Project Managers Without Borders

By Deanna Landers

Agile principles indicate that teams should be co-located. However, sometimes, there is no option other than to have team members geographically dispersed. In fact, sometimes this distribution and diversity may be a key advantage to delivering a particular result, such as handing off between time zones for continuous support, and providing a service to communities throughout the world. 

Oftentimes, a distributed team is not only dispersed geographically in the same city or across the world, but also culturally. This not only contributes to the richness of diversity on the team, but also can include differences in the areas of communication style, business protocol, decision-making, dealing with authority, concepts of time, and negotiation styles.

There is a world of difference between simply working together and truly collaborating. The following are some tips to improve your distributed team’s collaboration and subsequently their performance:

Share the project vision
●    The team needs to document the vision, the value, and benefits realized from the successful completion of the project.
●    Translate this vision into the activities required to achieve the vision.

Build a social contract
●    Identify how the team will interact, what behaviors are acceptable and encouraged, and what is forbidden or discouraged.  
●    Hold each member accountable for adhering to the contract.

Share a dedication to collaboration
●    The team and its sponsorship need to be dedicated to enhancing collaboration among a group of people that does not have opportunities to communicate face-to-face.
●    Help all stakeholders recognize that success is dependent upon greater connections and understanding between team members is essential.

Select the appropriate medium for connection  
●    Take or make opportunities to be face-to-face - even if it’s by video conference - during the first meeting and especially when you find communication difficult. In person interactions are more effective at building trust.  
●    Schedule a teleconference when you find the back-and-forth on a particular topic takes several rounds, or even better, a video conference.
●    Use tools that support remote collaboration, such as information sharing (e.g. Slack, Campfire), videoconferencing (e.g. Skype, Google Hangouts), team social networking (e.g. Yammer, Chatter), scheduling (e.g. Doodle, Timebridge), presenting (e.g. Mural, Prezi), and document sharing (e.g. DropBox, Google Drive).

Increase cross cultural awareness
●    Develop skills for working in a multi-cultural team. Increase the team’s cultural knowledge and sensitivity.
●    Karen Smits, renowned cultural anthropologist, indicates that it's important to remember that "bringing several people (from across borders) together to complete a certain task does not make them a team. You don't build a team by just getting to know each other. You build a team by joint learning and facing challenges together."

Plan for continuous results 
●    Whether officially agile or not, avoid the big bang deliverable at the end approach.
●    Frequently allow team members time to review results and for customers time to provide feedback. This reduces the impact of communication issues caused by distributed teams.

In the end, our teams are dedicated to collaboration. We will be able to attain project success as a team, grow as individuals, and build lasting relationships and trust that will allow for even more success and fulfillment going forward. 

Deanna Landers (@deannalanders) is the founder of Project Managers Without Borders. She was on the PMI International Board of Directors for 6 years, and was the Chair of the Board in 2013. She is a PMO and Portfolio Management leader at IBM. Find her on LinkedIn!
 

Food shortages, climate change, social unrest, and public health crises are just a sample of the complex situations we face in the world.  A team of professionally trained experts is often assembled to produce knowledge or carry out a project to address these issues. This team may be comprised of several leaders known in their fields for solving complicated, multi-factorial problems. The team may also involve members of the sponsoring non-profit organization (NPO) or non-governmental organization (NGO).

Along with expertise, the team members bring their own professional values and worldviews to the context of the project. Within their individual environments, the typical steps taken in a project may be linear with predictable outcomes. In contrast, the emergent situation that is characteristic of a disaster or crisis is unpredictable and complex. This is true whether the situation is acute or results from a slow build-up of pressure from external forces.

Developing effective project teams is one of the primary responsibilities of the project manager⁽¹⁾, and in complex environments, this is all the more challenging. 

The Develop Project Team process described in the Project Management Institute’s guide to the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) provides a framework to help the project manager improve teamwork and overall project performance. The project manager is encouraged to acquire and apply the skills needed to “identify, build, maintain, motivate, lead, and inspire” the dynamic project team. Having an understanding of the complexity of the team-- or, their patterns of relationships, interactions, and behaviors--can be helpful in managing their diverse personal, cultural, and industry experiences.  The science of team science (SciTS) helps us understand that complexity and the “factors that maximize the efficiency, productivity, and effectiveness of team science initiatives” ⁽²⁾. While the emerging fields of complexity science and SciTS  focus on scientific endeavors, the multidisciplinary approach to solving the world’s complex problems often involves collaboration of technical experts in various fields and is a rising trend in many disciplines⁽³⁾. A project manager can use concepts of complexity and team science to enhance the skills and knowledge needed for developing a multidisciplinary team.

