Current projects of
MACHWÜRTH TEAM INTERNATIONAL
Organisational and Personnel Development
identified decision makers and But it is not common to use Systemic constructivist project
no defined responsibilities. coaching for project managers coaching is a consulting and fa-
There are projects but no struc- as they would need all these cilitation-process which im-
tures. The roles are not defined skills the more intensified due to proves the perception and per-
and the project managers do not their limited power. sonal behavior pattern of the
have any or not enough leader- project leader, the project team
ship experience. Double work- Especially the leaders of inter- and also the superior steering
load, information deficits, un- disciplinary teams require lead- board/committee. The basis of
clear objectives, unclear ex- ership qualities such as leader- the consultancy is a resource-
pectations and excessive time ship competency, social, me- oriented idea of man and no
and budget requirements are thodical and business compe- deficit-oriented approach (con-
the results. tence. structivism).
Cultural work
Team development in-
struments
Leadership develop-
ment
Interpersonal communi-
cation
Conflict resolution
Planning of communication
Transparency of deci-
sions
The project culture can be as processes, roles and tools be Equality of information
changed in the long term by dif- implemented in the targeted
ferent coaching sessions which system the professional con- Reflexion of results
enhance the awareness to in- sultancy and a well organized Reflecting Team
volve all the stakeholders early change management process is
and to inform them on a regular needed for a successful result. Sustainability
basis (Stakeholder Management Using pilots
and Communication Manage- Coaching as transfer
ment). tool
Setting of clear objec- ‘What could be done in order to work out a report about the cur-
tives deteriorate the outcome of the rent situation and a SWOT
Evaluation project?’ This questioning tech- analysis. This could be done by
nique helps to show the phone interviews or a workshop.
Training instruments: coachee which of his own activi- The advantage of a workshop is
Interactive methods which ties cause problems within a that the commitment is usually
enhance transfer to prac- project. higher and the team members
tice such as experiential start to bond in an early stage of
learning and group work If the systemic coach wants to the project. The next steps con-
(real case studies) find out the perfect situation de- sist of defining the objectives of
Project management skills sired by the involved parties, he project coaching based on the
and soft skills asks the ‘wonder question’ (by description of the desired out-
Steve de Shazer). This method come / perfect situation by the
Project Management Methods is especially useful to move the key stakeholders. The compari-
(by PMI® Standard): project team from a problem ori- son with the current situation
Definition of project objec- ented to a solution oriented way shows the weaknesses for
tives of thinking what helps to achieve which measures have to be de-
Definition of project struc- the turn-around in difficult pro- fined accordingly. The definition
ture (roles, organization, jects. The coach asks them how of the objectives and measures
processes, milestones, re- the perfect situation can be has to be done by a personal
porting) achieved and supports them in conversation in order to get clar-
Implementation of project working out the necessary steps ity and to avoid different ex-
management tools for the implementation. pectations. Based on the de-
Implementation of reporting fined measures a rough esti-
structures mate of the timeline, the quality
criteria and the budget can be
made. A project coaching proc-
ess usually takes 1 month to 12
months.
The implementation of the de-
fined measures starts after set-
tling the contract. The project
coach resp. coaches visit the
customer on a regular basis to
conduct coaching conversa-
tions, facilitate meetings, con-
duct trainings, create reporting
structures, implement tools, etc.
The evaluation of the activities quirements of the product and the important meeting. The
of the last weeks/months are re- its prioritization. In order to han- coach is not present at the
flected by the following ques- dle the conflict of goals that will presentation itself. The project
tions: “What went well / bad? arise in the workshop, the pro- manager is responsible for the
What could be improved?” ject manager requires excellent management presentation which
Mutual feedback in the project conflict handling and facilitation does not form part of the coach-
coaching is an important factor. skills. ing process.
Not only the coachee receives After the management has
feedback but also the project Once the product requirements made a decision the coach and
coach from the coachee and the are defined the management all the involved parties meet
contracting body. has to approve or deny the go- each other for a final feedback
ahead of the product develop- session.
ment project. Once the project coaching proc-
Sample of intervention design The project coach is required to ess is completed the company
for a product development help structure the documenta- has gone through a project ini-
project tion such as project proposal or tiation process that can be
project charter. It is recom- adapted for all future projects.
mended to involve all the stake-
Picture number 3 shows an ex- holder for a review after creating
ample of an intervention design a useful documentation in order Examples for project coach-
for the launch of a product de- to get their feedback about the ing
velopment project. ‘official document’. The evalua- Work out objectives of a
tion process is conducted in a project and define them
clearly
Stakeholder-Management
Show the complexity: plan-
ning of project structure
and timing, planning and
controlling of budget and
resources
Handling of project risks
Planning of project commu-
nication and reporting
Project manager as a
leader: how can I lead
without disciplinal leader-
ship responsibility?
Handling objections and
emotions, e.g. how to con-
vince the managers of my
team members?
How to solve conflicts of
goals between the line and
The first step puts emphasis on workshop which enhances also the project?
the involvement of the stake- the team spirit and the commit-
holders in the project. The pro- ment.
ject manager is informed in a
coaching session about the im- Another coaching session is
portance of this involvement and usually required to prepare the
the required steps are defined. project manager for the meeting Conclusion
A crucial element for getting the with the management which has
commitment of the stakeholders to decide whether the project The quality of a systemic project
is a workshop to define the re- should be implemented. The coaching depends on whether
quirements of the products. The meeting with the coach consists the coach finds the right balance
workshop is facilitated by the of content related aspects of the of consulting and process-fa-
project coach in order to guar- project proposal, the proceeding cilitation. He/She needs to have
antee a smooth flow. The output and the format and graphic a neutral view and must not get
of the workshop is a list of re- presentation of the materials for
Sources/Literature
MTI