People, Planet, Profits & Projects

We’ve written extensively about the connection between an organization’s high-level mission/vision/values and its low-level operations.  Our books discuss how that key connection between the organization’s resulting strategy and its operations, and the fact that it is us – project, program, and portfolio managers - who make up the single and critical connecting fiber between these.  We assert that projects (and project managers) are “where the rubber hits the road”.   A good project manager can almost see the skid marks and smell the burning rubber.  You can find out much more about this metaphor in our books or in this video.

It’s now been about six years since we’ve been making these points and it’s great to see that the evidence which support our early (and continued) assertions is piling up.  One recent example is PMI’s Pulse of the Profession study, a 2016 edition of which, is entitled, “The Strategic Impact of Projects: Identify Benefits to Drive Business Results”.  This study surveyed almost 1200 project management practitioners.

The report is well laid-out and illustrated, so we won’t duplicate it here, after all, it’s available for free download thanks to PMI.  What we do want to do in this brief post is to highlight a couple of findings that continue to illustrate the connection between sustainability and project management.

Let’s start with the end game here.  Projects are about realizing benefits, right?  And indeed, organizations with high maturity in benefits realization – in other words, those organizations in which the project manager is focused NOT on meeting a particular end date for a particular set of features and functionality but rather on serving the mission of the company, well, those organizations waste more than 2/3 less money on poor performance than those with low maturity in this area.

Think about that.  This statistic says that if an organization puts effort into up-skilling its project managers so that they focus on the long term and connect their project’s goals with the organization’s goals (many of which include Corporate Social Responsibility metrics), a direct result is that they will be significantly more effective ECONOMICALLY.

Yet, the next statistic is chilling.  83% of organizations lack this maturity in benefits realization.  This is why we continue to push for a better connection between project management and benefits realization, and a big part of that is getting your project management community to recognize their own power, their importance, and their absolute need to think past the end date of their project and into that not-too-distant-future beyond handover and into operations.

And guess what?  Of course it’s about the money – and those two statistics show the monetary outcomes we’re featuring.  But it goes beyond money – it goes to overall results, which reflect the real success of the sustainable economics of a firm.  Here’s another statistic:

For projects which identify benefits early – which we interpret as figuring out how their project fits holistically in the organization, the society, and the environment, nearly three quarters of projects meet goals and business intent (in other words, real success).  For those projects in which organizations do NOT identify the benefits early, well their real success rate drops to under 50%.

That’s a striking difference, and it’s a difference with a lesson.  Identify the benefits early in your projects!  Connect them to overall organizational goals.

PMI provides good advice in this document, we share one tip here – what are the questions and activities related to benefits realization that you can use in your organization to gain maturity in this area?  See the chart below.

One other tip from us: from a triple-bottom-line perspective, you can’t see how your project is connected to the organization’s sustainability statements (and, more importantly strategic goals and objectives in this area) unless you look for what your organization is stating to the public and its customers about this.  This is your ‘golden thread’ to enterprise level 'ideation'.  To do this, you can take the three-click challenge we blogged about a while ago.  This is our connection to Dorothy and her advice from Glinda, the Good Witch - and of course, the famous footwear.  Can you get to your organization’s sustainability statements in just three clicks?  And, no matter how many clicks it takes, you still win – because now you have one of the connections to benefits realization you didn’t have before the challenge!

...well, not that sort of celebrity - I'm referring to the cruise line, Celebrity.

This is a special post which is made up of an interview with Ioannis Tsagkas, Environmental Officer of the Celebrity ship, Millennium.  He's shown above.  He's the one with the stripes.  I am the one (ironically) with the boat on his shirt. 

What are the duties and roles of an Environmental Officer?

The basic duties are to:

• Increase environmental awareness amongst crew and passengers
• Assure that the crew is trained in all environmental aspects of cruising at any stage during preparation, actual cruising, and while docked or under maintenance
• Assuring that all aspects of waste are properly handled: air, liquids, and solids

Can you give some examples of how these duties are executed?

Let’s take dealing with waste as an example.  What do you think happens with the water you use, say, after you have showered in your stateroom? (your humble interviewer indicates he has no real clue).

Well, here’s what happens to it.  It goes through a system called AWP (Advanced Wastewater Processing), and is processed through a bioreactor and disinfectant system.  See this document for reference: http://www.celebritycruises.com/media/en_US/pdf/environment/Celebrity_Web_Update_Q1_03_27_13.pdf

Another example: the emissions of the ships are cleaned using AEP Advanced Emission Purification systems.  See this video (click on the image or here) for details:

You mentioned training.  How are the staff made aware of the importance of sustainability on a day to day basis?

