CHAPTER 4

Paradigm Shift in Business Management

Objectives

Demonstrate a logical way to restructure an organization so as to make it capable of effectively meeting the present and future needs and expectations of stakeholders and customers.

How does project management help transform an organization into one that is effective for advancement in a strategic direction?

Introduce the PM-AURA Model, which is unique in that it maximizes the organizational culture, a driving force behind endeavors for strategic implementation.

What challenges does project management face in effective advancement in the 21^st century?

The following are discussed:

Organizational Restructuring—Where to Begin

1.Project Management for Organizational Transformation

2.Two Independent Management Structures

3.Organizational Transformation for Strategic Advancement

3.1.Why Transformational Efforts May Fail

4.Maximizing PM Culture with Power of PM-AURA Model

A—Applying Project Management for Organizational Transformation (Vol I)

U—Understanding Human Factors and Workplace Environment (Vol-II)

R—Respecting Diversity, Building Team, Meaningfulness and Growing to Leadership (Vol-III)

A—Agile Project Management and Collaboration (Vol-IV)

4.5.PM-AURA Model for Organizational Culture

4.6.Transform for Business Advancement A Practical Model for Application of Project Management Approach

4.7.21st Century Challenges for Project Management

4.7.1.Manage Power of Knowledge

4.7.2.Talent Management and Analytical Talent

4.7.3.Manage Analysis Paralysis

4.7.4.Principles-Based Policies and Humanity Back to Work

 

Dynamic organizations learn to create structures for the management of strategic implementation independent of operational activities to sustain growth. They skillfully manage endeavors aligned with strategic advancement and repetitive operations separately.

In a functional organization, traditional management focuses on operations to ensure customer satisfaction in the present time and creates bottlenecks for customer needs of tomorrow. The initiatives necessary for improvement in products and services are managed through the development of a matrix organization under the control of a functional head/business unit head. There the duality of responsibility creates complexity in the implementation of strategic advancement. The weight of priorities between “urgent” and “important” always favors urgent matters related to operation, thus delaying matters related to the needs of tomorrow, negatively impacting strategic advancement. Resource application follows the priority of urgency and not the demanding importance of initiatives.

Dynamic organizations create relationships between teams working on operations and strategic implementation and teams of customer and service provider.

The shift in business management adds the following benefits (see Figure 4.1):

 

Figure 4.1 Added benefits

A)Advancement in strategic direction

B)Stakeholder satisfaction

C)Sustainable growth

D)Improvement with creativity and innovation

E)Value addition in business purpose

 

4.1 Organizational Restructuring: Where to Begin

The needs for organizational restructuring begin in the HR department.

“Experts” in HR, with clear vested interests, try to convince the world of the “urgent” need for “new and improved” talent analytics and performance programs; please stop it!

Humans naturally seek the path of least resistance or the “magic bullet” to solve problems with a single touch! Please, wake up! There is no such thing, there never was, nor will there ever be. Problems are solved with effort, perseverance, ingenuity, and creativity. But mostly, they are solved with common sense.

It seems impossible to find a person who has not experienced, directly or indirectly, the consequences of bureaucracy, and even felt that bureaucrats are stupid people. But you’d be wrong, and it is precisely because they are not stupid that bureaucrats behave the way they do. It is just that in order to survive in an environment that has been deliberately designed to restrict human behavior, they have been left with only two alternatives, either quit the job, or join the bureaucracy!

 

Restructuring the Organization

According to a recent study by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Source: https://spea.indiana.edu/doc/undergraduate/theses/ugrd-thesis2016-mgmt-repischak.pdf Adapted the following;

“Organizations in the global arena need to restructure organizational frameworks and culture to enhance their efficiency, productivity, and strategic advancement.”

The major steps to achieve these objectives are as follows:

 

•Linking professional goals with organizational milestones: ensure an engaged and satisfied workforce when professional and organizational goals are aligned, especially when it comes to decision-making, problem-solving, and long-term strategic planning. The involvement in decision-making and recognition of the talent and work of professionals leads to the development of ownership and a sense of belonging to an organization.

•Developing principle-based policies: it is equally important to use best practices, encourage ethical decision-making, and communicate that maximization of business and profits, or advancing one’s own career by unethical means, is not tolerated and totally unacceptable. Adopt principle-based policies and ensure that policies reflect the principles considered important by executive management. Some organizations emphasize project completion as opposed to stringent punctuality; in such cases, ensure that telecommuting and flexible work hours are part of the policy manual.

•Embodying principles in actions: once the appropriate policy framework is in place, ensure orientation sessions, training programs so that everyone is made aware of it, and where necessary, carryout mentoring and coaching. Link benefits and rewards to desired behaviors; these can be either intrinsic, such as appreciation for work, or extrinsic, such as a salary increment, or a combination of both. Clearly specify the legal recourse that will be taken against violators, including a warning letter for a minor indiscretion or termination for serious offences.

 

4.2 Management for Organizational Transformation

Organization managing business has two distinct sets of factors—one that matters and impacts negatively or positively on outcomes and another that is controllable. The fact remains that not all matters are controllable.

It is logical for organizations to emphasize management of controllable matters that are effective for advancement of business in a strategic direction and ensure sustainability.

There emerges a need to manage business with two distinct and independent areas of operation (i.e., ongoing works) and project organization for strategic implementation. The continuity of business purpose and sustainability of customer satisfaction are dependent on strategic implementation. Hence, an interteam relationship of customer and service providers between operational activities and projects may be developed for the advancement of an organization.

Therefore, shift the focus onto matters that are controllable and develop organization for operational activities and change implementation initiatives separately, independent of each other.

Organizational competence enhancement and development of high-performing culture are most desired and manageable. Attention needs to be focused on controllable matters see Figure 4.2).

 

Figure 4.2 Focus on controllable matters

 

4.3 Two Independent Management Structures

The business environment demands enhanced organizational strengths and capacity for meeting both the needs and expectations of stakeholders in the present time and the changing expectations emerging with changing circumstances. It has required businesses to advance with a paradigm shift in the management model. Emphasis is placed on managing strategic advancement and change implementation independently of operational activities, where operations satisfy the present needs and expectations of customers, while the changing customer demands are addressed through initiatives for implementing change and advancements in a strategic direction (see the illustration in Figure 4.3).

 

Figure 4.3 Two independent management structures

Harnessing the project management framework builds competence and enhances organizational maturity, which strategically leverages project, program, and portfolio processes. The results are focused advancement and defined responsibility

 

•Defined communication channels

•Transparency of accountability and responsibility

•Governance and control structure

•Organizational strength to drive success

•Focused talent management and improved contributions to project management

•Strategic advancement and sustainability of business

 

Organizational project management requires a commitment to transform an organization from what it is into what it needs to be.

Failed projects can result in huge financial losses, but a failed strategic initiative has an impact that extends far beyond the financials. When an organization embarks on change, it’s likely that systems, processes, vendors, and perhaps even the overall organizational mind-set (or mission) will be impacted. Failure to successfully enable sustainable change leaves an organization losing its competitive advantage.

Fast-changing circumstances, growing complexity, and increasing dependencies of volatile global economies are making it difficult for businesses to effectively pursue their strategic advancement and effectively achieve goals. Business management for sustainability of growth is no longer simply the ages-old model for managing operations. Emerging challenges have created a paradigm shift in business management. These challenges include the following:

 

External:

•A “do more with less” economic climate

•Expansion of global priorities

•Necessity to enable innovation

 

Internal

•Visibility of investment in project

•Fear of redundant investment

•Cross-functional synergies

•Project alignment with organizational strategy

 

Organizations cannot sustain growth by focusing on product/service innovation without enhancing skills for business model development and innovation (BMDI). Successful innovation needs to satisfy three criteria:

 

•Technical feasibility

•Human desirability

•Economic viability

 

The power of project management comes into play for organizational transformation, which provides enhanced governance, control of and focus on desired business outcomes, and strategic progress. Project management has evolved to support business demands and effectively meet emergent market challenges.

With billions of dollars dependent on the success and failure of projects, it is no wonder organizations are striving to manage projects more efficiently. Not only is it crucial for organizations to manage their projects, programs, and portfolios strategically, but poor execution can lead organizations down a path to peril.

Project management drives change in organizations. When it fails; organizations lose money and market share, and they become less likely to execute their strategies and more likely to squander competitive advantage. With stakes as high as this, projects, programs, and, especially, the portfolio cannot be left to chance. They need to be managed by skilled, trained professionals in a standardized way throughout an organization and aligned with organizational strategy to ensure success.

