Great project managers aren’t born, but it does take a certain sort as the saying goes. There will always be a balance between a project manager’s instinct and experience and the adherence to a flexible yet predefined project management methodology. All good project managers will possess a combination of acquired experience, a recognized qualification in […]
We live in a culture of yes. In the business world, we are taught to engage, be assertive and never turn down an opportunity. All of this behavior results in a whole lot of yeses (and time commitments). After all, saying yes is fun; it often feels a lot better than saying no. To further […]
One of today’s current buzz phrases in the management lexicon is that alignment of organizational goals should be aligned throughout an organization. Certainly, this is true, yet it’s often quoted without the real understanding of meaning or importance. A recent study by Capgemini and the IESE Business School, which surveyed 260 innovation executives globally, found […]
As discussed in Secrets to Business Transformation Success, successful projects are characterized by six things: a well-defined governance structure, strong sense of urgency, active sponsorship from leaders, engagement across all organizational levels, alignment with the organization’s existing systems and structures, and strategies for sustaining changes over the long term. Of these six characteristics, sponsorship is one of the most fundamental factors and the one that correlates […]
In their recent research report, 10 Best Practices in Organizational Change for Project Managers (August 29, 2011), Gartner focuses on the fact that project and program managers struggle with coordinating effective, organizational change practices. This struggle is compounded by an increasing rate of structural change from activities such as mergers and reorganizations, which is making change created […]
Our previous post highlighted how companies under-invest in organizational change management when it comes to system implementations. Many excellent IT system implementations never realize the long-term benefits they set out to achieve because companies focus disproportionately on the structure and technical aspects of the IT program itself, and not on engaging employees in the process […]
Successful change initiatives require strong committed leadership through the entire project by both the business sponsor and the implementation team members. When strong leadership is lacking, the risks are manifold, such as stakeholders believe the “wrong” people are leading the effort; leaders kick-off the initiative and are not seen or heard from again; leaders are […]
It’s easy to confuse project leadership with change leadership, or assume they are one in the same. In reality, the two are distinct sets of activities that require close coordination. Large business transformation initiatives require a strong mix of project leadership and change leadership to achieve their objectives. The list below provides hallmarks of good project leadership along with the corresponding […]
David Baker
Jesse Jacoby
Daniel Lock
