Category: 3 Burning Questions

In the “Three Burning Questions” series we talk to experts, practitioners and professionals from sectors and disciplines that have a relevancy to the project management profession.  We ask them three “burning” questions related to their area of expertise and competence.

In the ninth interview of the series we have been talking about neuroscience, as a new way of thinking about projects and their management, with Carole Osterweil, founder of Visible Dynamics, UK.

Carole is a consultant, speaker and educator.  She is the founder of Visible Dynamics, a consultancy set up to bring expertise from the emerging discipline of neuroscience to the world of complex change and transformation.  She is an executive coach at Ashridge Executive Education, part of Hult International Business School.  In 2016 she became one of a select group of Project Academy coaches working with Cranfield University and PA Consulting to increase the UK Government’s transformation and project leadership capability.

PMDG: “Carole, first of all, thanks for talking to us today. I read with interest your book, “Project Delivery, Uncertainty and Neuroscience”.  In your book you propose to bring neuroscience into the discussion with the project delivery in uncertain and complex environments………

PMDG: Could you briefly explain how neuroscience fits in with project delivery?  

Carole: Project delivery involves people, and in every project, we experience the diversity of people’s reactions and behaviours.  Neuroscience gives us a new way for understanding how people behave and helps us in making sense of those behaviours.  Let me contextualise this.

We are used to the idea of the brain’s “fight / flight / freeze” response in the face of physical threat.  We are far less familiar with the idea that our brain responds in exactly the same way to social threat.  These are five basics we should know about the brain:

1. The brain is hardwired for survival.
2. The human brain responds to social threat in the same way as it does to physical threat – it tries to avoid it.
3. In judging whether a situation is threatening, the brain trusts past experience above all else.
4. In response to social threat the brain generates avoidance emotions (e.g. fear, anxiety, anger and shame).  These avoidance emotions prime us to avoid the threat – through avoidance behaviours.  We might get defensive, go onto the attack or withdraw.
5. In contrast, when the brain assesses the situation as ‘safe’ it will generate approach emotions including trust, excitement, joy and love. These emotions are a pre-requisite for successful project delivery.  They enable approach behaviours such as collaboration, creative problem solving and rational decision making.

You don’t need me to tell you, it is impossible to deliver a successful project without high levels of collaboration and creativity.  Understanding how the human brain works gets us beyond describing the people stuff as ‘soft’ and ‘fluffy’. It provides the missing ‘building blocks’ and gives even the most process-driven project managers insights into why people behave as they do.   It has profound implications for everyone involved in projects.

PMDG: The fact that complexity and uncertainty raise the individual stress level sounds logical.  Stress management often is aimed at an individual level….

PMDG: What is the manifestation of stress at a project team level and how can this be managed?

Carole: We have to be mindful and manage the level of stress which project teams are exposed to.  A certain level of stress will improve performance, but too much stress will be very damaging and very ‘toxic’. 

In my book I mention the notion of “psychological safety” – something that all project leaders should seek to establish in their teams.  It is a term that comes from research by Professor Amy Edmondson.  It exists when people are confident that they will not be embarrassed, punished or rejected for speaking up. They believe it is safe to speak the truth as they see it – even if their view is an outlier.

When we are stressed, under pressure to deliver or uncertain of the way forward, there is lots going on under the surface of our interactions.  These invisible dynamics create an environment which can be psychologically unsafe or threatening. Team members don’t speak out because they don’t know how others will react and things like ‘groupthink’ prevail.     

We need to consciously work against this and foster an environment that enables all team members to feel at ease rather than threatened. Doing so will ultimately allow all team members to better contextualise and understand uncertainty and change. It will bring tangible benefits to the project dynamics and delivery.  

One example is Google’s Project Aristotle. Aristotle explored what makes the most effective Google teams so effective.  It identified five key factors.  Of these, psychological safety stood well above four others that are more familiar – dependability, structure & clarity, meaning of work, impact of work.

PMDG: What do you think will be the next ‘new thing’ in the expansion of neuroscience in project management?