The best performers standardize and mature their project, program, and portfolio practices over time to drive organization-wide efficiencies—but they don’t stop there. They also deploy these tools with talented staff and empower them to lead their projects—not just manage them—by training them in best practices and carving out defined career paths.

High performers drive project, program, and portfolio management strategically, with top management visibility, active executive sponsors on projects, and use of consistent and standardized project management practices. And they deploy these competencies with the goal of maximizing organizational value.

Project management best practices help companies identify and react to problems more efficiently, before schedules and budgets are blown.

Coherent management aimed at moving in a strategic direction is captured with organizational project management for implementing the designed change. It is essentially leveraged with projects and programs in a complex environment, meeting the challenges of customer requirements and satisfying the expectations of stakeholders.

The best approach is to make project management culture the central focus of the project management framework developed for strategic advancement. This helps to penetrate into the existing organizational culture to replace it with strength-based project management culture and build organizational competence to withstand and face the volatile business environment.

 

4.4 Organizational Transformation for Strategic Advancement

Business transformation is the management of extensive, complex changes that have been effected with a view to moving in a defined strategic direction, which strongly depends on an organization’s requirement for sustainable future success. It is a necessity, not a choice, when enhanced competence is the only survival strategy in increasingly VUCA—volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous—business environments. It has become a common way of working, and while the word “transformation” has, to some extent, replaced the word “change,” the impact on business success and on the people in the organization who need to change their ways of working has never happened at such a profound rate.

The satisfaction of the present needs and expectations of customers can be satisfied through ongoing and repetitive operational activity. To cater to all future needs and expectations of customers, a section of the organization needs to be made responsible for strategic advancement. The section for strategic advancement needs transformation inline with project management practices, systems, and processes in order to capture the power of project management culture; this helps forceful advancement for strategic implementation.

The business leaders are required to recognize the need for separating the endeavors of strategic advancement from repetitive operations of business.

When they recognize the value of project management and actively support the use of project management practices that support more effective decision-making, value addition, and help capturing the project management culture, [business leaders achieve] the highest benefits with the approach applied in entirety.

The project management structure for translation of a strategic goal is extensively supported by the Project Management Institute (PMI) standards for each domain in the following ways:

 

Portfolio: A collection of projects and/or programs and other work that are grouped together to facilitate effective management of that work to meet strategic business objectives. The projects or programs of the portfolio may not necessarily be interdependent or directly related.

[Refer PMI-Standard for Portfolio Management]

Program: A program is a group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not available from managing them individually. Programs may include elements of related work outside of the scope of the discrete projects in the program.

[Refer PMI-Standard for Program Management]

Project: A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service.

[Refer Project Management Institute-Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMI-PMBOK)]

 

The Relationship of Projects, Programs, and Portfolios

•Portfolio Management—to support organizational strategy

•Program Management—to deliver operational benefits

•Project Management—to enable capabilities for deliverables

 

The Strengths Built with Project Management Structures

•Hierarchy of defined responsibility

•Defined communication channels

•Framework for governance and control

•Visibility/transparency for accountability

 

Hierarchy of defined responsibility. this scheme is governed by the strategic goal translated by portfolio management to exercise control over the implementation of programs and projects. The resource applied to satisfy the requirements and to reach the desired outcomes is managed with the line of control of one team together in a portfolio. Project managers may directly report to the portfolio manager, and in a program, to the program manager. The purpose is to effectively achieve the desired results with the efficient application of resources for optimum returns.

Defined communication channels. the flow of information needed for reaching the desired goal is communicated through defined channels of the project management structure.

Framework for governance and control. implementation of all projects for achievement of each strategic goal must be grouped under each portfolio, where dependency of each project is established and carried out. The same plan is used for governance and control.

Visibility/transparency for accountability. the goal is translated into projects in a portfolio where interrelated projects are grouped in a program, making line of sight available for resource application, management, and prioritization. That helps implementation and the monitoring of progress. The system promotes visibility and transparency for each team member for doing what, when, and how, or no action and resulting outcomes. It also helps proactive management of an issue that may crop up.

 

Alignment of the Organization with Project Management Practices

Best practices are defined in PMI standards for each domain of project/program/portfolio and need to be aligned with strategic advancement.

 

A global approach:

1.Assess the readiness for change

2.Workout the change management approach

3.Conduct assessment to establish gaps

4.Establish project management AURA for culture

The larger the organization, the more complex is the process of transformation; therefore, it is vital that executives support the efforts to transform and exhibit the required leadership to facilitate a more successful effort to transform. With so much at stake, there should be no place for mediocrity in transformation initiatives. Project management provides a framework for enhanced governance and control.

Competitive performance is linked with organizational competence for advancement in a strategic direction with changing requirements while meeting and exceeding the expectations of stakeholders.

Project-based management is increasingly adapted to systematically deliver strategy, and consistently, predictably, and reliably satisfies the increasing demands of stakeholders and improved performance to achieve the desired business results and sustain growth.

 

Why Transformational Efforts May Fail

Perhaps nobody understands the anatomy of organizational change better than Harvard Business School Professor John P. Kotter.

Kotter’s 1996 book, “Leading Change” outlines eight critical success factors—from establishing a sense of extraordinary urgency, to creating short-term wins, to changing the culture (“the way we do things around here”). Kotter’s kind of home truths that we recognize, immediately, as if we’d always known them, his work on leading change, remains definitive. Kotter explained it thus:

 

“Over the past decade, I have watched more than 100 companies try to remake themselves into significantly better competitors. They have included large organizations (Ford) and small ones (Landmark Communications), companies based in the United States (General Motors) and elsewhere (British Airways), corporations that were on their knees (Eastern Airlines), and companies that were earning good money (Bristol-Myers Squibb). These efforts have gone under many banners: total quality management, reengineering, rightsizing, restructuring, cultural change, and turnaround. But, in almost every case, the basic goal has been the same: to make fundamental changes in how business is conducted in order to help cope with a new, more challenging market environment.

A few of these corporate change efforts have been very successful. A few have been utter failures. Most fall somewhere in between, with a distinct tilt toward the lower end of the scale. The lessons that can be drawn are interesting and will probably be relevant to even more organizations in the increasingly competitive business environment of the coming decade.

The most general lesson to be learned from the more successful cases is that the change process goes through a series of phases that, in total, usually require a considerable length of time. Skipping steps creates only the illusion of speed and never produces a satisfying result. A second very general lesson is that critical mistakes in any of the phases can have a devastating impact, slowing momentum and negating hard-won gains. Perhaps because we have relatively little experience in renewing organizations, even very capable people often make at least one big error. He provided the must-follow sequence for implementing a change in eight steps for transforming your organization in Figure 4.4”

 

Figure 4.4 Kotter’smust-follow action sequence for change

John P. Kotter’s 1996 book “Leading Change” sheds more light on the following issues:

 

“Error 1: Not Establishing a Great Enough Sense of Urgency

Most successful change efforts begin when some individuals or some groups start to look hard at a company’s competitive situation, market position, technological trends, and financial performance. They focus on the potential revenue drop when an important patent expires, the five-year trend in declining margins in a core business, or an emerging market that everyone seems to be ignoring. They then find ways to communicate this information broadly and dramatically, especially with respect to crises, potential crises, or great opportunities that are very timely. This first step is essential because just getting a transformation program started requires the aggressive cooperation of many individuals. Without motivation, people won’t help, and the effort goes nowhere.

Compared with other steps in the change process, phase one can sound easy. It is not. Well over 50% of the companies I have watched fail in this first phase. What are the reasons for that failure? Sometimes executives underestimate how hard it can be to drive people out of their comfort zones. Sometimes they grossly overestimate how successful they have already been in increasing urgency. Sometimes they lack patience: “Enough with the preliminaries; let’s get on with it.” In many cases, executives become paralyzed by the downside possibilities. They worry that employees with seniority will become defensive, that morale will drop, that events will spin out of control, that short-term business results will be jeopardized, that the stock will sink, and that they will be blamed for creating a crisis.

A paralyzed senior management often comes from having too many managers and not enough leaders. Management’s mandate is to minimize risk and to keep the current system operating. Change, by definition, requires creating a new system, which in turn always demands leadership.

Phase one in a renewal process typically goes nowhere until enough real leaders are promoted or hired into senior-level jobs.

Bad business results are both a blessing and a curse in the first phase. On the positive side, losing money does catch people’s attention. But it also gives less maneuvering room. With good business results, the opposite is true: Convincing people of the need for change is much harder, but you have more resources to help make changes.”

 

Resistance to Change Is Always a Huge Problem

Change is not the problem—but resistance to change may be a huge problem.

In the 1920s, H.P. Lovecraft said:

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”.

This quote still holds true when it comes to organizational change.

