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Tag: Facilitation

Stop Blaming Focus on the Process to Achieve Optimal Performance

Written by George Pitagorsky on . Posted in Articles. 7 Comments on Stop Blaming Focus on the Process to Achieve Optimal Performance

According to Dr. Deming, father of the modern quality management movement, ninety-four percent (94%) of all problems are caused by the system. 

“Every system is designed (consciously or unconsciously) to get the results it gets.”  

Blaming individuals should be banished, according to Dr Deming.  Blaming is dysfunctional.  It inhibits creativity and candid communication, creates discord and makes it virtually impossible to identify and address the real causes of poor performance. 

Deming said this decades ago. It is intuitively obvious to anyone who has worked in and around organizations and who takes a systems oriented, holistic view. But, while there has been a growth in the acceptance of this paradigm and its application in many organizations, there are people who take the easy way and hold to the old belief that blaming and punishing a culprit is the way to address problems and remove defects.   

It reminds me of the old story of the three envelopes:

After several months of problems, late delivery and over spending, the project manager is relieved of duties.  He takes his successor aside and gives him three numbered envelopes and tells him to open them in sequence when he feels the need for some advice in the face of a crisis.   Pretty quickly, the new PM opens the first envelope.  Its content says “Blame your predecessor.”  

He follows this advice and buys himself the time to revise the plan and get things moving in a positive direction.  Weeks pass and the same old problems rear their ugly heads.  Time for envelope two.    The advice is “Reorganize.”

Following this advice, the PM shuffles some people around, changes some roles and again buys himself the time to get things back on track.  After several more weeks go by, it’s the same slipped deadlines and budget overruns, plus product defects.  

Opening envelope number three, the PM reads “Make three envelopes.”

Eventually, the project will reach an end – either by being cancelled or because a product has been delivered.  However, the same problems will reoccur in future projects unless someone looks at the real causes of late delivery, budget overruns and quality short-falls.

While individual performance may be a factor, if there is a continuous stream of poorly performing PMs, there may be a systemic issue causing that.  But, more likely, the systemic issues are not about the selection of individual performers.   

The Causes

In project work the issues are probably anchored in a lack of appreciation of project management process coupled with flawed thinking, leading to poor planning, poor communications and unrealistic expectations.  If anyone is to blame for these, it is executive level management, since they own the processes and are the only ones with the authority to refine them.  But, even at this level, any continuous repetition of poor decisions and performance is evidence of systemic problems, particularly biases and beliefs that perpetuate the current state.  

One belief is that it is only by establishing personal responsibility that defects can be removed. People make problems happen. If they change their behavior the problems will go away. We can get them to change their behavior by holding them accountable, training them, exhorting them to excel, punishing them or replacing them. 

Another belief is that the root cause of the problem is a flaw in the system. Maybe training is insufficient, maybe there is ineffective quality control, supervision or communication. Find the flaw and fix it and the problem will go away.

If we take sides and argue that one of these beliefs is true and the other false, we may never get to the real work of identifying causes and eliminating them.  It will just be another round of what The Who were singing about in “Won’t Get Fooled Again”

“I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution

Take a bow for the new revolution

Smile and grin at the change all around

Pick up my guitar and play

Just like yesterday

Then I’ll get on my knees and pray

We don’t get fooled again

No, no!

Meet the new boss

Same as the old boss.”

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How not get fooled again?

Take a systems and process thinking perspective.  Realize that everything has a cause and that everything is part of a system of interacting systems.  A project takes place in an organization in which there are multiple projects and operations.  Each project is effected by the interactions among its stakeholders.  Resources may be shared among multiple projects.  There may be environmental events such as regulatory changes, policy shifts, the weather, etc. Any change anywhere can affect the overall system.

Get real!  Remember that wanting something to happen will not necessarily make it happen.  Accept the realities that quality assurance and control are needed and not easy to estimate, that changes to requirements cost time and money and that the later in the project they occur the more time and money they cost and that when stakeholders change, there will be an impact on the schedule.  Also, remember that competency and knowledge matter.  

