Serialization: Don't Just Manage, Lead

By Lori Clapper, Editor

Practical advice for effective project management.

If you are currently spearheading a serialization project, or will be in the coming months, you know time is quickly running out to meet the pending deadlines for the 2015 California ePedigree mandate. As a manager, you are well aware of the many moving parts that need to come together for your efforts to reach the desired outcomes. However, being an effective leader goes beyond the mechanics. It’s up to you to instill a common purpose in your team. Recently, I spoke with Robby Martin, senior engineering project manager, Bush Brothers and Company, and Joe Robinson, director of the Great Lakes Chapter of ISPE, and project manager with Commissioning Agents, who offered best practices for you to not just manage your project, but to step up as a leader.

Am I A Masochist If I Put These People Together On A Team?
Obviously, before you can delve into your project, you first need to assemble the right group of people who will productively function together. As you’re sorting through stacks of résumés and interviewing candidates, what factors should impact your decision up front? Martin and Robinson shared the following thoughts:

1. Know your end goal
You can steer the direction of the project with a little common sense, according to Robinson. For example, if you know the desired outcome is to streamline your pharmaceutical validation and qualification processes, then start by narrowing down the people with the most experience and skills in those types of activities, then go from there.

2. Think twice about the personality mix
“Seriously ask yourself if certain people can function in a room together every week for the next eight months,” Martin said. “If the answer is no, then there may be another person who could use the professional growth, and knows enough to function in that certain position, or would just flat out work better with this particular team.”

3. Discern how much leadership talent is necessary for the project to work
Robinson said you should include a number of people within your team who not only have intelligence about the job, but are comfortable with making a decision — and taking responsibility for that decision. What if one of your project leaders is sick, takes a vacation, or quits the team? The bottom line is that you need to have enough leadership ability available to establish a solid chain of command. Who will be the go-to person when a decision needs to be made in a pinch? If this is not common knowledge, it could be a recipe for disaster.

Once you’ve narrowed down your candidates, it’s time to meet them in person. You know them on paper, but now you need to make a judgment call as to whether they are a fit.

“I’m sure we’ve all been in situations where someone looked great on their résumé, then once you see them in action, it’s like they’ve never managed a project before in their life,” related Robinson. To help prevent this from happening, he likes to center his initial questionand- answer session around specific scenarios to see how candidates would respond to the issues, and to gauge whether they are comfortable making decisions in those situations. For instance, he will present a scenario where damaged equipment arrived on site. Due to a tight time line, it’s impossible to send the equipment back to the supplier for repair or replacement prior to the installation.

How would this candidate handle the installation with the damaged equipment and have it ready for testing the next week? Another scenario might pertain to personnel. “The issue could be a personal conflict with the general contractor from one of his subcontractors,” he said. “Perhaps the problem was causing delays with the project, with incorrect status of the project given at project meetings. It’s beneficial to test how this person would approach the situation, and get the project back on track.”

You May Not Agree, But You Should Align
If you go into a new project thinking that everyone will come in with smiles on their faces and a common point of view — think again. Ensuring everyone will always agree is practically impossible. However, it’s important to differentiate between being in agreement and being in alignment. Joe Robinson said it comes down to the one thing that is key in any relationship — communication. “It’s not good to let differences fester,” he said. “I believe that everybody has valuable input to offer, and it’s important to talk out any issues at the get-go.” Martin agrees, and warns that, without establishing alignment up front, you end up with poor buy-in, misalignment of efforts, distractions, and mixed-up priorities. To help avoid morale problems, Martin advises asking the following key “why” questions to your team at the onset of the project to ensure alignment:

Why This Project?
Martin’s advice starts with ensuring your team has the same view of why the project even exists. “Discussing the certain problem the project solves, what opportunity it leverages, or perhaps what regulation it addresses, is a critical place to start,” he said.

If you still encounter coworkers with disconnects regarding the significance of the project, you may have to step back to gain an understanding of why they aren’t completely on board. Again, this goes back to good communication skills. He explained that for some you may have to completely reframe the value of the project to the business as a whole. “For example, members may not agree with the regulation the project addresses, but it’s important they understand that our role is not to question it, but to adhere to it. Or, a person may not agree with this being the next project selected. Stress that the process is done, and we were placed in this position now, so it’s our job to make the project as effective, efficient, and valuable to the business as we can.”

