6-The Project Manager as COO: Why Operational Thinking Matters

How Senior Leaders Can Guide Projects with a COO Mindset

Introduction: From Project Execution to Enterprise Thinking

At some point in a project manager’s career, there’s a shift.

Early on, success is about task execution, milestone tracking, and risk mitigation—ensuring that deliverables are on time, on budget, and on scope. But as leaders step into senior roles, the game changes.

It’s no longer just about managing a project—it’s about owning its impact.

The best project leaders don’t just keep things moving. They start to think bigger—about how the project fits into the business, how resources are being leveraged, and whether the effort actually delivers value beyond its checklist of deliverables.

This is the COO mindset—where a leader stops thinking like a project administrator and starts thinking like a business operator.

But what does that shift actually look like in practice?

Step 1: Understanding That Outputs Are Not Outcomes

Many projects succeed in delivery—but fail in impact.

A new system is implemented, but adoption is low. A process is changed, but efficiency doesn’t improve. A transformation effort launches, but behaviors remain the same.

Why? Because outputs are not outcomes.

A traditional project mindset asks:

✔ Did we complete the work?

✔ Did we meet the timeline and budget?

A COO mindset asks:

✔ Did we solve the actual problem?

✔ Did this project move the business forward in a meaningful way?

🔹 Example: The “Completed but Unsuccessful” Project

A global company implemented a new procurement system to streamline purchasing. The rollout was flawless—on schedule, on budget, and without major technical issues.

But six months later, finance leaders noticed something strange: spending hadn’t actually decreased.

What happened?

The system was delivered, but behaviors hadn’t changed—teams were still making purchases outside the system because leadership hadn’t aligned incentives to encourage adoption. The project was “successful” on paper but ineffective in reality.

🚦 Leadership Insight: A COO-minded project leader doesn’t just focus on what gets built—they ask how it drives impact and adoption.

Step 2: Managing Projects Like a Business Portfolio

A project is never an isolated effort—it’s part of a broader business landscape.

COOs don’t think in terms of single initiatives—they think in terms of a system of interconnected priorities, investments, and constraints.

To elevate project leadership, ask:

✔ Where does this initiative fit in the company’s strategic priorities?

✔ Are we duplicating effort across multiple projects?

✔ Are resources being allocated to the most valuable work—or just the loudest requests?

🔹 Example: The “Overlapping Initiatives” Problem

A large organization launched three separate transformation projects, each aimed at improving customer experience.

One focused on a new CRM system.
Another was redesigning customer service workflows.
A third was training employees on better communication techniques.

Each project was valuable on its own—but no one had connected them.

The result? Teams were overwhelmed by too many overlapping initiatives, training efforts conflicted with system changes, and leaders struggled to measure the combined impact.

🚦 Leadership Insight: A COO-minded leader sees the full portfolio, ensuring that projects aren’t just successful individually, but strategically aligned as a whole.

Step 3: Thinking Beyond the Project to Long-Term Sustainability

One of the biggest gaps between traditional project management and COO-level thinking is what happens after delivery.

A project leader may feel like their job is done at launch. A COO-minded leader asks:

✔ Who will maintain this?

✔ Will this effort survive leadership changes?

✔ Does this initiative reinforce or contradict other priorities?

🔹 Example: The “Quick Win That Fizzled”

A major company revamped its performance review process, rolling out a new system that simplified feedback collection.

Teams initially embraced it—until a year later, when a new leadership team deprioritized performance reviews altogether.

What went wrong?

The project was treated as a standalone effort, rather than embedding it into the company’s long-term leadership culture.

🚦 Leadership Insight: Sustainable impact requires more than project completion—it requires integration into the long-term business strategy.

Final Thought: Leading Projects Like a COO

The strongest project leaders think beyond execution—they step into the COO mindset, ensuring that projects aren’t just delivered, but drive real, lasting business value.

Key Leadership Questions to Ask Yourself:

✔ Am I measuring success based on outputs or real impact?

✔ Does this project fit into the broader business strategy—or just feel like an isolated effort?

✔ Have I set this initiative up for long-term sustainability, or just immediate completion?

🚦 A project is never just a project—it’s part of a larger system. Leaders who recognize that will always drive more meaningful impact.

This post is part of Maypop Grove’s Leadership Evolution Series—a collection of in-depth reflections on leadership, influence, and strategy. Designed for leaders navigating complexity, this series explores how to drive change, build resilient teams, and lead with confidence.

Learn more at maypopgrove.com or reach out to grow@maypopgrove.com.