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Sales and Leadership Emerge as the Skills to Master
Categories:
PMI Global Congress 2013 - North America
Categories: PMI Global Congress 2013 - North America
| "Like it or not, we're all in sales now," said best-selling author Daniel Pink, a keynote speaker at PMI® Global Congress 2013 -- North America in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. And that includes project practitioners looking to demonstrate the value of project management. But sales isn't what it used to be. In today's world of information parity, buyers can easily confirm or reject sellers' claims. It's no longer "buyer beware," but "seller beware." For project practitioners, that parity translates to opportunities to showcase what they bring to the table. If customers know they have a problem, they can find a solution, Mr. Pink said. But if they don't even know they have a problem, a project practitioner becomes more valuable, shifting from problem solver to problem finder. Sales skills also help gain buy-in from sponsors, stakeholders and team members. Part of that power of persuasion comes from knowing the audience and then tailoring language to the target audience instead of using specialized lingo. Limiting options -- to a project sponsor, for instance -- can also help secure buy-in by making the options less overwhelming. And project practitioners should focus their pitch on what motivates the team. Have fewer conversations about how and more about why. Project managers should even reconsider the way they talk to themselves, Mr. Pink said. Interrogative ("Can I do this?") trumps the affirmative ("I can do this") because it elicits an active response. If the answer is self-doubt, then it calls for more preparation, which is ultimately a good thing. Today's project practitioners also need to be leaders who can influence others even when they don't have formal authority, said author Mark Sanborn, another congress keynote speaker. "Titles should confirm leadership, but they can never bestow leadership," he explained. No matter the title, Mr. Sanborn said leaders win followers instead of just being given employees. They create change instead of reacting to it. They implement ideas instead of simply having them. They build teams versus directing groups. They make heroes instead of trying to be ones themselves. They create shared focus versus just being focused. And they persuade, versus communicate. Mr. Sanborn said leadership comes down to six elements: 1. Self-mastery: Take responsibility and be trustworthy. 2. Shared focus: Focused attention beats brains and brute strength. 3. Power with people: Managers have power over people. Leaders have power with people. 4. Persuasive communication: Use a combination of rapport, logic and emotion. 5. Strategic execution: Do something with the information you have or let it go. 6. Service: Give back. True leaders know what really matters, Mr. Sanborn said. And they make that matter to others. Read more posts from congress. And if you attended congress, we'd love to hear what you thought of these speakers in the Comments section below. |
Insider Tips from the Project of the Year Award Winner and Finalists
Categories:
PMI Global Congress 2013 - North America
Categories: PMI Global Congress 2013 - North America
| It's a simple reality: All projects should serve a need. And SA Water Corp. had convinced stakeholders the solution for Australia's lingering drought was an AU$1.4 billion desalination plant. As the drought deepened, the government even increased the project budget by AU$450 million, pledging to double capacity and begin production 12 months early. But then it rained. And as the water flowed, support for the project ebbed. The team quickly responded -- a case study in how outstanding project management and stakeholder communication can turn the tide. The team completed the project 19 days early and within 1 percent of the original budget, earning the 2013 PMI Project of the Year Award. "This means a lot to everyone in this project who made such a huge difference in my state and to the nation," said Milind Kumar, SA Water's project and operations director, at the awards ceremony held at the PMI® Global Congress 2013 -- North America in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. "We made our state much better off for now and forever." SA Water was honored along with two finalists: Nemours Children's Hospital Project, Nemours, Orlando, Florida, USA: To design and build a US$397 million pediatric hospital, Nemours specifically sought out the feedback of children and their families. The project team also relied on rigorous change management processes to handle the many viewpoints of the 700 physicians and other employees hired in the final months of the project. The team completed the project on time and within budget in October 2012. Savannah River Site Recovery Act Project, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, Aiken, South Carolina, USA: In 2009, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions launched a US$1.4 billion project to reduce the contaminated footprint and clean up the radioactive waste at Savannah River Site. The team surpassed its cleanup goals while bolstering the local economy by retaining 800 workers and hiring 1,400 new ones. In a panel discussion, representatives from all three organizations each offered up one piece of advice for project practitioners working on any kind of project: Don't be afraid to air some dirty laundry, said Susan Voltz, PMP, senior director, strategy and project management, Nemours. Creating a culture in which raising red flags is good helps avoid unpleasant surprises. Take the time to plan before you dig into delivery, said Paul Hunt, project manager and senior vice president of environmental management operations, SRNS. There can't be just one leader, said Mr. Kumar. There should be a network of leaders who will tell the truth -- good, bad or ugly. Check out videos of all the finalists on PMI.org and read full case studies in upcoming issues of PM Network. |
Navigating Complexity
Categories:
Complexity
Categories: Complexity
| Complexity is ever-present, and while it means different things to different organizations, some common traits do emerge. Nearly three of five respondents reported multiple stakeholders as complexity's defining characteristic in PMI's Pulse of the Professionâ„¢ In-Depth Report: Navigating Complexity. Ambiguity came in at a close second, with nearly half of organizations reporting it as a key trait of complexity. But as complexity takes on many forms, so do the ways to harness it. The Pulse complexity report revealed that among high-performing organizations -- those that complete 80 percent or more projects on time, on budget and within goals -- effective communications to all stakeholders had the most impact on projects with high complexity. SA Water is a prime example of how rock-solid communications can pay big dividends. When the 2013 PMI Project of the Year Award finalist launched an AU$1.4 billion project to build a desalination plant in the middle of a global economic meltdown, it faced a tough sell. So the Australian government agency identified key stakeholders -- which included everyone from business leaders to aboriginal elders -- and then tailored communications to each audience to gain buy-in. And when the severe drought -- the very reason for the project's existence -- ended, the agency built on the trust it had forged to showcase the continued