Project Managers: Know Thyself

Archetypes and the Project Manager

The role of a project manager is not the typical managerial stereotype. The Project Manager (PM) must interact with various people within the organization structure as well as external parties such as vendors and customers. A PM may arise from within an organization or where my experience exists, externally.

Wherever the project manager comes from, there are various “hats” a PM wears throughout a project life cycle which I believe correlate to archetypes.

What are archetypes?

Archetypes are psychological structures originally created by C. G. Jung. They were further defined and refined by Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette in their book King, Warrior, Magician, Lover describing “four fundamental configurations” of Self (Moore & Gillette, 1990, p. xi).

While tools and training are important for a PM, it is clear to me that an adaptive personality is also very essential in order to handle variety of people and knowledge areas. The PM “needs a different attitude regarding the classic management functions of control, coordination, communication, and the setting of performance standards.” (Gaddis, 1959).

Let’s briefly explore the positive aspects of each archetype, King, Warrior, Magician & Lover, and describe the direct relation to the role of a PM.

The Role Defined

The study of project management is in its infancy compared to other sciences; however, the need in many industries to apply the science is high, and the collective knowledge of the subject is becoming vast. We do know project management is “inherently inter-disciplinary” which means the PM needs to be a jack-of-all-trades to excel.

In my experience, a person without the inherent talent or personality trait to quickly adapt to ever changing environments of people and tasks will at best struggle throughout the project.

Though this article explores the various aspects of the PM’s unique combination of the archetypes in more detail, I believe Paul Gaddis stated succinctly in the Harvard Business Review the basis of my belief:

He cannot be expected to double as a member of the executive committee and as a scientist equally well. Being a little of both, he is different from both — and it is precisely this quality which makes him so valuable. In his own right he does what neither the front- office executive nor the scientist can do: accomplish the aims of his  corporate management, while serving as a perpetual buffer so that the engineers and scientists can meet the techno- logical objectives that only they can define and only their output can meet. ( Gaddis, 1959, p. 94).

The PM’s personality must be able to use various strengths of all four archetypes to adapt constantly to arising situations and the plethora of different personalities within the project team. 

King Archetype

The fundamental aspects of the King archetype is relatively straightforward and is what one would expect to be inherent of a king: ruler and rules. The king codifies laws and takes to the “people this right order of the universe” (Moore & Gillette, 1990, pp. 54-56).

Not to be mistaken for a dictator, the king oversees his land, meets with the people and attempts to keep things from crumbling to ruins.

Just like the king, the PM tracks and monitors the kingdom, err, project which can be viewed as a temporary organization within an organization (Dvir, 2006). Also, the PM plans and designs the scope including goals, deliverables and milestones for all others to follow within various documents such as the Project Management Plan (PMI, 2008).

Warrior Archetype

The key characteristics of the Warrior archetype are aggressiveness, alertness and a knack for strategy.

Though the PM should never have to physically take on an army like the Spartans of old, the PM does have to be aware of the different battles brewing during the project such as political, technical, internal and external. Additionally, it is embedded within both the warrior and PM to “evaluate his circumstances accurately and then adapt himself to the situation” (Moore & Gillette, 1990, pp. 78-80).

Magician Archetype

Moore and Gillette describe the Magician archetype as “knowing something that others don’t know” and as understanding “the hidden dynamics of the human psyche and so can manipulate other human beings” (Moore & Gillette, 1990, p. 99).

Many a work day have I felt like the magician after spending numerous hours encountering various different personalities among stakeholders. The entire time was spent attempting to mitigate each group’s influence and interests while transferring from one meeting to the next.

Furthermore, the PM has to understand all facets of the project from every angle, such as technical to executive or ground level to thirty thousand feet.

This wide range of knowledge and understanding may seem daunting to some and typically the project always has road bumps due to the complexities; however, the PM has the talent to pull a “rabbit out of a hat” in order to keep a project on track or even salvage the project from ruins.

Even a book dedicated to the science of Project Management eludes to the PM’s ability of “performing ‘magic’” (Kanabar & Warburton, 2008, p. 4).

Lover Archetype

In relation to the PM, the most valuable characteristic of the Lover archetype is passion. The Lover’s passion grants the ability for “creative adaption to life’s hardships” (Moore & Gillette, 1990, pp. 120-123).  Equally, the PM has to fuel the proverbial “internal flame” to adapt to the road bumps that will always arise during the course of a project.

Sad but true, the PM has to love the work so deeply that the dedication to the project ultimately leads to working one’s self out of a job!

Conclusion

As one can see, there is a piece of each archetype embedded within a PM and it is critical to understand and embrace these characteristics. The PM is able to navigate through all project phases with ease when armed not only with technical skills from textbooks, school classes and seminars, but also the psychological component.

A great PM is a Superman…or, at least, a great overseer who loves the project, fights for the best practices and results, and from time to time magically makes the project come together.

What challenges have you faced in project management requiring you to wear many personality hats?