Project Manager - Should You Really BE THE CHANGE?
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by Dave Garrett
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Situation: You've been thinking about the big picture.
Over the last couple of years, I've listened to PMI's CEO, Greg Balestrero talk A LOT about sustainability at PMI Global Congresses and other venues. In fact, I believe it gets more air time than any other topic he speaks on. While I'm a big proponent of "getting more green" in everything we do, I've been surprised with the way that he connects it to project management and to our responsibilities as project managers. In his mind, it should be central to what we all do - not a "nice to have". Something he said in a recent press release caught my eye, summarizing his view on the topic.
"Integrating economic, social and environmental value into all portfolios,
programs, and projects enables project management practitioners to add
quantifiable advantage to their organizations," said Gregory Balestrero,
president and CEO, PMI. "The increasing recognition of global sustainability as
a societal imperative is forcing changes in business values. Visionary
organizations are shifting from a social responsibility approach of being
generous to a global sustainability approach of being genuine. This shift is
affecting the 'ethical' nature of supply chains, and direct impacts the way that
Projects and Programs must be managed in the future. It is our hope that this
panel will bring real world applications of this effort."
So I followed up and asked him a few questions at the PMI Global Congress in Orlando. Again, I know we should all do what we can as individuals to promote sustainability, However, can and should project management practitioners integrate economic, social, and environmental value into [their projects, programs and portfolios]?
After a brief conversation, I believe I understand his perspective a bit better. I'll put it in my own words and see what you think.
It's not:
- that all projects need to focus on sustainability.
- that you need to add cost to your projects to ensure they have a positive impact on sustainabilty.
- that sustainability is something that should be considered ahead of the project requirements you already have to deal with.
Here's my version of the case for making sustainabilty a key part of your project management approach
As an ethical Project Manager, you need to think about longer term financial and environmental results and factor the benefits of sustainability into your ROI analysis and execution plans. If you consider sustainable approaches, materials, etc. for every single project. They may only make sense SOME of the time, but with your help, they will at least be considered. In this way you can ensure that sustainable approaches that make sense are used. Making sustainability part of what you do implies you must make it your business to learn about and introduce sustainable approaches to your work. If you don't, chances are that no one else will. For this reason, Project Manager - you need to be the change.
The actions that you could take to make this happen include:
- unearth potential sustainable approaches within the context of your project.
- understand how specific sustainable approaches relate to the financial success of your project so that you can propose them as appropriate.
- find out if a sustainable approach to your project could help your company from a PR perspective.
What do you think? Is this something you have time for and feel is important? Should it be a key focus for PMI? Should it be a key personal focus for you?
Posted on: October 19, 2009 05:38 PM |
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Karol,
I agree with your point. Equating green and sustainable with "more expensive" is similar to the arguement of saying quality and productivity are at odds. They are not, however for a very long time, they were perceived as being at odds. The belief was that you could have one, but not the other. This has been disproven. Similarily, more needs to be done to prove the link between green/sustainable and economicially sound.
Craig
Ann Lovejoy
Program Leader| Creative Intermedia LLC
Anchorage, Ak, United States
For organizational long-term success: strategic focus and integrated systems, policies and processes of the organization must align toward overall sustainability in all realms. The direction is set at the top. A leader and the manager's motivation is toward pre-eminence, profit, innovation, long-term corporate survival, whatever. We don't NEED a lot of words:
* Do Good
* Be Good
* Be Better
* Do better
Michael B. Flint
Speaker and Project Management Consultant| MBF Consulting Services Inc
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Great topic Dave. I think this all goes back to the basics of project management. As responsible project managers we should be doing all the "right" things for the project. This could be anything and in all cases, it depends. It could relate to sustainability, may be basic integrity, or the quality levels, or risk aspects, or any and all or other aspects - it will depend.
Having worked for GE at one time, I am fully aware of a number of Jack Welch's mantras and two come to mind in this discussion. One being Integrity - everything we do as project managers is subject to scrutiny, and in Jack''s words, that should not be embarrassed by it if we read it in the New York Times. If we are not even trying to be sustainable will that become a negative advertisement of our abilities and teh organization we work for? We may want to rethink that.
The second is the search for quality - Six Sigma. I don't know about you, but my projects are likely to have more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities. Achieving Six Sigma is near impossible, but the message is we must Drive Towards Six Sigma, or Design for Six Sigma to coin phrases from Motorola's methodology on the subject. That way, while trying we can actually improve the quality of the deliverables in our projects.
So if we drive towards sustainability, we may not achieve a fully green project, but at least we have reviewed the opportunity to improve the result, and maybe that is all that can be expected at this time. Small steps?
Should anyone be intrested, the next Project HEADWAY webinar is entitled: The Greening of Project Management: You Should be the Change." The webinar will be held on Dec 15 @ 3:00 PM EST. I will be presenting on some of the ideas, themes and objectioins found in this discussion.
Cheers,
Craig
http://tinyurl.com/yjqhxwj
Above is the link for a nifty interview on Green PM on The Cranky Middle Manager podcast show.
Enjoy!
Beyond the scope of Project Management
Despite our present administration insistence, there is no overwhelming evidence that man- made CO2 causes global warming. The IPCC is a political organization comprised of political appointees with a green agenda.
32,000 scientists are not being heard although they petitioned the administration to reconsider this costly venture based upon bogus scientific theories. We can successfully deliver projects to reduce the carbon footprint, however the consequence of these efforts may impact our industrial society for generations to come.