When there are budget, schedule and quality shortfalls, ask “What is the cause?”  “What is the cause of that cause?” And so on, until a root cause is found.  Cause analysis is far more difficult than blaming someone.  It requires a stepping back to candidly analyze the process, including the interactions across departments and projects, competency levels and more.  It implies keeping performance records and using them in the analysis.  Cause analysis implies changes in values, for example, no longer rewarding the heroic saviors who can get things done under any circumstances and, instead, rewarding the people who eliminate the need for heroics.  Defensiveness needs to be eliminated so that there is no hiding of the truth.

Analysis is not enough.  Process improvement requires action.  Act on the actionable causes to eliminate them or reduce the probability that they will occur.  If the root causes are not actionable then plan for them and moderate their effects.  

The bottom line: Stop blaming.  Get people ready to have their performance assessed without becoming defensive, focus on the process by performing post project reviews, evaluate multiple projects across time, assess and continuously improve processes such as portfolio management and resource management that contribute to performance issues in individual projects.  Yes, it’s a tall order.  But if you don’t do it you are bound to repeating dysfunctional behavior.

The Project Manager’s Guide to Vendor Selection

Written by Rich Butkevic on . Posted in Articles. 8 Comments on The Project Manager’s Guide to Vendor Selection

As a project manager who may be looking for a solution to meet your software or service-related needs, choosing the right vendor is absolutely critical.

It isn’t just about the product or service (though this is obviously important); your vendor is going to control maintenance, repairs, and general communications regarding the delivery of their product. The right vendor is going to operate as a business partner, helping you every step of the way. The wrong vendor can be nothing more than a hindrance.

Assess Your Organization’s Needs

Begin by specifying what your project or organization seeks to gain through this new product or service. Your organization should have a clear outline of both its needs and its desires before you begin to compare different vendors.
When looking for a software solution, your organization could need:

  • Remote access to data
  • Persistent data storage
  • Easy file sharing
  • Consolidated reporting

The list of potential features is virtually limitless, but once you’re aware of the features you require, you can begin to look for the products that are going to meet these needs. It’s important to pare down to what is really necessary; otherwise you could end up with a solution that is both more expensive and more robust than you require.

When looking for software solutions, you will often need to find solutions that can be integrated into your existing software, or that can be customized to work with your internal applications. Some solutions make it easier to customize them than others — all of these factors have to be considered in order to plan your project correctly.

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Demo the Available Products

Most products are available in the form of a demo copy, which will give you greater insights into whether the product will work for your organization. If possible, port a representative sample of your company’s data into the available products and test out your complete workflow. This will give you a better idea of how the system would be integrated into your company’s existing business processes. With more expensive Enterprise level solutions, a representative of the company who provides the product may conduct an onsite demo or webinar for your project team.

When demoing products, make sure that those who are going to be working first hand with the products are available to understand what they offer, or ideally, test them out. They are the ones who will notice issues with the product’s new work flow, or features that may be missing.

Assess Security and Regulatory Standards

A solution that is not properly secured is a ticking time bomb; it isn’t a question of whether it will become a problem but rather when. In addition to this, most businesses have internal and regulatory standards that they need to comply with, in terms of what data they keep and how their data is stored.

If your vendor can help with your security and regulatory compliance, this takes a significant burden off of your organization. At bare minimum, you need a solution that is going to adhere to your organization’ own internal standards.

Calculate the Total Cost of Ownership

Nearly every solution has a budget attached. When dealing with vendor selection, there are two costs: the upfront cost to purchase the solution and the long-term cost of maintaining and updating it. Software solutions are going to need to be patched and upgraded over time and continued support and development may cost more. Additionally, solutions generally have a substantial upfront cost, both in terms of the software licensing itself and any hardware upgrades or custom software coding that would be needed.

You will need to compare both short-term and long–term costs of each vendor to make sure that they all fall within your budget. A software solution may be affordable (or even free) to adopt but may cost a lot in maintenance and upgrades later on.

Check References and Reviews

At this stage, you should have a fairly good idea of which solutions are right or your project, and which solutions are going to be able to deliver what your company needs. However, you aren’t done investigating the vendor providing the solution. You can begin by consulting online business references and reviews. Any vendor can promise to deliver; reviews and references will tell you whether they have delivered in the past.