Managing change has always been difficult and will always be fraught with danger because it is so easy to introduce change the wrong way. So is there a perfect way to introduce and manage change? The answer is no. There is no universal solution that applies to all change programs. The art of balancing the change endeavor is the solution.

Change is intensely personal. Each teammember needs to think, feel, or do something different for change to occur in an organization. Teammembers are required to understand organizational strategies well enough to translate them into appropriate actions. The leader must win followers one by one. No wonder organizational change is such a difficult and frustrating initiative on virtually every change agenda.

The fact remains that managing change is unlike any other managerial task ever confronted. Executives admit that when it comes to handling even the most complex operational problem, they have all the skills needed. But when it comes to managing change, the model they use for operational issues doesn’t work.

The challenge is to innovate mental work, not to replicate physical work. The goal is to teach thousands of teammembers how to think strategically, recognize patterns, and anticipate problems and opportunities before they occur in a large organization.

One tool that organizations found useful for providing a critical balance is the forming of a transition management team, a group of leaders reporting to the CEO who commit all their time and energy to managing the change process. The team may include a project/program/portfolio manager to oversee implementation. Managing change means managing the conversation between the teammembers leading the change effort and those who are expected to implement the new strategies, managing the organizational context in which change can occur, and managing the emotional connections that are essential for any transformation.

 

Change Enablers

Incorporate certain practices that are important to the success of strategic initiatives:

 

•Having well-defined milestones and metrics

•Having senior management committed to change

•Establishing and communicating concrete ownership and accountability

•Using standardized project management practices

•Having engaged executive sponsors

•Energized workforce working on change

•Assessing how an individual is impacted—what’s in it for me

 

Power of Project Management-AURA Model

What Is AURA?

The word “AURA” is used here symbolically. Consider the personal AURA of an individual at the basic level that emanates from a sense of self-confidence and self-control that every team member exhibits in their domain of assigned responsibility with a sense of right inputs at the right time. The self-leadership of each teammember creates an emotional connection with stakeholders that helps build trust, loyalty, and a collective sense of purpose toward a common goal.

“AURA” is defined by the Parapsychology Association as “a subtle field of luminous multicolored radiation surrounding a person or an object as a cocoon or a halo.” Now I don’t know anything about a radiating field of dancing lights or psychedelic beams emitting from enlightened individuals, but I do know that when you are around certain people, their presence can be strongly felt. A combination of psychology, physiology, and our perception must all contribute to this phenomenon, but it is certain that individuals can exhibit power, knowledge, and leadership simply by this unseen force field described as an individual aura.

It is manageable and may be created at a basic level of every teammember.

 

Steps to Create Personal Aura

1.Grow the leadership; do not squeeze a person into the role. Awareness of leadership skills and self-leadership is the starting point. The follower teammembers tend to read hidden meanings into words and gestures, and this awareness may make them self-conscious, especially in the advancement toward desired outcomes. Teammembers say or do things they otherwise would not, sending out mixed signals and causing confusion. Don’t assume that in order to achieve the results you must camouflage your true self, because then you may spend a lot of time trying to look and act how you think a leader ought to look and act. It is like squeezing yourself into a suit that does not fit you.

2.Say what you mean; be who you are. To communicate more effectively and connect more meaningfully with followers/audiences, you must learn to project more of your true self. Do not parrot other people’s words and style. The real power comes from the courage to be oneself. Most professional leaders do not get the top slot by accident; their skills got them into the position.

3.Avoid all-too-common hobgoblins; some minor skills polishing may help you focus on things you can change to improve delivery, but the real benefit is that it can give you the crucial boost in confidence that allows to move you up naturally, be comfortable in your own skin onstage, and project your unique, true self to followers/team members who are hungry for it.

4.Take a broader perspective and abundance approach; avoid narrow-mindedness and take an approach of abundance in dealing with peers and teammembers. The perspective prevails over action. You earn respect when teammembers find you fearless for personal gains.

 

This is where the spiritual aspect comes in; spiritual meaning beyond the physical, beyond what you may hear or see. The energy of presence comes from within a person and emanates outward, engaging and embracing others. It’s invisible, not immediately accessible to us through our five senses, yet we know it’s there. Many people are still skeptical about energy and think of it as new age hocus-pocus. But if you’ve ever had a really good massage or acupuncture that was done properly, you can actually feel the “chi,” or energy in your body, moving differently. On a quantum level, we are masses of energy. Even our thoughts are energetic and not only influence our own body systems, but also move out beyond us to influence others, both positively and negatively. Others may feel that energy without actually touching it.

 

Why AURA of Leadership

The positive energy of a teammember as a leader contains passion, vision, confidence, and fearlessness. So make sure your thoughts and ideas are positive and hopeful. Look for possibilities and see the good in others. Open yourself up to others, and people will feel your positive energy and be drawn to you.

The combination of an appealing physical appearance, confident body language, assertive communication skills, and positive and engaging energy actually creates an energetic field around a person that attracts others. When a person has all these traits, they have an aura of power that translates into the presence of leadership.

In project management environments, it is critical that team members are well engaged, interdependency is respected and well recognized, and cohesiveness is high when teams develop themselves professionally and pay attention to each area of project management frameworks for collaborative advancement. PM-AURA encourages high performance, working beyond oneself, and beyond the team and toward organizational goals and success.

The aura of leadership cannot be bought, ascribed, or given; it comes from within a maintained work environment. The people we associate with are perhaps the greatest way to either boost leadership aura or diminish it to nothing. Some friends encourage us consistently, making us better at building positive relationships. Other negative influences remind us of our insecurities and cause us to shrink within.

Develop a strong leadership aura and keep away the weak personalities.

 

4.5 Apply PM-AURA Model to Develop Organizational Culture

The project management-AURA model helps build project management frameworks and systems, which are the basic ingredients for creating a disciplined work environment and provide the foundation for collaborative leadership that grows into cultures. The foundational model helps create project management culture’s strengths-based drive, organizational high performance. The project management AURA maximizes project management culture that turns into organizational culture (see Figure 4.5).

 

Figure 4.5 Advancement for organizational culture

The project management-AURA model incubates the cultures that synergize into a super force, driving superb performance and withstanding all challenges.

 

AURA Model

A: Applying the project management approach for organizational transformation:

The organizational transformation is effectively carried out with the implementation of frameworks, structures, processes, and best practices to build capacity for strategic change and advancement (discussed in Vol-I).

U: Understanding human factors and leadership:

Project management is essentially a leadership-intensive endeavor, where leadership takes responsibility for ensuring that the right thing is done at the right level. Understanding of human factors and self-leadership is critical at all levels to provide support for the right things to happen at every level (discussed in Vol-II).

R: Respecting diversity and building teams:

Diversity is a double-edged sword, detrimental to team building when mismanaged and adding unmatched value with varied exposure and experiences of team members when managed effectively. It matches the right skills and manages the readiness of each team member’s help, building high-performing teams (discussed in Vol-III).

A: Agility in Project Management and collaborative leadership:

Advancement in the 21^st century needs to overcome uncertainty and fast-changing requirements with matching innovation and creativity—a management approach that deals with unfolding the details of work and the requirements for changing circumstances (discussed in Vol-IV).

Focus on factors to manage the project management-AURA model for maximizing the Super Power, as shown in Figure 4.6:

 

Figure 4.6 The Project management-AURA model

The functional strength of the AURA model helps maximize four dimensions of emanating culture that provide the knowledge-based foundation for organizational culture, encouraging high performance. The forceful clarity of functions in AURA builds the functional grounds for collaborative leadership cultures. The good fit of all dimensions adds power to overcome the challenges of developing and sustaining a high-performing organizational culture.

 

Organizational Culture

Project management systems in organizations run with clarity of objectives provide disciplined structure, processes, hierarchy of responsibilities, change management best practices, and systems for organizational learning that facilitate the emotional engagement of team members and lead to a high-performance, strengths-based culture. All supporting ingredients are visible, and they include evolving knowledge standards, practice guides, grounds for ethical checks, direction for collaborative advancement, and known desired outcomes for incremental advancement to the defined goal. The PM-AURA model provides the basis for developing a leadership culture that turns into an organizational culture, as illustrated in Figure 4.7.

 

Figure 4.7 Development of high-performing organizational culture

The emphasis here is on developing organizational culture with knowledge-based strengths of the PM-AURA Model, and Leadership Culture. Conscientious efforts in these areas will help achieve the outcomes and evolve with changing environment for high performance.

The project management framework has evolved into an interactive structure that combines the strength of EPMO/excellence center and project, program and portfolio management independent of operations. It is recommended that the value of change implementation be captured parallel to operational activities, managed by a central office, called the EPMO, the excellence center, or strategic implementer.

