There is nothing more exhilarating to a Project Manager than successfully bringing a large, high-value project across the finish line. This, after being 100% dedicated to the initiative for months.
The project has been on our mind morning, noon and night as we continuously work the puzzle (doesn’t it feel like a 5×5 rubik’s cube sometimes?) to ensure all the moving parts come together to achieve the desired outcome.
Then, there is the post-launch celebration when a group photo is taken of the team, and leadership shares how proud they are of the accomplishment and the impact it will have on the business.
The event completes with NO mention of the Project Manager. No acknowledgment of the person who led the overall initiative, coordinated countless meetings, followed up on myriad issues and overdue tasks while ensuring ongoing alignment and adherence to a detail-level plan containing hundreds of tasks ALL of which had to be completed in a coordinated fashion to achieve the success leadership is so proud to celebrate.
Project Managers – Do NOT take this personally…
Yes, it is important to give and receive recognition. Yes, excellent management will provide such recognition. Unfortunately, “sometimes,” it just doesn’t happen…
Let’s frame things in a positive light…Realize that recognition is short-lived. While we may get a warm and fuzzy feeling after receiving such recognition, it will pass in a matter of minutes to hours.
However, the scars of experience gained from the project will last a lifetime. That is, we just finished directing a highly complex initiative that had numerous business, interpersonal, technical and other scenarios we successfully navigated to achieve the outcome everyone is talking about.
And, guess what? During the project, we built a number of solid relationships. These people, closest to the project, know exactly how it was all accomplished and they will NOT forget our value…
Years ago I was leading an initiative to integrate a recently acquired medical device manufacturing firm into my client’s organization. A key leader of the acquired firm had apparently never worked with a “real” project manager.
This person made it well known that they were NOT happy with my approach relative to the amount of meetings (and emails) to coordinate, communicate and hold people accountable to all the tasks and activities that needed to be completed. If they had it their way, I might have been asked to take a different tack or actually leave the project.
Fortunately, I prevailed. And, at the end of the project, they quietly sent me a note acknowledging that there would have been absolutely NO WAY the project could have succeeded without me and the approach taken.
That one, single note, was all the recognition received. The scars of experience gained, however, were worth their weight in gold!
As such, Project Managers realize, at the successful completion of a project, you have gained another layer (or several layers) of scar tissue. This contributes to an ever-increasing repertoire of skills and experiences that will ultimately enable you to walk into any project-related scenario, assess the lay of the land and chart a course to victory.
By successfully completing the project, you have clearly demonstrated what a high performing project manager is all about – getting stuff done. And, the ultimate reward, from our accumulated scars of experience, will be the increasingly handsome pay we receive!
So, for now, it is simply on to the next project we’ve been assigned, to make go away!
And, a strategy we can take near the closure of our next project is to let leadership know that during the upcoming celebration event “we” wish to share a few words of thanks and recognition to key members of the team. That is, let’s model the behavior we wish to see in others…
Go get’em!
In closing, if you are seeking to up-level PM competencies in yourself, or organization, please reach out to discuss how we can help.
Click here to return to our topical index of articles on High Performance Project Management.
Customer Centricity 
One thought on “PM: What’s Best, Recognition or Scar Tissue?”