Most companies have reviews available online; if the vendor you’re looking at does not, they may be a new, untested company. Every company is going to have some amount of negative reviews; what’s most important is how they deal with these reviews. Look for companies that respond politely and professionally to inquiries, even if these inquiries are negative. For large or especially critical implementations, you may want to consider working with a research and advisory partner such as Gartner.

Finding a vendor is a time-consuming but important part of a projects process, and you need to find a vendor that offers the product you need at a cost your organization can afford. Not only do you need software that works as desired, but you also need software that is going to be well-maintained — software that can grow and scale with your business. By using the above tactics, you should be able to find a reliable vendor with a robust solution.

Analysis Paralysis vs Bias for Action vs Let’s Get Real

Written by John Vaught on . Posted in Articles. 10 Comments on Analysis Paralysis vs Bias for Action vs Let’s Get Real

I was playing a board game with my kids and my niece and at one point my niece was taking an extraordinarily long time to make a decision.

Like, so long that I was able to make a cup of coffee, get a dessert, and by the time I got back to the table heads were in hands and groaning was the main sound emanating from the room.

“Hold your horses, people,” was her response. “But,” I point out, “we don’t know what you are waiting for; you have no good options!” My niece’s next statement is the classic: “If I keep looking I may find one.”

I’m betting, like me, you have seen or been in a similar situation – playing Stuck by Norah Jones on repeat while staring at a too expensive notepad filled with meaningless doodles because a decision is looming and I don’t feel like I have enough intel.

It’s labeled Analysis Paralysis and is played out in houses, cars, meeting rooms, and in just about any situation where a group wants to make a decision but someone wants to keep researching options beyond the point of good sense. It is not a new phenomenon, having been recognized by Aesop, Shakespeare, and others across the centuries, and by anyone who has ever tried to decide where to have lunch with friends who can’t make up their mind.

Doing new things means some ambiguity. It is easy to search for a better solution than the ones that you have available, or find yourself chasing trails in the elusive search for certainty, in such a way that a decision or action is never taken. You may recognize sayings such as “perfect is the enemy of good enough” or “gilding the lilly” – all leaning towards the very popular public opinion of “enough already, let’s do this!”

But, to quote my niece, “Hold your horses, people!”

Just as it has been rightly recognized that too much analysis can be a bad thing, let’s not automatically jump on the bandwagon of the bias towards action. The same people who are asking us to “get on with it” may very well struggle with sunk cost because they started down the wrong path and now we’re stuck with something everyone hates. Frankly, I’ve seen just as much of Analysis Paralysis as I have with decisions gone wrong because they were made too quickly.

I cringe when I see articles that publish advice like “curb your curiosity” – really? Stop being curious? Let’s make sure we ask our kids to stop asking why as well. Or advice such as setting deadlines. Deadlines are fine if they are just that – the project is going to be dead in the water at this point. Setting a random deadline is just a way to set yourself up for frustration if the milestone doesn’t really mean anything. If there isn’t a true deadline, then when the decision is made is more of a question of comfort than it is of risk.

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Which gets me to this point: what you really want is a way to figure out The Real Question:

How to determine when to make a decision and take action?

It would be nice if there was an app for that, but in the meantime let me see if I can sum it up in a handy-dandy thought equation:

Time to Act = (Cost of Delaying)/(Benefit of Delaying) > 1

First, determine the cost of delaying the decision. If it doesn’t cost anything now, then take more time for analysis. At some time there will be a tipping point. Action is expensive if you are redoing work, and sometimes waiting means that value is lost or expenses can occur, such as not meeting a mandate.

All of this assumes that you have clarity on what you are actually trying to achieve. If you don’t know that, then any action, whether it is analysis or action, is just fuzzy math. It also assumes that you are not confusing certainty with clarity (more on this in a future post).