This will be one of the first times in history when politics is the driving force behind scientific inquiry. What happened to the Scientific Method which is subject to the scrutiny of the global scientific community.
Now we can discuss the question of ethical responsibility - do we undertake projects that are very unlikely to achieve their stated objectives - save the world from ''''global warming''''.
http://www.petitionproject.org/
Darina Phillips
Project Manager| Capgemini - Inergi
Markham, Ontario, Canada
Hi Greg,
I agree with your comments and positioning and think your topic is very current and important to raise - despite my late response.
Ethics and social consciousness have always been an integral part of project management and incorporating sustainability and overall impact our environment is a natural evolution. How else could we fully assess the strategic impact of an initiative? The logic is clear. And although as PM''s we have been taught to navigate in grey waters, it will be a challenge to nail down both the environmental and the ROI impacts, depending on what part of the globe you’re working in.
Our best bet is to build a framework of questions and incorporate them into our process. As PM''s we will need to ask the right questions, but we will also need to seek the right experts to provide the answers to guide us.
Arthur Richard
Consultant| Arthur Richard Consulting
Aurora, Ontario, Canada
There isn't very much to debate. It is a matter of individual conviction. For those who believe and have a compulsion to evangelise "green" and "sustainability" it will permeate all of their conduct, including when they practise Project Management. As for the sceptics, nothing will persuade them ever!
 | MBF2234 |
One way to fit this in the overall project management/portfolio management world is to ask clarification questions about requirements of the client. That dialog can help connect to emerging values in the client's organization, perhaps aid them in marketing, or in some cases, to save money. I also see an opportunity to look for ways to build it into the overall project where some discretion is allowed in use of or sourcing of materials or tools or communications or other dimensions of methodology.
In simple to comment - for me this seems to be closer to Smarter Planet concept focused by an MNC
Wayne Miller MS, PMP
Retired / Volunteer| Conservation Organizations
Prairie Du Sac, Wi, United States
I think a lot of people connect "sustainability" with "global warming or climate change" and may be doing so incorrectly. When we think about sustainability as a long-term approach to using our resources wisely it makes more sense. Those resources could be energy and building materials, but they could also be human resources such as tallents, energy, intelectual powers, etc. Project managers definately have a place in ensuring our projects and organizations are doing what is best for the long haul. And yes, that almost always translates to better financial sustainability.
Wayne Mack
Retired| Retired
South Riding, Va, United States
I believe that this issue is larger than green initiatives and is about the amount of influence the project manager can assert on the scope of the project.
In the cases where the project manager is also a domain expert or subject matter expert, the project manager is well within his rights to recommend scope changes and alternative approaches for the project. The project sponsor and stakeholders, however, are also well within their rights to reject those proposals.
As an IT-related example, if one has a project that will require standing up a new server, a "green" alternative might be to stand up a virtual server environment. Although the hardware cost differences may be minimal, the training and learning costs and risks to stand up and effectively manage servers in a virtual environment will be much higher. If only the new capability is hosted in the virtual environment, then the project cost and risks have gone up with only a potential benefit and cost savings on future projects. To realize the benefits sooner, one would have to expand the scope of the project to consolidate other applications onto the new virtual environment. Although the project manager should be able to present these alternatives to standing up yet another dedicated server, the project stakeholders need to accept the cost and risk associated with these alternatives. It might be a good idea, but maybe not for this particular project.
The project manager may suggest "green" approaches for a project and may actively try to sell the approach to the project stakeholders, but at the end of the day, the project stakeholders are the deciding authority to accept or reject the proposal.
Dave D'Silva
Project champion| Intelligent Market Solutions Group
Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada
Dave thanks for bringing this to our attention:
"Integrating economic, social and environmental value into all portfolios, programs, and projects enables project management practitioners to add quantifiable advantage to their organizations."
Greg Balestrero, CEO Emeritus at the Project Management Institute
I think you are asking us to be responsible leaders of the project management profession. To help achieve this faster, I suggest an integrated three-prong approach:
1) Embed social popularity of Net Promoter Score (NPS) scoring both you as the PM amongst your peers, and scoring your company in the eyes of the client . This helps guide us as PMs to create positivity, and from positivity you get enablement, meaning faster, cheaper, high quality results. This creates deployable synergy. When you link this to #2) Process Improvement, and #3) Enterprise Project Management, you may find yourself getting a bijective "two-way street" of cascading success.
2) Embed Process Improvement (PI) since PI affects the internal cultural environmental and external physical environmental. Embedding PI thinking into your way of managing projects, whether it is Lean Six Sigma or a home grown method, causes improvement within your team, and company. Linking to PI to #1) NPS, causes social improvements, and linked to #3) EPM, helps create enterprise-wide benefits. Process Improvement helps keep you and your company green.
3) Embed an Enterprise Project Management (EPM) viewpoint to help you understand how your projects fit with the CEO, maintaining balance and perspective. When linked to #1 NPS, this approach expands popularity potentially enterprise-wide. Certainly that's the case if you support the idea of a Chief Project Officer (CPO). Linked with #2) PI, EPM improves things from an enterprise prospective, resulting in you being seen as deserving of more recognition and power.
Each of these three suggestions stand on their own merits, but when you integrate all three: #1) NPS, 2) PI, and 3) EPM, you may find this helps integrate the economic, social and environmental value of your projects, providing quantifiable advantages in the short term and long run. This was last proved in 2015 at Rogers Communication, working with Microsoft Corp on the Office 365 Skype for Business for Canada program. I call this integrated approach Revenue Project Management.
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