Actually, it’s right on their name tags.  Celebrity uses the “Save the Waves” program, established by the parent company of Celebrity (Royal Caribbean) as a comprehensive program based on 4 principles:

1. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - Reduce the generation of waste material, reuse and recycle wherever possible, and properly dispose of remaining wastes.
2. Practice Pollution Prevention - Nothing may be thrown overboard. Nothing.
3. Go Above and Beyond Compliance (ABC) - Means doing more than is required by regulations.
4. Continuous Improvement - Change is the only constant; innovation is encouraged and rewarded.

And indeed everyone – and I mean everyone - (points to his own badge) has the “Save The Waves” icon on their name tag – a daily reminder of the importance of sustainability on our ships and in our minds.  Training is of course what stands behind this – a name tag and principles are not enough.  Environmental training is mandatory for all staff.  Training and programs are aligned with ???the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), which is the main international convention covering prevention of pollution of the marine environment by ships from operational or accidental causes.  Read about this standard here:  http://www.imo.org/en/About/conventions/listofconventions/pages/international-convention-for-the-prevention-of-pollution-from-ships-(marpol).aspx

If you are interested in the level of detail with regards to training, check out this Annex of MARPOL:

http://www.marpoltraining.com/MMSKOREAN/MARPOL/Annex_I/

Our readers are project managers.  What are some interesting example projects you can share with us?

The most recent I can give you is this drydock ‘refit’ project.  Just to give you an idea of scope, we removed 125,000 square feet of paint from the ship as one of the many tasks. (Watch this video – it explains the project in detail – fascinating- http://www.cheknews.ca/millennium-cruise-ship-undergoes-refit-at-victoria-shipyards-170874/

What is it about Alaska, and cruising in this part of the world that inspires you as an Environmental Officer?

Alaska is the last frontier.  It features eagles and whales, salmon, bears, the list goes on and on.   When I am here I feel like I am a citizen of the planet – not any particular country.  And I know that I’m not the only one.

Do customers inquire and/or seem interested in environmental issues, and has that level of interest changed in the past decade?

Yes, we get a lot of questions and concerns about sustainability and I have noted an increase in this especially in the past few years.

What are your feelings about eco-tourism?  Is it a plus or a minus for the environment?

I think it is a positive if it is done responsibly as we strive to do.  It increases sensitivity to the environment.  I think people come off of a cruise to Alaska as a little bit more of an environmentalist of sorts.

In part 1 of this post I discussed in general the background of the indigenous people of western Canada and southeast Alaska. With that background in mind, consider the Huna Totem Corporation.   And consider the concept of a Social Sustainable Environmental Enterprise (SSEE).  We’re going to look at one in particular.  You guessed it: Icy Strait Point of Hoonah, Alaska.  See photo below.

Icy Strait Point - Hoonah, Alaska

An SSEE is defined as an innovative enterprise that has dynamic operational strategies while still maintaining its corporate core values and integrating social, environmental, cultural, economic and political.

The concept of an SSEE is explained quite well in this paper,  “Aboriginal Tourism as Sustainable Social-Environmental Enterprise (SSEE): A Tlingit Case Study from Southeast Alaska”,  from the International Indigenous Policy Journal which uses the Huna Totem Corporation  of Hoonah, Alaska, as an example.  We’ve put a reference to the paper at the bottom and have attained direct permission from the authors to use sections of it in this post.

 From the paper:
In 2011, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO, 2011) set three broad goals toward achieving (sustainable tourism): environmental protection, social justice, and economic prosperity. These goals are commensurate with the triple bottom line (TBL) approach to sustainable enterprise introduced more than a decade ago (Elkington, 1998). However, when applying the concept of sustainability, it is important not to do so within a static framework that assumes conditions are stable, predictable, and controllable. The concept of sustainability in business practice needs to be applicable to changing environmental and market conditions. Furthermore, they noted that people have different ways of interpreting sustainability; thus, a viable sustainability framework should allow for interpretation and adaptation to various sociocultural and environmental contexts.