 

4.6 Transform for Business Advancement

Business transformation is dependent on effective organizational transformation for building structure, capacity, and a culture of high performance. Advancement in a defined strategic direction is essentially change management that is effectively carried out by the project management approach, driven by effective leadership at every level of the hierarchy.

 

Advancement

The change in organization is driven by volatile business dynamics, disruptive technology, unprecedented social networks connectedness, and extreme complexity. It is not difficult to imagine how tech savvy-enabled and connected customers will behave when connected to the Internet of Everything—essentially, it is IoT (Internet of Things) transforming the way we work, play, and live. This will require new and innovative ways of organizing and working as well as new business models. Everyone will be so connected that experience and novelty will become increasingly important in their personalized value assessments—and experience will matter more than ever before.

The statistical findings concerning the success rates of medium and large projects are all the more astonishing. According to statistics, every fifth project becomes a “black swan”—a project that exceeds its planned budget by an average of more than 400 percent and its duration by more than 200 Percent. Although there is much speculation, there are only a few hard facts about the causes of such aberrations. This is primarily due to the reluctance of the teammembers responsible for these projects to publish their experiences. It is particularly dramatic when mega projects develop into blackswans. You have probably heard about them: projects such as Berlin’s new international airport, Cologne’s north–south rail link, and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie Hall. But the phenomenon is not different from that of the rest of the world. The research-based learnings are as follows:

 

•It is not enough to rely on product innovation. Products fail when they address the market with a wrong business model.

•Economic viability is derived from business models systematically developed and evaluated by an agile and iterative process.

•Business models are the most powerful driver of competitive advantage and should be managed similarly to product portfolios.

•Business model development and innovation combined with design thinking and lean offers a meaningful and solid foundation for businesses. The present business situation demands a corrective approach to manage and make advancement on a stronger basis.

 

When Is Your Organization Ready to Become More Mature?

You find organizations all around pursuing the purpose of their existence and excelling in identifying the best ways to manage ever-increasing complexity and turbulence. You come across situations where you wish your organization had acted differently and avoided the unwanted outcomes and results.

One way to avoid such situations is by enhancing the maturity level of an organization. Some consequences of organizations lacking in maturity follow:

 

•Missed targets, unhappy and dissatisfied stakeholders

•Star performers find no next level for career advancement

•Performance lost in hierarchies

•Achievements not recognized

•Organizational lapses to support advancement

•Endeavors misaligned with strategic goals

 

Your recognized desire to find a better way of reaching the defined goal by peers and bosses in the organization makes it ready to become more mature to sustain advancement and serve the business purpose.

The quest for timeless advancement and sustainable growth of business was never as urgent as it is today.

Effective advancement and sustainable growth in business is linked with level of maturity.

Organizational maturity is a state of dynamic wisdom to advance and serve the business purpose; satisfy the needs and expectations of stakeholders; and chart the path toward strategic goals successfully, consistently, reliably, and predictably. It is a continuous process of dynamism to withstand emerging environmental demands.

Multidimensional dynamism created for a virtual fit (a match between creative dynamism and emerging environmental demands)for challenges helps an organization to progress on the charted path of strategic advancement, which may include the following:

 

•Effective strategic translation

•Mechanism for continuous learning

•Organizational framework to support strategic direction

•Human resources aligned with strategy

 

The strategic translation of these factors thus becomes: Do the right work in the right way through organizational project management, which instills a projectized management approach and maturity for achieving the desired results.

Organizational project management also provides a mechanism for continuous learning, developed through capturing lessons learned and documenting knowledge. Maturity helps corrective actions in future endeavorsand creates a learning organization.

With an organizational framework, groups of projects are aligned with strategic goals that support effective management and controls. The framework is as follows:

 

•EPMO—Enterprise-wide Project Management Office, responsible for strategic implementation

•Portfolio management—supports strategy

•Program management—delivers benefits

•Project management—enables delivery of capabilities

 

Maturity is enhanced to control progression toward set goals. This approach yields the following benefits:

 

•Work becomes more predictable.

•Schedules are followed more closely.

•Issues are addressed more proactively.

•Line of sight is defined for management and control.

•Project management processes become more consistent.

•Customers/endusers have greater confidence in delivery.

•Dynamism for change develops together with processes for self-improvement.

 

Human resources that are aligned with strategic direction are the only component in business that cannot be copied or imitated by competitors and help create a strategic edge in the market. Maturity is enhanced for effective management of HR to deal with the human factor.

Application of project management structure in an organization may be carried out as recommended by the following model (see Figure 4.8).

 

Figure 4.8 Recommended approach for application of project management

 

A Model for Application of Project Management Approaches

The model presented in Figure4.8 is recommended for application of the project management approach. The application begins with creating an awareness for business control managers in an organized workshop for “Value Proposition of Project Management. The framework and systems are made known to the decision makers that help establish necessary reengineering and restructuring of organization, when needed.

Next comes the establishment of EPMO (Enterprise-wide Program Management Office); assignment of roles and responsibilities and major functions to the top-level team will help to support the application of project management. It will also facilitate the ownership of the endeavors and serve as a central point of contact. The training of professionals working on projects must go through the basic learning of methodology for project management deliverables. All professionals working on or for a project must receive training. The learning of project teammembers will help enhance their competence for taking the right action at the right time, and supportmembers will learn the impacts of their action taken or not at the relevant point in time, on a desired outcome.

Project implementation is a collective endeavor, and the learning of the right action at the right time is important for supporting members as well like administration, marketing, supply chain, law, and security to help make a difference in performance.

The entire endeavor is supported by mentoring the professionals to make them understand why certain training is important for building their competence and how that may enhance their input/contribution for value addition in end results. Such an exercise will contribute toward a meaningful engagement of professionals for high productivity.

The assessment of each professional’s readiness for a project will help in identifying the training needs and make the EPMO work proactively on talent management.

The next major task is to make EPMO formalize the project management framework in place. In this step, each goal is translated into necessary projects that need to be dealt with in a portfolio. The interdependent and interrelated projects are grouped together in a program for implementation. Each portfolio has a defined goal, defined projects, and teams with defined channels for communication, defined resource requirements, logical sequencing of works/projects, and defined deliverables of each project. The challenges of organizational culture are maximized with the help of the PM-AURA Model.

The priority of a project is defined with reference to the desired end goal of a portfolio and the logical sequence for implementation of projects.

EPMO has to maintain the organizational culture for high performance, which needs enhancement of maturity. For that purpose, the Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3) is there to help in enhancing maturity.

Further training of professionals may be carried out in line with the training indicated in what follows.

 

Recommended Training Courses for Application of Project Management Approaches

Proposed List of Training

1.Value proposition for project management

2.Establishment of Enterprise-wide Project Management Office (PMO)

3.Application of PM framework, systems and processes

4.Development of high-performing culture based on knowledge

5.Hands-on application of project management for deliverables

6.Stakeholder management (identification/classification/engagement)

7.Change management

8.Communication planning

9.Grow to leadership role—moving from manager’s to people’s perspectives

10.Leadership skills for managing project/program

11.Leadership skills for strategic planning

12.Program management for benefits

13.Business-driven PMO functionalities and strategic advancement

14.Understanding of environmental factors and impact management

15.Portfolio management and strategic planning

16.Project planning and scheduling

17.Project high-performance team building

18.Project cost and estimation management

19.Project time estimation and scheduling

20.Earned value management for monitoring and controlling

21.Project risk management

22.Outsourcing management and contract development

23.Project contract and claim management

24.Project conflict management and problem-solving

25.Negotiation skills, resolution, and decision-making

 

4.7 21st Century Skills—Project Management Challenges

•Manage the power of knowledge

•Talent management and analytical talent

•Manage analysis paralysis and organizational change

•Principles-based policies and humanity back to work

 

21st Century

The good news about creating a leadership culture is that leadership skills are learnable to support the move from an effective teammember to a lead position. Effective leadership is essentially people centered and casts a forceful culture for humanity to get back to work.

Automation In the 21stcentury is making fast progress. Many books are being written about the mechanization and computerization of the new work environment, but what about the people? What needs to be done to assure that individuals get what they need aside from their paycheck alone?

Today, solder technology becomes obsolete increasingly quickly and more money is spent on upgrades: added memory, laying new cable, installing networking systems, and getting new software and equipment.

Often overlooked are the individuals who make the systems work. What do you need to do your jobs to the best of your ability? It seems there is a strong drive to create work environments where respect for the spirit is acknowledged and supported.

