I often wonder how in the world Companies can survive or grow without Project Managers in place whether for strategic reasons (developing proper business plans), Innovation projects, executing commercialization projects, Marketing operations, Engineering and Construction, IT solutions and implementations, etc.
Let’s face it; Project Managers are a critical backbone and element to business success. They aren’t simply an “individual contributor”; they are the people who lead teams from Ideation/Scoping all the way to Market Execution. They are the ones who ensure the critical success factors of Quality, Cost, and Time are evaluated, considered, and integrated into each and every project and against the company’s strategic agenda.
Too often, I see companies place “functional” roles as a Project Manager lead. As long as they have the experience and training to be a Project Manager, there shouldn’t be any issues. It’s when companies “devalue” Project Management and don’t see Project Managers as critical as Accountants, Engineers, Doctors, Marketing Managers, etc. that they run into problems and issues. Would you want an accountant in your R&D lab working up new ideas? I think not, unless they have experience and training to do so.
Project Managers should be a specific, strategic, leadership role in your company and can lead ideas in your pipeline from strategy to execution.
Project Managers carefully and methodically consider where a project starts and where the hopeful execution outcome will be and what it looks like when completed. They start building the big picture and the various process elements. After this is mapped out, they begin to “fill in” the rest of the structure until they have a project plan, scope, timeline with critical path, milestones, work breakdown structure, resources, budget, etc.
Consider this, if started out carefully, identifying where to start, and ultimately how and where the project ends up, companies will have better success. That’s not to say, that in the middle of the project, it’s decided it’s not the best project and you stop it… of course, a bad project should be stopped, or one that adds little to no value. What is the point of continuing to build/develop, if it appears that the project will surely fail and/or cost the company more to implement than return? That’s why companies need Project Managers! They see the big picture and all of the details.
Let’s look a little closer at Project Managers and what they do…
With projects and as a project manager, it’s important to focus on the specific scope and goal. It’s also important to have the team on board, early on, and who understands what the project entails. After the scope is defined and work is started on building the business case, you’ll need to start defining what process this will follow and who will handle what tasks along the way.
A Project Manager NEEDS their Team! Nothing replaces live meetings, reviews, and asking for help. They rely on each team member to complete specific, functional work, raise risks and issues, offer solutions for challenges, and ultimately contribute to the project execution.
By communicating and working carefully, the Project Manager and Team ends up with a solid project, worked across a process, and in collaboration, not silos. Along the way, they can identify gaps and make corrections.
A successful Project Manager will communicate with the team, work together to identify gaps or critical areas, along a timeline that supports that anticipated “launch” or “implementation” date making course correction as necessary to ensure the right work is being done for the right reasons with the right resources.
Along the process (perhaps Stage-Gate®), risks need to be validated and mitigated and uncover any potential issues that might prevent the project from being successful. This can be anything from financial risks to technical risks to market placement risks. It’s imperative that each Team Member helps the Project Manager assess this from their functional perspective and give guidance to help support in decision-making and/or a plan to further investigate what are the options.
Furthermore, each task in the process should be owned by the appropriate functional role, unless it’s lead by the Project Manager directly. Work occurs on the tasks (across the Stage) until a point is reached (Gate) requiring a decision to continue, go back and redo work, or simply stop the project.
Regardless if you are following Stage-Gate® or some other process, having all of the risks, issues, financials, scope, strategy, legal checks, etc. will help the leadership make the most appropriate, educated decision on where to place resources or reallocate them to more valuable areas.
A Project Manager knows how to lead all of this, build and execute, collaborate with the team, and guide company leaders on making educated, strategic decisions on projects!
Again, not all projects will make it to the end. Sometimes, projects need to be stopped whether financially no longer viable, too risky, too many technical challenges, not part of the overall strategy, etc. It’s better to stop a project before it fails and costs the company more money than its value…
With on-going communication, using Team Member help and advice, and ensuring quality information and/or data, more thorough and accurate portfolio and pipeline (PPM) views can be provided, more projects can be completed against established success criteria, and better leadership decisions can be made for long-term strategic growth.
Value Project Managers as integral leaders in a company! Without them, including as described in this article, companies risk cost, quality, and time and the opportunity to be more strategic and competitive.
PhIT provides guidance and planning around Program Management Office (PMO) implementations including designing and establishing a Strategic Process (e.g. Stage-Gate). We also design and deliver Project Management training (both technical and soft skills) especially for Marketing Professionals. Additionally, we translate and guide companies implementing PMO on Business aspects and functional areas in conjunction with their IT solutions.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
So, Just What Kind of Training Does PhIT Do, Anyway?
People often ask us, "What kind of training do you do?"
The best response I can give is, "What kind of training do you need?"
That's not to be or sound funny, but that's what it really comes down to especially because all companies have different needs, circumstances, purpose, competencies, etc. If we were to offer a cookie-cutter approach to training, more than likely, you, as my client, aren't going to get what you really need. In this economy, getting a positive return on your training investment is more critical than ever.