So now, let’s look at Icy Strait Point, the SSEE example, and some background behind it.  Using the “Begin with the End in Mind” philosophy of Stephen Covey, you may choose to watch this video first:

In addition to the video, there is this brief description from the paper:

In attempt to create a new cruise tourism destination, HTC (Huna Totem Corporation) co-developed Icy Strait Point (ISP) with a private investor, opening the tourist facility in the 2004 on the northeast shore of Chichagof Island, just north of Hoonah village. In addition to being among the largest Native villages in the region, Hoonah is the closest village to Juneau by ferry and air transport (39 miles), and is also positioned at the gateway to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve (22 miles northwest), a major cruise ship destination. HTC owns substantial lands adjacent to the village and the old fish-canning site that was chosen to redevelop as ISP. Aboriginal tourism held the potential to buffer declines in commercial fishing, seafood processing, and timber production, which had anchored employment in the village in the late twentieth century. By its ninth season in 2012, ISP had 63 cruise ship calls from 6 different cruise lines—Celebrity, Royal, Holland America, Regent Seven Seas, The World, and American Cruise Lines—carrying more than 120,000 guests (Icy Strait Point, 2012).  

 
Here is the vision statement from Huna Totem, because in and of itself, here are lessons for managers and project managers in particular.  This is a good example of a vision statement structure.  From the Huna Totem Corporation’s home page:
Our new Vision has three parts:

• The Vision Statement expresses an inspiring future direction for Huna Totem. It is deliberately aspirational and far-reaching in order to motivate the highest levels of performance and achievement by the organization and its people.
• The Mission Statement expresses how we will achieve this Vision. The actions (business excellence, sustainable economic growth, leadership, and education) outlined in the Mission Statement drive the business objectives and strategic plan that will guide the organization over the next 5-10 years.
• The Guiding Principles summarize the non-negotiable, inviolate values 

And here is the vision statement itself:

Vision
We envision a future where the economic and cultural achievements of the Xúna Kaawu are recognized as the standard of excellence in the advancement of Native People.

Mission
To advance the economic aspirations and culture of the Xúna Kaawu through business excellence, sustainable economic growth, leadership, and education.

Guiding Principles

• Maintain our land in perpetuity.
• Take pride in our past and value the wisdom of our elders.
• Foster woosh jee een  (working together) and diversity of thought.
• Perpetuate our culture and land through prudent stewardship.
• Grow a healthy, diversified business that is transparent, innovative, and self-sustaining.
• Continually think ahead and act on behalf of future generations.
• Improve opportunity for all our people.
• Show respect, integrity, and be self-accountable. 

In addition to the vision, the Huna Totem Corporation works within a framework shown below.  We highly recommend reading the paper to gain insight on this framework, which, while developed for sustainable tourism, can be applied to many practice areas.

The SSEE framework - featuring the five dimensions of sustainability.
Here are the factors in the framework that are critical to the niche and overall well-being of an Indigenous enterprise. Sustainability emanates from the core values and is subject to disruption from various forces both within and beyond the sector.    

What are the takeaways for project managers?

1.    The principles for a Social Sustainable Environmental Enterprise do not only have to be for enterprises which have – as their main mission – sustainability in mind.  These green-by-definition projects, as we described in our book Green Project Management, provide lessons for any kind of project, even a new accounting system software upgrade.
2.    The care and intensity that the Huna Totem Corporation put into their vision statement paid off with an organization that we found firsthand runs smoothly and stays true to its intent
3.    Take advantage of the wisdom of the SSEE framework, which apply in practice areas beyond sustainable tourism
4.    The concept of woosh jee een is a valuable one for any project

NOTE: Some of our readers may have noted the Tlingit words in our post.  For the linguists among you, if you want more information about this fascinating language, see this reference which provides definitions of key Tlingit words.
 

Reference for article, 
Wanasuk, P. , Thornton, T. F. (2015). Aboriginal Tourism as Sustainable Social-Environmental Enterprise (SSEE): A Tlingit Case Study from Southeast Alaska. The International Indigenous Policy Journal, 6(4) . Retrieved from: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/iipj/vol6/iss4/8DOI: 10.18584/iipj.2015.6.4.8
 

Recall that in the last post (Heading: Northwest) I promised that I'd blog about Alaska (and, as it turns out, British Columbia and Yukon).

One of the things I studied on our trip to Alaska and Yukon (since I was a tourist) was the idea of sustainable tourism itself.  I also knew that the indigenous culture would teach me a thing or two about sustainability.  In this post, I’ll cover a little of both and provide a link to several great resources on the topic.

