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Date
If you listen to business prognosticators, the concept of “mature economies” or “mature markets” comes up pretty regularly. Which means that it has become more and more difficult to squeeze growth out of larger, more mature organizations.
The funny thing is, this is actually a great opportunity for project managers and project leaders around the world to really step in and put their skills to use in a more strategic manner.
Why? Because a great project leader is a strategic project leader. Strategic project leaders understand the business at a deeper level and can anticipate decisions. More importantly, they have access to the goals and vision for an organization’s growth, which enables them to contribute to that goal.
So what do strategic project leaders look for when they are attempting to manage growth in mature companies?
Here are three ideas:
1. Align thinking with the organization’s growth goals: You have to gain an understanding of where the organization is going, as a baseline for success. This isn’t as hard as it might seem. Many organizations, at the beginning of the fiscal year, quarter or calendar year, share goals for the coming year (or, if you are lucky, the next several years).
This information will provide you the groundwork for better discussions as certain projects move from concept to planning and beyond.
2. Anticipate ways projects can or can’t create additional value: Here’s the challenge. It is easy to mail this stuff in. I’m just a project manager, right?
If you want to be a leader in your organization and manage for growth—growth for your company and your career—you can’t allow this thinking to infiltrate your mindset.
To manage for growth, especially in tough markets, you have to be able to anticipate where your business is going and where opportunity lies. Then you need to be able to take action to apply these ideas to your projects and advocate for them in a strong, reasoned manner.
3. Frame your ideas in a context that fits executive and stakeholder goals: As project leaders, your goal is often to be the point from which information flows in and out of the project. To put it another way, you are the sounding board for people that have an interest in your project’s success.
This means that you have the unique position of knowing as much or more about the project than anyone in the organization.
This gives you tremendous power and provides an opportunity to push the project in ways that will help squeeze out the maximum benefit for you and your organization.
This requires you to advocate for an idea, present your ideas in a way that are relevant to the context of the goals of your business, and have a business case behind them so that they appear logical.
Are these conversations easy? No, but are they worthwhile? Absolutely!
If you are serious about managing for growth, you can start now from where you are, but the actions you take are going to have to be more business focused. Fortunately, many of you already have the tools to take action—no mandate necessary.
I look forward to your thoughts on managing growth.
Posted
by
David Wakeman
on: October 31, 2016 02:10 PM |
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