Nice Project Managers Finish First
Published in the March issue of the Journal of Product Innovation Management:
photo by Sorosh
“One new study shows that project managers can get much better performance from their team when they treat team members with honesty, kindness and respect. A second study shows that product development teams can reap significant quality and cost benefits from socializing with people who work for their suppliers.”
“Bohlmann says the results of the study show that if a team’s leader was perceived as “basically being a nice guy,” then “team members showed a significant increase in commitment to the team’s success and to the project they were working on.” This increase in commitment is important, Bohlmann explains, because it leads to enhanced performance in meeting team goals.”
People respond positively when treated with honesty, kindness and respect? Who knew! 
Mar 27th, 2009 at 8:14 am
Josh –
Unfortunately, I suspect that more than a few PMs will interpret this as meaning that they should let their team members do whatever they want.
Duncan
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Mar 27th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Being nice has many interpretations. It does not necessarily mean socializing with the team, although it can, but this can also be a slippery slope. What it does mean is being honest, trustworthy, and respectful of others. Treat people with professionalism, and you can expect professionalism.
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Mar 27th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Good points Bill and John. Nice doesn’t mean you let people walk all over you. “Honesty, kindness and respect” Tough but fair and consistent.
I’ve known too many that will say one thing and do another, not prop up their team members where credit is due, be condescending to their team and peers, or talk negatively behind someone’s back. That’s what NOT being a nice project manager is all about.
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Mar 29th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
“You cannot have an execution culture without robust dialogue – one that brings reality to the surface through openness, candor and informality.” —Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/ Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
If along the way the team is “self actualized” in some beyond the execution of the project, all the better.
These “being a nice guy” is a very slippery slope. Being clear, concise, supportive, encouraging, and most of all tenacious on following through on the committments may not mean always being nice in the way described in the article.
This may also be highly dependent on the domain. Software developers at internal IT shops versus propulsion engineers building machines for NASA? Possibly two different domains.
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Mar 30th, 2009 at 5:27 am
Good points Glen. I’m starting to think that when team members say “basically being a nice guy”, what it really means is acting with integrity and competence as a project manager.
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Mar 31st, 2009 at 8:59 am
I knew. Although evil manager can make team stronger it usually doesn’t work in a long run. On the other hand people are willing to do more for managers they like. The same situation as in our private lives: we tend to care more and do more for close friends (we like them more) than for people we barely know/like.
In the long run being a likeable manager is always better than being an ass-hole. It’s much more difficult too, so that’s not an easy way to choose.
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Apr 2nd, 2009 at 2:15 am
Bill, I suspect more than a few project team members will interpret it exactly the same- that the PM should enable them to do whatever they want!!
Thinking back on some of the most successful projects I have worked on, (both as a team member and as a PM) being “tough but fair” seems to be the words that mostly come to mind.
Honestly, I don’t seem to recall that “vision” or “mission” had much of anything to do with my respect for the better PM’s I’ve worked for. What does stick out is working for a person who was able to push me to do more than I thought I was capable of doing, and then allowing me to bask in the glory of having done a good job under tough circumstances.
I specifically remember winning a subcontract to provide all the carpentry work on a major school rehab and addition on Cape Cod. The General Contractor was a crusty old Jewish lawyer from Boston and I had partnered with a lesbian owned carpentry sub-contractor. We had won the rough and finish portion of the carpentry work under the minority set aside laws. To make a long story short, it wasn’t until after the project was successfully completed that the old Jewish lawyer and his project superintendent congratulated us noting that they never thought we could do the job using primarily gay and lesbian construction workers.
Despite having had our share of internal conflicts and challenges on the project, everyone was proud to have earned the respect of this highly regarded general contractor, And even though during the project, he was tough and demanding, never was he mean or condescending. We made him look good in the eyes of the client and he was quick to give us credit for a job well done.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta
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Apr 5th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Hi,
Maybe I’m just too cynical, but when I hear the phrase “he’s a nice guy” said of a fellow Programme or Project Manager, I instantly think, “okay so he’s a pushover”. Sadly so do the resources as well.
Possibly it’s a British thing, but over here if you are a Permie Project Manager you can get away with “being a nice guy” for the simple reason that you could be there for years. However for people like me who are Interims; well we need to be Respected rather than being Popular.
I treat my team fairly. I don’t micromanage unless I get a gut feeling that they never deliver or know what they are doing and I always give plaudits to those who have delivered. That’s why people usually say of me, “It’s good working for Susan. You always know where you are with her”. I would be astonished if anyone ever called me “nice”.
Regards
Susan
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