I like the way that Lon Roberts breaks up Analysis Paralysis into three categories, which can then help you make a more informed decision about the costs of action:

  • Analysis Process Paralysis
  • Risk Uncertainty Paralysis
  • Decision Precision Paralysis

In reality, the best advice is what Lon wittily calls Brainwidth Expansion but basically means get some help; the person slogging through the details often doesn’t have the viewpoint of someone who can see the big picture. Ask them to help you answer these two questions:

  • Can we answer this right now?
  • How could this go wrong if not answered?

So let’s help my niece know when to just play the game and stop looking for a better solution: when more than half of us at the table are ready to kick her out of the game if she takes any longer, it might be best if she picks a move quickly or risk getting no dessert.

How a Project Manager’s Soft Skills Can Make or Break Project Success

Written by Gretchen Stup on . Posted in Articles. 13 Comments on How a Project Manager’s Soft Skills Can Make or Break Project Success

Your role as a Project Manager (PM) goes beyond the management of scope, budget, and schedule.

Having the knowledge and capability to manage these critical project management tools is essential; however, these skills alone will not keep a project team motivated and engaged. Instead, efficient processes and functional relationships within the team create the opportunity for successful projects. Soft skills serve as a pillar for these desired outcomes, and there are many soft skills that contribute to leadership; being able to delegate and offer constructive criticism, as an example, but your interpersonal or “people” skills are equally as important. Soft skills help you to build positive relationships with the project team and other key stakeholders and can help with effective conflict resolution, both of which are important characteristics of an effective team leader.

At some point, anyone can hit a motivational rock-bottom. A difficult day, week, or month can impact inspiration and drive. That’s why, as an effective PM, one of your many responsibilities is to lead your team members in a way that keeps them motivated and on track. In many projects, there are multiple phases of work, plenty of assumptions and many unknowns. These uncertainties may lead to longer programs, frequent changes in direction, stops and starts, difficult problems, complex teams, and/or high team changeover. Any of which can impact a project team’s morale. As a result, one of the biggest challenges PMs face is the delicate balance of hard project management skills and the soft interpersonal skills required to keep a team engaged and moving in the same direction.

No one comes to work with the intent to do a bad job. We all want to contribute and feel like we are adding value, but too often feeling overwhelmed, facing controversy, uncertainty and/or even corporate hierarchy can get in our way. This can tank motivation! And that’s because motivation is a function of your environment. The following is a series of behaviors that can help a PM become an effective leader that earns the team’s respect and is able to keep them motivated for success.

Be pleasant

First and foremost, engage, communicate, and get to know your team members as both professionals and regular people. Listen to them, then show them that you care by providing praise and offering constructive feedback on their work. Mutual respect at work is an important building block to good teamwork so take the time to create relationships with your team members. Get to know who they are and what motivates them. Show them that you care about their successes, then work to understand what’s important to them and what they need to succeed. This can all affect a team member’s sense of belonging, motivation, engagement level and overall attitude toward the project. Plus, people like to work for people that they enjoy being around.

Demonstrate that you value your team members by acknowledging personal events like birthdays, weddings, births, and promotions. Consider buying a card and circulating it through the team for signatures or bring a batch of cupcakes to a team meeting for big personnel milestones. Remember that your team members are real people with human feelings. Showing that you care when a personnel milestone is met promotes work/life balance, which can make work a happier place.  

Be a good role model

If you really want to motivate your team, then you should strive be a good role model. Be someone that each individual team member can look up to and respect. You don’t have to be perfect, but you should be hard working, reasonable, willing to communicate, and generally a reliable employee that the team looks to as a valuable resource. If you’re not demonstrating the very traits you want your team to embody, then why would or should they follow suit? If you’ve made mistakes, don’t try to cover them up. Instead, own up to them and exemplify how to recover and work towards a solution. Treat your employees with kindness and respect and set a baseline of good behavior. Again, be a good role model!

Include team members in decisions

Employees are typically excited when a new project begins, the team is formed, and the project plan is being formalized. One way to promote early buy-in, collaboration and motivation is to work closely with the team in defining the project strategy and making strategic decisions as the project progresses. In other words, let the team contribute to the strategy. Members of a project team have past experiences and insightful ideas that can make a significant difference. Considering individual ideas promotes ownership in the project, endorses work load acceptance, and results in a team that is motivated to get things done.

