management does not have anything to do with promoting a particular religion or
in promoting religion in a more general way.
“Project Spirit” is defined as
the collective attitudes, emotions, norms and behavior that characterise the members
of a project team.
Most Project Managers are aware
of the importance of soft
skills. Emotional Intelligence has been seen as a key attribute of a good
leader and a must for those who are responsible for building effective project
teams. Spiritual Intelligence goes close with Emotional Intelligence. According
to Steven Covey, Spiritual Intelligence is the central and most fundamental of
all the intelligences, because it becomes the source and guidance for the
others.
“Project Leadership is a Significant Gap Impacting PPM Performance”
“Project,
programme, and portfolio leadership is in short supply as organizations struggle
to implement Agile methods, complete large projects, manage vendors, and create
more value through their project management offices (PMOs). Leadership is one
of the key themes throughout many of the 2013 top 10 trends for project management,
which were identified by a global panel of ESI International senior executives
and subject matter experts.”
Cindy
Wigglesworth describes Spiritual intelligence as “the
ability to behave with compassion and wisdom (love) while maintaining inner and
outer peace regardless of the circumstances” Cindy Wigglesworth, 2004.
Moreover the world is also
becoming more conscious of the need for large, highly integrated, and world
changing social projects. There is a growing recognition in business of the
importance of a social conscience and corporate responsibility.
In order to meet these challenging
requirements of today’s World, leaders will need to develop a greater spiritual
intelligence in themselves and their teams. “They will need a global mindset,
one that crosses all cultures and understands different cultures and their
origins, one that the various faith and spiritual traditions have been teaching
for years” (Neal 2006)
There are a lot of other spiritual
values (virtues) mentioned in the book, but I would like to draw your attention
to a few values specific to projects and useful in project management teams:
- Respect for
diversity
We all know that heterogeneous
groups outperform homogeneous groups. Project teams require diversity of
thinking and problem solving solutions.
- Freedom
The authors of the
book have a dream of a world without borders or boundaries, both physical and
mental and I that’s my dream too.
- Deep listening
According to Posner’
studies, communication skills - listening, persuading, are number one on the
list of skills needed to be a successful project manager.By deep listening the
authors understand the ability to hear beyond the words and facial expression -
trust your intuition and have an open heart! In order to be effective, you must
willing to share with the other what you think you are sensing in your deep
listening. You may not always be right in your intuition, but just the fact
that you are attempting to listen at deeper level will make a difference to the
person you are interacting with. It is and example of spiritual connectivity.
- Creativity
In my previous post
on Creativity,
risk management and agility I mentioned that creativity is the most
important leadership quality followed by integrity and global thinking (IBM
studies). Creative leaders are more prepared to break with the status quo of
industry, enterprise, and revenue models.
Today’s leaders in order to improve performance need to stimulate
creative thinking and unleash the creative potential in themselves and in their
teams.The authors of the book stress the importance of a mindset of openness
and curiosity, which is essential for creativity. When I run risk management sessions I always
try to encourage people to indentify positive and negative risks, as they both
matter and need to be managed proactively. I’ve used the word try because have
failed on a few occasions. So, I’m very happy to see this sentence in the book:
“Opportunity management is just important as risk management”
- Trustworthiness
Chartered
Management Institute in UK (Miller 2011) found that the attribute must sought
after by the staff of their managers was authenticity. Authenticity creates
trust.
Real trust =
integrity x competences
Again IBM studies reveals
that integrity is the second most important leadership quality. In our project
manager’s roles we must being trustworthy. Keeping promises is essential and if
you cannot keep them do not make them! “Becoming more trustworthy requires first becoming more trusting.”
- Commitment to something
greater than oneself.
We all want to work
on projects that make a difference in the World. The responsibility of a Project Manager is to get best out of the team, create an environment that every person’s best talents
contribute at full force.
Even some people might question it I truly believe that
spirituality can be achieved and I have experienced it not only working on social
projects (ex. English Camps). For last 15 years I have been working in both “spirited”
and “dispirited teams and know how inspiring and uplifting that can be working
in the first and also understand the devastating impact (self-esteem and
feelings of how we are valued by others) when working in the second ones.
The studies show (Lamont 2002) that soul-friendly companies
have lower absenteeism, less sickness, and lower staff turnover. This also
apply for soul-friendly projects.
Why spirituality in Project Management? Please find
below Alan’s answers.
Because
- Change is accelerating. Change
is not merely necessary to life; it is life. Alvin Toffler
- Project management is growing
- People want to work on projects that are meaningful
and that
make a difference in our world
- People are moving up the Maslow hierarchy
of needs to spirituality (self-actualisation)
- We are called to grow in body, mind and spirit
- Growth and development require us to take
risk -
the bigger the risk the more
we grow
- Growth and change are integral to all
projects
- Complexity is growing as is the complexity
of team
- Team members seek meaning and purpose,
strong alignment to project vision in order to bring their best and go beyond what they thought possible.
Read this book and grow as a
leader! With a greater understanding of the role of spirituality in project
management you will be able to tap into your team members’ passion and purpose,
unleash their creativity, and help them solve difficult, seemingly
insurmountable problems!