Strategic Project Management

The economic downturn we've experienced for the last few years is taking its toll on the workforce. Whether you work in a project environment or not, "Businesses expect a lot more out of their employees these day..." writes Anne Kadet for the Wall Street Journal. In her article, 'Superjobs': Why You Work More, Enjoy it Less, Kadet writes about organizations of all size who are expecting employees to "...take on extra tasks that have little to do with their primary roles and expertise—with engineers going on sales calls, accountants pitching in on customer service and chief financial officers running a division on the side. And some believe this shift is permanent, as the quickening pace of change demands more flexibility from everyone at the office."

Although I have always felt that it is a good idea for everyone in the organization to be willing to pitch in and help when times are tough, I worry that too much "pitching in" will do more than lead to burnout—it will lead to exhausted workers who are frustrated and unmotivated to do anything more than what they must to survive (I guess that's the real definition of burnout, isn't it?). Which is not an environment where project teams can creatively problem solve or invent and create. Ultimately, this type of environment will lead to an even greater project failure rate and ultimately organizational failure.

"Some experts say the superjob is the logical next step in management's quest to make the workplace more cost efficient," writes Kadet. "The latest shift started when businesses redistributed the workload during the recession; last years nascent recovery intensified the process."

Kadet says that a recent survey conducted by Spherion Staffing suggests that 53 percent of workers surveyed last year have taken on new roles, most of them without pay (only 7% got a raise or a bonus). "Now that sales are picking up, there's even more work to do, but companies are reluctant to hire, say human-resource experts. Some are anxious about what the economic future holds," she writes, "while others are seeing their profits increase now that that their workforces are leaner."

Although I believe there are probably a lot of great opportunities for careers to grow during this time, I agree with Kadet when she suggests that even the most hard-nosed bosses know they can only stretch employees so far. It's pretty obvious that the current conditions are taking their tole on the workforce. "Indeed, a recent survey from the Conference Board found that just 43% of Americans are satisfied with their job—a record low," she says.

What does this mean for project teams and the workforce at large?

We've talked before about how multitasking can actually reduce productivity. In fact Kadet brings this up. We aren't really neurologically wired to do dozens of unrelated things at once. At least  we're not wired to do them well. What's more writes Kadet, "The sheer number of hours demanded by the superjob also can impair your performance as your brain gets fatigued, says Susan Koen, an organizational psychologist and consultant whose clients include Pfizer, Alcoa and Procter & Gamble."

According to Kadet, "Of course, the ultimate responsibility for workload management falls to the employee. Experts say that in many cases, employers have no idea how many tasks they've loaded on one person, so workers have to 'manage up.'"

As project leaders, I think it's important to have an understanding of all the work our project team members are engaged in. If we don't have visibility into all work (not just project-based work), it makes realistic capacity planning problematic. Most people are not inclined to say no, so we need to help. I think that's part of being an effective project leader.

As I was sitting in my home office last night, I looked up at my bookshelf and noticed a book my son had given me a year or so ago. A colleague and I were recently talking about resource planning, so when I noticed The Once and Future King by T.H. White on the bookshelf, I couldn't help but think of the project management Holy Grail.

Part of the Arthur legend includes the quest for the Grail, which Lancelot and the other Knights of the Roundtable were not allowed to find. Project managers may be more fortunate than Lance and his companions—but they must be proven worthy.

What is the Holy Grail and where can project managers find it? In my opinion, accurately figuring out how to allocate resources is the "difficult to find prize" that we must be "found worthy" to obtain.

Whenever I speak with project leaders and the topic of resource planning comes up, there seem to be a couple of recurring themes:

1. I'm told, "Capacity planning and resource management is a critical part of our work management process and makes us more efficient and competitive."
2. Or, "We see the value of better capacity planning and are working toward a more formalized method for actually measuring capacity and effectively utilizing our resources."

I wonder if we need to start looking at this issue with a different perspective. In a recent paper written by the Aspen Group by David Bollier, The Future of Work: What it Means for Individuals, Businesses, Markets and Governments, he writes, "'We've got organizations that need to figure out how to make talent and work pools function globally,' said Dwayne Spradlin of InnoCentive, Inc. 'Organizations need to figure out a way to move from fixed procedures and infrastructures to variable ones in organizing and optimizing resources. And now we've got the millennial generation coming in, and if anything, they're more project-based, not jobs-based, which means we need to think about how to orchestrate work talent in an environment of constant churn. There is a need for a whole new business science that can help organizations function more effectively in this new normal,' if you will."

I don't know that we need a "whole new business science" for this, but I do agree that we need to figure out a better way. I suggest that initiating greater team member participation in the beginning of the process (the planning stages), would help project leaders better understand their resource requirements and available capacity.

Bollier further cites Kim Taipale, Founder and Executive Director of the Stillwell Center for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology Policy, who suggests, "The future may belong less to firms organized in hierarchies than to participants in open, networked platforms."

I agree. The hierarchical organization structure does not lend itself very well to the needs of managing work today. By democratizing the way we manage people and work, creating more "open, networked platforms", I think we will find the solutions to meeting the needs of organizations and better managing resources.

Bollier presents an interesting case study and cites the experiences of Spradlin and his company, "After a major reassessment of worker incentives, said Spradlin, the company let workers design their own approaches to meet deadlines. Instead of prescribing process or mandating 'key performance indicators,' the firm let work teams self-structure their work and acquire 'ownership of the project.' Groups were then judged on outcome-based measures."