Monitor progress and provide feedback

As a PM, you need a way of measuring and tracking performance and communicating with the team about how they are doing. Most obviously, this is critical to comparing progress against the project schedule, budget and scope. How are we doing against the baseline of what we said we were going to do? Are we on track? Are we off track, and if so, how do we get back? Assessing progress is also critical to determining if the project team members are as productive as you need them to be. It provides an opportunity to engage, communicate, improve and ensure alignment. Good workers are going to strive to do their best, but their best may not produce the results you expect. Unless you engage the team, how will you know whether the poor results were caused by a lack of individual effort or whether the failure was a result of the environment or process? Either of these can (and likely will) lead to negatively impacting motivation, which may be salvageable by providing additional training or expertise to handle issues.

If you sense or know that a team member is struggling, provide your advice on how to navigate the issue or point them to someone who can help. Closely monitoring performance and communicating your observations, shows the project team that you are aware of them and care about how they are doing. Talk to your team members regularly, both formally in meetings and informally over lunch or coffee. Provide feedback on their performance. Let them know if the project is (or isn’t) on track. Tell them what challenges are currently being faced because they may be able to contribute helpful suggestions. If you have a concern, tell them and give them the opportunity to correct their behavior. It’s hard to see a downside in constructive communication.

Understand strengths and weaknesses

If there is an important detailed task at hand, is the person assigned to it a detail-oriented person? If they are not, attempt to reassign the task. If this is not possible, provide support so that they don’t get frustrated, embarrassed, or lose their motivation. Consider adding others with complementary skills. It’s important to understand your team’s skills, expertise, idiosyncrasies, personal preferences and shortcomings. We’re all individuals with unique assets; understand what they are and use them to the project’s advantage.

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Create an inviting environment1

If things in the office are tense, impersonal, cold, or unfriendly, then employees won’t be as motivated as they would be if they walk into an inviting office that fosters collaboration and positivity. We all contribute to the office environment, and a good leader can help to set up a positive culture where people feel happier and are more likely to thrive. When you come in, smile and say hello, and keep your eyes open for those times when you can acknowledge a job well done. Everybody appreciates recognition! Always be aware of your attitude. For the sake of the project team, and everyone’s motivation, put on a happy face and portray yourself in a positive way (even if you may not feel like it that day). Remember that positivity breeds positivity. A friendly, casual atmosphere where people feel comfortable promotes job satisfaction, and can naturally help to keep team members performing at their best. Encourage communication in person, instead of over chat or email. Get people walking around and talking to each other. For virtual teams, pick up the phone or use video conferencing like Skype! When people are working remotely, this can do a lot to make them feel part of the team. While some may perceive this as less efficient, the morale boost associated with personal interactions is worth it.

Foster an environment of personal and professional improvement

Without growth, an individual’s job may get stale and boring, which can suck away professional motivation. If you see an educational opportunity such as a seminar or webinar that would be a good fit for a member of the project team, let them know. Provide the project team mentorship and have them work with other members of the team who can help them to grow. Point them to relevant business or leadership books that you may have read or presentations that you may have sat in on. Establish an educational environment by developing project strategies that require cooperation between team members so that they are compelled to work together to achieve that goal. Not only does it provide an opportunity to build relationships but also provides an opportunity for learning. Both of these are important aspects of job satisfaction and motivation. Project success is positively influenced by collaborative efforts and an environment that encourages growth.

Celebrate Successes

This is a big one! Have you ever worked hard on something, your proud of what you did, think it went pretty well, but no one provides feedback? It’s a pretty deflating feeling. On the other hand, being appreciated for good work is motivating. That’s why, as a PM, you need to be aware of and celebrate successes, and not just at the end of the project, but all along the way. Especially when a project may be a long-term engagement, it’s important to celebrate smaller milestones.

