The role of the project manager continues to evolve. Technical delivery remains a core part of the job, but there is now a growing recognition that successful outcomes depend just as much on how teams function as on what they deliver. Awareness of this shift is increasing; translating it into practical action is less straightforward. Building an effective team is not an abstract idea – it requires intent, structure and practice.
This is the question that originally led me to write Performance Coaching for Complex Projects.
At the time, I had just completed a Master’s degree in coaching and behavioural change and had become increasingly interested in research on group dynamics and the emerging field of team coaching. The theory was compelling, but I wanted to understand whether it would hold up in the context I knew best: major projects, where pressure is high, timelines are tight, and teams are often temporary and fragmented.
To explore this, I spoke with experienced project leaders and asked a simple question: “Tell me about a project that went well.”
It sounds straightforward, but it often wasn’t. Many had to think hard before answering. Yet once they found their example, something shifted. Their posture changed, their energy lifted, and they began to describe the experience with real clarity.
Despite differences in sector and scale, the stories shared a consistent theme. Success was not primarily attributed to technical excellence or process efficiency. It came back, time and again, to the team – how it was formed, how it worked, and how it evolved over time.
When I probed further into how those teams developed, a familiar set of factors emerged. There was strong, people-focused leadership. Time had been invested in building relationships. Teams were aligned around a shared goal. There was a sense of mutual support, a collaborative culture, and an openness to learning.
In other words, the lived experience of project leaders reflected what the research had already been telling us.
Much of that research, however, is based on teams within stable organisational settings. Project environments are different. Teams form quickly, often across organisational boundaries, and must become effective under immediate pressure.
Leadership groups are assembled with little time to establish shared ways of working. People join and leave throughout the lifecycle, disrupting continuity and weakening behavioural norms. Under these conditions, teams can easily revert to transactional patterns – doing what is required, but not necessarily working well together.This raises an important question: if effective teamwork is so central to delivery, whose responsibility is it to make it happen?
In practice, it sits with the project leader.
Yet traditional project management training has focused far more on planning, governance and control than on the mechanics of building and sustaining team performance. As a result, many project managers are left to develop their own approaches through experience. Some do this exceptionally well, but often by trial and error – reinventing methods that already exist elsewhere.
What has changed since I wrote that first book is the accessibility of knowledge. The field of team coaching has developed significantly, and there is now a substantial body of research and practical guidance available. The challenge is that much of it still sits outside mainstream project management literature.
This creates an opportunity.
Team coaching is not about turning project managers into coaches in the traditional sense. It is about equipping them with a set of perspectives and tools that help them work more deliberately with the team as a system. It provides practical ways to shape how teams align, interact, learn and adapt – particularly in complex, fast-moving environments.
This is increasingly relevant in today’s delivery landscape. As highlighted in our wider work at ResoLex, the challenges that undermine major projects are rarely technical in nature. They are social, relational and behavioural. Teams struggle to operate effectively at scale, across interfaces, and under sustained pressure. Addressing these challenges requires more than good intentions – it requires capability.
Encouragingly, developing that capability is now more accessible than it was a decade ago. The growth of digital tools, including AI-enabled search and synthesis, has made it easier to engage with established thinking and adapt it to specific project contexts. Alongside this, there is an increasing range of practical resources – frameworks, diagnostics and techniques – that can be applied directly within live delivery environments.
For project managers who recognise the importance of team performance, the next step is to experiment. Start small. Introduce structured conversations about how the team is working, not just what it is delivering. Create space for reflection and learning. Pay attention to alignment, relationships and behaviours – not as secondary concerns, but as integral to delivery.
Looking ahead, this shift is likely to accelerate. As aspects of technical project management become more automated, the differentiating value of the role will increasingly lie in areas that cannot be automated: judgement, adaptability, and the ability to foster effective human collaboration.
Developing team coaching skills is not a departure from project management – it is an evolution of it.
Tony is a Director at ResoLex specialising in developing team coaching processes and techniques to apply to large, complex project team performance. He regularly advises teams on applying alliance-based principles and how to adapt both mindset and behaviours. Tony has developed a range of practical tools designed to support team development and ongoing performance. The tools are designed to transfer skills and develop social intelligence throughout the project team. Contact Tony here or connect with him on LinkedIn.