Why Now?
This question is definitely a loaded one, and will most likely open up opportunities to discuss the issues more in-depth. Prior to asking “why now?” prepare to answer these followup questions:

• Is the timing of the project driven by an external demand of some type (like a non-negotiable safety situation or a customer demand) or is it a choice to do it now (a choice that could be less than firm as the project progresses and priorities change)?
• Is the timing purely because the right person finally listened (a political decision or a power play), or is it that the right group of people finally aligned on the project and timing (a more broadly supported situation)?
• Does it have immediate results and payback, or is it an accomplishment toward a long-term strategy?

Why This Team?
The project you and your team are embarking on could be a sizable one, and will likely lead to questions as to why the company isn’t just outsourcing the job, rather than taking up its time and efforts. Martin says uncertainties like this can negatively affect the focus required for individuals to work well together. He adds that a solid leader should desire team members to feel honored to be part of the project, with a clear vision of the outcome, as well as the importance of their role within the project or to the business. “Even with each person performing different functions, a focused team with the same desired outcomes in mind can be highly effective,” he said.

Invest In Each Person And Make The Experience "Worth It"
As the leader, your ultimate goal is to get past the differences, and to sincerely engage with the people on your team, to make them feel they are a vital part of the goal. How do you do that? The short answer — it depends. Everyone is different, so it comes down to Psychology 101. However, Martin offered four tips to positively influence team members by getting to know them on different levels.

Intentionally Motivate: First, understand what motivates each person on your team. There will be team members who need to know the financial worth of the project; to others the benefit to the company is important, while others may primarily seek personal career benefits. “In order to effectively communicate in so many ways,” Martin explains, “you need a great understanding of the overall direction of the business — and then relate how this certain project plays into that strategy.”

Get Personal: Next, is to get to know people personally. “You don’t lead by showing up at the meeting, taking care of the agenda, and moving on,” Martin said. Establishing a deeper relationship with your team starts with asking simple questions like “How are you doing?” or “Are you feeling good about what’s happening in the project so far?” Showing genuine concern and interest speaks volumes. He shared that, at Bush Brothers, all employees — whether it’s boss and employee or fellow coworkers — are encouraged to schedule regular “visits,” just for the purpose of really getting to know each other.

Find Value: Another important point is to see the significance, not only in the outcome of the project, but in the experience itself. “It comes down to setting our personal needs, goals, plans, and desires aside, if we are ever going to truly invest in others,” Martin shared. Being a leader means you devote yourself to help others grow, bring them positive experiences, and encourage them to work together with diverse people for a common purpose.

Establish A Learning Atmosphere: Let your team members know it’s safe to make mistakes. Obviously, you want to avoid fatal errors that could threaten the project’s outcome. But don’t panic about the minor mistakes. Support team members, and turn a seemingly bad situation into a teachable moment.

How Can You Really Tell If A Project Was Successful?
The definition of a successful project is different for everyone. Did it optimize the company’s process? Were the deadlines met? Is the company in line to save money? Meeting those objectives is undoubtedly top priority. However, to a leader, success runs much deeper. When it’s all said and done, your project is only as good as the team’s reflections on it. For example, did they think it was time well spent? Maybe they didn’t care for the work, but loved the people they worked with. Or, perhaps, even in the toughest times, they learned more valuable lessons that they wouldn’t have learned elsewhere. It’s those feelings that make it all worthwhile in the end, even if it all felt like failure in the middle.

Martin summed it up best. “I believe that success is when a team comes out of a project as a higher functioning group of people together than they were separately before the project began.”

A Project Portfolio Manager, Business Process Developer, and coach with a passion for leadership, Robby Martin’s career spans 27 years. In his role with a major branded food company, Robby spends about one-third of his time discussing the “people aspects” of projects, proposals, problem solving, and career development. He also supports the company’s new-product launch process, and is currently leading an effort to formalize the organization’s continuous improvement activities.

Joe Robinson is a Project Manager for Commissioning Agents, Inc. He has more than 24 consecutive years experience in the fields of start-up, maintenance, engineering, test execution, and project management. He has over seven years’ experience in the pharmaceutical/ biotech industry focusing on roles for commissioning, validation, and construction management. He is a retired Senior Chief Petty Officer from the U.S. Navy Nuclear Power program. He has been actively involved with ISPE for six years, serving on several international committees, most times in a leadership role. He is the current president for ISPE’s Great Lakes Chapter.