Tag: Leadership

Walking The Reporting Tightrope in PMOs

Written by David Jones on April 10, 2024. Posted in Articles.

Within project management, reporting stands out as one of the most critical services provided by Project Management Offices (PMOs). It serves as a crucial communication tool for fostering stakeholder engagement and is frequently highlighted as a major contributor to P3M (Portfolio, Programme, and Project Management) maturity. It’s also the area most stakeholders express a desire to enhance.

So, why must PMOs navigate a tightrope between reporting well but seemingly never well enough?

When executed effectively, reporting delivers timely insights, analysis, and information on key delivery matters. This empowers executives to make well-informed decisions that directly influence organisational success. However, when reporting falters, it not only raises the risk of poor decision-making but also jeopardises support for the PMO itself.

In achieving PMO reporting maturity, three factors are important: data, culture, and application. An organisation must gather ample data to conduct meaningful analysis. It must also have a culture that fosters and supports candid reporting of both favourable and unfavourable developments. Finally, it requires leaders to recognise the significance of applying and using collated information to inform their decisions and take appropriate action.

These factors however, interplay with each other considerably to affect reporting maturity within PMOs.

For example, data collection can vary across organisations. Some PMOs can collect data from all projects whilst others can only collect from a few.

Cultural differences also influence how PMOs handle reporting, with psychologically safe organisations able to conduct truthful reporting. In these organisations, red statuses are used to direct support into areas that are under stress. Less psychologically safe organisations lead PMOs and managers to avoid reporting altogether or to hide negative statuses. In these organisations red statuses are treated as pariahs and buried from view.

The application of reporting also differs amongst organisations, with effective boardrooms leveraging reports to inform their decisions. Others merely review data but don’t use it in their decision-making. From these observations, three key learnings emerge.

Data gathering remains challenging for organisations.

While visualisation software tools offer sleek dashboards, effective reporting hinges on robust PMO processes and stakeholder buy-in. The most effective PMOs treat stakeholders as customers, ensuring transparency and demonstrating the benefits of reporting.

Cultivate the right culture.

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Overcoming cultural barriers to reporting, such as a reluctance to report negative statuses, is essential. A shift towards collaborative working environments that welcome truthful reporting is necessary. PMOs play a pivotal role in facilitating this shift by nurturing collaboration and providing support for projects in need.

Reporting’s true value lies not in the data, but in its application.

Merely reporting data is insufficient. Having correct data reported is good, but without analysis, using it is hard. To derive optimal value from reporting, organisations must utilise it to drive informed decision-making. PMOs should therefore coach leaders to leverage reported data to help make impactful decisions that drive positive change.

Reporting is a tightrope walk for PMOs, it’s capable of either bolstering decision-making and organisational success or undermining it. By addressing challenges in data collection, fostering a supportive reporting culture, and applying it in decision-making, PMOs can elevate their reporting maturity and contribute significantly to organisational success.

Team Building: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Written by George Pitagorsky on April 9, 2024. Posted in Articles.

These days many, if not all, of our projects are performed by cross-cultural teams. Not only do members come from different national and ethnic cultures, but they come from cultures based on mindset (for example progressive and conservative, woke and anti-woke), generational attributes, socio-political influences, corporate environments, and more.

Teams are vehicles for getting things done. When people come together to accomplish objectives – whether to win a game or perform a project – having an understanding among the team members regarding their objectives and the way they will work together is critical to success.

What Culture Is

“Culture is often described through Professor Geert Hofstede’s definition: The programming of the human mind by which one group of people distinguishes itself from another group – the set of shared beliefs, values, and norms that distinguish one group of people from another. As global organisations become increasingly diverse, understanding and managing cultural differences has become a critical competency for business leaders.”[1]

In human societies, culture is a concept that groups people based on shared knowledge, beliefs, values, and practices. A culture includes social norms, habits, customs, institutions, behaviors, beliefs, arts, laws, and more. We have many overlapping cultures – for example, corporate, regional, national, ethnic, generational, and religious. In teams, there are diverse cultural norms including those around cleanliness and neatness, how close people stand when talking, punctuality, and styles of dress.

Cultures are dynamic. They change as people’s needs change and as one culture is influenced by another. New cultures evolve out of this dynamic change process. Each team has a culture. Some are consciously created and understood, others, not so much.

Why Team Cultures are Important

Our culture influences our mindset with its beliefs, biases, and values as well as the way we work, play, dress, relate to one another, and communicate. The more that team members understand one another and agree upon values, goals, objectives, and communication and collaboration norms, the more team effectiveness increases.

