Donna FitzgeraldI was just reviewing a presentation for a client and the light bulb just went on. The presentation discussed the common problem with having too many projects that don’t actually further the strategy and the presentation seemed to imply that this was a process compliance issue. I can understand their perspective. Layout the steps and any monkey will follow them. The problem is the quality from this approach is TERRIBLE. A much simpler approach which actually takes less time and is much more effective is to make sure that PEOPLE are involved in and committed to the fruition of the strategy. This is a simple concept known as creating a shared vision.
Maybe there’s no room for that in companies any more, since we’ve created the cult of the celebrity CEO and the new aristocracy but it seems such a waste. About 5 or 6 years ago I had the privilege of sharing a picnic bench with Ken Oshman, the original CEO and one of the founders of Rolm. In reflecting on old times it was clear to me that Ken still had a vision of what the company should have been and where he would have headed the business if we hadn’t sold to IBM. Ken had a Vision and he had no trouble sharing it. I worked at Intel before that and it went without saying that Andy Grove had a vision. I worked for Sun after I left Rolm and Scott McNealy was happy to share his vision for the company with me as we chatted in the hallway one morning. The key of this story isn’t that I was in a position to rub elbows with these gentlemen – the key was that I could then carry these conversations back to my own team and make sure that the work we did supported where Ken or Andy or Scott wanted us to go. I also don’t mean to imply that the transmission of vision needs to come directly from the CEO. I’ve worked in companies where the CEO was so far away from me that he could have been on another planet, but I knew where we were heading because the EVP I worked for was the vision carrier.
Maybe I’ve been in unusual circumstances but I don’t think so. A couple of months ago, someone reminded me of the story of President Johnson’s visit to the Kennedy space center. It seems as he was touring the facility he stopped and talked with the custodian and asked him about what he did at the space center. His answer was “Mr. President, I’m helping send a man to the moon.” That to me is still the most classic example of a shared vision.
As PPM leaders we are natural vision carriers and vision is viral. I think we should concentrate more on sharing it early and often to ensure it gets into our projects rather than on worrying about creating a Process for insuring compliance.
Category: PMO Program Management Tags: Leadership, Shared Vision
2 responses so far ↓
1 Diane D. Miller October 22, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Donna – I think that I am quickly becoming your fan! I stumbled across your blog accidentially… or maybe it was really the right time for me to get here.
What a simple and profound truth you have stated in this post… to focus the project portfolio within an organization, there MUST be a shared vision. How else could people work toward a common goal? Most of the projects that would be voted out by a well structered scorecard would never even make it to a review because the people submitting it would know that it was not aligned with the strategic direction. Simple but profound.
The only caveat that I would add is that there are some (and I fear their numbers are growing) that act counter to the vision to pursue self-serving goals… protecting turf… building an empire… scrambling to the top…
These past few years have been an awakening for me. I now understand that some don’t behave better… not because they don’t know better… but because they don’t want to be better. This realization has radically changed my way of thinking and working with others.
My advice to other Project Portfolio Management Leaders would be to be unrelenting in carrying that torch of vision… but also be conscience of the many reasons why some in your organizations may not willingly align.
Diane D. Miller
DianeDMiller@gmail.com
2 Donna Fitzgerald November 9, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Diane,
Thanks for the kind comments. To your point there will always be stakeholders and sponsors totally focused on the WIIFM. The secret that I’ve found is that it’s often possible to structure a project to give them most of what they want while still ensuring the project really does provide value. If it’s not, it’s amazing how with a nudge here and a nudge there any project manager can make it clear that a “pet frog” project really shouldn’t be funded. The trick is doing the best work possible on the project all the while communicating that the value proposition seems to be very difficult to find. If you do it tackfully but with absolute honesty and objectivity you usual can find a win in there somewhere. It doesn’t work 100% of the time but it works often enough to be a technique worth trying.