If projects are the way to go, workshops are the way to start

Everyone is doing projects. In our environment of intense competition and unbridled change most organisations are using projects to keep up and cut themselves some competitive edge. Some organisations are doing projects well, while others are incurring unnecessary costs due to failed projects.

Many projects just aren’t planned well. While writing this note I heard of a large organisation developing business-critical software. It seems their planning covered the software but none of the training and take-up issues required to sell the new package to the users who have a selection of other packages to use. This has put the project and the business at risk. By all accounts, the project board have yet to realise that implementation happens through people, not software. And “people” means everyone who needs to support or use software, not a consultant who wears his y-fronts on the outside.

An effective planning process may have prevented this problem. So what does an effective planning process give you? A neat plan in MS Project? Clearly allocated tasks and deadlines for deliverables? A clear supporting budget and resource plan? A team of people excited about the delivery of something that will make a difference to the organisation?

Surely the answer is “all of the above”. The plan and accompanying documentation should provide administrative tools to manage the project as well as a framework for telling the project story. The plan should help the team to celebrate who they are, where they started out together, the crises they have overcome, what they have achieved, and where they are going. Ultimately your project must have full commitment from all stakeholders if it is to succeed.

Projects result in change. Remember that projects involve change and we all resist change. These five rules may help to understand why this is so: All systems are complex We only ever commit to what we create ourselves There is richness in diversity We react to directives (we don’t always obey them). Communication is the key.

Making a mess of project initiation is costly. Stumbling during initiation is frustrating and demoralising for a project team and can jeopardise the success of the project. Slippage usually costs the business in terms of lost revenue, lost opportunities and lost time ahead of the competition. A more insidious cost of ineffectual project initiation is the lack of support from stakeholders, outside of the project team, who are required to resolve issues beyond the power of the project manager. If these people have less than an unshakeable commitment to the project they will not commit their time, attention and energy to the resolution of issues directed their way. More frustration and delays!

Projects run on commitment

Stakeholder commitment is critical to success in projects. Winston Churchill said “A plan is nothing but planning is everything”. I have seen organisations plan projects using a linear, sequential process interviewing one person at a time. This is usually protracted, frustrating and ineffective. Other teams use an expert, autocratic approach where the scope, deadlines and budget for projects are set by a sponsor and handed to a project manager who has very little room for negotiation and no process for gaining commitment from the key stakeholders. This is a recipe for hardship, demotivation and ultimately a high rate of failure.

The million dollar question then is:

“How do you get full commitment to an excellent plan from a group of key stakeholders and excellent project resources?

And here is the million dollar answer:

Well, in a project workshop, of course!

I do many project workshops for a large financial services organisation. They start all of their initiatives with a project workshop. Over the five years in which I have been working with them I witnessed the creation of a powerful conduit for communication. Diverse groups meeting to create solutions to strategic issues has allowed relationships to develop which otherwise would not have existed. This has created incredible energy. And because they have been applying the process consistently they are now able to initiate some projects in less than half the time.

A well run workshop will cover all of the above five points

When teams meet in facilitated sessions they give themselves opportunity to communicate at different levels, about a range of topics. The potential exists for pervasive communication.

Here are some of the elements that should be covered in a project definition workshop:

  • The Background to the project (ask the question “Why are we doing this work NOW?”)
  • The Objective of the project
  • The Scope of the project (What is in and what is out)
  • The Project Team
  • The Project Risks Dependencies (what is going on out there that we need to plan for)
  • A Network Diagram (showing the sequence of tasks, deliverables and milestones).

So how are you going to start your next project?

StrategyWorks has the expertise and the tools

As I have developed my facilitation practice I have begun to focus on three core offers:

Growing the business: Facilitating workshops to develop strategy. Initiating projects in concept-setting, scoping and detailed planning workshops. Process workshops and process consulting. Problem definition and resolution workshops and consulting.

Growing the team: Organising and facilitating team building sessions. Working with adventure organisations to offer team bonding sessions. Team development training including “Five Steps to Wellness”. Conflict management workshops.

Growing the person: Coaching and mentoring in “one on one” sessions. Team training focussed on developing the individuals within the team.

If you would like to learn more about how I could get involved in your team, please give me a call. I would be happy to meet with you to discuss your requirements and a general approach to an intervention at no charge.

Call me on +27 (83) 708 2588.

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