Let’s start with some basic examples of how the indigenous peoples of Alaska and Canada treated their resources which will illustrate some key sustainability principles.

First: a really quick summary of the First Nation (Canada) or Alaska Native (USA) peoples:

Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Heilsuk

We mainly encountered influence of Haida and Tlingit.

Although sustainability itself is not a project (by definition!), the theme of sustainability can still use a charter.  And here it is, from the Haida Constitution.

"The living generation accepts the responsibility to ensure that our heritage is passed on to following generations."

–Haida Constitution

The charter is brought to reality with the Haida's "Land Use Vision"

There is too much to cover about this in a short blog post, but it really is worthwhile having a look at this document.

Haida Land Use Vision

 http://www.haidanation.ca/Pages/documents/pdfs/land/HLUV.lo_rez.pdf

The Heiltsuk supertanker eater

In a project, we must be aware of all stakeholders.  In this case the project is Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipline – and importantly the ongoing product of that project: oil tanker traffic.  So I was not too surprised to see that the First Nation people would be opponents.  I was, however, surprised and impressed with the way they expressed their disapproval of the project, and where I found it.  Turns out, there is a small exhibit in the University of British Columbia’s Museum of Anthropology.  Have a look at the link below and the photo of Yágis – ancestral guardian of the undersea world - eating a supertanker along with the following placard:

http://moa.ubc.ca/school-programs/educational-websites/one-mind-one-heart/introduction/

Yáu! As Heiltsuk people, we are of one mind, and one heart in opposing Enbridge’s Northern Gateway proposed pipeline and oil tanker traffic in our territories. If built, the pipeline will bring crude oil from Alberta to Kitimat, British Columbia, across 1,170 kilometers of rugged mountainous terrain, streams and rivers. It would cross through the territories of more than 50 First Nations communities, many of whom do not support the pipeline route.

More than 200 supertankers a year would carry this oil to Asia through the pristine waters within our territories on the central coast of British Columbia. An oil spill would have widespread and devastating impacts on the environment, culture and economy of our community as well as many other communities on the coast.

We are looking at new, sustainable economic opportunities and feel strongly that the risks of Enbridge’s proposed pipeline project far outweigh any benefits it has to offer.

Marilyn Slett, Chief Councillor
Heiltsuk Nation, 2012

A "telling" tree

This picture of a tree on our hike on a remote island in Tongass National Park yielded an interesting find: a tree whose bark was stripped by Haida people hundreds of years ago.  But the interesting thing is that the Haida only stripped the bark from the southernmost side, leaving the protection against the weather from the north intact.  This let the tree survive.  This was their mode of operation – take what you need from the environment, use all of it, and nature will return the favor by sustaining you.

We also saw excellent examples of full use of the trees, in particular, the use of the red cedar tree for:

• Canoes
• Paddles
• Ropes
• Lashings
• Clothing
• Baskets
• Cooking utensils

And this is aside from the expected use for heat, smoking foods, living structures.

Read more about this fascinating aspect of efficient operations here:

http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/culture/cedar.html

In part 2 of this post, I will dive a bit deeper into aboriginal ecotourism, using a site we visited on our tour – Icy Strait Point, a Tlingit port that serves cruise ships in southeast Alaska, and how they have created a Sustainable Social-Environmental Enterprise (SSEE).

Consider this a transitional blog post.  The last one was (a bit tongue in cheek) about the opening of the Northwest Passage and other ‘good’ things to come from climate change.  It features an Alaskan connection.

This one covers the connection between the US Department of Defense and global climate change, as covered by Scientific American.  As you’ll see, one of the major pieces of that story is about the effects of climate change on the Arctic from a military viewpoint.  Again, Alaska is a highlight.

This post is transitional from a past-present-future perspective, because the next few blog posts will reflect the fact that your humble blogger is traveling to Alaska to experience that part of the world for the first time and to share some perspective on climate change, project management, and the environment while actually witnessing glaciers, changes to the landscape, and stories from local people.  So stay tuned.  This show is heading North and West from its usual New England, USA home.

