I recently had a lunch meeting with a communications consultant friend of mine. He was mulling over whether to spend a week and more than a thousand dollars to attend a conference for like-minded professionals.
He said “You know I was just about to go when I saw there was yet one more seminar entitled ‘How do communicators get access to the C-suite?’ ” He rolled his eyes and said that during his several decade career he had seen dozens of such presentations and articles that failed to provide the answer and this time it was enough for him to decide he really didn’t want or need to go.
An animated chat ensued as I told him that it was not a whole lot different in the world of project management. I first told him there was a time “back in the day” when project management practice was at a peak and it was assumed that there was no end of need for such a skill set. Then there was a period when it seemed that PMOs were just another corporate function and not a core competency for a successful organization. And now I believe in general project management is viewed as essential for framing and delivering major high risk, high value projects on time and on budget.
He noted too that his profession was subject to peaks and valleys sometimes viewed as absolutely essential to the organization and from time to time subject to being axed as a corporate frill.
Where we found middle ground was in our agreement that in spite of the perceptions of some senior management types may have held of the value of the functions from time to time, it was in fact the people and not the functions that made the difference. Good and experienced practitioners always seemed to have access to or sit at the table with the executive team. Why? Because they are seen as trusted, effective and valued partners. Partners whose counsel and work were viewed as adding value to the enterprise because they know the business. How do they do it? Because these successful people do their work well, they speak their minds honestly and openly and with the best interests of the organization at heart. They inspire confidence in their bosses and in turn they get a high degree of trust in return.
There are no magic keys to the C-suite. No presentation or article claiming to has the secret formula. Rather, the door to the C-suite is opened when project management work is done well, communicated effectively and delivered on time and budget by a responsible, effective professional project manager who understands the business.
Carl Sergeant, PMP, brings an entrepreneurial, results-based focus to his consulting and presenting practice based on more than three decades of project, program and portfolio management experience.
Carl Sergeant can be contacted at 1 905 466 7778 or [email protected]