What are the differences in behavior that get in the way of your team’s optimal performance? Are they caused by cultural differences?

“Anthropologists consider that world cultures vary along five consistent dimensions, which include collectivism versus individualism, and cultural preference for uncertainty avoidance. The extent to which cultures vary for these different dimensions can lead to very different expectations when it comes to interpersonal relationships and business communication.”[2]

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If some people have a cultural norm of rigidly adhering to punctuality and others are more accepting of a looser adherence, conflict is likely. For example, a U. S. employee visiting his Scandinavian company’s home office was shocked and insulted when he was not permitted to enter a meeting to which he was five minutes late. The cultural norm in that company’s home office was that if you were not on time, then don’t come at all. In the U. S. division coming in a few minutes late was acceptable. The American’s lateness influenced the local colleagues’ opinion of him and made integrating him into the team more difficult.

In another example, there may be a clash between team members from a culture that values assertiveness and tolerates some abrasiveness and those from cultures that view conflict and abrasive language as undesirable. When an assertive team member puts forth an idea, she might expect others to bring up conflicting ideas or criticisms. When they don’t assert their opinions, thinking of doing so as being rude or disrespectful, the assertive person, not understanding the cultural norm in play, may take silence as agreement. The result would be adopting a less-than-effective idea, creating a design or plan deficiency.

A project manager from a culture that avoids uncertainty will tend to strictly adhere to detailed structured plans and take fewer risks out of fear of failure. This can frustrate team members who have a higher tolerance for ambiguity and seek to innovate, take a more agile approach, and change the plan to obtain more creative outcomes.

What We Can Do

Cultural consciousness and emotional/social intelligence can avoid the negative impact of cultural differences. Cultural consciousness means being mindfully aware of culture as a force in team performance, of the cultural attributes of team members, of the ability to transcend cultural conditioning, and of the tendency to think one’s culture is better than others. Emotional/social intelligence means having the capacity to be aware of one’s feelings, able to manage one’s behavior and be sensitive to the feelings and behaviors of others. As individuals, we can choose to be adaptive to our current situation rather than being limited by cultural norms that are no longer relevant or useful.

As project managers, we can build a team culture that respects the cultural backgrounds of team members while cultivating an understanding of how to behave in a way that leads to the team’s success. For example, when it comes to decision-making, adopting an approach like the Six Hats model makes it a norm to look at an idea critically and from multiple perspectives opens the door to a critical analysis of the idea. Combine that with the awareness that avoiding conflict robs the team of useful information, and that exhibiting abrasive speech patterns and behavior may be taken as a sign of weakness, a personal attack causing another to back off or fire back to escalate a conflict and redirect the process away from the idea content.

Creating and sustaining effective teams requires cross-cultural awareness training to promote mutual understanding and respect, effective communication processes, and team-building activities to speed up the movement from forming to norming without much storming, to promote optimal performing.

Make sure that team members can fully express their opinions and needs. Consciously agree upon common values and goals to achieve a team culture that integrates the multiple cultures of its members.

We build a team, and once it’s built, we sustain it throughout its life. Like any structure, if we build it well, sustaining it is easy. However, it takes ongoing mindful awareness and patient effort to overcome the obstacles presented by cultural differences and turn them into strengths.

[1] https://www.hofstede-insights.com/intercultural-management

[2] https://toppandigital.com/us/blog-us/saying-no-how-conflict-avoidance-varies-between-cultures/#:~:text=Cultures%20such%20as%20the%20USA,as%20Thailand%2C%20Japan%20and%20China.

On-Site vs In-Office Experience – Word to the Interns

Written by Patrick Mwangi on March 27, 2024. Posted in Articles.

As you exit or take a break from your learning institutions and transit to the industry, you carry a lot of fantasies in your head about the good and comforting expectations that your tutors lied to you about. The construction industry in this country is not thoroughly regulated. Doctors have very good advocates that make their line of work look civilized and even indoors—what you call white collar. Your first test on the field is your capacity to bear what happens on the ground compared to what you have been writing in your books.

For the intern, who is either an Architect(Arch.), Quantity Surveyor(QS) or Structural Engineer(Eng.), the situation is not so tough as you will apply about 72% of your theory on site. The incoming project managers have a tough ride as you only apply 28%. As the engineer or Qs get on paper to do his calculations, you will sit on a corner and begin shaking your head in all directions, scanning for solutions on how to contain an emerging risk on site.

