Why Accidental Project Managers get overlooked for promotion

Every project has one. The person who knows where every drawing is, who chases the decision nobody else wants to chase & who keeps the client calm when the programme faces delays. The whole team knows they're invaluable. And yet, when the title, the pay rise or the promotion comes round, somehow it goes to someone else.

If that sounds like you, you're very likely an Accidental Project Manager. And you’re very likely to be underpaid for the valuable work that you do.

Project Management used to be a skill, not a profession. It was a skill that you learnt on the job, as you rose through the ranks & perhaps attended a leadership course or two to refine your skills. But today it's a chartered profession, with degrees, qualifications & a Chartered Project Professional standard. And that is genuinely good news for the profession, but it has left a gap…& Accidental Project Managers are falling through that gap.

Accidental Project Managers are the ones doing 3 jobs: the one they're paid to do, the one above them (which normally proves they're ready for promotion) & the Project Manager's job that noone ever ever fomalised but they end up doing anyway. Ask as Accidental Project Manager what they do & you'll hear the word "just" a lot; "I'm just helping to co-ordinate", "I'm just chasing the designer”, “I’ve just got to chase the Client for a decision”. They have the skill & the aptitude, they're often the person holding the whole project together...& they're normally the ones without the title, the support or the reward.

Why does that happen? Is it because they're less capable? Because they haven't got official Project Management training? Haven’t got their PMP, Prince2 or ScrumMaster certificate?

In my experience it's usually far simpler. Invisible work doesn't get rewarded. It’s in people’s best interests if that valuable work gets written off as ‘admin’ & not recognised as the valuable Project Management work that it actually is. And the problem is that Accidental Project Managers don’t have the terminology to actually make the work that they do visible & sound valuable.

They use language like:

1. 1“chasing people” instead of “managing stakeholders”
2. 2“keeping everyone in the loop” instead of “Communication Plan” and
3. 3“agreeing what people need to do” instead of “scope management”

The good news is that this is actually quite easy to change. Articulating your value doesn’t need a qualification, budget or permission from anyone else. It needs 3 things & they are all things that you can do now:

1. 1Write it down.List 10 things you did in the last month that aren't in your job description. Be concise but specific: "Chased a 3 week delay for approval", not "emails", "Rewrote the consultant's report before it got sent to the client", not "report writing".
2. 2Name it.Take 5 items & find the Project Management name for each. Chasing becomes stakeholder management; "making some tweaks” becomes change control. Knowing the words won't make you better at the job, but not knowing them can make you sound more junior than you are & keep you from stepping into progression conversations empowered.
3. 3Keep a log of evidence.For 15 minutes once a month, make a cup of tea, sit down & write:

1. 13 things you achieved
2. 23 things you struggled with
3. 33 areas where you'd like support
4. 4Any work you have done that nobody saw or appreciated

When your appraisal comes round, rather than panicking about what to say, you will already have created the evidence file you need.

One of my students described the “ah ha” moment she had after this exercise perfectly. She said, she suddenly realised how much of this she had already been doing throughout her career & now was finally being able to sell it.

Why does this matter?

Projects are delivered by people…and they go wrong because of people too. The Project Managers who hold teams together ask the obvious question & keep everyone talking are exactly what the profession needs more of. If we keep overlooking them because their work isn’t written down in a job description, we lose them: to stress & burnout, to other careers or to frustration at their lack of recognition & progression.

So Accidental Project Managers…let’s start making the work that you do visible. Complete the exercise above & start learning the proper language for the Project Management work that you are already doing.