Project Management and a Growth Mindset

By Miranda Kovacic, Head of Technology, Data Delivery, ANZ Bank

Miranda Kovacic, Head of Technology, Data Delivery, ANZ Bank

Project Management is not for the faint of heart. Project managers are constrained by culture, technology, and process at every level of the organisation. And when I refer to Project managers, this includes Scrum Masters and other types of project methodology leads. Project managers guide the team and stakeholders back up out of numerous chasms of despair to the pinnacle of successful project delivery. So what makes a great project manager?

I have spent 20 years pondering this question. My light-bulb moment happened four years ago when I was introduced to the concept of Mindset by Carol Dweck, the internationally renowned Stanford Psychologist. I could see that all really great project managers have a common denominator- a growth mindset. If you haven’t come across this yet, Carol’s book is a must-read and outlines two different mindsets – fixed and growth. No one is completely one or the other, the mindset works on a spectrum:

The Warning Signs

The tell-tale signs of a fixed mindset in a project manager include:

• Only taking a well-trodden path

• Following every process, irrespective of value

• Not being able to deal with feedback

• Being protective of their brand

• Feeling threatened by others.

What you want is someone who may hit some dead ends while they try to improve; who learns from mistakes, embraces the challenge, and demonstrates resilience in the face of adversity.

Project managers who possess a growth mindset, seek opportunities to challenge themselves, look for opportunities to test themselves, and regularly look for new ways to solve problems. Why else would you agree to be the “throat to choke” for multi-million dollar projects?

An Environment Conducive To a Growth Mindset Will Provide the Potential Of “Yet” And Step Away From the Absolutism of “Now”

How a Growth Mindset Helps

The project lifecycle is fraught with danger and has many predators. With a growth mindset, a project manager can identify pitfalls and respond better when they occur.

They will know that hiring people smarter than them is the key to success. That failure is not only likely, it is guaranteed if you keep trying to do things better/faster. Failing fast is having clarity of your goals and knowing quickly if they are not being met.

Transparency is also key; no-one likes surprises or a ‘watermelon project’ (green on the outside, red on the inside). They will focus more on effort and the resulting behavioural benefits. A project manager with a growth mindset is inspired by other projects and leaders. Through candour they will ensure that communication is clear and feedback provided. When behaviour is more candid, everyone becomes part of the learning process.

An environment conducive to a growth mindset will provide the potential of “yet” and step away from the absolutism of “now”. Rarely is there someone who has 100 per cent fixed OR growth mindset. The more self-aware will be conscious of reverting to a fixed mindset following certain triggers. The key is having adequate self-awareness to identify the onset of a fixed mindset and nip it in the bud.

Feedback and Candour

A particularly difficult component of a growth mindset is criticism. No-one likes being criticised. A recent Harvard Business Review article provides guidance on “Responding to feedback you don’t agree with”. Our immediate reaction can be to reject the feedback. But this may sometimes result from a lack of awareness of the behaviour. Take the time to think about the feedback and if necessary go back and seek more detail.

To support a growth mindset, the work environment must clearly show where effort is being made. Agile ways of working are great for this. Take a look at a Kanban wall, where each card clearly shows an avatar of who is responsible for the task: transparency is unavoidable. When this is done right it develops a great project culture. I had a Performance and Volume Testing team working around the clock for months on a project. There were days when I had to walk around the office and send people home – that’s how committed they were! The level of resilience and growth mindset was palpable in that team. In recognition of their tireless and ongoing efforts, the project sponsor gave the entire team a day off. They were neither rewarded for their talent, nor for their fixed abilities. They were rewarded for embracing challenges, overcoming obstacles, and learning from what didn't work!

A growth mindset is the safety rail for successful delivery and good team culture. Projects will always be measured on time, quality, and cost. Stakeholders will always want more and want it yesterday. Great project managers are always focused on how to do things better and how they can learn from criticism. They want to know how can they inspire the project team’s efforts and support the team to make the changes they need to deliver better.

Project Management Nirvana

Your project manager has a growth mindset, the work environment is supportive of growth mindset and the project team is self-aware – that’s pretty much project management nirvana.

There’s no guarantee that having a growth mindset will make your life easy, but there’s no question that it will make it much more rewarding.