Often, we get into the habit of thinking that appreciation is only relevant in extreme or unusual events. There are actually a multitude of actions that can be recognized. When a project team member has the courage to express a different viewpoint to help the team work through something, that deserves recognition; when you see or hear about a team member who has successfully resolved a challenging customer service problem, it should be acknowledged; if an individual steps up and works extra hours to finish an important work package or finds a way to simplify a process to expedite things, it makes a difference and should be recognized. Acknowledge, “Hey, we met that!” Be excited about accomplishments and help the team to look forward to the next accomplishment. Employees value small gestures, and the regular “thank you” or “good job” can go a long way in making the project team feel valued, which can drive them to work harder and stay engaged.  

Use positive reinforcement

Positive reinforcement is the practice of rewarding desirable employee behavior in order to strengthen that behavior. When you praise a team member for doing a good job, you increase the likelihood of him/her doing that job well again. Positive reinforcement both shapes behavior and enhances an employee’s self-image. Among other things, positive reinforcement defines and communicates expected behaviors and strengthens the connection between high performance and rewards. As possible, formal processes could be developed around the behavior to promote repetition. This can reinforce an employee’s behavior immediately after learning a new technique and promote quick, thorough learning that motivates the team to work hard. Lack of reinforcement can lead to job dissatisfaction, so pay attention and recognize the right behaviors!

Knowing what keeps a project team motivated is vital, not only because it will inspire your team, but also because the wrong behaviors can kill motivation. Here are a few helpful hints. Do not focus only on work when talking with your team members; don’t play favorites and focus your attention only on those people; don’t ignore small victories; don’t overload team members with crushing amounts of work or set unrealistic deadlines; don’t dismiss ideas right off the bat; don’t hold useless meetings; and follow through when you say that you are going to do something. The more you know about what motivates team members and the more interest you have in their happiness and success, the more passionate they will be about their work and contributions. Remember that you are all real people that are part of the same team, working towards the same goal. Communicating regularly with team members and providing feedback on the status of the project and their performance promotes ownership of and motivation in the project. Honesty, integrity, constant communication, and other interpersonal soft skills are key to a happy, valued and high-functioning team.

References:

1Branchaud, T. (1993). The importance of respect in the workplace. jsnetworks.net.. Retrieved June 2018, from https://www.projecttimes.com/wp-content/uploads/attachments/Respect-in-the-Workplace1.pdf

2Author unknown. Practical management skills intuition. practical-management-skills.com. Retrieved June 2018, from http://www.practical-management-skills.com/motivation-techniques.html

3Lucas, S (updated 2018). Why soft skills are a manager’s most significant skills. www.thebalancecareers.com. Retrieved June 2018, from https://www.thebalancecareers.com/why-soft-skills-are-important-for-managers-4158692

4Doyle, A (updated 2018). Motivational skills list and examples. www.thebalancecareers.com. Retrieved June 2018, from https://www.thebalancecareers.com/motivational-skills-with-examples-2059691

5Martin, P. K. & Tate, K. (2001). Boost your team’s energy. PM Network, 15(11), 20.

 

Author Bios:

Gretchen Stup (1st Author): Ms. Stup brings over seventeen years of experience in the management of government contracts and over twenty total years of experience working in a scientific contracting environment. Much of her experience lies in total project lifecycle management, including project planning, execution, monitoring, controlling, and closure, with a focus on managing and integrating the activities of numerous functional areas. As a Sr. Consultant for the Latham BioPharm Group (LBG), Ms. Stup is fluent in maintaining the Scope of Work (SOW), monitoring the program budget and timeline, coordinating communications, preparing reports, and presenting project status to all project stakeholders. Prior to joining LBG, Ms. Stup served first as a Risk Manager and next as a Sr. Project Manager for DynPort Vaccine Company. In her later role, she successfully managed multiple government contracts, including Plague and Tularemia vaccine development projects with values of $350M and $35M, respectively. She supported the development of Vaccinia Immune Globulin (VIGIV), which was one of the first FDA-licensed biodefense products. As a result, she is very familiar with and has proven her ability to navigate and satisfy the complex government reporting requirements. Besides her in-depth experience in the management of government contracts, she has been involved in the management and oversight of various subcontracting organizations, ranging from small R&D facilities to large, complex CMOs and CROs. Ms. Stup has experience with the Animal Rule and has supported FDA filings and negotiations through product licensure. Ms. Stup has a Bachelor of Science degree from Shepherd University and is a Project Management Professional (PMP) as certified by the Project Management Institute. 