I can hear some of my colleagues almost shouting now. "THIS WON'T WORK. IT WILL BE CHAOS."

If that includes you, here were the results, "This not only enhanced predictability, it lowered costs to the organization and produced better quality products. To cultivate worker loyalty and engagement, the firm also became actively engaged in a variety of philanthropic and social causes such as Habitat for Humanity and fundraising marathons. Spradlin conceded that the American high-tech workers may not be representative of global workers, let alone the American workforce, yet he believes these work attitudes are representative of the millennial generation."

My anecdotal experience has seen the same kind of results. So what does that mean in terms of our search for the project management Holy Grail? I think it means we need to start with a change of perspective at the very beginning of our search. Get the team involved from the planning stage. Give them input into time-lines and deliverables. Let them participate in the resource plan. Maybe then we'll be found "worthy" to find the Holy Grail.

The other day I came across an article written by Natalie Morera titled How to Make Employees Co-Owners of Engagement. "Having employees take charge of their own engagement may be the newest and wisest method companies can utilize," writes Morera.

Of course, I understand that what she's writing about isn't necessarily the same thing as getting the individual members of a project team to be co-owners of the project, but I think it's relevant. In my experience, when team members feel a sense of ownership concerning what they're doing along with a personal investment in the outcome, their willingness to contribute at a higher level is enhanced. What's more, I found one of the ways that Morera suggests to help accomplish this sense of "co-ownership" was very consistent with my personal beliefs.

Citing a survey conducted in February 2011, she writes, "Modern Survey surveyed 1,000 working adults in February, releasing the results in a report titled 'Employee Engagement in the U.S. Workforce.' The survey found that people who responded yes to the question 'Does your company have a clear set of values that people know about and understand?' are 17 times more likely to be fully engaged than those who answered no."

Consider the power of a project team that is 17 times more personally engaged in what they're doing. I don't think there's any question that workforce engagement in the project management process is a big challenge for most organizations. Morera describes what I consider to be the first step to accomplishing this and is very consistent with some of the things we talk about here. Do your people know and understand your company's values?

It seems simple enough. Make sure everyone is aware of the organizational values that drive particular projects. Almost too simple, isn't it. However, I believe it's a key to employee engagement in the work they do every day.

It might be interesting to know if Modern Survey's results are consistent with what we would find if we asked our project teams:

1. Does your company have a clear set of values that people know about and understand?
2. Do you understand the value to your organization of the project you're currently working on?
3. How is this articulated to you?

Ask your project teams these three questions and share the results with us. It will be fascinating to see if our informal survey achieves the same results as that cited by Morera.

I have a friend who is a Chief Master Sargent. He's a little gray around the edges—he's been in the military for a long time. When he walks down the sidewalk in uniform, enlisted men step off to let him pass and officers acknowledge him with courtesy and respect. The Chief Master Sargent has earned his stripes. He's experienced personally what his younger colleagues have theorized and only read about.

I often talk about the need to empower teams to create and invent. I think that's important. If we want to build teams that can creatively problem solve and maximize their value within an organization, we need project teams that can think on their feet and make smart decisions for themselves. With that being said, I don't think we can afford to minimize the experience and expertise of the Chief Master Sergeants in our organizations.

When I entered the workforce, I was fortunate enough to have one of these guys take an interest in me and my career. I gleaned valuable insight and advice from what he shared with me (although I don't know if I recognized it at the time). He helped me navigate the intricacies of my job, helped me understand my role within the organization and offered advice that was intended to help me progress. I owe a lot to this man.

If one of these guys or gals exists in your organization, take advantage of his or her experience and willingness to share—because experience matters. There's a difference between reading about something in college and having actually done it many times. As a project leader (or a member of the project team for that matter), it's important to leverage the talents and experience of everyone on the team—and that particularly applies to the Chief Master Sargent.

If you're a younger member of the team, pay attention to those who have more experience, show them a little respect and courtesy, and they might just share some insight into what you're doing that you may have never thought of on your own. Being an empowered member of the team doesn't mean you don't have to pay attention to someone who's been in battle a few times.
 

Looking for any excuse to have a party in the break-room during lunch, I will don my sombrero as our team eats Mexican food and watches The Three Amigos. Believe it or not, I was surprised to learn that Cinco de Mayo isn't really celebrated all over Mexico. Although it is recognized all over the United States (again, any excuse for a party in the break-room), it is regionally celebrated in Mexico, particularly in the state of Puebla.

In the US it's a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride—a great reason to have a party and eat great food! In the state of Puebla, it's the date set apart to commemorate the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin. Contrary to popular belief, Wikipedia suggests that it is not Mexico's Independence Day, which is a national holiday in Mexico celebrates on September 16th.

Without getting into a discussion about Mexican history, suffice it to say a considerably outnumbered Mexican army defeated a much better-equipped French army in the Battle of Puebla. One of the reasons The Battle of Puebla was important  is because since then, no country in the Americas has ever been invaded by a European military force. (A great reason to party, don't you think?)

As we think of those 4000 woefully under-equipped and ill-prepared Mexican soldiers who decisively crushed the 8000-strong French forces (considered the best fighting force of the day), let's take that same "never-say-die" attitude to our work. Remember, the French had not been defeated in almost 50 years at that time.

Today, rally the troops, share in the festivities and celebrate Cinco de Mayo with me and our friends from Mexico. I'm going to enjoy the Three Amigos during lunch—I hope you'll do the same.