Some may still argue there is no room for “spirituality” in the workplace, perhaps confusing it with religion. But what happens when you lose your spirit in your work, in your life? You see the loss of spirit revealed in a fractured society where workers gun down their colleagues and associates seem much more stressed and frazzled. To succeed, we need work environments that nurture all aspects of our being. It’s no good to leave your spirit at the door. You are your spirit.

In an age of tension and growing cut-throat competition, work must offer more than just a paycheck. The responsibility of leadership is to create an environment of support, respect, and collaboration to inspire excellence.

The challenges remain to:

 

•Manage the power of knowledge

•Manage talent

•Strengthen the team

•Adopt principles-based policies and the human factor in HR

 

Manage Power of Knowledge

Project implementation requires making the right knowledge available to the right person at the right time, which is essentially knowledge management, and not merely managing knowledge for knowledge’s sake.

The challenges of change in business are emerging from a knowledge-based economy, where power is hinged on constructing knowledge and its value to suit strategic purposes or pursuits which is the need of time and domination and conquest is a tactic more insidious than the usual strengths of business.

The construction of knowledge in itself may not be complex, but implies a strong tie to corporate strategy, an understanding of where and in what forms knowledge exists, creating processes that span organizational functions, and ensuring that initiatives are accepted and supported by organizational teams. Knowledge management may also include new knowledge creation, or it may focus solely on knowledge sharing, storage, application, and refinement.

Knowledge management efforts typically focus on improved organizational performance, competitive advantage, innovation, the sharing of lessons learned, integration, and continuous improvement of the processes in organization. Knowledge management efforts overlap with organizational learning and may be distinguished from it by a greater focus on the management of knowledge as a strategic asset and a focus on encouraging the sharing of knowledge. Knowledge management is an enabler of organizational learning, building competence, and enhancement of excellence in performance.

Knowledge has long been recognized as a driver of productivity and economic growth. In fact, the phrase “knowledge economy” was first used as early as 1969 in Peter Drucker’s seminal book, The Age of Discontinuity: Guidelines to Our Changing Society. Drucker, who by then was one of the world’s preeminent management consultants, said, “The next society will be a knowledge society. Knowledge will be its key resource, and knowledge workers will be the dominant group in its workforce.”

Today, 47 years later, Drucker’s prediction rings true. In a knowledge-based economy, it is talent—the knowledge worker—that differentiates the performance of organizations. Our most unique and professional team members with experience, initiative, creativity, and a commitment to excellence possess the type of knowledge that sets an organization apart from the competition. When organizations create environments for team players to effectively transfer their knowledge to others, strategic initiatives are completed more successfully.

The importance of knowledge—acquired, applied, and shared—is key to success at all levels of the project management framework—project, program, portfolio, and EPMO. All managers need to share the skills, capabilities, and behaviors that result in the delivery of desired outcomes. This blend of technical project management skills, strategic and business management insight, and leadership capabilities is exactly what is advocated through the PMI Talent Triangle^™, because it is what ensures better success with strategic initiatives such as the following:

 

•Technical project management skills

•Leadership skills

•Strategic and business management skills

 

It is highlighted further in Figure 4.9.

 

Figure 4.9 Assurance of success [Adapted from PMI Talent Triangle]

When organizations explore professional development, they are encouraged to recognize knowledge transfer as a means of ensuring successful implementation of projects that are central to achieving their strategic goals.

What is the key to getting ahead? An important factor, though not the only one, is knowledge.

Knowledge is Power—the more knowledge you have, the more power you have.

The good news is that there is virtually an unlimited amount of knowledge available to you through the Internet and PMI research-based sources.

The bad news is that the limiting factor in acquiring it is you. The problem is not the availability of Knowledge; it’s how hungry your mind is. Thomas Friedman called this the Curiosity Quotient (CQ).

To quote from psychologist John Dewey:

“The curious mind [is] constantly alert and exploring [and] seeking material for thought, as a vigorous and healthy body is on the qui vive for nutriment.”

 

Knowledge

The overall objective is to create value and to leverage, improve, and refine the competences and knowledge assets to meet organizational goals and targets. Implementing knowledge management thus has several dimensions, including the following:

 

•Knowledge Management Strategy. Knowledge management strategy must be dependent on corporate strategy. The objective is to manage, share, and create relevant knowledge assets that will help meet tactical and strategic requirements.

•Organizational Culture. The organizational culture influences the way people interact, the context within which knowledge is created, the resistance they will have toward certain changes, and, ultimately, the way they share (or do not share) knowledge.

•Organizational Processes. These refer to the right processes, environments, and systems that enable knowledge management to be implemented in an organization.

•Management and Leadership. Knowledge management requires competent and experienced leadership at all levels. There are a wide variety of knowledge management-related roles that an organization may or may not need to implement, including those of a knowledge management officer, knowledge managers, and knowledge brokers.

•Technology. The systems, tools, and technologies that fit the organization’s requirements—properly designed and implemented.

•Politics. The long-term support to implement and sustain initiatives that involve virtually all organizational functions, which may be costly to implement (from the perspective of both time and money), and which often do not have a directly visible return on investment.

 

KMT—knowledge Management Tools website: http://www.knowledge-management-tools.net/#ixzz3Vnwj5qSH

 

Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge

The following definitions will help in understanding the relationship between data, information, and knowledge, very often confused with each other.

 

Data. Facts and figures that relay something specific but that are not organized in any way and that provide no further information regarding patterns, context, and so forth. I will use the definition for data presented by Thierauf (1999): “unstructured facts and figures that have the least impact on the typical manager.”

 

Information. For data to become information, it must be contextualized, categorized, calculated, and condensed (Davenport & Prusak, 2000). Information thus paints a bigger picture; it is data with relevance and purpose (Bali et al., 2009). It may convey a trend in the environment, or perhaps indicate a pattern of sales for a given period. Essentially, information is found “in answers to questions that begin with such words as who, what, where, when, and how many” (Ackoff 1999).

IT is usually invaluable in the capacity of turning data into information, particularly in larger firms that generate large amounts of data across multiple departments and functions. The human brain is needed mainly to assist in contextualization.

 

Knowledge. “[I]t is closely linked to doing and implies know-how and understanding. The knowledge possessed by each individual is a product of one’s experience, and encompasses the norms by which one evaluates new inputs from surroundings” (Davenport & Prusak, 2000).

Use the definition presented by Gamble and Blackwell (2001), based closely on a previous definition by Davenport and Prusak (2000):

 

“Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, expert insight, and grounded intuition that provides an environment and framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. It originates and is applied in the mind of the knower. In organizations, it often becomes embedded not only in documents or repositories, but also in organizational routines, practices and norms.”

In order for knowledge management to succeed, one needs a deep understanding of what constitutes knowledge. Now that we have set clear boundaries between knowledge, information, and data, it is possible to go one step further and look at the forms in which knowledge exists and the different ways in which it can be accessed, shared, and combined.

 

Knowledge Management in Organizations

Organizations need a sound base for knowledge advancement, particularly in project management, where profession, methodology, and business approach help withstand the fast-changing world, when organizations are under pressure to deliver value to all stakeholders and bring satisfaction to stay in the market, regardless of the extent to which the business landscape changes with the changing environment. Knowledge management has become the principal factor in dealing with challenges such as emerging global trends; growing complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity have added threats to the existence of business and sustainability of growth.

Generally, organizations gather knowledge within themselves over time that may be sufficient to solve their problems in project implementation. The issue remains one of making knowledge available to the right person at the right time and in the right format when the need arises. This requires a capturing and storage mechanism, and culture for knowledge sharing and collaboration for pursuing a common goal. The project management approach supports knowledge sharing and is helpful in reaching the desired end results.

In comparison with other bodies of management, knowledge management is still in its infancy.

It has had some notable success as well as much failure and still has a long way to go in developing standardized and proven models and methods.

Successful strategic advancement in the 21stcentury will require capturing a “goodfit” between the right knowledge and the right place and right application in the following domains (also see Figure 4.10):

 

Figure 4.10 Good fit of knowledge for advancement

 

A)Professional project management skills and competencies

B)Organizational project management systems, processes, and practices

C)Organizational lessons learned, procedures, and policies

 

With regard to the emphasis on knowledge management, it should be noted that the real value resides in identification of “critical” knowledge. This is essential but difficult to do. Without this activity, you may be lost in the huge amounts of knowledge in an organization, which could prove a waste of effort and give knowledge activities a bad reputation. At the same time, it is difficult to do, because the very word “knowledge” encompasses many forms of “knowing” that are more tacit and, not only uncodified, but often not easily codified at all. Some call this type of knowledge “know-how,” or practice knowledge, and it is often difficult to identify in ways that make it more scalable and effective. This leads to the second theme worth pointing out: the value and concurrent difficulties of transferring knowledge within the organization.

