Analysis: The buck stops with program managers

Time and again, reports from the Government Accountability Office point to federal capital investments that flounder because of inadequate controls over cost, schedule and technical performance. Why do so many programs fail to stay on time and on budget? The answer has more to do with leadership than with technological capacity.

Process improvements such as earned value management and firm-fixed price contracting help, but those alone do not address the root causes of program failures. As we peel the onion, we see program offices, and the management systems that support them, are stovepiped. There often are separate teams, processes and meetings for disciplines such as risk management, cost assessment and engineering. Typically, the most proficient technologist from one field is promoted to program manager, and that person must interpret information from multiple disciplines in real time. Most agencies recognize that linking these disciplines is important, but few actually have networks of policy, standards and procedures that generate usable input for program management decisions.

Government should prepare acquisition leaders to make better decisions based on linked multidisciplinary information. One would never dream of giving a pilot the keys to the cockpit of a high-performance aircraft after he completed only handful of online courses. Yet that is what's happening for acquisition program managers and the functional leaders who support them.

A July 2009 Defense Department study of major acquisition programs noted program managers had significant gaps in practical training and experience needed to deal with daily engineering, business analysis and decision-making challenges. In a June study by Meritalk, an online community of government information technology specialists, interviews with more than 200 acquisition officials indicated that more than half lacked adequate training. Program managers need leadership competencies, as well as knowledge across functional areas, to ensure integrated teams of technical experts can meet benchmarks, create coalitions within and outside their organizations, and provide the best value to their customers.

Beyond solving technical problems, program managers must be able to create and sustain cross-functional teams. They must spot patterns and trends that are likely to affect their organization, think systemically, design a holistic system that fits the mission, and motivate collaborators to set up processes to achieve that vision. Those tasks also require emotional intelligence.

These skills cannot be taught in a set of brief online courses. Integration of leadership and technical competencies must be addressed through a comprehensive agency-sponsored program in which managers can learn to link functional skills with the decision-making support system unique to their organization.

This personal evolution requires a safe learning environment where participants can challenge themselves and their peers to change the way they do business. It should include executive coaching, which encourages intensive, candid dialogue. Executive coaching also is an excellent antidote for managerial myopia, helping program leaders to think more effectively.

Steeping program managers in a leadership development program focused on both intellectual and emotional development is the only way to prepare them for the challenges that lie ahead. And it would go a long way toward eliminating the stovepipes, fixing flawed processes and boosting program performance.

Robert M. Tobias is director of public sector executive education at American University, John Driessnack is senior director of the project solutions group at MCR LLC, and Patrick K. Barker is chief practitioner of program assessment at MCR LLC.