Carole: Learning to admit that working on a project is often like ‘walking in fog’!   You might laugh, but I’m making a serious point.  Changing our language will introduce a new paradigm.

It is important we become more comfortable with talking about uncertainty – because uncertainty is a key driver of social threat.  When it is unsafe to talk about uncertainty, it evokes an avoidance response.  We see the avoidance response when team members get defensive, go onto the attack or withdraw.  We see it in our stakeholders.  They are human too!

Being honest, acknowledging reality and learning to say “this part of the project is ‘foggy’, but we are doing all we can to make it less so…” will create space.  It will increase your confidence and stakeholder confidence. 

And it will help foster the psychological safety that needs to be on every project leader’s agenda”. _

I thank  Carole for her interesting insight and let me report one of my favourite quotes from Carole:

“Being a leader can be hugely challenging.  At times we feel as if we are walking in fog and we dare not tell anyone.  Instead we keep it secret and remain isolated as we wonder silently if other leaders ever feel like this.”

If you need to contact Carole directly:

Website: http://www.visibledynamics.co.uk
Email: carole@visibledynamics.co.uk

I hope that this post has been of interest for our followers and we look forward to seeing you again soon.  

Marco Bottacini, Senior Portfolio Manager at GALVmed

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinion of GALVmed.

In the “Three Burning Questions” series we talk to experts, practitioners and professionals from sectors and disciplines that have a relevancy to the project management profession.  We ask them three “burning” questions related to their area of expertise and competence.

In the eighth interview of the series we have been talking about complexity, its management and the relevance to project management with Greg Lawton, co-founder of Nodes & Links, London UK.

Greg is an astrophysicist who spent his early career in BAE Systems (UK). He managed large defense programmes (£100M+), advised the Board of Directors on International Strategy, and owned key relationships with the UK Government and MoD.  He  co-founded and runs ‘Nodes & Links’, the world leader in applying complexity research to complex project delivery.  Amongst various business achievements, the Nodes & Links’s modelling of COVID-19 impact on project delivery has recently featured in a key All-Party Parliamentary Group report, shared with No. 10, and led ‘Nodes & Links’ to be mentioned by the Financial Times Live (FT Live) and Business Insider, alongside Google, Facebook and SAP.

PMDG: “Greg, thanks for talking to us today.  You quoted ‘complexity’ as being a critical, new area to consider in project management.  I would like to start with some basics, related to your experience, research and field of interest.

In one of your articles you have defined ‘complexity’ as “the propensity for emergent phenomena to arise due to the interconnected nature of a system” ….    

PMDG: Can you elaborate on the definition of ‘complexity’ and its manifestation?

Greg: There is no fixed, dictionary definition of complexity.  All definitions (including the one above) center around the concept of ‘emergence’ of new effects as a result of the interconnectivity of the elements and agents in a system as a ‘network’. This interconnectivity will ultimately drive the behaviour of the system. 

We can use the example of the current tragic COVID-19 crisis.  Let’s consider an individual affected by the virus and consider the individual in isolation from society. The survival of the individual will depend on many factors, but the society would not be directly affected by the situation.  But, if we consider the individual in connection with the wider society (family, health system, profession etc), we can see that the infection and the likelihood of individual’s survival would have a material effect on the society.  The emergence of features because of interactions is one of the key characteristics of a complex system and it can be observed in many interconnected systems.  The modern world contains many of these systems, from the global economy to power and communication grids, and from ecosystems to complex infrastructure projects

PMDG: How can ‘complexity’ be tamed?

Greg: First, complete control of a complex network can never be achieved.  The key objective in managing output is managing ‘emergence’ to be in our favour.  This requires a change in the mindset and to move away from the traditional thought that the ‘control’ of the system (or a project) can be as a deterministic and direct action. 

To influence emergence we must first set the scene so that the “good/positive” outcomes are encouraged.  Secondly, scenario testing is required, to reduce variance with the outcome, but, above all, to avoid the more catastrophic outcomes. In the financial sector, for example, scenario testing is a routine practice.