value of the investment to a skeptical public. The team highlighted project facts on a dedicated website, held public meetings and met with community business groups. Drought or not, stakeholders are well aware of the project's ROI: long-term water security. But effective communications is just one way to wrangle complexity. According to the Pulse complexity report, an engaged project sponsor is a powerful ally for highly complex projects and programs. When Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, another 2013 PMI Project of the Year Award finalist, began its project to clean up aging stockpiles of nuclear waste, the details were still ambiguous. Before the team could get to work, it had to figure out what "clean" actually meant. To hammer out a definition, and thus a project scope, the team collaborated with the project sponsor, the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), a PMI Global Executive Council member. The agency also relayed project progress to the U.S. government, which funded the project through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In the end, the DoE's ongoing participation in the project pushed it toward the finish line -- under budget and more than four years ahead of schedule. Complexity is no doubt difficult to define and control. But according to the Pulse complexity report, a project with high complexity has an average budget double that of a project with no complexity -- putting that much more money on the line. And no organization can afford that kind of risk. For more on how to turn complexity into dexterity, read PMI's Pulse of the Professionâ„¢ In-Depth Report: Navigating Complexity. |
Strategy Lives or Dies by Projects
| Without proper implementation, strategy suffers — and so do results. That's one of the big takeaways in the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2013 Why Good Strategies Fail: Lessons for the C-Suite. In the study, 65 percent of best executors — organizations that successfully completed 20 percent more strategic initiatives than others — report well above average financial performance and strategic implementation, compared to just 18 percent of peer organizations. Still, too many organizations stumble when making strategy happen, with 61 percent reporting difficulty bridging the gap between formulation and execution. While strategy typically is engineered at the top, it's with projects that it really comes to life. To help strategy thrive, smart organizations focus on selecting the right projects and then closely following their implementation. The study shows that 59 percent of best executors have the people who formulate high-level strategy involved in execution. Catholic Health Initiatives relies on five measures to determine the strategic value of a development project: business value, satisfaction, performance, cost and risk. And the U.S. not-for-profit tracks those measures not just during the selection process, but through the product's actual life cycle and even after the project is completed. The organization's teams continuously assess if a project strategically aligns with business goals by asking yes-or-no questions. If all the answers are yes, the project is marked green. If they see any red — meaning it's not strategically aligned — it's stopped in its tracks. To truly deliver on strategy, organizations also need talent with the right skills to support strategic initiatives now — and in the future. Among the organizations surveyed for the EIU study, those that made significant investments in talent and skills saw 62 percent of their strategic initiatives come into fruition. That number dropped to 53 percent at organizations that did not provide as significant an investment in talent and skills. At U.S. financial services company Performance Trust Capital Partners, portfolio leaders regularly analyze if team members' skills align with the company's strategy. Based on that evaluation, they know whether its IT team can deliver on current projects, requires training to deliver future projects or if a project needs to be outsourced altogether. Executives can come up with the most extraordinary strategy in the world, but it won't mean much unless they work with project professionals to get all those brilliant ideas executed. Read the EIU's full report, Why Good Strategies Fail: Lessons for the C-Suite. How does our organization ensure strategy carries through into project implementation? |
Conquering the Us Versus Them Mentality
Categories:
PMI Global Congress 2013 - EMEA
Categories: PMI Global Congress 2013 - EMEA
| "Culture eats process for lunch," keynote speaker Avinash Chandarana of MCI Group told attendees at PMI® Global Congress 2013 -- EMEA in Istanbul, Turkey. And as organizations continue to expand into emerging markets, the pressure is on project professionals to build a keen understanding of how different cultures operate. For starters, they must get past the "us versus them mentality," said Mr. Chandarana. "We consider our culture to be normal and others to be abnormal." Instead, project professionals should acknowledge the values and even the stereotypes of other cultures, which he broke into three categories:
This is powerful knowledge as linear-active U.S. and European organizations launch more projects in emerging markets, which tend to fall into the multi-active and reactive categories. Only those countries and companies that bridge cultures and geographies will succeed, Mr. Chandarana said. "What measure are you going to take to go beyond just having surface-level knowledge of other cultures?" he said. "This is the question you must ask to hone relationships in a multicultural environment." The three panelists on the "Project Management in Emerging Economies" panel tackled a different kind of cultural challenge. "In the Middle East, there is a lack of awareness of the value of project management," said panelist Imran Malik of du Telecom in Dubai. "Practitioners need to educate decision-makers by translating the tangible benefits of using best practices in the context of business." Organizations view project management as a "magic pill" and temporary fix, added panelist Puian Masudifar of VIRA Co. in Iran. "They don't look at the long term." Still, the project management cultural revolution can start with baby steps. "Bring upper management and executives to the kitchen and teach them what projects are," said panelist Adnan Metin of Turkish Airlines in Turkey. As a growing regional power, Turkey needs project managers, particularly in the defense sector, said Murad Bayar, Turkey's Undersecretary for Defence Industry. In his long tenure in the sector, Mr. Bayar says he's rarely seen a project completed that met the original plan, mostly due to the long timelines. "A combat aircraft takes 15 to 20 years to complete," Mr. Bayar said. "By the time the project is finished, the requirements have changed. We have to be better at managing projects." To that end, the department encourages its project professionals to go through training, including earning the Project Management Professional (PMP)® credential. But Mr. Bayar also acknowledged his country could use a little help. "We need people with a deep understanding of strategic organizational, commercial, industrial and political environments. Is there someone in the room that I can hire today?" What advice would you give on bridging cultural differences? If you attended PMI® Global Congress 2013 -- EMEA, what were your top takeaways of doing business in emerging markets? |