What is the difference between a good project manager and an exceptional one? Drawing on many years' experience providing expert project and programme managers to leading organisations, Mark Campion provides some pointers on what employers should look out for – and what candidates should be striving for.

RECRUITMENT can be a lengthy and complex process. When the job requires someone to head a strategic project the stakes are even higher. So what should employers be looking for – and candidates providing – in terms of the best-fit person?

Project and programme managers fulfill many roles. Some focus on strategic planning, others in the hands on management of teams, while others still contribute in an operational ‘doing' capacity. Different projects demand different skills, but it should be a given that the best candidates already have a high degree of experience and skills, ranging from methodologies and organisational abilities to team-building and interpersonal skills.

Appropriate professional qualifications are also a given. You can probably get a good feel of these from a CV. The real task, then, is digging deeper to uncover the elusive X factors that mark someone out as truly exceptional. This isn't an exhaustive list, just some pointers, and applies equally to permanent roles as it does contract and interim personnel.

Responsibility

Employers need to be as sure as possible that a candidate is able to take responsibility for their actions. Leadership is critical. This, naturally, should indicate a focus – some might say an obsession in the candidate – on outcomes and results. Project management is a means to an end.

And while experience is a given, just what experience does a candidate have? Does it cover similar areas to your requirements? Are they specialised or do they have a broader, cross-industry perspective that, in turn, indicates a broader skills base? In certain situations this flexibility, being able to ‘think outside the box', is critical.

Does the candidate demonstrate the analytical skills that will enable them to assess situations rapidly, deal positively with the inevitable knocks, and move projects forward with confidence? Will they be able to effectively communicate their leadership approach and vision both downwards to their teams and upwards to senior management, being as persuasive as events dictate?

Dependencies

Candidates should demonstrate an ability to work collaboratively wherever possible while, if appropriate, understanding the dependencies and inter-dependencies in any organisation that can affect a project.

Other factors can be even more difficult to pin down – honesty and integrity. This can mean various things. For example, it could be independence in outlook and approach and a desire to provide the best value possible to internal and external clients alike. In short, a commitment to ‘do the right thing'. This again calls for self-confidence and a willingness to engage with others, abilities that can only really be gained through hard-won experience.

If abilities like these are evident, employers can move beyond static notions of hiring a ‘project manager' or ‘programme manager'. In effect, they are engaging a powerful agent of change who, in the best scenarios, is able to embed a project management culture in the organisation, at whatever levels may be required, to ensure success. And such people are out there – I meet and work with them every day.

Integrity

I'm regularly asked: “Is there a common denominator to the really successful change programmes or projects.” In my view, it's down to the relationship skills of the project or programme manager, which wrap up integrity, communication and structured reality-based optimism. Sponsors and accountable executives feel and recognise this almost instinctively, as do the recipients of change and the team members responsible for delivery. And it is, of course, infectious.

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