Cassidy Cantin (2nd Author):  Cassidy Cantin has worked within the Life Sciences industry for the better part of a decade providing Program Management and Product Leadership with specific experience on vaccine and biosimilar development, as well as Business Development and Marketing expertise. As a Consultant for Latham BioPharm Group (LBG), Ms. Cantin utilizes her knowledge of program management to help clients manage the successful planning and delivery of their government and commercial programs. Her extensive skills in primary and secondary market research and competitive intelligence analysis will assist clients in making strategic decisions and developing their corporate strategy. Prior to LBG, Ms. Cantin was the Senior Manager of Business Development and Marketing at Pfenex Inc., a biologics company focused on biosimilar development. In addition to her business development and marketing responsibilities there, she managed government sponsored programs totaling over $30M and supported a number of successful government proposal efforts.  Ms. Cantin holds an MBA from San Diego State University with an emphasis in entrepreneurship and market research. She did her undergraduate work at University of California, San Diego where she earned a B.A. double major in Economics and Public Health. Ms. Cantin is also active at the national level for Women In Bio (WIB) where she served as WIB’s 2018 President.  

Michael McGinnis (3rd Author): Michael McGinnis has more than twenty years of international business development, strategic planning, marketing, program management and general management experience in the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology industries. At that Latham BioPharm Group (LBG), Mr. McGinnis is a partner in the firm and has been primarily been responsible for leading the Government Service Offering and supporting the successful acquisition and execution of new opportunities.  He also serves as a strategic consultant to clients in a variety of capacities and provides general management support and leadership to LBG.  Prior to LBG, as Director of New Business for DynPort Vaccine Company, Mr. McGinnis was responsible for leading the company’s new business activities and functions in the US Government sector. He was actively engaged with various HHS and DoD agencies, and relevant industry collaborators, i.e. Pharma/Biotech, CROs, and CMOs. As part of this role, Mr. McGinnis was responsible for all aspects of new business, including providing strategic oversight of both technical and budgetary aspects of proposals in response to US Government medical countermeasure advanced development program solicitations. Prior to joining DVC, he worked at ICON Clinical Research, as Executive Director of Sales, and at MedTrials, Inc. as the Associate Director of Business Development & Marketing, and held various leadership roles with global business development and marketing responsibilities for the CROs in the Biopharmaceutical, Pharma and Medical Device industries. His previous experience also includes working at Aerotek, a multi-billion-dollar staffing company out of Baltimore, MD, where he provided strategic marketing support and leadership to multiple divisions of the company.   Mr. McGinnis earned a B.S. in Business Administration from Towson University, an M.B.A. from Loyola University Maryland, and an M.S. in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University. . 

Borrowing Your Watch to Tell You the Time

Written by Paul Taplin on . Posted in Articles. 9 Comments on Borrowing Your Watch to Tell You the Time

9 ways to achieve exceptional value from consultants, and prove that the old joke has lost its relevance.

The primary reason for engaging a consultant is to add tangible value to an organisation’s business using expert resources unavailable internally and leveraging off the consultant’s skills and experience. Another key reason is to provide objectivity in an environment that otherwise may be compromised, for instance, across cultural divides, where there is a lack of trust, or where enhanced security and/or confidentiality is required.

There are several other reasons that organisations cite, some more legitimate than others, including:

  • Providing temporary resources to augment short term gaps in the organisation;
  • Providing professional kudos for “selling” difficult issues;
  • Shifting responsibility for solving intractable problems;
  • Accelerating the pace necessary to reach a solution;
  • Working outside the normal strictures of the organisation; and
  • Improving the organisation’s networking and communication on difficult issues.

The results can vary from disappointment through to absolute satisfaction, and most of it depends on how you engage the consultant in the first instance, and how well placed your organisation is to work collaboratively with the consultant.

Here are some tips to help ensure that your organisation will get the value and benefits you paid for!

