Project Manager: That's Why You Deserve a Coach, Just Like an Elite Athlete

A Personal Mentor

Whether you have a lot or little experience in project management, every assignment is a new opportunity to grow as a professional. With this in mind, we offer every project manager who starts with us a six-month coaching program. During this period, you will work closely with your personal mentor, a heavyweight from the high-tech industry. Someone who holds up a mirror for you. A confidant outside the organization who understands your challenges and whom you can consult when you're stuck. Someone who pauses to make you think about the right approach and priorities, helping you bring calm, focus, and structure to your daily reality, no matter how complex, dynamic, and hectic it may be.

The Importance of a Strong Start

GHYSELS recently hired Karin Rosch as a coach and advisor. She runs her own company, Projects & People Capabilities, where she provides project management training, coaches project managers, and advises companies on setting up their PM Organization. With a background in business administration and integral project management, Karin has 30 years of experience in project management, including roles at Philips and VDL. She has gained wisdom from both setbacks and successes, understanding the high pressure to deliver quickly as a project manager.

Since joining GHYSELS as a coach and advisor, Karin has helped several professionals make a strong start. The coaching process begins with an on-site intake interview involving the coach, the project manager, and the new employer or client. During this session, the assignment and growth path are discussed. The six-month program consists of monthly sessions. Karin emphasizes the combination of questioning, listening, and advice to help project managers excel in their work, develop acute organizational sensitivity, and adopt smart working methods.

The coaching conversations focus on the practical aspects of the project at hand. You can present situations from your project and discuss challenges you are facing, providing on-the-job learning. It serves as a moment to gain new insights and decide on the next steps.

Delivering Top Performances with a Coach

GHYSELS founder Bart notes that offering coaching after placement is unique in the recruitment world and is seen as a successful formula by both employers and project managers. He highlights the lack of attention to proper onboarding, especially during the initial period, where it's challenging to be vulnerable and share doubts and insecurities. An external advisor who listens and advises becomes invaluable in these situations, helping you stand firm more quickly—a benefit that extends to everyone involved.

Bart has prioritized personal development throughout his life and career, emphasizing the role of a coach. "All top athletes have a coach, perhaps even several. Don't forget that working in the business world is also a top sport. You can't achieve many things on your own. You need someone with experience, someone who has gone before you, someone with an outside-in perspective."

The direction in which you can grow with a coach is up to you—whether in personal effectiveness, skills, or leadership. Karin has helped many project managers work more structuredly, bring more focus to their work, and achieve better results for themselves and their teams. This may involve using the right tools, organizing collaboration intelligently, and creating a well-thought-out plan. Karin emphasizes the importance of consciously managing tasks and setting better priorities.

Bringing Back Calm, Structure, and Focus

GHYSELS consciously works with coaches who, due to their knowledge and experience in the business, can also act as advisors, like Karin.

Bart notes, 'Many project managers get sucked into the pressure and chaos of an organization in the first period. Starting a new position comes with a need to prove oneself, showing that you are in control and offering good solutions. You want them to be satisfied with you from day one, which is not always possible in many situations. As a project leader, you have to learn to deal with that uncertainty, to gain control of the situation. Our coaching provides additional support in this aspect. It's the external advisor we offer as a recruitment agency who asks you questions that may no longer be asked internally in the organization. They make you realize what needs to be done so that you, as a project manager, are much more in control.'

Creating Overview and Maintaining Composure

In daily practice, Karin observes that project leaders, especially junior and mid-level project leaders, immediately switch into execution mode. "If you do this, you are immediately drawn into operations. And you skip a very important step, namely: getting a clear understanding of what the assignment is. Creating an overview of the approach and risks is a crucial task for a project leader."

If you're a project manager in a hurry, Karin will encourage you to sit down and think about how you're going to approach the task. "Taking the time to delve into the details of the assignment is absolutely not a luxury at the start of a project, especially if it's in your personality to show results quickly."

One way to gain an overview is to organize a good kick-off with the team and stakeholders, says Karin. "Not just a one-hour meeting with one-way communication. No. Spend a day discussing the approach. What is our assignment? What is the business context? Where are the risks? What will our schedule look like? And also: how are we going to collaborate as a team?"

Karin often sees project managers fall into the trap of accepting the assignment as defined right away. This may not always be wise because not every client has a clear understanding of the assignment and may appreciate help from a project manager. In such cases, Karin advises helping to clarify the project's requirements. Is the scope logical? Is the question complete? Why is the pressure so high? Dare to ask difficult questions. Challenge the assignment. If you can master this skill, you become invaluable to any organization, and I, as your coach, help you grow in this aspect.

About Coach and Advisor Karin Rosch

Karin Rosch specializes in project and people capabilities as a coach and advisor. With 30 years of experience in project management, including roles as a project manager (at companies such as Philips and VDL) and as a manager of project leaders, she now shares her knowledge and experience with the new generation of project managers through training and coaching. She also examines how she can help organizations better structure themselves to make project management more successful, focusing on three aspects: project leaders (knowledge, skills, and support), the organization itself (the context in which the project leader works), and infrastructure (tools and processes).

Project Management Recruitment Agency

GHYSELS connects top project, program, and portfolio managers with organizations looking to advance. As a recruitment, consultancy, and coaching agency, we have a 100% focus on the project management field. We believe that everyone can benefit from occasional support to bring out the best in themselves, especially at the start of a new job or assignment. That's why every project manager who starts with us (whether for an interim position, permanent job, or secondment) is offered a six-month coaching program. So, whether you're making a difference in the manufacturing industry, pharma, automotive, R&D, or wherever you've started with us, we help you excel.