 

Critical Knowledge

Once again, the emphasis boils down to awareness of the value of having knowledge about knowledge and having access to the organization’s collective memory and storehouse of stories and cases that are representative of this knowledge. (See the PMI supportive knowledge indicated in Figure 4.11).

 

Figure 4.11 PMI supportive knowledge available

Reinventing the wheel is a waste of resources, but when project teams lack the blueprints to replicate success—and avoid repeating mistakes—they have no choice but to start from scratch.

Not only is going back to the drawing board inefficient, but it also reduces a project’s chance of success. Organizations that have formal knowledge transfer processes in place are also more likely to deliver projects on schedule (59 percent versus 41 percent) and on budget (62 percent versus 48 percent), according to PMI’s 2015 Pulse of the Profession^®: Capturing the Value of Project Management.

Despite these benefits, the PMI Pulse of Profession report found that only half of global organizations have a formal knowledge transfer process in place. This shortfall can cost an organization “time, money, and credibility,” says Tracy Vilkauskas, PMP, senior project manager, Cable One Inc.

“If a senior-level project manager leaves and has not been required to transition their knowledge in a structured fashion to another project manager, there is a breakdown in the effectiveness of the organization,” she says. “When you have a person performing a role who does not have the necessary knowledge, it takes them longer to execute and there is a serious risk of mistakes being made that may affect team morale and overall project delivery.”

A formal knowledge transfer process can prevent this scenario—and drive results. The Pulse report found that 75 percent of high-performing organizations have a formal knowledge transfer process in place, compared with just 35 percent of low-performing organizations. High performers successfully complete 90 percent of their projects, while low performers successfully complete only 36 percent.

 

Organizational Knowledge Resources

Business knowledge exists on several different levels:

 

Individual. Personal, often tacit knowledge (“know-how”) of some sort. It can also be explicit, but it must be individual in nature (e.g., a private notebook).

 

Groups/community. Knowledge held in groups but not shared with the rest of the organization. Companies usually consist of communities (most often informally created)linked together by common practice. These communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991) may share common values, language, procedures, know-how, and so forth. They are a source of learning and a repository for tacit, explicit, and embedded knowledge.

 

Structural. Embedded knowledge found in processes, culture, and so on. This may be understood by many or very few members of the organization. For example, the knowledge embedded in the routines used by the army may not be known by the soldiers who follow these routines. At times, structural knowledge may be a remnant of past, otherwise long-forgotten lessons, where the knowledge of this lesson exists exclusively in the process itself.

 

Organizational. The definition of organizational knowledge is yet another concept that has very little consensus within the literature. Variations include the extent to which the knowledge is spread within the organization, as well as the actual make-up of this knowledge. Hatch (2010) defines it thus: “When group knowledge from several subunits or groups is combined and used to create new knowledge, the resulting tacit and explicit knowledge can be called organizational knowledge.” Others present a broader perspective: “Individual knowledge, shared knowledge, and objectified knowledge are different aspects or views of organizational knowledge“(Ekinge & Lennartsson, 2000). As always, texts emphasizing an IT-based outlook once again offer shallower, information-based definitions, for example (Virvou & Nakamura, 2008), “Information internalized by means of research, study, or experience that has value to the organization.”

 

Extra-organizational. Montserrat Prats Lopez et al, VU University Amsterdam 2012. Defined here as: “Knowledge resources existing outside the organization which could be used to enhance the performance of the organization. They include explicit elements like publications, as well as tacit elements found in communities of practice that span beyond the organization’s borders.”

 

Implications for Knowledge Management

In order to enhance organizational knowledge, knowledge management must be involved across the entire knowledge spectrum. It must help knowledge development at all levels and facilitate and promote its diffusion to individuals and groups, and/or across the entire organization, in accordance with the organization’s requirements. Knowledge management must manage organizational knowledge storage and retrieval capabilities and create an environment conducive to learning and knowledge sharing. Similarly, it must be involved in tapping external sources of knowledge whenever these are necessary for the development of the organizational knowledge resources.

To a large degree, knowledge management is therefore dependent on the understanding and management of organizational learning, organizational memory, knowledge sharing, knowledge creation, and organizational culture.

 

Talent Management

The talent and creativity of individuals is the next frontier for project managers to manage. Consider these findings from Manpower’s 2014 Talent Shortage Survey of 38,000 employers:

 

1.54 percent reported that talent shortages are impacting their ability to serve clients to a high or medium degree

2.37 percent of employers surveyed seek to develop the skills of every employee

3.23 percent of employers surveyed are providing additional training and development to existing staff to address talent shortages

 

The unique nature of project work presents a major talent opportunity. With some thoughtful planning, project managers can build the talents of their team members: a win-win-win outcome. The individual wins from gaining greater skills, and the organization receives a completed project and a more skilled teamplayer. Project managers understand the importance of developing people. In fact, the PMBOK® Guide emphasizes the benefits of developing the project team: “Improving knowledge and skills of team members to increase their ability to complete project deliverables, while lowering costs, reducing schedules and improving quality.”

 

The Three-Part Model for Talent Development

PMI’s recently published report Spotlight on Success: Developing Talent for Strategic Impact, Nov 2014, explains the practices of highly successful organizations in the area of talent. The report found that leading organizations use the 70–20–10 learning ratio, which is explained in the following guidelines. Project managers will need to tailor this ratio to meet the needs of the project team:

 

•Workplace learning and performance support (70 percent). For example, ask a senior professional to train a junior professional on a given task.

•Social learning (20 percent). For example, a project manager who provides mentoring to a team member (or mentoring among team members).

•Structured learning (10 percent). This category includes organization-provided courses, training offered by registered education providers (R.E.P.s), college and university courses, and many other options.

 

In projects of short duration, it may be challenging to include all three learning opportunities. However, when you are running a project of 12 months or longer in duration, it makes sense to plan for all of the three learning options. You may use the following approaches to develop team players:

 

•Ask your project team members about their long-term career and development goals when they join the project so you may plan to accommodate their goals.

•Meet with your highly experienced team members to determine their ability and interest in providing training to junior members. This opportunity will show their ability to manage other people.

•Evaluate your organization’s learning resources. For example, Deloitte University, General Electric’s Crotonville Management Training Center (opened in 1956), and Apple University. You may be able to send an interested team member for training at such a facility during the project.

•Provide “stretch experience” (i.e., challenging assignments) to teammembers to get them ready for promotions and new roles. Entrusting critical tasks to less experienced members entails risk, but that is manageable with monitoring.

 

The Program and Portfolio View of Talent

The competing priorities of project management often lead to sacrificing training and development. When your project is 2 weeks late and over budget, providing funds for a training or MBA program for one of your team members may not be feasible. And when your project is part of a larger program or portfolio? That perspective brings new opportunities for you to consider.

You can use your networking and leadership skills to connect your team with others in the same program or portfolio. For example, when your project is a few weeks short of completion, you can introduce a team member to another project manager and suggest development. Making such an introduction requires finesse and a collaborative spirit, but it can be done. Such a talent development perspective will also enhance your reputation—you will be regarded as someone who can see beyond the needs of your specific project.

 

Developing Talent through Informal Mentoring and Networks

Mentoring and professional relationships are one of the best ways to enhance talent over time. Some organizations provide formal mentoring programs, but these have mixed results. Ultimately, every professional has to take responsibility for their networks and need for mentors.

Professor Lynn Crawford, a project management expert, and founder of Human Systems International Asia Pacific, is of the opinion that building relationships outside of your organization is essential to career development:

 

“From research I have been doing following the career journeys of project managers, informal mentoring is clearly valued . . . networking with other project people is an important source of mentoring. It seems that the most effective mentoring is often “just in time” mentoring—the ability to phone up a respected colleague and seek advice when facing a particular challenge. So, project managers can get started in mentoring their staff by encouraging them to participate in professional networking events such as those offered by their local PMI chapters, where they can meet and develop ongoing relationships with other practicing project managers.”

Professor Crawford’s comments are a welcome reminder of the value of PMI chapters. As with any organization or activity, you have to show up to benefit. As you plan your calendar for next month, set a reminder to review your chapter’s program of events. If you don’t see any events that appeal to you, contact the chapter leadership with a proposal.

 

The Generation Y Talent Challenge for Project Managers

Generational change has two major implications for organizations and projects. In 2013, large numbers of the Baby Boomer generation in the United States reached age 67, a common retirement age. At the same time, a new group is entering the workforce in large numbers—Generation Y, those born between 1980 and 2000. Project managers face the challenge of successfully managing this demographic transition.