1. Know your objectives and constraints

What are the objectives you are trying to achieve? Why can’t those objectives be achieved with internal resources? Carefully enunciate your required objectives, deliverables and constraints, and test them around your organisation before going to the market for a consultant.
Don’t expect the consultant to second-guess your intentions, or you will waste a lot of money and time just circling the wagons searching for a common purpose and rationale for the consultancy.

2. Identify your resource gaps

What skills and experience are required to successfully meet the task requirements and satisfy your objectives? What skills and experience elements are missing from your organisation that are required to add value to the proposed initiative? Are these available in the marketplace at a reasonable cost? Once identified, you can then specify the nature of the resources that you are seeking.

3. Specify the desired outcomes, not the methodology

You may well have a plan for how you would like to progress the consultancy, but a competent consultant will bring experience from elsewhere, and may suggest an alternative methodology that may better suit your needs. So, don’t lock yourself or the consultant in too tightly, or you will miss the opportunity to innovate, and possibly save money.

4. Ensuring access to organisation data

The process of “borrowing your watch” assumes that it is in good order and accurate, and mainly refers to the fact-finding elements of the consultancy. Management may be unaware of the difficulty in gaining access to the necessary data, including:

  • Lack of data or gaps in the data;
  • Data disaggregated around different parts of the organisation;
  • Poor quality, “unclean” or out of date data; and
  • Disparate and incompatible formatting issues for data from different sources.

It is prudent to make sure that the proposed methodology will be supported by the data that is known to be on hand, or if not, including data assembly as part of the consultant’s scope.

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5. Lowering the organisational barriers

Are there any cultural or trust barriers to the entry of an external consultant? Although normally an advantage for traditional in-house activities, a tightly knit organisation may militate against the entry of a consultant. At its worst, the consultant may find the barriers impenetrable because of passive resistance in providing timely access to key staff and information.

6. Look for industry/issue familiarity

If possible, adopt a selection process that includes a demonstration of the familiarity that the potential consultant already possesses in your industry, with your issues’ and with your desired outcomes. That proven familiarity will assist in getting the project off to a good start – hitting the ground running. You won’t be wasting money on excessive familiarisation and orientation.

7. Seek quality in the consultant’s personnel

One of the key reasons for engaging a consultant is to buy the consultant’s corporate experience in delivering solutions in your contextual framework. But as you progress through the consultancy it will become apparent that it is the personal attributes and experience of the deployed consulting staff that really make a difference.

Before you get too carried away with the consultant’s corporate profile, or the consulting director’s CV, look very closely at the CVs of the actual consulting staff that are being offered. The quality of the consulting staff to be deployed is of utmost importance for projects that require innovation, creativity, critical thinking and professional insight.

8. Engage a consultant on quality not price

Unless you are simply looking for a body shop, supplying general resources on an hourly or daily basis, always try and engage the consultant on quality not price. If you are completely driven by price, you will just get what you paid for.
If intending consultants believe that you are driven entirely by price, they may, in turn, be driven to quote on this basis. Rather than massage their corporate overhead, they may structure their offer with predominantly with low cost inexperienced personnel, and with very few hours allocated for senior supervisory personnel.

9. Provide a tight scope and realistic pricing framework

One of the worst nightmares for a consultant is a potential client that has offered a loose or ambiguous scope but demands a lump sum price. In a buoyant market, consultants may not respond, but in a tight market they may feel obliged to respond as best they can.
Try and offer a tight scope described by objectives, outputs and outcomes, and provide as much contextual information as you can, including potential risks and issues.

If your proposed scope is currently too difficult to define sufficiently, consider engaging the consultant initially to assist in scoping and pricing the work. Then if you are happy with the outcome, you can re-engage that consultant for the project itself. If you are not so happy, you can go back to the market, at least now armed with better scope definition and an appreciation of likely pricing.

Finally…

If you’re likely to have difficulty in adopting some of these suggestions within the context of your organisation, and if high costs are at stake, you may have to engage a consultant to assist you in engaging a consultant! Not such a silly idea if you are contemplating the ultimate engagement of expensive services for a complex or time-consuming assignment!

If any of these suggestions resonate with you, I would be happy to hear your thoughts and experiences.