As an example, again related to COVID-19, let’s take the control measures to avoid the infection spread.  All countries have tried to avoid the catastrophic spread of the disease (and the overwhelm of the health systems). Interventions were put in place gradually.  Various approached were used, adapted to the different environments, culture and local circumstances.  The avoidance of any physical interaction between people would be a simple solution to stop the spreading, but this would be impossible.  The challenge is in changing human behaviour, discouraging the social interaction, which drive the ‘complex’ system towards the intended result (reduction of the spread). When required, more extreme measures had to be put in place to control “bad” behaviours (see, for examples, penalties applied to those not respecting the movement restrictions).

PMDG:  What is the change needed in the project management paradigm to enable the management of ‘complexity’? 

Greg: Above all, we must appreciate that single predictions of system-wide performance, such as fixed costs or end-dates for complex projects, are misrepresentations of reality.  Models that assume linear effects, such as the ‘Critical Path’ method (and derivative methods like PERT), when applied to complex networks/projects, provide incomplete representations of reality. In large, interconnected and highly dynamic networks (where emergent properties significantly influence performance), the models that assume linear effects do not produce accurate results. 

This fact has significant implications for fields such as estimating and risk management.  It should direct our efforts (and those of the Project Managers) regarding which solutions offer the greatest opportunity for improvement.  There is a fundamental shift from concentrating on probability to focusing on impact.

In summary, Project Managers should see their projects as ‘networks’.  There should be a greater appreciation of the principle of ‘emergence’ which dictates the performance of the network and limits their ability to understand and control it. A graphical representation of the network that captures components and interactions (as ‘nodes and links’) will help in understanding the nature of the network: the more interconnected, varied and dynamic a network is, the greater the effect of complexity (and the greater the opportunity for improvement!). To control the evolution and/or behaviour of a network, actions and interventions should be directed at individual nodes and links.

And finally, it is important to remember that complete control of a complex network can never be achieved because its behaviour cannot be absolutely predicted.”

We thank Greg and we leave here with one of his favourite words: ‘serendipity‘.

If you need to contact Greg directly:

Website:              https://www.nodeslinks.com/
Email:                   greg@nodeslinks.com
Phone:                 +44 (0) 7788655396

I hope that this post has been of interest for our followers and we look forward to seeing you again soon.  

Marco Bottacini, Senior Portfolio Manager at GALVmed

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinion of GALVmed.

In the “Three Burning Questions” series we talk to experts, practitioners and professionals from sectors and disciplines that have a relevancy to the project management profession.  We ask them three “burning” questions related to their area of expertise and competence.

In the seventh interview of the series we have been talking about ‘Millenials’ and critical project management skills for complex projects with Rick Manlove, Director of Commercial Development, GALVmed.

Rick has over forty years of experience in the life sciences sector, of which twenty years in Animal Health. He has led global and national business units in blue-chip companies with portfolios including both pharmaceutical products and vaccines. He has lived in the UK, USA and France and his international roles encompassed both developed and developing markets around the world.  At the date of this interview, Rick’s role in GALVmed was to lead the Commercial Development team and its activities, which included project management with partners and strategy development.

We have started asking …

“Rick, thanks for talking to us today.  All project management accreditation standards advocate for a highly structured project documentation and for rigorous regime for project management activities.  You have led many projects to success.  Many of these projects were taking place in highly complex environments, in changeable and challenging international settings, in conditions that are not easy to control…

PMDG: In your view, what skills or competencies do you see critical for a project manager in order to be able to manage and control projects that develop in difficult conditions and circumstances?

Rick: I got my training in project management, and had my initial experience with management of projects, back in the Nineties.  The training I went through gave me a solid ground on the fundamental principles in project design, project control, teamwork and stakeholder engagements – the “mechanics” of project management, I would say.  Those projects were quite structured and formalised, on an international basis and extensively cross-functional, but very much internal to the organisation.  A key skill I saw, as critical for me, for the success in my projects, was the ability to see the project broadly, having a view open to other disciplines, receptive to inputs from other fields and expertise.

