Successful programme managers

Programmes are notoriously difficult to manage. It is startling to find that so many are run by people who have never done it before. Finding the right person is a critical decision. By analysing 154 programmes that were considered successful by their organisations, we developed a high performance profile and a profiling process for programme managers that has proven to be highly reliable.

Based on research originally carried out to profile project managers, we found some similarities and many differences between the competences and characteristics required of programme managers.

These were used to create a profiling tool, that looks at the individuals ‘know-how’ (much more important than their ‘knowledge’), ‘networking’, attitudes, skill sets and experiences, and identifies the types of programmes they are ‘safe’ to manage.