Lessons from the Paint-A-Thon

by Mike Wold, PMP

About this time of the year when the ice starts to break up on the Minnesota lakes and optimistic neighbors plant their flower gardens (only to be surprised once again by the May freeze), my thoughts drift back that fateful day eight years ago that had a big impact on my life.

It started out innocently enough. I was a new member of the Minnesota Chapter of the Project Management Institute and had just finished listening to a good speaker at a dinner meeting when the our visionary chapter president cruised over to my table. After exchanging some small talk, he asked me a question that would take me on an eight year journey that has given me many highs and a few lows.

Here is the "hook question" he asked: "Don't you think organizations like PMI should make it a point to find ways to give something back to their communities?" To me this was like asking "Don't you think project managers should create charters for their projects?" Of course I took the bait and said "definitely". Then he asked the 64 dollar question, "If you feel that way, how would you like to give our members a chance to use their talents to give back to the community by leading a Paint-A-Thon project?"

Now Paint-A-Thon is a program wherein teams of 25 - 30 people paint over 150 homes for economically disadvantaged seniors and disabled people for free within the Saint Paul-Minneapolis area every August. I could hear my self say, "Yes, I will do this". As I drove home I remember asking myself, "How did I get into this? This will be a lot of work!" And it was. But what I did not realize at the time was that I would receive much more than I gave both in the good feeling of giving something back to people in need and, to the point of this article, in the project management insights I have received from leading this project for the first few years of the program.

Picture yourself like me that first Paint-A-Thon project standing in front of an aging house early in the early morning next to an expectant family waiting for a painting team of 25 - 30 project manager volunteers from our chapter. Have you ever tried to manage 25 project managers? Well, learning how to manage a team of project managers who are used to leading their own projects turned out to be only one of many lessons I learned on this journey. Let me share some of them with you.

Although I learned a lot of practical lessons on the "technical" aspects of project management, like the value of using good process for project initiation, planning, execution, control and closure; the value of having a good communication plan and the importance of ensuring the resources and materials for the project are in place at the right time, I would like to share some of my learnings on the so called "human side" of the project management experience. Here they are:

1. Manage by results - I remember the first year I was managing the Paint-A-Thon team, I spent a lot of time identifying the specific tasks that had to be done in order for the house to be prepared and painted. I had assigned certain people to certain parts of the house and was all set to "manage them" in getting a high quality paint job. Well, as you know, nothing seems to go according to plan. First of all, some of the people I expected to be there did not show up or showed up late. Then of course some of them had their own way of doing the painting and were pretty much "unmanageable". What I learned from painful experience is to do the following:
   
   
   • Divide up the project into subprojects (e.g., prepare one side of the house, paint the garage, clean up the yard, etc.).
   • Try to get an experienced person (with some people skills) to volunteer to take on each of the subprojects.
   • Let the rest of the people work on any subproject they like.
   • Communicate a clear message on what quality looks like on the subproject (e.g., consistent coverage, no paint on sidewalks, etc.).
   • Give them what they need to get the job done (in this case their paint brushes, paint and ladders) and get out of their way!
     
     
2. Lead the project; don't "do" the project - The first year I actually thought I should be doing some painting. This is a temptation of all project managers since it is often easier for us to do the project work than to lead the project. After the 10^th person interrupted my painting to ask me a question, I realized that my job was to lead and coordinate the project and to provide any support that anyone needed to get their tasks done. The term "servant leadership" hit me as I found that the most useful things I could do once the painting started was to pour paint, provide water, answer questions, clean paintbrushes, and make sure that the young man doing an "aerial act" near a live electric line was instructed on safe practices.
   
   
3. Honor their gifts - When I first started managing the project I made some assumptions about what people would be good at and what they might like. Of course in the heat of the battle I did not do the one obvious thing - ask them what they felt they were good at and what they liked to do. The whole project goes so much better if you take the time to find out what people's gifts and interests are and then try to match them. This point hit me hard one year when my best "painting detail" person informed me that, although she was a good detail painter, her real passion was gardening. Once I responded to this interest, you would not believe the great yard and gardening additions we have made to the delight of the home owners.
   
   
4. Communicate the mission - After a while I realize that the Paint-A-Thon is not about painting but about the joy and appreciation in the eyes of the home owners. These are people whose days do not usually go very well and getting their house painted for free by a group of upbeat and friendly people makes their day. As the years went on I began to communicate to the team the message of the real mission of the project and it really energized people. Many people serve on the team year after year and tell the stories of the past projects and talk about seeing the joy in the home owners.
   
   
5. Have some fun - We try to focus a lot of energy on making sure that the team has fun during the project. In fact we have a person on the planning team that does very creative recognition things and two people focus entirely on providing food and goodies for the team. Too many project leaders forget that having fun is a basic human need and carries the team through the tough spots along the way.
   
   
6. Recognize them - You might think that people who are willing to give up their time to paint a house for a family in need would not need to be recognized, but I have found that everyone needs and enjoys some sort of recognition. It might be just a personal thank you, an article with their name in it, a picture on the web site, or a thank you note, but I have found out that this is one of the things that have people coming back year after year.
   
   
7. Risk management (just do it!) - I got a real feeling for risk management the first year of the Paint-A-Thon when the weather forecast was changing from partly cloudy to pouring rain up until 7am on the morning of the paint day. As you know painting a house in a pouring rain has a major affect on the quality of the paint job. Our team always identifies its risks, including weather, loss of key people, and now even getting the wrong color paint from the program coordination organization. I learned that having real contingency plans (not just one that looks good on paper) is really critical. For example, that first year people I had only six people who had signed up a week before the event. I had to call in every favor I had ever done to my relatives and close friends to create the "contingency team". Fortunately, people began to sign up and I called off the brigade of relatives and friends.
   
   
8. Celebrate! - Finally, the human spirit is energized by celebration. We focus a lot time on how we are going to celebrate at the end of the project. This is especially true of the planning team where we have had some very creative ways to celebrate - after we have recovered from the work. Many projects simply end without a celebration event. This goes contrary to what seems to be the basic human need for celebration and closure.

I hope that some of the lessons I learned in the Paint-A-Thon ring true to you and remind you that project management is not really about "managing" things but is more about "leading" people in an empowering way. My hope is that can apply some of this today in your project.