The PMO Coach

High-pressure projects rarely collapse because of a single failure point, it is usually the accumulation of multiple small pressures that gradually reduce clarity, focus and delivery confidence.

When timelines tighten and expectations shift, stress often stems less from the workload itself and more from how well (or poorly) priorities, communication and change are being managed.

I’m interested to understand what most consistently drives pressure in your experience.

PMO professionals after confidently saying:
“I’ll log off on time today.”

It starts with good intentions, a rare moment of balance, a promise to yourself that today will be different.

But then reality gently intervenes.

6:07pm — “Just one more update.” (This time it really is the last one… allegedly.)
6:42pm — “Let me quickly fix this report.” (Quick fixes in PMO terms are never actually quick.)
7:15pm — “I should probably prepare tomorrow’s meeting notes.” (Future-you deserves better, apparently.)
7:58pm — opening Teams “just to check something quickly”… because peace of mind now requires a login.

By this point, “logging off on time” has quietly evolved into a multi-stage project with dependencies, approvals and at least one unexpected stakeholder input.

Meanwhile, your wellbeing is sitting there like:
“Am I also part of the project governance structure or am I just a background risk that no one is tracking?”

Because somehow, it was never invited to the stand-up, the steering committee or the late-night fire-fighting session.

And yet it’s always the one paying the price when the “quick check” turns into another hour.

PMO life: where boundaries are discussed in theory but tested in practice, every single evening. 😂

There was a time when I genuinely believed that being a good PMO professional meant always being available.

Always responding quickly.
Always pushing through.
Always saying yes.

In fast-paced project environments, that can feel like the right approach. The work gets done, stakeholders are happy and deadlines are met.

From the outside, everything looks successful.

But over time, I realised there was a cost.

The constant pressure to be "on" was affecting my energy, focus, and ability to think strategically. I had become so focused on delivery that I stopped paying attention to my own capacity.

The biggest lesson I learned was this:

**Sustainable success requires sustainable energy.**

I started setting clearer boundaries, protecting time for focused work, building recovery into demanding periods and managing workload more realistically.

What surprised me most was that my performance didn't suffer, it improved.

When you're not operating from exhaustion, you make better decisions, communicate more effectively and bring greater clarity to the work.

PMO professionals carry significant responsibility across delivery, governance, stakeholders and change. But sustainable performance isn't about working harder for longer.

It's about creating the conditions that allow you to keep delivering your best work consistently.

How do you protect your energy during particularly demanding project periods?

One of the biggest misconceptions in project environments is that high performers can keep operating at maximum capacity indefinitely.

In PMO roles, this belief is often reinforced because the people who consistently deliver are the same people who are given more responsibility, more pressure and more expectations.

But performance is not limitless.

When wellbeing is neglected, performance rarely drops overnight. Instead, it declines gradually.

You might notice communication becoming more reactive, problem-solving becoming narrower, collaboration requiring more effort or small challenges feeling bigger than they should.

The work is still getting done, but it takes more energy, more time and often produces less strategic value.

This is why wellbeing should not be treated as separate from performance.

PMO professionals are expected to think critically, solve complex problems and support decision-making. That becomes increasingly difficult when operating under prolonged strain.

Sometimes what appears to be a performance issue is actually a capacity issue.

The solution is not always to push harder.

Sometimes it is to step back, recover and create the space needed to think clearly again.

Sustainable performance is not built on constant output.

It is built on a balance of focus, recovery and recalibration.

And recognising when that balance is off is a leadership skill in itself.

Not every drop in performance is a capability problem.

Sometimes, it's simply exhaustion that has been ignored for too long.

PMO professionals operate under constant delivery pressure but personal wellbeing is often the first thing to be impacted.
When it drops, performance follows, affecting focus, decisions and energy levels.

Organisation:
“We don’t have the budget for PMO development.”

Also the organisation (quietly, every week):
-Spends months fixing avoidable project issues.
-Re-running reports because requirements weren’t aligned the first time.
-Holding emergency meetings to “clarify what went wrong”.
-Managing escalations that could have been handled earlier.
-Adding “quick fixes” that somehow become permanent workstreams.

PMO (scrolling through 14th version of the same status deck):
“I did raise that risk…”

Organisation:
“…yes, but not loudly enough.”

PMO:
“I did put it in the report…the one you said you didn’t have time to read.”

The funny part is, none of this usually happens because people aren’t working hard.

It happens because capability, confidence and clarity in communication haven’t been fully developed across the PMO function.

So, instead of proactive decision-making, the organisation ends up in a cycle of reactive recovery:
-Issues are identified late.
-Decisions are made under pressure.
-Reporting becomes repetitive rather than insightful.
-Lessons learned somehow never make it into “next time”.

And the PMO sits right in the middle of it all…documenting the chaos with very neat formatting.

Development is often seen as a “nice to have” line in the budget.

But the cost of not investing shows up elsewhere:
-In repeated delivery failures
-In stakeholder frustration
-In duplicated effort
-In timelines that keep shifting “just slightly”
-In the infamous phrase: “We’ve seen this before”

At some point, it’s worth asking:
Is development really the cost or is it the absence of it that keeps the budget under pressure?

Because fixing the same problem five times is rarely cheaper than preventing it once.

I’ve worked with PMO professionals who were incredibly capable but still held back.

One in particular stands out.

She had the knowledge.
She understood delivery inside out.
She could identify risks before they escalated.
And her judgement was often spot on.

On paper, she was exactly what a strong PMO professional should look like.
But in meetings, she hesitated.

Not because she didn’t know what to say but because she wasn’t confident in how her input would be received.
She would sense issues early, recognise gaps in decisions and understand when a conversation needed to go deeper but she rarely voiced it at the moment it mattered most.

And over time, that pattern became her default.
Not because she lacked capability but because the environment hadn’t developed that part of her role.
There was no structured focus on building confidence, presence or influence, just an expectation that she would “step up” into it naturally.

So, she stayed in the background.
Observing. Supporting. Reporting.
Until she didn’t.

I worked with her to provide her with the right development and support, something shifted.
It wasn’t a dramatic transformation overnight, it was gradual but noticeable.
She started contributing earlier in discussions.
She began challenging assumptions with clarity, not hesitation.
And most importantly, she moved from simply reporting on decisions to actively influencing them.

Stakeholders began to rely on her perspective, not just her updates.
And the interesting part?
Nothing about her technical capability changed.
She was always capable.
What changed was her confidence in using that capability in real-time, in front of others, in high-pressure conversations.
That’s what had been missing.

And that’s what proper development unlocked looks like
Because in many PMO environments, the gap isn’t knowledge.
It’s how that knowledge is applied in the moments that matter.

That’s the difference development makes.
Not just in what PMOs know but in how they show up.

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This month’s newsletter explores a common but often overlooked issue in organisations, why PMO development is still treated as a cost, even when expectations on PMOs continue to rise.

Inside, I break down the hidden cost of underinvesting in capability, how it shows up in day-to-day delivery and why high-performing organisations take a very different view.

If you’ve ever questioned whether PMO development truly drives value, this will give you a clearer perspective.

Read it and share your thoughts here- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sian-lewis-thepmococach_pmo-projectmanagementoffice-pmotraining-activity-7464939853789556737-JY7p