Using the seven characteristics of work relationships⁽⁴⁾ together with guidance from the PMBOK⁽¹⁾ , the project manager can lead the team through the obstacles of complex situations:  The challenge for the project manager is to bring together the heterogeneous inputs from various team members and guide the team to support the overall goals of the project and the function of the organization. In turn, the sponsors and champions of the project must provide an environment for quality interactions between the individuals and the broader stakeholder community. The responding project team must keep in mind that predicting the long-term impact of the project on a complex situation may be impossible even when the variables and the relationships among the variables are known. This is the very nature of the complex system.

Project managers can help bring the team, sponsors, and other stakeholders together and build confidence by celebrating every win and learning from the unpredictable outcomes.

When faced with a complex challenge, what steps do you take to quickly develop the group into a highly functioning team?

REFERENCES:

1. Project Management Institute (PMI). (2013). A guide to the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK®) – fifth edition. Project Management Institute, Inc.: Newtown Square, PA.
2. Stokols, D., Hall, K.L., Taylor, B.K., and Moser, R.P. (2008). The Science of Team Science: Overview of the Field and Introduction to the Supplement. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 35, S77–S89.
3. Wuchty S, Jones B, Uzzi B. The Increasing Dominance of Teams in Production of Knowledge. Science. 2007 May 18;316(5827):1036-1039.
4. Martin, C. M., & Sturmberg, J. P. (2013). Handbook of Systems and Complexity in Health. New York: Springer.

Romiya Barry is a clinical research professional using the project management framework to improve patient care and community health.  She is recognized by the Association of Clinical Research Professionals and PharmaTimes Inc. for her leadership in clinical project management. Romiya is on the Board of Directors for Health Horizons International, a healthcare NGO serving communities in the Dominican Republic. Connect with her here and on LinkedIn!

In my previous blog entry, ”When you are making the World a Better Place, Who Has Time for Paperwork?”, the blog provided a framework that improves the chance that a project delivers on-time, on-budget, and actually meets the needs and expectations of the organization’s stakeholders. This oversight can help ensure a steady donor stream, maintain public confidence, and support continued commitment to an organization’s strategic objectives and goals.

What are the levels and characteristics of Project Management Maturity?

• Level 1: Initial Process.
  • The organization and project management is in a knee-jerk state.
• Level 2: Structured Process and Standards.
  • Concept of project management is being grasped by the organization. Local experts may be present.
• Level 3: Organizational Standards and Institutionalized Process.
  • The organization is structured throughout its processes and the projects are carried out via standardized, repeatable Delivery Frameworks.
• Level 4: Managing Processes.
  • Project management is a key delivery mechanism of change. Improving delivery is accomplished through measurement and the use of performance key indicators.
• Level 5: Optimizing Process.
  • Continuous improvement is the ongoing motto through the use of Project management, small changes leading to larger changes in the future. Key performance indicators on effectiveness and efficiency monitored and achievable. The organization and projects follows the continuous improvement.

How to measure the progress to maturity?

The best means to measure this progress is through the following performance measures as Mohammed Abo Ramadan (2015) indicates the following table:

Table 1: Summary of the performance measures in NGOs literature

How does a NGO increase its maturity through the use of Project Management?

Tools exist on the website in which you can use:

http://www.iil.com/pm/kpmmm/kerzner_five_levels.asp

http://www.pmsolutions.com/resources/view/what-is-the-project-management-maturity-model/

http://www.pmi.org/learning/library/pmo-maturity-assessment-model-6079

Use the above tools to take project management maturity snapshots of your organization. Take another maturity snapshot six months later. Compare snapshots to one another to determine which project management practices have demonstrated an increasing level of project management maturity and which areas need further work. Work on those areas and in short time Level 4 and Level 5 is achieved.

Another maturity tool comes from the financial sector. Improving the financial maturity level within the organization is the backbone to Project Management Maturity. The United Kingdom National Audit office has developed a financial management maturity model (https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/financial_management_maturity_model.pdf). The model has similarities characteristics to the Project Management Maturity Model.

Why?

Project Maturity is really the NGO being organized and mature in its operations, strategies, and future directions. Maturity can help ensure a steady donor stream, maintain public confidence, and support continued commitment to an organization’s strategic objectives and goals.

What other benefits have you noticed (as a PM or as an NGO) Project Management provides to the Non-Profit sector? What kinds of challenges does one face in the Non-Profit world that you would never see in private or public sector industries? Chime in the comments section below!

Bringing change to the world can be a herculean task, and many leaders of NGOs embark on their mission with valiant vigor and passion. But, there is a risk of not creating a plan and following it appropriately due to the excitement of carrying out a project. We’re reminded that “people don’t invest in good ideas; they invest in people who can execute good ideas” (Tiffany Dufu, 2016).  An unsystematic way of delivering the project can result in inefficiencies and -- worse yet -- ineffectiveness. It’s one of the many pitfalls to avoid for NGOs.

