Title: Project Manager as Team Coach - Plan for Success
Headings: The project manager as team coach
The project manager as team coach
How to cite this article:
Pamela Abdon, MBA, PMP
Chapter Vice President, PMI Southwest Missouri
Abstract
Introduction
What Is Coaching and What Is Not Coaching?
Why Should You Coach?
Whom Should You Coach?
When and Where Do You Coach?
How Do You Coach for Success?
How Do You Know When Coaching is Successful?
Conclusion

Content: From this paper, a project manager will develop an understanding of what coaching is and how it compares to mentoring and training, and will review why coaching is important in the context of project teams. The questions of who to coach and when and where to engage in coaching provide the project manager coach with guidance on looking for opportunities to improve team outcomes through coaching. Finally, the project manager will review various methods of coaching and learn the phases of a coaching engagement, followed by guidelines on how to determine the success of the coaching engagement. Introduction
Success in today’s business community requires a high level of effort to achieve goals that align with strategic organizational objectives. Many business leaders focus on professional development to ensure their continued successful performance. Leadership coaching is one method of improving performance, and anyone at any professional level can participate in a coaching relationship. Individuals can find coaches, and managers can coach their employees. As managers of project teams, project managers have a unique opportunity to increase the chance of successful project outcomes and increasing the performance of project team members at the same time. In this paper, we will look at the management activity of coaching and how a project manager can use coaching to improve project performance and project success. After defining coaching in terms of what it is and what it is not, the reasons for coaching will be presented.