The Opsimath

Beyond PRINCE2 - the perfect project manager

This week I have been working with public sector client delivering a course called 'Beyond PRINCE2'. Our course description says this:

PRINCE2 is the project management method that is now recognised and used across the world. But passing your PRINCE2 exams does not automatically mean that you are fully equipped to succeed in a real world project. It’s a start, but what else do you need?

Our Beyond PRINCE2 workshop is designed to help you to exploit all the things that you learned on your PRINCE2 course, as well as to explore other skills, ideas and techniques that you might need.

So, a course for people already qualified in the method, experienced in using it and yet aware that there is more...

Amongst other things, we looked at the bigger picture (linking with programmes, benefit realisation); we explored stakeholder engagement and communication; and we addressed the concept of the 'Perfect Project Manager' (applicants please apply).

It was this last point that generated some interesting discussion about what was essential - and almost without exception it was the 'softer' aspects of project management that were coming out top of the list - political awareness, flexibility, creativity, leadership, team working were mentioned.

Furthermore, it was intriguing to relate the groups' ideas to previous work that we have done in pearcemayfield and see the similarities.

Looking beyond the methods like this is, we believe, going to be a key area of focus in the months to come. So Perfect Project Managers, watch this space...

Duties of the Project Board - accountability

In a previous post (Directing a Project) we looked at the new publication that has been launched called Directing Successful Projects with PRINCE2.

One of the valuable areas of advice concerns the duties of the Project Board, and the first one listed is:

Be Accountable for the Project

The first (and for some a surprising) duty of the Project Board is to be accountable for the success or failure of the project.

Success, or more often failure, is not something that Board members can simply brush aside as an accountability of the Project Manager. It is, and must be, an accountability of the Project Board.

Yet this is an area in which many organisations display significant weaknesses despite the clear Best Practice guidance within PRINCE2.

Being accountable means accepting and demonstrating ownership of the project. Ownership means that the ultimate decision-making in the project rests with the Project Board.

But Board members are, by definition, busy senior managers, and cannot be expected to have day-to-day contact with all that happens within a project. How can they be accountable without falling into the trap of micro-managing the Project Manager, duplicating effort and slowing everything down?

PRINCE2 has that covered by:

• thoughtful choices in Project Board members - the right mix of Business, User and Supplier representatives
• equally thoughtful project team members - including the Project Manager
• the use of Project Assurance roles to support the Board members
• sensible use of management by exception - a key Principle in PRINCE2

Project Management is an essential discipline in the business world today, yet can fail to deliver the expected results all too easily. Addressing this issue of accountability will be one step towards more successful projects in the future.

Directing a Project

You may be aware that the 2009 edition of PRINCE2 has two publications - Managing Successful Project with PRINCE2, and Directing  Successful Projects with PRINCE2.

The 'Directing' book is a new venture for PRINCE2 - it is a book aimed specifically at Project Board members and for senior managers who are considering adopting the PRINCE2 methods for their projects.

The book gives a brief overview of PRINCE2, including some key terms and concepts. It then contains a series of chapters that take the senior manager through the lifecycle of a PRINCE2 project from the perspective of the Project Board.

One important chapter in the book considers the Duties and Behaviours of the Project Board members, answering the question, "What is expected of me?"

There is also help on how to tailor PRINCE2 according to the scale and nature of a project.

Overall, a key publication for anyone involved in projects at this level.

A New Beginning - a time of transition Part 3

"If you cry "Forward" you must make clear the direction in which to go. If you fail to do that and simply call out the word to a monk and a revolutionary, they will go in precisely the opposite directions." Chekhov

Beginnings cannot be made to happen in the same way that starts can. William Bridges says that beginnings are psychological - it's a release of new energy around a situation. A start is something (an event, an opening, a new launch) that we plan and schedule, so in order to turn a start into a beginning we need to do more than just deliver a 'start'.

Here are 3 easy rules for new beginnings:

Ensure Quick Wins - the neutral zone was probably not a place of high productivity and it has probably drained the energy and confidence of people. Build in some early successes. They convince doubters and reassure the believers

Symbolise the New - during times of change every little thing means something; everything is symbolic. Be aware of this, recognise people's emotions and use symbolic acts, images and messages wisely. Look for opportunities to symbolise the new beginning.

Celebrate Success - look for the every occasion (big and small) to mark something good in this new beginning. Do not wait until everything is complete and settled, but rather celebrate clear signs that you are emerging from the time of transition.

Beginnings often take place far slower than we think, and they rarely coincide with the 'starts' that we plan. Let's be prepared for this if we want to fully transition from the neutral zone.

A time of transition - Part 2

 LEADING PEOPLE THROUGH THE NEUTRAL ZONE

 

William Bridges describes this phase of transition well. He says' "...you enter a state of affairs in which neither the old ways or the new ways work satisfactorily..." He goes on to say that the neutral zone is

"a very difficult time"

So what can leaders do once we have let go of the old, but have not yet fully grasped the new?

The neutral zone is full of ambiguities. Some people want to rush headlong into the new while others will want to regress into the old ways. It is easy for views to become polarised, consensus to break down and teamwork to suffer. Gordon Brown recently talked of the dangers of pessimism, and it easy to see how this can take hold at this time, and in fact some organisations can descend into chaos from which they will never recover (we are seeing this right now in our current economic difficulties).