Sure, there's standard training we can offer perhaps on Project Management, Technology Applications, Customer Service Techniques, Process Improvement, etc. We can even customize it to fit your company focus and/or purpose... "Customer Service for the Selling Environment", or "Project Management for Innovation Projects" or "IT Applications for the Business Professional", etc.
Let's consider your company though. Are you a "standard" Manufacturer with a "standard" product? Well, you might be. But, chances are, your process is as special as your product probably is. The same goes for a Retail Operation, an Interactive Agency, a Restaurant, a Software Company, etc.
For example, as a Manufacturer, let's take a scenario where you were routinely finding product defects, whether during an end-of-line audit or returned product, etc., would you want to provide training on "How to Get Your Employees to Work Harder"? You might, or you might consider some reasons first on why the defects are occuring. Some examples:
Additionally, a better training approach is one that identifies the strengths in your company and people as well as the challenges (or opportunities). And, implementing and conducting this in such a way that people feel accountable and empowered to do a better job, help the company identify problem areas and feel safe to raise questions, and one that rewards people for good performance that is measurable.
One of the unique capabilities of PhIT is that not only do we assess your situation and provide options (regardless if it's for training or otherwise), we also guide you through to the implementation and conduct a follow up to report on the improvements made. Also, if necessary, we design and deliver the training, content, materials, on-the-line aids, technical documentation, leadership reports, quality assessment and audit recommendations, etc.
The benefits of PhIT providing your "training" program include:
The best response I can give is, "What kind of training do you need?"
That's not to be or sound funny, but that's what it really comes down to especially because all companies have different needs, circumstances, purpose, competencies, etc. If we were to offer a cookie-cutter approach to training, more than likely, you, as my client, aren't going to get what you really need. In this economy, getting a positive return on your training investment is more critical than ever.
Sure, there's standard training we can offer perhaps on Project Management, Technology Applications, Customer Service Techniques, Process Improvement, etc. We can even customize it to fit your company focus and/or purpose... "Customer Service for the Selling Environment", or "Project Management for Innovation Projects" or "IT Applications for the Business Professional", etc.
Let's consider your company though. Are you a "standard" Manufacturer with a "standard" product? Well, you might be. But, chances are, your process is as special as your product probably is. The same goes for a Retail Operation, an Interactive Agency, a Restaurant, a Software Company, etc.
For example, as a Manufacturer, let's take a scenario where you were routinely finding product defects, whether during an end-of-line audit or returned product, etc., would you want to provide training on "How to Get Your Employees to Work Harder"? You might, or you might consider some reasons first on why the defects are occuring. Some examples:
- Employee turnover/morale/tardiness
- Operation and/or training aids
- Does the manufacturing process really reflect what's need
- Is there an external defect
- What type of manufacturing audit process are you using
- Is there station/line/operations accountability and tracking
Additionally, a better training approach is one that identifies the strengths in your company and people as well as the challenges (or opportunities). And, implementing and conducting this in such a way that people feel accountable and empowered to do a better job, help the company identify problem areas and feel safe to raise questions, and one that rewards people for good performance that is measurable.
One of the unique capabilities of PhIT is that not only do we assess your situation and provide options (regardless if it's for training or otherwise), we also guide you through to the implementation and conduct a follow up to report on the improvements made. Also, if necessary, we design and deliver the training, content, materials, on-the-line aids, technical documentation, leadership reports, quality assessment and audit recommendations, etc.
The benefits of PhIT providing your "training" program include:
- Increased employee awareness
- Increased employee knowledge
- Increased utilization of your company's and employee strengths
- Increased productivity
- Reduced defects and waste
- Improved quality (product and people)
- Stronger competitive advantage
These benefits can be measured (and observed) in relation to return on your training investment. In addition to these indicators, studies around the world show the value, ROI, KBI, etc. that is a direct result of employee training regardless of Industry. ROI of 20% to even 250% are common when utilizing a focused training program targeting the operational or business need. (View source B)
Contact PhIT TODAY for an introductory onsite assessment. We'll provide you with our urgent findings and then you can decide what's critical to your business.
WWW.PhIT.BIZ or Chaeli@PhIT.BIZ (web) / Monique@PhIT.BIZ (sales)
Sources:
A. Osterman, P 1994, ‘How common is workplace transformation and who adopts it?’ Industrial and Labor Relations Review, vol.47, no.2, pp.173–188.
——1995, ‘Skill, training, and work organization in American establishments’, Industrial Relations, vol.34, no.2, pp.125–146.
B. Phillips, JJ 1991, ‘Measuring the return on HRD’, Employment Relations Today, Autumn, pp.329–342. —— (ed.) 1994, In action: Measuring return on investment, American Society for Training and Development, Alexandria.
—— 1997, Return on investment in training and performance improvement programs, Gulf Publishing, Houston.
National Association of Manufacturers 1994, The smart workplace: Developing high performance work systems, a report to the members of the National Association of Manufacturers.
Kostos, C 2000, ‘Demonstrating training’s impact on the bottom line’, Training and Development in Australia, vol.26, no.6, pp.2–3.
Kaplan, R & Norton, D 1992, ‘The balanced scorecard—Measures that drive performance’, Harvard Business Review, January–February, pp.71–79.
—— 1996, The balanced scorecard, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
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