Inside PMO \\ PMO Leadership

The sixth PMO Manager’s Lunch took place in December 2021, the outcomes to that day are now available in the sixth Inside PMO Report.

PMO Leadership

London’s Soho provided the venue for the House of PMO’s PMO Managers Lunch.

PMO Managers and Directors, from several different industries, are invited to talk in-depth about a particular PMO topic.

At this lunch, the subject was ‘PMO Leadership’

We wanted to understand about PMO leadership experiences, leading people, the PMO and leading in the organisation.

There is a real lack of insights when it comes to leadership in PMOs. What makes a good PMO leader? How do you become a great leader of the PMO? Is it different to leading any other type of business function? These were just some of the questions we wanted to find answers to for this Inside PMO Report.

We also wanted to understand if leadership skills and the different qualities and behaviours are just limited to PMO Managers and Directors – those that traditionally lead a PMO. What about the people who work in the PMO? What about the PMO itself?

In the latest report, we take a look at leadership from different PMO angles and bring some new insights for the PMO community.

Conclusions from the Lunch

1. From all the theories available on leadership, the PMO Managers/Directors embrace the authentic and servant leadership models the most.
2. Leaders in PMO are responsible for setting the vision and to unite the team in striving to achieve the vision.
3. PMO leaders spent a lot of time supporting, nuturing, empowering and building a sense of community with their teams. Emotional intelligence is key.
4. Leading a PMO often means that the leader is also part of the leadership team in the organisation – they have to find the balance between working with senior executives and delivery leads. The challenge comes from being a supporter, enabler, encourager as well as providing objective assurance.
5. The PMO itself is also providing a leadership role utilising classic leadership skills in the work it does and the services it provides, such as strategic planning, developing others, coaching, being a critical friend, building communities, instilling confidence, leading by example and utilising best practice.
6. With the PMO performing a leadership role, the people within the team also actively engage in both leading and following. It doesn’t matter what the level of position that team member is in, they are using leadership skills in their day-to-day work.
7. Reflective practice is one of the ways PMO leaders continue to get better at their leadership role – as is development based on feedback and learning from challenging situations.
8. New hybrid ways of working are testing the leadership skills of PMO Managers / Directors and the resilience skills of the team. New sets of ground rules and acceptable behaviours, with the teams input and commitment are being developed and matured over time.

Read the Report

>> Download the Report

PMO Managers

• Stuart Collins – BBC
• Samantha Dowsett-Browse – NYK Group
• Rosalind Guy – CloudPay
• Simon Harwood – Fidelity International
• Carol Hindley – Houses of Parliament
• Alan McPherson – Motability
• Andy Taylor – PDP
• Rosella Taylor – Gilead Sciences
• Alistair Wood – John Lewis
• Kim York – Airwalk Reply

Watch the Launch Session