With our current projects in GALVmed the challenge is with the extensive network of partnerships external to the organisation.  Often these agents and stakeholders have views, interests and agendas which may not be fully aligned with GALVmed and which are sometimes conflicting.  These contributors and agents are often challenging to engage with, to influence and to align towards the project objectives. 

Our projects fit very well the definition of being “complex”, while in the past probably they were just “complicated”.  There is certainly an increasing degree of political, financial, environmental & societal uncertainty and unpredictability – as you pointed out in your introduction to the question – that enlarges and deepens the complexity.  Projects managers need more than project “mechanics” – they need systems thinking capability as well as excellent people & influencing skills.

PMDG: I read that “..by 2020, ‘millennials’ (i.e. those born after 1983) will make up half the global labour force, and by 2030, they’ll account for 75%. Aversion by ‘Millennials’ to hidden agendas, rigid corporate structures and information silos, coupled with a willingness to explore new opportunities, will fundamentally change the nature of work …”.  

PMDG: Do you see the new generation well prepared to be managing projects in these challenging & changeable conditions

Rick: Complex projects require new approaches.  I think that system thinking theories are becoming more accessible for tackling multi-agents, interdisciplinary situations, offering a new way to view the project dynamics.  A more holistic view (a less “mechanical” one…) might help understand and manage social patterns and behaviours of teams and other project stakeholders.  The new generation have flexible and agile minds and are probably better equipped with technology, and social media skills, which will help them in project management.   But I strongly believe in the need for “Millennial” project managers to be receptive to the thinking tools I mentioned above, while certainly continuing to be agile and creative in their thinking and, as said earlier, work on their influencing skills.

Of course, project managers will have to continue to manage information well, responding in the interest of good decision-making and governance to key project participants and stakeholders’ requests for information.  Reviews and performance reports will always be requested, and the new generation needs to be prepared for those demands as well, with rigour in the metrics provided and timekeeping with report deadlines…

PMDG:  What would it be an influential book that should be on a project manager reading list? 

Rick: One of my favourite recent reads is Nassim Taleb’s “Skin in the Game“.  It is not about project management specifically, but its core message – beware of advice and inputs from anyone who has no downside risk in the situation – is a great reality check for project managers. Do all the actors and stakeholders in your project have ‘skin in the game’? 

We thank Rick and we leave here with one of his favourite quotes:

“Sometimes, when faced with a difficult problem and no apparent solution, we resort to hoping things will turn out OK, but remember – hope is not a strategy!”

I hope that this post will be of interest for our followers and we look forward to seeing you again soon.  

Marco Bottacini, Senior Portfolio Manager at GALVmed

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinion of GALVmed.

In the “Three Burning Questions” series we talk to experts, practitioners and professionals from sectors and disciplines that have a relevancy to the project management profession.  We ask them three “burning” questions related to their area of expertise and competence.

In the sixth interview of the series we have been talking about international project management, business development, cross-cultural relationships and Japan with Yoshiro Shibasaki, consultant, freelance interpreter and translator, Edinburgh, UK.

Yoshi received an MSc in hygiene and preventive medicine from the Hokkaido University, Japan. He was also awarded a doctoral degree in human genetics and medical science from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and an MBA from the Open University, UK. He has been working in pharmaceutical industry for over twenty years, holding senior management positions in international pre-clinical and clinical contract research organisations (CROs). His interests and specialisations include marketing and PR, customer management, cross-cultural consulting, communications, regulatory affairs (FDA, EPA EMA, and ICH guidelines) advice and support, linguistic support between English and Japanese as well as scientific expertise in medical sciences.

We have started asking …

“Yoshi-san, thanks for talking to us today.  Looking at you career, it is interesting to see your transition from science to business.  We would like to hear more about it… 

PMDG: What made you to move from science into business development? 

Yoshi: It was a not a transition, really. I am still a scientist deep in my mind. And I have always believed in science serving the society and the community. Therefore, I looked at the close relationship between science and the business world as a necessity. I have always valued the “utility” of my research achievements.

