ON THE EDGE
Project Management Starts with PR - Branding Project Management
by Carl Pritchard, Pritchard Management Associates
Coca-Cola®. McDonald's®. The two most recognizable brands on the planet. No matter the city, state or country, you know precisely what to expect. When you think of Coke, do you think of a gourmet quaff? Of course not. It's Coke, for crying out loud! When you think of McDonald's, are you expecting top sirloin, ground to order, just the slightest hint of pink at the center of the ground patty? Don't be silly. And yet, they are major, major forces in the economy. They are big players; one can, one burger at a time.
What's your brand of project management? Does it vary from client to client? If so, you may have a problem. Branding is, if nothing else, a lesson in consistency. When someone decides that you are the right PM for the job, what kind of PR are you using to sell yourself as consistent? Internally or externally, we have a brand. Some project managers are the "Get-Out-Of-My-Way-Or-I'll-Flatten-You-Like-A-Grape" project managers. Others are the "How-Can-I-Help-You-Today" project managers. But some folks think that "situational management" means situational approaches to how we manage our efforts. That's a more people-oriented practice and a subject for a completely different column. Project management and the public relations that make it effective are rooted in effective and consistent practice.
Figuring Out Your Brand
What are you known for? When people think of you in your professional life, what do they expect? It's more than just what you're good at. I consider myself a decent writer, but most folks don't perceive me as a writer. It's not part of my brand. Brand is based on the outside looking in. It's focused on how others see you. If you want to change your brand, you don't change the inside nearly as much as you change the perceptions of others assessing you.
When others think of me professionally, they think of my______________.
Is it Sense of humor? Frenzy? Chaos? Charts? Graphs? To-do Lists? Bounce-off-the-walls Enthusiasm? However you finish that sentence is a first step in identifying your existing brand. Queen of the Flip Charts? The Lord of Post-Its®? Master of Leatherette 3-Ring Binder? You are known for something. And you have to identify what you're known for before you can identify your brand. All project managers work to deliver projects. How they deliver them is their brand.
Many project managers go through life without a brand. That's because they don't strive to optimize or focus on the one or two things for which they're known. They don't call attention to their brand. That may be in part because brand can be both a blessing and a curse. Ask ValuJet®. They had a clearly recognizable brand name, and that brand screamed "INEXPENSIVE." When the Everglades tragedy occurred, the brand became a curse.
In setting down your brand, you need to know what you're known for and you need to know how you deliver that brand. One project manager I've had the honor of working with is an ESI Executive VP named LeRoy Ward. LeRoy has a clear and distinct brand: Credibility. Every interaction, every element of his professional demeanor drips with credibility. When he does an executive meeting, he's direct, straightforward and credible. When he stands in front of a slide with Larry, Moe and Curly, he still finds a way to be credible. He does it by knowing what he's talking about and staying focused and on-topic. If someone steers him away, he steers them back. It's his gift. But his brand is more than his professional capability. He looks the part as well. Even on business casual days, he's pressed and neat. And he talks the part. Whether in a casual conversation or a rehearsed presentation, he's focused and can redirect the conversation at will. He's the consummate professional and rarely strays from his brand image. It's inspired.
By contrast, my brand is that of "rumpled risk/project management comic/pundit." I could never pull off LeRoy's brand, and I shouldn't even try. Why? I'm a different brand. He's Coke. I'm Pepsi. That's fine.
When you think about what people expect of you, it comes in a variety of forms. They expect dress, demeanor, behaviors, and habits. Shift from those behaviors and you become "New Coke." (For those who don't recall the New Coke debacle, on April 23, 1985, the Coca-Cola Corporation unveiled a reformulation of their core cola product. By July 1985, they were apologizing and announcing their intention to return Old Coke to the shelves). We want clear expectations and familiarity. We want people to know what to expect. Consider the following aspects of brand from the cola wars:
- Cost
- Appearance
- History
- The product
- The aftertaste
Now think about those elements in your project management practice. Are you the most expensive of your peers or the cheapest? Are you the navy blazer or the cotton khakis? Are you the grizzled veteran or the fresh face? Do you deliver slowly and steadily or in bursts of incredible energy? Do you follow up consistently or simply respond to requests? Each of those components goes to establishing your brand. NONE are better than the other. They are largely dependent upon your capability and customer taste.
Using Your Brand
An interesting side note to the New Coke episode in the 1980s: Coke conducted taste tests before introducing New Coke. Customers preferred the new taste by a significant margin. What Coke failed to recognize, however, was the incredible power of brand loyalty. They had built a brand that people loved, honored and cherished. People were not buying just a bottle of taste. They were buying everything about it, including a 100-year-history of performance. They were buying what they knew.
We can take a powerful lesson from this episode only if we know or explore our own brands. By building a brand, people learn to set and accept expectations. Part of my personal brand is the American idiom. I speak American idiomatic English with the best of them. When I went to take on an opportunity in Sweden, I was warned to leave the idiom behind. I didn't. I couldn't. It's part of who I am, and it's part of my brand. And while some of the Americanisms may have left my Swedish peers wondering, the fact that I was acting precisely as they had seen me act in the States built even more brand loyalty and trust. My reception couldn't have been warmer.
We use our brand by doing what we do and sharing it in the same fashion in each and every project experience.
Does every project manager have to have a brand? No. You can still purchase generic cola at the supermarket. But for many buyers, such a purchase would be heresy. For others, they're perfectly comfortable with whatever flows from the can. But if you want your performance to be a key component of future decisions, brand loyalty will definitely work in your favor.
Coca-Cola® is a registered trademark of the Coca-Cola Corporation. McDonald's® is a registered trademarks of the McDonald's Corporation.
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