I recommend that you begin your journey as a site guy rather than an office guy. A lot of events happen on site that you will never get to experience while sitting in the office enjoying the free wi-fi and 10 a.m. tea. First, you will be able to expand your network through other professionals that you interact with through site meetings. Second, you will have high chances of landing a direct client, as they prefer to see the quality of your work rather than your academic portfolio. Third, you will be able to appreciate the role of builders, as you will feel a sense of pride as they transfer your work to the ground.

For architects, you will appreciate how the elements of design are practically implemented. For example, space, function, mood, and perception. For engineers, you will need to check how the design mix ratio is practically achieved as well as the reinforcement patterns in your drawings. For quantity surveyors, you will be able to do re-measurements for valuation purposes and breakdown your bill of quantities into a schedule of materials, which is the only document that suppliers understand.

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If you continue forcing your way to offices to only take care of paper work, then you are in the wrong industry. Leave that to accountants and politicians. From my experience, the office guy who rarely associates himself with the construction bit is the main cause of conflicts, starting from project inception to handover. He creates a moody environment between the consultant and the builder without appreciating the importance of “alternative measures” on site, especially where the situation is not so critical.

For example, if you, as the engineer, sit in the office designing and checking the suitability of your structural analysis just using software and fail to come on site, this is what happens; assuming you indicated bar x for a column and you are briefed that such a bar is currently out of stock in the market, what will you do? Because you want to be bossy with no tolerance to brainstorm with the site guy, you end up ordering for work to be halted until bar X is restored. The client will term you incompetent because you lack a versatile mind, thereby causing an unnecessary delay to the project. If you were the professional who was a site guy, you would let the builder continue with another bar, but in such a way that the purpose that was to be served by bar X is still maintained.

As I conclude, there is a common Chinese proverb that says, “What you hear, you forget; what you see, you remember; what you do, you understand.“ All are lessons right there. When you also go to the site, don`t just be there to whirl your eyes around. Take that dumpy level and proceed with setting out, obviously with some guidance. If you don`t understand, ask the builder, and you will be a complete construction prodigy.

The Karma of Postponing Due Diligence

Written by George Pitagorsky on March 20, 2024. Posted in Articles.

There is a trade-off between doing work now and postponing it until you are forced to do it.

The law of karma says that what you do and don’t do causes a ripple effect. So, be careful to avoid the unwanted consequences of putting off review and assessment, risk management, planning, project administration, and resource management work.

Due Diligence

Due diligence is the opposite of negligence. In finance, project, and acquisition management, it is the effort to collect, analyze, and use data to make decisions. Due diligence is the work to collect, assess, prevent, mitigate, and account. In project management, it is the process of deciding whether to pursue or pass on a project based on a risk-reward assessment. It seeks to determine if the project is feasible, legal, ethical, and profitable. From a project and process management view, add planning, regular maintenance, and quality management to the definition of due diligence.

Bypass due diligence and the risk of failure goes way up.

Accounting and Due Diligence

Doing my tax accounting reminded me of the importance of the accounting part of due diligence and the understanding that not doing accounting and regular status reporting makes the rest of due diligence far more difficult than it needs to be.

Every year I resolve to take the time to clean up my data and set things in place for a far easier next year. But it is already March and I’d have to spend even more hours dealing with this ‘stuff’ when I have many other things to do to catch up for all the time I spent on the taxes. Then because I have so much else to do, I do not take the time to regularly do the accounting that would make taxes easy, even if not pleasant.

I postpone the effort and each year I repeat the pain.

Project Management

For one reason or another, we often put off doing unexciting and easily postponed chores.

With the pressure to “act now” and get our projects off the ground, we often find that risk-reward decision-making is given only cursory attention or bypassed altogether. Amid a dynamic complex project with tight deadlines, limited resources, and “problems” the only thing that matters is getting the work done, now. Anything else is a distraction.

This kind of heads-down, undistracted, focused work on a project can be useful. However, if you are working without regularly stepping back, you and your organization will suffer. If you think and act as if doing status reports, risk management, communication, human caretaking, and project accounting are distractions, think again.

Project performance includes Project management. Due diligence during the project means doing:

project accounting – cost and effort tracking, issue logs, status reports
regular quality assurance/process-focused meetings
risk management
quality control
communication
human caretaking (stakeholder management)

Above the project level, in the higher-order process, due diligence means:

process management – making sure the process, methodology, standards, templates, roles, and responsibilities are as best as they can be
portfolio management – making sure that the right projects are being initiated and realistically scheduled to avoid overwhelming resources and taking on projects that are likely to be disappointing.