I see science and business complementing each other and business skills are critical for a scientist with project management responsibilities. A solid scientific training gives a person the right attitude towards data, metrics and statistics and makes the person more oriented towards evidence-based decisions. On the other hand, a business education would provide the scientist with communication and negotiation skills which are critical for research scientists in the present world.

For a project manager focusing on life sciences projects, it is important that interpersonal skills, which are typically required for a business-oriented professional, are to be learned and applied. Science is not just about the lab results and data, or the project is not just a series of interdependent tasks on the project plan. It is also about communication, good presentation skills to engage and convince stakeholders, managing the expectations of a demanding sponsor, ensuring that the right business case is included in the funding applications, good negotiation skills … the mastering of the “business talk”.

PMDG: You have worked for many years with the management of international customer relationships for pre-clinical and clinical CROs….

PMDG: In your opinion, what are the two more recurrent oversights of project managers in their attitude towards international projects?

Yoshi: First, the concept of “time”.  The value of “time” differs across cultures.  Whether it is in the coordination of an international project team, the management of expectations of a foreign sponsor or the scheduling of work for a panel of international contractors, the project manager needs to be conscious of the value that different cultures assign to the concept of time.  For example, if a project report is planned to be ready for “next month”, this could be interpreted by a person in a certain culture strictly as due on the first day of the month, whereas in a different culture it might be seen as due during a certain timepoint between the first and last day of the month or even not expected until midnight of the last day of the month.  Let aside the other cultural differences in managing a schedule and the rituals for a business meeting!…. A project manager must be mindful of this important aspect.

Secondly, in the interpersonal relationship, the project manager should avoid stereotyping the counterpart.  It is true that the regional and national cultures affect hugely the way of thinking and behaviour of the people when they are brought up in a specific region in the world.  At the same time, differences between various cultures are often smaller than that of the individual variations within that culture.  The PM shall have to understand the person’s life experience and professional career.  I recommend a project manager to be careful about the trap of jumping to a conclusion. The counterpart could be a professional who has spent many years studying internationally, working across the continents, and may not necessarily behave or respond as one could expect for the presumed nationality. 

There is a lot to talk about intercultural and cross-cultural issues affecting business and management. It is a very interesting subject and I would recommend reading Geert Hofstede’s famous book “Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, Third Edition: Intercultural Cooperation and Its Importance for Survival”. 

PMDG:  And finally, can you give us your own view about the Japanese business culture? 

Yoshi: Every country has its own culture and business etiquette.  Japan may be known for its prominent ritualised business culture.  I would say first that the general rule here is the same as for any other culture. Whenever a business meeting is to be held, it is good practice to pay respect to each other’s culture, especially, the visiting party should try to understand the local culture and rituals and accept it, but not necessarily adapt to those.  Therefore, I would recommend those working with Japanese clients or parties to learn about Japanese culture. 

In Japan there is a particular attitude towards the decision-making process that is sometime difficult to be appreciated by foreigners. It is important to reach a consensus and a mutual agreement before Japanese people would decide, but Japanese are not as rigid as we often believe. Changes to the deal under discussion may actually be acceptable, providing that there is a sensible, logical justification and it is well contextualised. However, the decision by the Japanese counterpart is likely to require a broader consensus as it has to ensure that harmony within the own organisation is preserved, so it is very unlikely that at a meeting there is a quick decision, on the spot, or there is an immediate approval to a change to the original plan. 

In Japanese culture, people appreciate that circumstances with the project or with the work may change – there is no fear of change and this may be sometime subtle, difficult for foreigners to notice.  For Japanese people it is important to build confidence and trust between the two parties before any serious business relationship starts.  It may take time for this relationship to develop.  Then, changes can take place…” – 

We thank Yoshi-san and we leave here with one of his favourite quotes:

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change”

Charles Darwin

I hope that this post will be of interest for our followers and we look forward to seeing you again soon.  If you need to contact Yoshi-san directly: 
Email: yoshi@easynet.co.uk
Tel: +44 780 892 5795

Marco Bottacini, Senior Portfolio Manager at GALVmed

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinion of GALVmed.