Making Things Better:
Lessons learned in the trenches shared to help you lead through problem solving.
One thing I’ve noticed over the past 37 years is that the people who become the most valuable to an organization aren’t always the smartest people in the room. They’re usually the people who have developed a simple habit: When they see something that can be made better, they do something about it.
Accountability vs. Ownership
I’ve heard the phrase “That’s not my job” more times than I can count. Sometimes it’s said out loud, but most of the time it’s simply demonstrated. A problem appears. Everyone knows who owns it, and they wait for that person to solve it. You can probably imagine how well that goes.
I’ve joked with project managers over the years that there ought to be a Project Management Darwin Award. One category might read: “I saw the problem. I knew exactly who owned it. So I watched it grow until it became everyone’s problem.”
It’s funny because almost every project manager has seen it happen.
It’s also painful because clients mostly don’t care whose job it was. They care that someone helped solve it.
One of the biggest lessons project management has taught me is that accountability and ownership are related, but they are not always the same thing.
Accountability belongs to an individual. Ownership can belong to everyone on the project.
Good Project Managers See Something and Say Something
Every successful project has clearly defined responsibilities because that’s just good project management. But the best project managers I’ve worked with never let those responsibilities become blinders.
If they noticed a risk that wasn’t getting attention, they spoke up.
If they saw a teammate struggling, they offered help.
If they recognized a client concern that hadn’t been addressed, they didn’t assume someone else would handle it.
They understood that successful projects are built by people who care about outcomes, not just assignments.
I didn’t always think this way.
Early in my career, I was focused on doing my job well, which is important, of course. But as I gained experience, I realized that the people I admired most weren’t simply completing their own work. They were constantly looking for ways to improve the project, strengthen the team, help the client, or remove obstacles for someone else.
That changed the way I approached leadership.
Leadership is the Ultimate Project Management Tool
Today, when I walk into a difficult client meeting or a struggling project, I find myself asking one question before almost anything else.
“What would make this situation better?”
Improved communication?
Resetting expectations?
Mentoring a project manager who simply needs another perspective?
Having a difficult conversation that everyone else is avoiding?
The answer changes according to the situation, but the mindset of “making things better” is always the same.
One thing I’ve learned from leading PMOs is that methodologies, governance, status reports, risk registers, and fundamentals all matter. They create consistency and discipline, and they help projects succeed.
But none of those tools replace leadership. Leadership begins when someone chooses to improve a situation instead of simply managing it. Most of the examples are extreme and are part of other factors, but if you think you’re going to run a project with no problems, you probably ought to think again.
Improvement over Management
Looking back, I can honestly say that the biggest opportunities in my career didn’t come because I stayed inside my job description.
They came because I stepped outside of it when the situation called for it.
I remember one account where the client had reached the point of threatening to terminate the contract and move to another vendor. They had already asked that two project managers be removed from the engagement, so my leadership team asked me to step in and take over the account.
I still remember that first meeting. We sat in a conference room at the client’s office, and for more than thirty minutes they vented their frustrations. There were complaints. There were raised voices. There were a few words I won’t repeat here (and probably wouldn’t fly in today’s world.)
During that entire time, I said very little. I wasn’t there to defend our team or explain why things had happened. I was there to understand why the client had lost confidence and look for shreds of items that could turn it around.
I listened, took notes, and wrote down every pain point they shared.
When he finally finished, instead of explaining or defending, I simply said, “I’m sorry you had to go through that pain. Let’s talk about how we make these things better.”
That meeting led to executive discussions, escalations, approvals, and a plan to address the issues that mattered most to the client. Looking back, that wasn’t really a project management problem. It was a leadership opportunity.
There were other people in the organization whose roles could have owned that situation, but leadership isn’t always about who owns the problem.
Sometimes leadership is stepping forward when something needs to be made better.
Clients Remember Confidence
One of the lessons project management has taught me is that clients rarely remember your schedule. They rarely remember your status reports. They rarely remember how well you followed your methodology.
They remember how you made them feel when things were going wrong. Did you stay calm? Listen? Make the situation better?
That doesn’t mean taking over someone else’s job. It simply means caring enough to act when something needs attention. I’ve come to believe that’s what clients really remember. It’s what teams remember. It’s what leaders remember.
Long after people forget the project schedule, they’ll remember the person who stayed calm during the crisis, helped solve the difficult problem, and cared enough to leave the project better than they found it. That’s the kind of leader I’ve tried to become.
I’m still learning. I have had the privilege of dealing with many difficult situations similar to the one I mentioned early in my career. I laugh about them now, but was fearful back then, which stalled my ability to make things better on my own. But after all these years, if there’s one lesson I hope to pass on, it’s this:
Don’t just manage what’s been assigned to you. Look for opportunities to say or do something.
Until next time, keep making things better.
James McCoy