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The Higher-order Process

When we refer to the project level and above, we recognize that projects are being performed within a higher-order process, which includes process and portfolio management, environmental conditions, and resource management. Both the project and higher levels are important, and they are interrelated. However, given the nature of organizations with short-sighted priorities, the higher-order process is often overlooked.

The higher-order processes are complex and operate in multiple dimensions such as portfolio management occurring in the context of organizational strategy, market conditions, regulatory issues, and more. The benefits and costs of doing and not doing due diligence at this level are not immediately realized. They make themselves known when something goes wrong, and the problem cannot be explained by and resolved at the project level.

For example, your project resources may be taken away and reassigned to another project causing your project to be delayed. If senior stakeholders are ok with the delay because it was factored into their decision to remove the resources, then there is no problem. But if this happens frequently across multiple projects it is a sign that the project portfolio may not be being effectively managed.

If you do not take the time to evaluate the legal, budgetary, risks, and reward factors of a project, the consequences are not felt until the project fails or a regulatory body steps in to put the brakes on. If project performers are constantly complaining about having to do useless work on administrative tasks, it may be a sign that procedures and templates need to be reviewed and repaired, performers need to be better trained, or that the wrong methodology approach is being used.

Fine-tuning or more radically changing the higher-order process affects the quality of individual project performance.

Project-level Due Diligence

Accounting within each project is part of project management due diligence. Every team member, not just the project manager, must allocate time and focus attention on tasks that may seem to be distractions from the so-called “real work.”

Project accounting is done to satisfy regulatory and administrative needs, for example, knowing how money has been spent and resources used. In addition, stakeholders want to know what is going on and how it is affecting their expectations. Will the project be on time and budget? What events have occurred that can get in the way?

But that’s not the only reason. Project accounting sets the stage for due diligence at a higher level. It leaves an audit trail with the data needed to refine portfolio management decision-making and methodology assessment. With project-level reporting comes the ability to look back at what happened to learn from it. Hindsight is not 20-20 unless there is a record to review. Memories are imperfect. How will the data from this project influence decision-making at a higher level?

Commitment and Follow-Through

The bottom line is to build due diligence activities into work plans and commit to following through with effective portfolio management decision-making, raising the consciousness of stakeholders, and ongoing refinement of the project performance approach.

Brewing Success: Managing Your eLearning Project One Cup at a Time

Written by Tracy Contrino on March 19, 2024. Posted in Articles.

Coffee is a staple of my morning routine. With little deviation, I make my coffee as soon as I sleepily saunter into the kitchen. I don’t think much about it, the process is nearly hard-coded at this point: choice of favorite mug, mug placed, coffee prepped, brew cycle on- then I await the pop-pop-popping of hot water as the sweet aroma fills my kitchen. My brain is hyper focussed on both the sounds and smells like a Pavolivan trained dog awaiting the liquid award. Then finally, I add cream and a touch of honey (yes honey, it’s delicious!) and after my first sip, my morning is ready to begin.

I get it. I’m in a rare class of those who need this cup of coffee to go beyond the simple, great, I have coffee. I admittedly spend a lot of money on this caffeinated nectar. It’s my one true pleasure each morning. I have a deep appreciation for connoisseurs who hone their skills and master the art of selecting beans, grinding them to perfection, and brewing a rich, flavorful caffeinated beverage. I read about coffee entrepreneurs and love to smell fresh beans when I’m in a coffee shop. I even enjoy reading the descriptions of flavors: medium body with tasting notes of nutty, sweet chocolate, mild citrus and a bright finish….yes please, I’ll have a cup of that!

I realize that for the vast majority of the population, the process behind an excellent cup of coffee doesn’t really matter, it’s about the end result done right. Yet one morning, I started thinking about both my morning routine and the overall coffee process, going from a bean in a field to a liquid in someone’s cup. And that’s when it hit me that the process of making coffee bears a striking resemblance to eLearning project management. As it happened that morning, I had a busy day of deliverables and thought to myself, “huh, as clients receive their final deliverables, they’re likely unaware of all the careful planning, execution, and evaluation that goes on behind the scenes. They want their deliverable, done correctly and as expected”. So I set out to write about the two processes and their similarities.

Selecting the Right Beans (Project Initiation/Needs Assessment)

A high-quality, aromatic coffee bean sets the foundation for a rich, silky cup of Java and a well- organized pre-project launch process is paramount to the success of an eLearning project.

