Dr. Nick Wake
You’ve been teaching project management for many years at Warwick Business School and at IEDC. What, in your view, are the key capabilities that define a successful project manager in today’s dynamic business environment?
Project management has changed substantially over the last 10 or 20 years. Whilst previously a PM was a manager that was responsible for delivering against an agreed plan, the dynamics of today’s economic environment means that a PM needs to be a leader rather than just being a bureaucrat. A PM needs to understand that change is constant, and they need to put together a plan that is agile and responds to the evolving needs of the business. Thus tenacity, drive, commitment and leadership traits define a good project manager.
Your doctoral research focused on performance management in knowledge-based and traditional work settings. How do your research insights translate into project management practices?
My research pointed to the need to have adaptive performance management systems that responded to the nature of work that was being undertaken. Measurement-based management systems work well in traditional – predominantly manufacturing environments where you can easily observe and thus control work. Whilst this approach to management is still relevant in some contexts, in knowledge-based industries, it becomes much more difficult to distinguish between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ work. In the project management context, this means that a PM has to develop a high performing team that he or she can trust to deliver a product. The classic example of this is IT programming however there are many other domains, such as new product development and R&D where a project manager will not have all the answers and needs to delegate authority to his or her team and trust that they are delivering a good project.
The approaches which are used to manage projects need to adapt to this additional complexity to ensure that the project stays on track and delivers value to the business.
The IEDC seminar you’ll be leading focuses on both the technical and behavioral aspects of project management. Could you tell us more about how you approach this balance in your teaching?
One of the things which I say in the course is that you can manage a budget, but you can’t lead a budget. I ask seminar attendees to consider the skills needed to deliver projects well – is it about management or leadership? Whilst my experience tells me that management is important, to create a high performing team you need to also be a good leader. Thus, any project management seminar needs to develop delegates understanding of the ‘art and science’ of project management. The ‘science’ part is around managing budgets, scope, timelines etc. The ‘art’ is about leadership – creating a high performing team that works brilliantly well together with team members who are prepared to go the extra mile to help.
This seminar is part of the IEDC’s Advanced Management Program. What can participants expect to gain from the module that they might not find in more conventional project management training?
Conventional project management training is really good at providing attendees with an understanding of the ‘nuts and bolts’ of project management; how to create a budget, timeline and scope document. This module goes beyond this in two ways. The first has already been discussed – the module discusses the art of project management – the behavioral aspects. The second difference is that I ask delegates to critically reflect on their professional experience to date in the context of the taught curriculum. That is to say that rather than the course being set up as a one-way ‘knowledge dump’, I expect and encourage attendees to critically reflect on what they have learned. The analogy I use is that I can teach various project management tools. So, they go away with a toolbox. What I want them to be able to do is to decide which tool to pull out. There’s no point pulling a hammer out of your toolbox if you have screws to tighten; this is also true in project management. You need to critically assess a situation and decide which tools are relevant and appropriate to use to deliver the project and which are not. This is the essence of the course.
You’ve received awards for teaching excellence and even developed a smartphone application for learning. How do you use innovative tools or techniques to enhance participant engagement during your project management sessions?
The idea that underpins my teaching is that ‘you can’t teach experience’. Thus, rather than talking at students for two days, I give them a real project to plan. This approach to teaching – called ‘problem based learning’ means that students work in teams to puzzle over and resolve issues such as – how do we manage risks in this project? Who are the key stakeholders? Etc. They work together in small teams during the course – which reflects the reality of what a real project environment looks like – and are expected to present their findings to their peers.
The AMP Module 3 on Project Management addresses topics such as project planning, stakeholder engagement, and managing risk and uncertainty. Which of these areas do you think is currently most underestimated by organizations, and why?
We are living in an era of unprecedented change. The macro-economic environment has been in a state of flux – caused by a number of shocks such as the global financial crisis, corona, acts of war (both physical and technological) and changes in government policy over areas such as free trade. Brexit and the current debate around tariffs are just two examples of this. In addition, we are seeing very rapid advancements in technology – in particular artificial intelligence is making huge progress in terms of its capability.
These uncertainties affect projects, and organisations should be responding by better risk governance. My experience is this; risk management is done poorly in many projects if at all. I think there is a reason for this – the risk takers in most societies are young and male. And the demographic of most project managers is (still) young men. Thus at a time when we need better approaches to risk management, organisations give projects to natural risk takers. This is a gap that needs to be rapidly filled.
This seminar is the final module in the series, following Prof. Kriek’s session on Leading for High Performance and Prof. Filipović’s seminar on Critical Thinking and Decision-Making in Organizations. Why is project management a fitting topic to conclude the program? And will participants who attend the entire AMP series gain more from this seminar compared to those who join only this specific module?
I feel that there is an obvious overlap between the preceding modules and this one. I have talked about the need for project managers to be leaders so attendees who have already experienced approaches to leading high performing teams are well placed to benefit from a module on project management for the reasons given earlier – a good PM needs to understand the ‘art and science’ of project management and be able to create high performing teams.
Similarly, project managers need to be decisive. The term ‘never let perfect be the enemy of good’ springs to mind. Inevitably project managers need to start work on a project without all the information they need – indeed the first phase of a project could be information gathering. Thus being able to think critically and be decisive are absolute necessities for success in projects.
I think there is a benefit to attendees of the series of modules since they are designed to build on each other. However there are benefits to attending as a one-off module. The module requires delegates to work expensively in teams, all of whom bring different industrial experience with them. In the teams there is a huge amount of learning since delegates bring with them different experiences of project management which allows for the cross-fertilisation of ideas, and also the opportunity to challenge the orthodoxy within your own organisation.
Given your extensive experience with MBA and executive audiences, what’s your approach to teaching project management to professionals who may not come from a technical background?
I am not so sure the background is relevant. What I expect is for attendees to arrive with an open mind, a willingness to learn, and an ability to contribute to class discussions. Actually having a diverse cohort of delegates enriches the programme since we are able to make sense of other people’s experiences and thus build on the knowledge of others.
You’ve worked with both students and business leaders across different educational levels. How do the challenges of project management differ between academia and industry, in your experience?
I think the similarities are often bigger than the differences. The fundamentals of project management concern creating a team that delivers value to a customer under constraints.
What trends or emerging themes are you integrating into project management education today across the programs including in-company programs that you teach?
The biggest trend which I see is the use of AI in projects. AI has the ability to run the ‘nuts and bolts’ of project management more efficiently. But more than that it has the ability to change the nature of some projects entirely. I was working with a firm of architects, for example, that will radically change the nature of their work – rather than having an architect come up with one design, AI could come up with a dozen that maximises the parameters fed into a model, and which then develops project plans that could be used by a project manager. Exciting stuff, but also quite daunting!
Finally, what motivates you personally to keep teaching and evolving your approach in project management, and what excites you most about working with IEDC participants?
Teaching is the best job in the world. I love the ‘a-ha!’ moments when people suddenly understand something that they have always found difficult during their professional careers. In my last IEDC course, I challenged a delegate who told me privately that she was terrified of presenting to stand up and have a go. I think we were both surprised at how well she did – it was a joyous moment to be a part of and one that has stuck with me since the module.
One of the hallmarks of IEDC students is their diversity of backgrounds. There are few other fora where an executive from a drinks company works in a team with representatives of the pharmaceutical and energy industries (for example). This leads to lively debates and deep learning about project management.