The project manager is often required to negotiate for talent. When you need to attract and motivate Generation Y professionals to your project, it makes sense to consider the tendencies of this cohort. Dr. Alicia Aitken, an Australian project management expert at Human Systems International, shared this perspective on Generation Y:

 

“Projects offer opportunities for project managers and organizations to develop Generation Y talent. When this generation is characterized by a desire for fast-paced careers, continuous learning opportunities, and an ability to demonstrate leadership early in their careers, projects are the perfect environment for them.”

Project managers may emphasize the opportunity to make an impact and learn when they seek younger professionals for their projects. Project work may also be highlighted during the recruitment process as a way for new team players to expand their networks and range of experience.

 

2015 and Beyond: Managing Trends and Maintaining the Fundamentals

Success in project management requires both adaptation to openness to changing trends and continued focus on the basic disciplines. Both changing trends and key fundamentals are considered. Generational change and the growing demand for leadership are future trends that project managers need to understand. As project managers take on projects of growing complexity, senior leaders will expect project managers to lead. One way to demonstrate leadership is to develop and improve the capabilities of your project teammembers. You may improve the team through formal training, mentoring, “stretch” assignments, and other means.

You need to remember the saying “Your network is your net worth,” which is a key, enduring principle for managing project teams and your own careers. Building professional networks remains absolutely essential for both project and career success—after all, people make decisions and life worth living, not technology. Actively participating in PMI chapters and other volunteer organizations remains one of the best ways to develop your talent.

 

Strengthen the Team with Analytical Talent

The Premise

Analytics is pervasive and growing:

 

“It’s not just high-tech. It’s going to be every kind of business.” —Hal Varien, Chief Economist of Google

Analytics is contingent on people:

 

“The shift from looking backwards versus prescriptive and predictive analytics is also ashift in people’s thinking.”—Mathew Chacko,Director of Enterprise Architecture, The Coca-Cola Company

“A new space and a new way of looking at things . . . it’s drawing people to come together.

The silos of the past aren’t holding us up.”—Vince Campisi, CIO, GE SoLware

Analytics talent fuels competitive advantage:

It is recognized in business that analytics talent creates a huge premium and a competitive advantage. Companies with the right analytics talent outperform others financially, as well.

Analytical talent is at a premium:

 

•Talent drives success with analytics.

•But talent is not always easy to get and keep.

 

Analytical maturity changes the equation.

Analytically mature companies use more sophisticated techniques.

The following are different sources of analytical skills:

 

•Develop analytical skills through on-job training.

•Hire analytical skills from universities.

•Hire talent with analytical skills from other organizations.

•Develop analytical skills through formal training.

•Outsource analytical activities to consultants/contractors.

•Outsource analytical activities to other organizations.

 

A different talent mind-set yields more success:

 

•Preference for analytical skills is a key differentiator.

•Integrating the talent is important to success and retention.

 

Data scientists are impacting the organization.

What is recommended:

 

•Look inside to tap internal talent.

•Focus on talent integration, not infusion.

•Set up a buddy system.

•Build a common core.

 

Manage Analysis Paralysis

What is your behavior when it comes to decision-making? Do you spend a long time thinking over every single decision, because you are afraid of making the wrong choice? Do you feel a need to analyze every single option before you come to a conclusion? Does your overanalysis often stop you from making a move quickly—at times missing perfectly good opportunities?

If so, congratulations—you “suffer” from analysis paralysis. Analysis paralysis is the state of overthinking a decision, to the point where a choice never gets made, thereby creating a paralyzed state of inaction. Analysis paralysis happens when you:

 

•overcomplicate the decision when it was supposed to be quite simple

•feel compelled to find the “perfect” decision, thereby delaying action until research is done

•fear making a wrong decision, hence stalling decision-making to prevent a wrong decision being made and not being able to decide at all

•asking for too many opinions and listening to all, thereby not finding the right decision

 

11 Ways to Overcome Analysis Paralysis

Jonathan, Blog, Source: http://bloggingyourpassion.com/11-ways-to-overcome-analysis-paralysis/ adapted following recommendations (1–11);

 

1.Decide that the simplest solution is almost always the best solution. This principle took me awhile to learn. We often make things more complicated than they need to be. Occam’s Law states: “The simplest solution is almost always the best solution.”

2.Place a high value on the speed of implementation. Rewire your brain for action. When you learn something new that aligns with your goals, just go for it. We often drag out the implementation of an idea longer than necessary. I believe Parkinson’s Law to be true: “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” Often, we make a project longer than it needs to be.

3.Decide to become a rainmaker. A rainmaker is “an influential character that has the ability to attract followers, build trust, and earn authority in a specific niche.” If you have a passion for your niche, let it shine. Do not just cover topics that you think are easier to rank for in search engines. Cover all aspects of your niche and really go for it!

4.Don’t dream big and act small. It is easy to dream big, but hard to “act in a big way.” When we act small, we serve no one. As Seth Godin so eloquently said: “If you are not making a difference, it’s probably because you are afraid.”

5.Decide to fail at something. The pain of failure is a big enemy. It keeps us in analysis paralysis. The biggest question I often get is: “What if I blog for an entire year and nothing happens? I don’t want to waste my time.” Trust me, I understand where these sentiments are coming from. What bloggers often forget is that we are creating an asset.

6.See perfection as your #1 enemy. Many people want everything to be perfect. They do not want to face criticism. They want every duck in a row before they take a step, and they often want a guarantee of success before they start. It just doesn’t work that way. “Taking massive action without a guarantee of results is where champions live.” Decide today to make perfection your #1 enemy.

7.Appreciate any step that moves you forward. Overcoming analysis paralysis might be as simple as shooting for “quick wins.” Some quick wins might be getting your first Facebook “like” or obtaining your first blog comment.

8.Embrace new discoveries along the way. Never lose the “art of play” when it comes to your work. Feel free to experiment, and look for new discoveries along the way. Sometimes experience is worth more than education.

9.Have a real love for the journey. Develop the “brick by brick” philosophy. Success doesn’t happen overnight. Someone will always be further ahead than you. Instead of seeing the daunting mountaintop, fix your eyes on the next foothold.

10.Only focus on starting. Remove the obstacles from your thinking and just focus on starting. Set a timer for 30 minutes, and just go after that task, project, or goal with reckless abandonment for 30 minutes. You might be surprised how far you get in 30 minutes’ time. Just focus on starting. Overcoming procrastination can be as simple as just starting.

11.Focus your efforts in 90-day increments. Build “brick by brick.” The question is: “What are your bricks?” It may be bricks of 90-day projects. Take out a calendar and divide it into four sections, such as January–March, April–June, July–September, and October–December. The whiteboard may hang on the wall above the computer and have items that you want to get done in the next 90 days. When you sit down to work, you know exactly what it is that you need to work on.

 

Organizational Change

Developing PM-AURA to transform an organizational leadership is a comprehensive, cyclical, and structured approach to transitioning individuals, groups, and organization from a current state to a projectized state with intended business benefits. Refer to PMI’s Managing Change in Organizations: A Practice Guide (2013) to begin the transformation process.

The process of change begins with organizational leaders developing an organizational strategy, then continues with the creation of an initiative that is aligned with that strategy. According to PMI’s Pulse of Profession^®: Enabling Organizational Change through Strategic Initiatives (Mar, 2014), page #5, the major causes of failure primarily include “lack of Leadership 56% and Insufficient Communication 59%.”The change endeavor needs to ensure the following best practices:

 

•Have well-defined milestones and metrics.

•Have senior management committed to change.

•Establish and communicate concrete ownership and accountability.

•Use standardized project management practices.

•Have engaged executive sponsors.

 

Communication is critical to change management and needs to ensure the following:

 

•Effective communication plans

•Effective execution of communication plans

•Effective identification, measurement, and communication of intended benefits

 

The benefit of effective communication is noted in PMI’s Pulse of the Profession^® In-Depth Report—The High Cost of Low Performance: The Essential Role of Communications (2013), which found that many organizations fail to effectively communicate the business benefits of strategic initiatives to stakeholders at all levels of a project. PMI’s research on the role of communications found that one half of unsuccessful projects are related to ineffective communications.

Therefore, the importance of communicating a strategic initiative’s alignment with organizational strategy should not be overlooked.

 

Sustainable Change

Success invariably demands demonstrating certain practices that allow successfully implementing and sustaining change:

 

•Standardized project and program management practices

•Engaged sponsors who actively rally senior management to commit to change

•Managing people through change

 

Principle-Based Policies and Humanity Back to Work

Guiding Principles

Project management strengthens a culture centered on specific characteristics. These attributes set the standards for evaluating policies, practices, and conduct; establishing norms of behavior; and building the shared values that guide individual actions. The guiding principles articulate rules of just conduct along with values and beliefs.