However, this can also be a very creative time, if lead properly ("Chaos often breeds life, while order breeds habit" Henry Adams). Some things that leaders should consider include:

• Create temporary rules to manage this phase (old rules don't apply, new ones have yet to be established). This may include new, short-term structures and management arrangements. It is just for a limited period, so be creative (we have much to learn from the principles of programme management here)
• Set short-range goals with realistic targets (do not set people up for failure). Keep in mind achievable horizons and manage by stages.
• Create an environment of innovation and capitalise on the opportunities to be creative. Encourage and reward experimentation and risk-taking, look for new answers to old problems, redefine 'failure' as a step on the road to success.
• Consider how to describe this phase  - choose a name/metaphor hat affirms the journey you are on. Reinforce this with communication events, training programmes and systems that reward the creativity you are trying to foster.

 

We explore these issues, and many more, on our 'Principle of Change Management Course'. Furthermore pearcemayfield can help your organisation navigate times of change in many ways through support, consultancy, learning and development. www.pearcemayfield.com 

Not an Act of Charity

Looking a little more at Barack Obama's inaugural speech last week, and some comments that he made about prosperity. For example:

"...a nation cannot prosper long when it favours only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good."

It reminded me of a quote that is sitting on my desk "Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right; the right to dignity and a decent life. While poverty persists, there is no true freedom." (source unknown)

Barack Obama went on to say, "To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it."

Everyone would agree that the world has changed. Most would say it was a  change that no-one wanted - job losses, company closures, the near-collapse of the banking system. But what if it heralds the change that is needed in the world? What if the greed and prosperity that has dominated our recent history had to stop? What if we have to look at the world in a new light and see that we now really are a 'global village?

Let me leave you with these facts:

1. Lack of clean water kills more people every day than anything else in the world
2. The estimated cost to make clean water available to everyone is 10 billion dollars
3. Every single year Americans alone spend 450 billion dollars on Christmas

Mr Obama is right, the world has to change, and we have to change with it.

The danger of pessimism in a time of transition

In a speech this week by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, he urged us to, "view the threats and challenges we face today as the difficult birth-pangs of a new global order – and our task now as nothing less than making the transition through a new internationalism to the benefits of an expanding global society – not muddling through as pessimists but making the necessary adjustment to a better future and setting the new rules for this new global order."

This reminded me of the work of William Bridges and how he describes the need to manage the transition in a time of change. he describes three phase of transition. Here is the first:

Leading People through the Ending 

"Helping People to Let Go" is another way to describe the ending phase. Before we can embrace the benefits of the new, we have to recognise the end of 'what was'. Good leadership will help people to let go, and Bridges gives leaders a number of pointers:

• Acknowledge the losses that people are feeling as openly and sympathetically as possible, and do it simply and directly
• Expect and accept that some form of grieving will take place - people will be sad, angry, scared and confused
• Give people accurate information - and keep on giving it. Good, honest and optimistic communication is essential
• Define what is over and what is not. Some things change - some things do not - and some new things have to be started
• Mark the endings - so that people understand what has finished
• Treat the past with honour and respect. We have invested a lot of emotional energy in our history so let's not denigrate it.

There is an old American proverb that says "It doesn't work to leap a 20 foot chasm in two 10 foot jumps."

In the next post I will give some pointers for leaders in the 'neutral zone'.

Understanding Leadership

The outgoing president of the United States, George W Bush has become famous for his 'not quite right' sayings, the 'Bushisms'. One such quote concerns leadership. He said:

"I have a different vision of leadership. A leadership is someone who brings people together."

Well we can see where he was going with that one. However the writers John Kotter and Warren Bennis probably gave it a bit more thought. They say that leaders:

• Prepare organisations for change
• Set the direction
• Align the people
• Motivate the People

Jean Lipman-Blumen goes further. She says that increasingly leaders need to make connections. These 'connective leaders' perceive connections among diverse people and will reach out to seek collaboration and build commitment across a wide domain.

She goes on to say that connective leaders have a vital role to play in the 21st century, as technology and media mean that information is available to us in ways and in a quantity the like of which we have never seen before.

So maybe Mr Bush was closer than we think in his definition of leadership. Maybe, to use one of his phrases, we 'misunderestimated' him...

 

[Kotter, Bennis and Lipman-Blumen are writers that we explore in the pearcemayfield Change Management course]

The Effective Team

How effective is your team? I was reflecting on this question recently as I thought about the team that we have at our charity Roots, and how well the recent auction was planned and implemented.

(It was a great night incidentally, raising nearly £5,000 for the charity. The 'wider' team that we brought together for the evening were magnificent.)

Writers Rollin and Christine Glaser identified five elements that can contribute towards the effectiveness of a team.

Let's just take a brief look at those elements:

1. the team must have a clear sense of purpose, mission and goals. Clarifying the team's objectives is absolutely paramount, otherwise we see so much wasted effort and eventual disillusionment.
2. a logical structuring of the team, giving individuals clear roles, responsibilities and accountabilities, otherwise the way is clear for conflict and reduced accountability.
3. team enabling and operating processes so that the team can be as efficient as possible (how and when do we meet, what ground rules do we have?). Without this we tend to find that tasks take longer and require greater effort to achieve.
4. communication and team relationships - open communication, assertive relationships, and the creation of a high-trust climate. These are the antidote for stress-creating conflict.
5. finally, for a team to be effective in the wider, organisational environment, there must be good relationships established with other teams as necessary in order to deliver the goals of the team

 

How is your team doing?

By the way, we talk more about this on our Principles of Change Management course.

The ‘Credit Crunch’ – time to develop your staff

To read a brief article about ' Investing in training when the economy is looking shaky' follow this link:

http://www.pearcemayfield.com/resources/article_full.html?id=29&referer=%2Fresources%2Farticles.html