Strategic Project Management

Albert Einstein said, "Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them."

As more and more organizations turn to project management best practices to increase efficiency and productivity in the workplace, I think it's important that we consider Einstein's advice in regard to how we approach the challenges of project-based work.

That being said, I acknowledge that projects are inherently risky and messy things (otherwise they wouldn't be projects in the first place), and many organizations' risk aversion actually hampers their ability to execute on meaningful and potentially profitable projects. However, we can (and should) take steps to anticipate challenges to prevent as many as is humanly possible and what's more, an often overlooked project management best practice is an invaluable tool to facilitate the the genius within.

Learning from experience is an important tool in project environments that are constantly changing. In my opinion, in order to successfully learn from experience, we need to take a regular and consistent approach that can be incorporated into any work management methodology. Here are a few suggestions to help any project team learn from experience:

1. Establish a venue for sharing lessons learned: It doesn't matter whether you call it a post-mortem, a project review or a project retrospective, most organizations don't do them—but they should. It's a real shame that many project teams move from one project to another without ever taking a breath; let alone taking the opportunity to capture lessons learned from the last project.
2. Share what has been learned: Although many organizations don't take the time to do any kind of project retrospective, very few of those that do share what they've learned. If lessons learned are captured and then tucked away in a file somewhere, the exercise doesn't do any good. Not only your own team, but other teams within the organization can benefit from a culture that freely shares lessons learned upon the completion of a project.
3. Learning doesn't work as a "corporate" initiative: It's natural for organizations to try to formalize the learning process into a forced and contrived corporate project. Although a natural learning environment should be encouraged, "corporate" is all too often the same as "bureaucratic," which employees are more likely to avoid.
4. Don't make learning a one-time activity: Project learning should be ongoing and interactive. Don't let it become an isolated activity that happens rarely.

No two organizations are exactly the same. For that matter, no two projects are exactly the same either. Regardless of your project management methodology, it's important to create a culture and environment where project learning can take place. What does your company do to capture best practices and learn from experience?

I think we can all agree that engaged team members are more productive, happier and more likely to contribute to the project team at a higher level, however a study conducted last year by Hewitt Associates suggests that employee engagement experienced the biggest decline in more than 15 years. Is this still true today? What do you see among your team?

"It's hard to pinpoint exactly why employees are so disconnected from their work these days," writes Toddi Gutner for the Business On Main section of MSN.com. "Industry experts cite any number of reasons, including management distrust, lack of job mobility in the recession, and CEO turnover, among other things."

Gutner suggests that the most important thing to consider (and I agree), is the "toxic" effect that disengaged employees can have on the rest of the workforce. My biggest concern, and I don't think I'm alone, is the upcoming talent migration that will negatively impact all those organizations that took advantage of their workforce or didn't do anything to keep their employees engaged during the tough economic times. I'm starting to see some of this happening now as the economy seems to be improving.

The good news is that it isn't money that keeps people engaged. Gutner writes about Teresa Amabile, a professor of business administration and a director of research at the Harvard Business School, who asked 238 people to write in an electronic diary every day for five months about how they felt about their work and how committed they were to do a great job. I think you might find the results interesting.

"We found that the most important indicators on employee engagement [were] not things that most managers think about," said Amabile. "The most important event that happened was simply 'making progress in meaningful work.' That's not what we expected."

When Amibile describes meaningful work, she talks about "work where the person is contributing something of real value, something they care about. If they could find meaning to the work—even contributing value to the team or the organization—this would make a difference."

This flies in the face of those who suggest that team members simply need to complete the tasks on their task lists. As project leaders, regardless of the work management tools we use, we need to be giving team members the opportunity to contribute at a higher level. And this means making sure everyone on the team understands what objectives their project might be designed to obtain, what their individual contribution might add to the project and how their efforts impact the rest of the team as they work towards a common goal.

Citing Lynne Sarikas, director of the MBA career center at Northwestern University's College of Business, Gutner writes, "There are two factors to employee engagement: How the individual feels engaged with their specific job, and how the individual feels engaged with the company."

When measured against that scale, how is your team doing?
 

I don't think there's any question that when team members are engaged in what they're doing, we get their best work. The evidence clearly shows that there is a strong connection between employee engagement and performance. With that in mind, the other day I came across the following questionnaire created by The Employers Council that will allow you to score your team. On a scale of 1 (almost never) to 5 (very common), rate your team:

1.  More than half of my team routinely exceed performance expectations
2. Team members regularly take on new challenges and learn new skills
3. Team members understand how their job fits with the objectives of the project and overall company strategies and goals
4. There is a clear sense of collegiality with the team
5. Team members routinely recommend the organization to others
6. Problems are proactively approached, rather than reactively addressed
7. A significant number of new and creative ideas have come from team members in the last six months
8. Customers are wowed by the service they receive
9. Managers are active advocates for their team members
10. Team members believe what their managers tell them
11. Managers understand the expectation to and deliver on actively helping their team members develop new skills for current and future positions
12. Managers structure jobs with clear expectations and take into account the interests of team members
13. Managers understand the different communication styles of their team members and adjust their communication to meet team member styles
14. The company retains top talent

Add up the total score. 70 is a perfect score. 45 is about average, which obviously leaves room for improvement. If you're below 45, you probably need to take a good hard look at what you can do to better engage the members of your project teams.

How did you score?

Vince Lombardi once said, "Individual commitment to a group effort—that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work."

I don't think there's any question that professional football coach Vince Lombardi became a national symbol of single-minded determination. During the nine years he served as coach of the Green Bay Packers, he led the team to five NFL championships and victory in the first two Super Bowls. Lombardi also said, "Once you have established the goal you want and the price you're willing to pay, you can ignore the minor hurts, the opponent's pressure and the temporary failures."

I think Lombardi's advice is relevant to how we lead project teams. Earlier this week, I read an article written by Ken and Scott Blanchard for FastCompany where they suggest, "Management is about organizing people's work so that people are actually doing things to help the department, or the organization as a whole, accomplish set goals. One of the important distinctions you need to address as a manager is whether you are sharing with people the actual results you expect them to produce, rather than just the activities they need to engage in."

Sometimes it's easy to make assignments and get people busy without sharing the "why?" regarding what they're doing. As a father, I quickly found out that "because I said so" was never a good motivator for my children. It doesn't work in the office or on a project team any better. Yet there are many organizations that still take that approach.

"An aligned purpose and clear expectations are the foundation of an effective work environment," write Ken and Scott Blanchard. "All good performance starts with clear goals. Make sure that your people's work is on track and on target. Connect the dots between individual roles and the goals of the organization. When people see the connection, they get a lot of energy out of work. They feel the importance, dignity, and meaning in their job. It's good for you and it's good for them."

Over the course of my career, I have come to appreciate that this is true. When I work with my own team, we sit down together and discuss the reasons why we are doing what we're doing. Most people want to contribute to something meaningful. However, if your project teams don't understand how their contributions relate to meaningful corporate objectives, it becomes difficult for them to "...ignore the minor hurts, the opponent's pressure and the temporary failures."

Like Lombardi, I believe it's the individual contributions to the group effort that make projects successful. As a project leader, what are you doing to make sure that everyone on your project team understands the value of their contribution to the meaningful goals and objectives of your organization?

Last week I asked the question, "Is email the best way for project teams to communicate?"

Of the responses I received, the most animated response regarding email came via a comment to another post I'd made regarding the recent Gartner Summit in San Diego, It's All About People. Julien got pretty excited about a comment made by Mark Langley of the PMI, "The younger generation doesn't use email—it's all about texting and mobile technology."