3 Common Roadblocks to Realization of Strategic Initiatives

Kevin Coleman is a highly skilled senior level project and program manager/advisor with experience leading projects with labor budgets ranging from a few hundred thousand dollars to multi-million dollar budgets across multiple industries.

  Portfolio Management   Strategy  

To say we live in turbulent times is an understatement. All of the new technologies coming into the marketplace, the unsettled economic conditions around the globe, the changing of the guard with the retirement of the baby boomers and of course the political and social unrest that seems to be proliferating around the world combine to create a challenging period of time for all of us.

The most challenging aspect of operational project management are the strategic initiatives that are all too commonly associated with this type of management plan and program. According to Wikipedia, organizational project management is “The systematic coordination of structures and practices to enable the realization of strategic initiatives in firms.”

To further dissect the meaning, we must look at strategic initiatives. A strategic initiative is an endeavor intended to achieve three interrelated outcomes. They are:

1. a boundary-spanning vision
2. a realization of important benefits to strategic stakeholders
3. the transformation and alignment of the organization

When you read these definitions, change should be one of the first things that pops into your mind. Transformation is another word that sticks out in my mind as well. It is hard to imagine transformation and this type of change will not result in winners and losers …

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