For example, a coffee’s success includes bean variety, the growing region, climate (including altitude) and how the beans are harvested and processed. Typically, there’s no need to think about anything else in the process. Sound familiar?

As PMs, the project initiation phase is arguably the most critical stage of the entire project. Above all other tasks, a PM’s job is to review and/or confirm the target audience, determine what, if any constraints or risks are present, understand scope, draft a schedule, confirm resources and ensure that all source materials were shared. In other words, conduct a thorough needs assessment. An air-tight project initiation sets the stage for a balanced and mellow project experience. Again, if done right, there’s no need for your learners to think about anything else in the process.

Measuring and Grinding (Project Planning)

Precision is key in both coffee and project planning. How one grinds coffee beans will play a significant role in the flavor, aroma, and strength of your final drink. If your beans aren’t measured correctly before grinding, or if the grind size doesn’t match the intended strength, that cup of coffee will taste acidic, weak, or sour, all things I cannot tolerate.

In eLearning, the best way to avoid a weak project finish is early preparation to ensure that all team resources are informed of the project objectives, deliverables, schedule and risks. An eLearning project is only as successful as the individual parts. The more project information a PM shares with the project team members, the higher the probability of success. Kickoffs are the best way to communicate with your project teams.

Kickoffs ensure that your team understands the schedule, the deliverables and that everyone knows the part they’ll play in the project. It’s a time for the team to ask questions, get to know each other if they don’t already, and to understand accountability for the project success. Projects started without kickoffs often go sideways because they’re missing precision from the start. Take the time to measure the project needs beforehand, so that your project begins from a position of strength.

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Power on- Whirring, Sizzle, Gurgle, Drip! (Official Project Kick-off)

Few things are better to coffee lovers than hearing the sound of the coffee machine preparing for your morning brew. It’s surely my favorite part, as I detailed at the start of this story.

The official kick-off with your learning team is akin to powering on your coffee machine. Kick-off meetings are the time to confirm project scope, timing of milestones, agreements around project responsibilities, establishing meeting cadence, verifying source material status, and highlighting risks. Kick-off meetings set the foundation for a strong project start.

The best way that PMs can level-set expectations is via note-taking. Holding everyone on a client call responsible for their individual or collective parts is key, and live scribing is highly suggested so that the collective team agrees to action items and deadlines. With the advent of AI-based tools that are creating quite the sizzle in our industry, note taking is easier than ever before so there’s no need to skip this important step!

Brewing (Project In-Flight, Monitoring & Control)

Obviously, the best part of the brewing process is your satisfying cup of coffee. The preparation of your coffee beans invites the flavors from coffee grounds, and at that point, your coffee should brew as expected. Still, like any process, problems might arise. For example, the water temperature (targeted between 195°F to 205°F) could be off, or the wrong type of brewing method is used for the ground type which would heavily influence the role in flavor, or worse yet, user error- inserting the wrong sized filter or not measuring the water correctly. Keeping a close eye on the brewing process throughout and adjusting parameters as needed is the best way to achieve and brew the perfect cup.

Similarly, an eLearning project that is meticulously and methodically organized (during initiation and planning), should percolate to an ideal state, assuming the PM’s involvement includes excellent communication, detailed awareness, shared notes and prompt resolutions. Regularly assessing project progress is critical so that you can identify and rectify any issues quickly. Incorporating feedback from stakeholders is an ideal way to glean that your near final product is meeting/has met expectations.

Ask open, thoughtful questions during status meetings that begin with “How”, “What”, or “Tell me” as examples. Sending short (3 question max) surveys mid-project works too. Dropping a quick email that simply reads, “I am interested in hearing your feedback around how the project is progressing to date” could glean rich insight of an issue that may have not been covered during a standing meeting.

Enjoying the Final Cup (Project Closure)

Finally, it’s time to serve your eLearning project like a perfectly brewed cup of coffee. Present the finished product to stakeholders and ensure they have the tools and knowledge to make the most of it. After successfully conducting LMS testing and launching, your project is complete. Celebrate your team’s hard work and savor the sense of accomplishment.

And so, much like brewing a good cup of coffee, managing an eLearning project involves distinct phases, each crucial for a satisfying end result. Skipping or rushing through any phase can lead to a less-than-desirable outcome. By carefully tending to each step, eLearning project managers can ensure a successful and effective learning experience for their audience. If you brew your eLearning projects with the same care and precision as you would your favorite cup of coffee, you’ll serve up excellence every time.