Cognitive Strategy & Attained Leadership
Guest post by Travis Anderson
We continuously read about how innovative projects execute and deliver products and services that have never been done before. In terms of formulating strategy on our programs, I sit here and wonder how cognition of strategy determines the future results on our programs. Since cognition is primarily based on past experience, does the past influence the future?
Planning a project is sometimes daunting and more or less ongoing throughout the life cycle of the project. Program managers that are responsible for high-risk, complex, innovative endeavors must cognitively formulate a strategy that will bring the project in on scope, schedule, and budget. This type of program manager must have an outstanding ability to mentally structure and organize knowledge in order to embark on such an initiative. For innovative projects or any project for that matter, I wouldn’t think a PM is selected based on luck and past experiences alone. The PM must have a different way of thinking, a different way of cognitively formulating strategy. Is this kind of cognition taught or is it purely obtained through experience?
Executing such unheard of tactics to achieve this grandeur of projects must also be a great challenge and take a great deal of influence to enact buy in from the project team. Therefore the leadership abilities of PMs are also important when evaluating the two questions presented above. Leadership is also comprised of experiences, knowledge, and competencies that are representative of the PM’s values and are displayed in his/her style. How does one attain the leadership abilities needed to be an innovative PM?
I am interested in your thought on this topic.
Oct 20th, 2009 at 10:53 am
I’m not sure exactly how to interpret this post Travis. Perhaps you can respond to what I have below to clarify further.
I’m confused by your use of the word cognition throughout this post. It seems to me that cognition is a physiological ability you are born with; the thought processes we all use on a daily basis. So, I don’t agree that it is “based on past experience”.
If I substitute “critical thinking skills” for “cognition” in your post it starts to make more sense to me. Critical thinking skills are something that can be taught and refined through experience. The ability to think critically when responding to changes and challenges, formulating strategy, etc. is crucial.
You CAN select a PM, SE, or other roles on an innovative project based on past experience. What history does the individual have that demonstrate the same critical thinking skills and ability to innovate and solve difficult problems?
You’re making an unstated assumption that “high-risk, complex, innovative endeavors” require brand new solutions and ways of working. That’s not true. Many times, the proven and institutionalized methods have been refined over many years and projects, and they work best. You can innovate new products using the “same old” proven methods; organizations do it all the time.
I’m not discouraging the advancement of project management as a discipline; far from it. Let’s just not conflate the innovation of products with our processes to create them.
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Travis Anderson Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Josh,
The use of cognition in the post relates to the process of thought that recalls past experiences to demonstrate some sort of action or otherwise called knowledge. If you have not experienced something, then you have no knowledge to recall. Yet we innovate new never seen before products and services all the time on our projects. So my argument is that people capitalize on 99% of what they know to perform on a daily basis, BUT it is the 1% unknown that leads to innovation.
Critical thinking is a good substitute word for cognition in this post. Critical thinking is a course in most college programs, so we know that cognition can be taught. However, it is that 1% innovative thinking I bright to light in this post. This is a unique thought process. Similar to entrepreneurial thinking. You know a lot about this. You weren’t necessarily taught to think this way as much as you developed it over time based on your past experiences.
So for project managers, I argue that it is important to continuously develop critical thinking skills, but also try to identify those 1% unknown opportunities that most people don’t see to innovate your projects.
Travis
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