 

1.Integrity. Conduct all affairs with integrity, for which courage is the foundation.

2.Compliance. Strive for 10,000percent compliance with all laws and regulations, which requires 100percent of team players fully complying 100percent of the time. Stop, think, and ask.

3.Value Creation. Contribute to societal well-being by advancing the ideas, values, policies, and practices of free societies. Understand, develop, and apply market-based management to achieve superior results by making better decisions, eliminating waste, optimizing, and innovating.

4.Entrepreneurship. Apply the judgment, responsibility, initiative, economic and critical thinking skills, and sense of urgency necessary to generate the greatest contribution, consistent with the organization’s risk philosophy.

5.Customer Focus. Discover, collaborate, and partner with those who can most effectively advance free societies.

6.Knowledge. Seek and use the best knowledge, and proactively share your knowledge while embracing a challenge process. Develop measures that lead to more effective action.

7.Change. Anticipate and embrace change. Envision what could be, challenge the status quo, and drive creative destruction through experimental discovery.

8.Humility. Exemplify humility and intellectual honesty. Constantly seek to understand and constructively deal with reality to create value and achieve personal improvement. Hold yourself and others accountable.

9.Respect. Treat others with honesty, dignity, respect, and sensitivity. Appreciate the value of diversity, including, but not limited to, diversity in experiences, perspectives, knowledge, and ideas. Encourage and practice teamwork.

10.Fulfillment. Find fulfillment and meaning in your work by fully developing your capabilities to produce results that create the greatest value.

11.Collaboration. Drive strength in collaborative leadership for desired end results of common goals.

 

Koch, “The Science of Success” 2007, presented the evolution of Koch Industries and the “Science of Human Action” on which MBM (Market-Based Management), is based. He also provides a systematic view of MBM at work within Koch companies by outlining the following five dimensions. (Refer source: http://www.kochind.com/philosophy/):

 

The Five Dimensions

1.Vision. Determining where and how the organization can create the greatest long-term value

2.Virtue and Talents. Helping ensure that people with the right values, skills, and capabilities are hired, retained, and developed

3.Knowledge Processes. Creating, acquiring, sharing, and applying relevant knowledge, and measuring and tracking profitability

4.Decision Rights. Ensuring the right people are in the right roles with the right authority to make decisions and holding them accountable

5.Incentives. Rewarding people according to the value they create for the organization

 

Guiding Outlines for Policies

While developing principle-based policies to cater to human factors, the following policies need to be kept in view:

 

•Policies that completely customize what your project implementation demands

•Policies that adjust immediately when your information changes

•Policies written in conversational language and not a large bulleted outline

•Policies that will always be up-to-date and exceed accrediting standards

•Policies you can view immediately after you answer project questions

•Policies that integrate with the teamplayers’ training system

•Simplified policies that are easy to read and are not duplicated or bloated

 

Humanity: How to Bring It Back to Work

Project management for strategic implementation is a highly stressful endeavor and demands a high level of stakeholder engagement during the entire project/program life cycle to deliver high value.

In reality, HR practices do not support the demanding requirements to support the workplace. The need arises to have redefined HR roles to bring humanity back to work. This requires the following:

 

•The need for greater humanity, not closer alignment with soulless management models. Companies as varied as Netflix, Herman Miller, Google, and O’Reilly Media have discovered that human-centric management principles make bottom-line sense.

•HR to learn more about the business; equally important is charging HR with teaching the business more about people.

•HR to move from compliance responsibilities, many of which are not of its own making or liking. It must be process driven.

•HR to work together with the program/project manager and project team to solve problems such as improving an organization’s culture or softening a CEO with low emotional intelligence; and working with program/project managers and teams on the task of maintaining the façade of a benevolent organization, cutting costs, and minimizing head count in order to boost short-term results.

 

Negative Impacts. The loss of humanity in the workplace has a negative impact on workers, who may get disengaged and disconnected from the organization’s strategic advancement. All business challenges such as layoffs, “reductions in force,” “rightsizing,” or any of a dozen other obfuscations need to be carried out in a most humane manner and with great care. A sample of a negative approach follows:

A real-life story narrated that during a tough economic situation in a company, everyone at a certain level was told to sit in offices at a designated time. If they didn’t get a call within 90 minutes, they still had a job. At another, no one was allowed to know who had been let go in order to supposedly protect the privacy of those affected. Imagine the discomfort and organizational dysfunction that followed: “When you called someone and did not get an answer, you didn’t know if the person was out at a meeting or simply out of the organization. One had to stumble in the dark.” Who designed these policies—Kafka or Stalin? No one had assessed the long-term damage to the people and organization; that remains a big question. A damaged human ego is remembered for ever and is very difficult to repair, particularly in business.

Make better use of HR professionals who are generally smart, caring, and enthusiastic people, but they are constantly in pursuit of an elusive “seat at the table” and perceived influence parity with other senior executives. The following are among the solutions that researchers have found:

 

•Make HR the chief advocates of humanity in organizations. Let’s put the human back in human resources.

•HR to look after compliance and other routinized tasks to a related concern on projects and make:

oFierce proponents of the value of the human spirit. Motivation, engagement, and the rest arise when the work helps people find meaning. Individuals bring their whole selves into the organization and go home each day enriched by the contributions they make.

■Your workplace determines what top talent to deliver.

■HR works as an educator, internal consultant, and coach to help the organization understand and demonstrate that human beings are not just a resource.

oTireless champions of trust and transparency. HR must be trusted by the top team and the rankandfile. This is a demanding role that requires holding the interests of a variety of stakeholders simultaneously, which requires:

■Metrics and rewards tied to levels of trust in the organization

■speaking truth to power whenever necessary and demonstrating and fostering social safety at every level

oFearless eradicators of stupid rules and low-value processes. Establishing enterprise-wide trust and a focus on work as a source of meaning, HR professionals should lead the drive to rid the business of the practices that deflate enthusiasm, waste time, and breed organizational sclerosis. They should also create conditions for people to feel safe, motivated, and empowered to consistently add value and improve how the work is accomplished.

■This is what advocates of lean thinking have been arguing for some time.

■HR professionals with expertise in psychology, anthropology, and other fields that explore human behavior would be powerful change catalysts.

 

Summary

Paradigm shift in management is necessary to separately manage strategic implementation independently of operation through the project management approach. Organizational transformation is effectively carried out by application of the project management framework, systems, and processes. All business goals translated into projects are managed in a portfolio together in a package.

Project management approach emanates the project management-best practices culture, leadership culture, change management culture, and knowledge management culture that together help in the development of Organizational Culture.

Organizational transformation and culture are created with the PM-AURA Model, a unique approach for maximizing benefits and sustaining Super Power for high performance. The model has the following dimensions:

 

A – Applying Project Management for Organizational Transformation (Vol-I)

U – Understanding Human Factors and Workplace Environment (Vol-II)

R – Respecting Diversity, Building Team, Meaningfulness and Growing to Leadership (Vol-III)

A – Agile Project Management and Collaboration (Vol-IV)

 

The transformation is successful only when a sense of urgency is created by top managers and the changes are sustained.

The challenges of the 21stcentury should be managed proactively to uphold and maximize the benefits of project management. The business changing circumstances have shifted focus to human factors and urgency to treat it like a precious resource for maximizing business results.

 

References

Ackoff, 1999

Bali et al., 2009

Davenport and Prusak, 2000

Davenport and Prusak, 2000

Ekinge and Lennartsson, 2000

Gamble and Blackwell (2001)

Hatch 2010

John P. Kotter, Prof. Book-1996 – “Leading Change” outlines eight critical success factors

Jonathan, Blog. Source: http://bloggingyourpassion.com/11-ways-to-overcome-analysis-paralysis/ adapted the recommendations 1-11

KMT – Knowledge Management Tools website: http://www.knowledge-management-tools.net/#ixzz3Vnwj5qSH

Koch, “The Science of Success” book 2007, and the “Science of Human Action” Source: http://www.kochind.com/philosophy/

Lave and Wenger, 1991

PMI’s 2015 Pulse of the Profession^®: Capturing the Value of Project Management

PMI-OPM PG

PMI-OPM3 Standard

PMI-PMBOK, Guide

PMI-Published Report Spotlight on Success: Developing Talent for Strategic Impact, November, 2014

PMI-Standard for Program Management

PMI-Standard for Portfolio Management

Thierauf 1999

Virvou and Nakamura, 2008