So, on to our three-part story based on the very recent (June 2016) “Preventing Tomorrow’s Climate Wars” article from Scientific American.  The three components to the story are:

• Drought-induced conflict, mainly in Africa
• Storms and disruption in the Pacific
• Potential conflict in the Arctic

 I'll show quotes from this article in 'indented italics'.  Before discussing the three specific military/climate interactions, there is some very good background and context to be shared about the way in which the military has got involved.  Even though the argument about climate change (in the US, anyway) has become highly politicized, the military is not about to wait for politicians to finish that debate.  They work from facts – they have to – and the fact is that climate change (in the Department of Defense’s [DoD] own terms) is “an accelerant of instability” and a “threat multiplier”.

You can read the roadmap the DoD came up with here.

The article says

This past January the department issued a directive telling senior leaders they must now assess and plan for the risks posed by climate change.  One new expectation is that humanitarian assistance and disaster response, limited to occasional missions in the past, will become part of almost every deployment, because the number of natural disasters worldwide is increasing significantly.

Although this may make the military sound more like the Red Cross or a UN relief organization, it actually makes strategic sense.  Consider that countries which face disaster (e.g. droughts) for extended times, often become failed states and destabilizing factors in key regions, often breeding terrorism – in turn a major threat to US citizens at home and abroad as well as to peace-loving inhabitants of any country.

In October 2015, three former defense secretaries, two former secretaries of state, and 40 senators, military commanders, and national security experts – Republicans and Democrats – published a full-page open letter as an advert in the Wall Street Journal saying that climate change is “shaping a world that is more unstable, resource-constrained, violent, and disaster-prone”.

Next, I’ll briefly review the first two bullets from above (African Drought and Pacific Storms) and close with the piece on the Arctic because it mentions Alaska and will make a good segue to the next few posts which will emanate from the 49^th US State.

Africa – a dangerous mix of drought and terrorism

Rapid population growth in Africa is a huge concern.  In fact, we recently blogged about it.  This large and growing population is heavily dependent on rain-fed subsistence agriculture.  Changes in the environment – particularly drought – and the follow-on effects of crop failures, outbreaks of disease, combined with ethnic and religious rivalries, can “tip fragile states” (and there are many of them) toward war.   The signs of climate change are not imaginary – they are real, and physical.  Take Nigeria as an example.  Its Lake Chad has lost more than 90% (you read that correctly – only 10% remains) of its original size to drought. Effects from the drought, combined with a perceived-to-be-ineffective Nigerian government, have enabled Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram (now allegiant to ISIS) to rise to power.

The US DoD has funded projects to study this relationship and to predict where this deadly combination may show up next.  A University of Texas project has indeed yielded a “hot zone” map which shows where new conflicts would be most likely, enabling the military to get a strategic edge in preparing for response and/or preventing the threat from occurring in the first place.

The Pacific – stormy seas could enable dangerous conflicts

The South China Sea is a critical trade route, through which more than ½ of the world’s trade by ship passes. China is now engaged in huge projects, building military bases on – and even physically enlarging   - islands in that sea which are claimed by the Philippines and other countries.

The connection here is that the Philippines recently experienced Super Typhoon Haiyan.  The US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel responded with an aircraft carrier and 13,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines to provide food, freshwater, and supplies.  You can sense (correctly) that this was – aside from a humanitarian response – also a strategic move to build alliances with countries in the region to counter China’s assertive moves.  Again: a relationship between climate and conflict.

The Arctic – breaking the ice

There is no place on earth where warming is occurring faster than in the Arctic.  And this is causing fundamental changes to the geography to the point where the Northern Sea Route north of Russia, and the Northwest Passage north of Canada are now open to travel and energy exploration during a good portion of the year.  This is new – and due to rapidly melting sea ice.  Russia is the leading military power in the Arctic, and president Vladimir Putin has not missed the importance of the changing geography. 

In what are apparently direct orders from President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s military has created a Joint Strategic Command North, dedicated to protecting the nation’s interests in the Arctic Circle.  The command has reopened cold war bases across Russia’s Arctic coastline, including one at Wrangle Island, only 300 miles from Alaska.

But it’s not just Russia that is very, very interested in the Arctic.  Countries you may not expect to be ‘players’ are intensely interested in the newly-opened oil and gas resources that could be available.  Singapore and India – countries which are exceedingly un-Arctic – are pushing to join the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental organization of the eight countries which border the Arctic or hold Arctic Territory [Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, the United States (Alaska), Canada, Denmark (Greenland), and Iceland (where it passes through the small offshore island of Grímsey)].

It took a while to get there but you do see a connection to Alaska here.  And that great land will be the source of the next few posts. 

Keep your (bald eagle) eye out for them!