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Piloting a project
Diverse perspectives
Brigitte Courtehoux,
I'm an Automotive Project Director at PSA Peugeot Citroën.
Laurent Mouchet,
Automotive Project Director at PSA Peugeot Citroën.
Being in charge of automotive projects means
managing a team with the objective of producing a car for the customer.
This includes charting a course, managing teams
so that they are always giving more of themselves
and developing their skills,
and so that they each know what skills they bring to the table
and how to develop them,
in order to manufacture a car to completion,
and deliver it to the customer in 3 to 4 years.
This is clearly the most exciting job that I've had up until now,
because it includes many of the aspects you find in a company.
It includes technical, design, creative, financial and industrial aspects
and it's really one of the most comprehensive jobs.
At the beginning we work together in terms of the technical style,
then comes the development phase where we design the car,
after that the manufacturing phase with the first cars
- called pilot vehicles -
and finally we head to the factory to launch the car.
It's important to know how to manage energies,
manage people;
you have to be tough but also responsive.
It's a marathon process:
we start out gently,
then we progressively speed up until the final sprint to the finish.
On a project like mine,
I manage around 200 people in Europe,
100 people in Brazil
and another 100 in China.
And the team?
United, competent
the team will mean the project's success.
The team is strong.
It's based on relationships between people,
and they don't always go well.
With my teams I have a relationship which works on different levels.
The first is necessarily a working relationship,
and in this context I am the manager, the head of the team.
Then there is a role like the captain of a sports team
you need to train the players but play with them too.
And naturally, over the length of time of a project, you establish an affinity.
We are under quite a lot of pressure.
Today, I see the role of project manager
as being that of someone who absorbs a lot of the pressure
so that behind me my teams can calmly go about their work.
You need to have confidence,
to believe in yourself and also the team.
The capacity that the team has to handle problems is extraordinary,
and that delivers confidence and enables you to handle the pressure.
And the pressure?
You can't get rid of the tension;
a certain amount of pressure is necessary.
It has to be managed.
I'm always amazed by,
and admiring of people's ability to commit themselves
and to give themselves
to the success of all our projects like we do here at PSA.
what about personal life and distance?
The time away from family is difficult.
You deal with it, it goes with the job.
When you're away you get really involved with the work
so it becomes difficult to maintain holidays and that balance.
You have to be able to separate;
I mean that when you're at work,
you're not at home and…
when you're at home
you have to be completely present and make the break.
and pride?
Always…
we are always proud of the project we're doing,
specially when we see the car in the street later.
We have had new strains and pressures recently,
so new challenges and we dealt with them
and the pride comes in seeing how the strength of the team
enables us to handle those difficulties.
Piloting a project Diverse perspectives