Projects that are over-budget and over-schedule or that fall short of the expected deliverables can leave donors, volunteers, staff, and community stakeholders feeling frustrated and disappointed. While these are – unfortunately -- common outcomes in projects in other industry sectors, the impact of these projects can affect the health, safety, and well-being of people in the community the projects aim to serve. The risks of project overruns can be far greater for an NGO. They can cost lives.

A project manager possesses skills and tools to keep track of tasks and time. A project manager can facilitate alignment of infrastructure, thereby stabilizing areas in the organization such as planning, budgeting, supervisory controls, performance management, and reward systems. The project manager can also help align people in the organization, in addition to motivating and inspiring them to keep working towards their noble cause. 

If your organization understands why it should care about project management, then you know that having the right combination of skills can help your NGO’s performance. But, if you’re like many other organizations, your organization may not know when to bring in project management practice. 

You should consider finding a project management volunteer to help lead your project if:

• The organization has little or no ability to replicate projects because project teams do not use tailored practices that have been standardized across the organization.

• The changes and/or impacts realized in the initial completion of the project are not sustainable.

• There are frequent “surprises” due to infrequent use of risk management practices, the heart of managing projects (PMI Pulse of the Profession, 2015).

• There is goal misalignment amongst the team members that creates barriers to trust and restricts collaboration.

• Stakeholders are getting frustrated because the organization is developing a pattern of not meeting the stakeholders’ expectations.

• Reports to governing and funding bodies are often delayed, resulting in an untimely release of funds for future phases of the project.

• Work teams within the organization are large, highly diverse, and/or permeable so communication breakdown or incomplete knowledge transfer is a frequent occurrence.

• There is strong likelihood for passions and self-interest in the organization’s mission to hamper shared vision and connective thought.
   

Passion can help initiate a change. However, if making a long-term impact is the desired outcome, then your NGO should consider how to increase effectiveness and achieve strategic objectives by encouraging project management practice.

Reach out to a project management professional and learn how you can engage a valuable partner in accomplishing your goals!

Climate change. Desertification. Pollution. Species disappearing. Not enough to grab your attention? What about a world water crisis? Could this be enough? I bet the thought of a sixth mass extinction is frightening though. But the scariest part of it all is that this is happening today right in front of you.

If current trends continue, two planets might be needed by 2050 to meet humanity's demands. I’m not sure if you’re paying attention to the news, but… it may take a while until we all get to Mars! However, not all is doomed. If you are working on a project, then you certainly are a problem-solver, a firefighter or, likely, a superhero. You may be exactly what the world needs.

Sustainability is starting to make the rounds in the project management arena, but we still have a long way to go. This is mostly because people don’t understand much about it, incorrectly perceive it is an endeavour that will bring more costs than benefits, or they simply assume they have to comply with the short-termism views dictated by the industry.

However, as a project management practitioner, you have a role to play. You are in a privileged position to influence what the world will look like in the future, and, if you are working with an NGO, you certainly know that every action counts towards a better tomorrow.

So what is sustainability and why should you bother with it? Sure, you may drive an eco-friendly car and recycle, but sustainability is much more than environmental concerns. Simply put, sustainability is the ability to meet the needs of current generations without compromising the needs of future ones. To achieve this, sustainability is composed of three key dimensions that must be effectively balanced, the triple bottom line: the economic dimension, the social dimension, and the environmental dimension.

As project management professionals, the triple constraint is the bread and butter of our profession. Thus, to incorporate sustainability with project management is essentially a matter of extending our much-loved triangle to account for long-term impact:

Project managers have an opportunity to advance sustainable development through particular practices and conduct and help shape a viable future for the world.

Nevertheless, what does this mean in practice and what can you start doing in your projects to apply sustainable project management in your organization? Here’s a list to start with:

• Focus on long-term impact rather than the immediate outcomes of the project
• Pay attention to the interests of the extended project stakeholders circle (community, planet, etc.) rather than limited to project sponsor interests
• Select sustainability-oriented suppliers
• Use sustainability as criteria for measuring a project’s success
• Extend the role of the project manager to include driving sustainability as a primary responsibility in day-to-day tasks
• Extend the role of the sponsor to include directing and promoting sustainability in the project
• Conduct a project impact assessment from a triple bottom line perspective: people, profit, and planet
• Make sustainability concerns visible in decision-making and in the project business case
• Identify requirements relating to sustainability, i.e., not just present, but also future needs
• Identify benefits relating to sustainability
• Start with the end in mind through early planning of the project legacy and how it is going to be managed once the project is finished

Contrary to what some people believe, sustainability doesn’t have to be costly. In fact, it enables valuable benefits such as the more constructive use of resources and consequent cost savings, better risk mitigation and maximization of opportunities, or more motivation and engagement from workforce. Ultimately, it creates a sustainable business, that is, one that could last.

We’re here for the long-run. Are you?