Time to Campaign!

A great way to establish a sense of urgency around the priority work and to produce a way to celebrate real wins is the use of campaigns.  Campaigns come in a variety of models; the most effective, in my view, are those designed similar to political campaigns – to win the hearts and minds of constituents.  Campaigns are an easy way to execute a corporate vision by consolidating the organization’s efforts into a theme and then communicating the victories.  What better campaign manager than the EPMO?  It makes total sense, as this is where all priority project information flows and it is a terrific way for the EPMO to enhance value to the organization – by looking outside the traditional PMO box.

Start the campaign as soon as work is announced and establish the duration of the campaign.  Clearly identify each objective of the campaign and be sure to announce each accomplishment as it occurs. In other words, if you can’t produce real-time updates, don’t bother, your campaign won’t work.

Campaigns work for the following reasons:

The power of the message.  Establish a message that resonates with all staff.  Make it a simple message that is easy to remember and too powerful to forget.  Use visuals or logos to promote the message.  Place campaign posters in common areas, where staff will see them on a regular basis.

The strength and ability of the people.  Your staff is great!  Acknowledge the power of people’s past accomplishments to rely on their ability to rally around the campaign’s goal.  Announce victories as soon as they are won; visually track the accomplishments.

The strength of logistics, support and planning.  Think of the EPMO as the “campaign management office”.  Use proven tools to plan, organize, and communicate the campaign.

The key to ultimate campaign success:  Find a message that will not only resonate with staff, but will mobilize them to take action.

Can You Hear Me?

Who says the PMO is only responsible for communicating project status reports or headlines when projects are in trouble?  Did you ever consider the opportunities for an Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) who coordinates and communicates business plan information across your organization?   How about informing staff on ALL business plan activities, so everyone has a solid understanding of what is important and how each staff member supports business plan success?

For mature EPMO’s, there is the constant challenge of representing ongoing value to the organization.  In other words, once you successfully introduce project management to the enterprise and things are humming along, what next?  How about partnering with other departments to identify new opportunities as you successfully support tactical execution of the business plan – After all, this is the primary mission of all successful EPMOs.   The EPMO can drive a large part of the communication associated with the development, launch, and monitoring of business plan activities, mostly because they sit in the air-traffic controllers seat — they see and hear it all – if positioned in the right place within an organization, that is.  One way to promote communication is to introduce manager tool kits, designed to provide key messages managers can use when communicating business plan information to staff. 

A manager tool kit provides functional managers with talking points; it may include a scripted PowerPoint presentation, and tips for customizing content and delivery to staff.  A Q& A tool that assists managers with typical anticipated questions is a helpful tool in any kit.  The purpose of a manager tool kit is to provide management with important information that can be delivered across the organization is a consistent fashion, irrespective of who delivers it.  It ensures key business units will hear the same information, regardless of where they sit in the organization.  It should be written in a way that strengthens key messages, reinforcing what is important for the organization’s future success and why certain work efforts are considered priorities, i.e. the project portfolio.

Be creative when working with your internal business partners.  Work with your communications department to include business plan updates (including project milestones) in company newsletters.  Don’t have a newsletter?  Start one.  Try periodic updates through poster campaigns – what easier way to keep staff informed of important business plan/portfolio activities?  Does your Human Resources Department orient new staff when they join the company?  How about a few minutes of airtime during new employee orientation programs to introduce the role of the EPMO and to inform folks of the priority projects?

Today, it is easier than ever to offer information through multiple channels.  Recognize that everyone processes information differently.  When you understand audience differences, you can create a series of message that contain different levels of information and deliver it through a variety of channels.  The options are endless—understand what your organization needs, how staff best respond to receiving information, and then create a communications plan that supports business plan activities throughout the year.  Who says the EPMO doesn’t add value?

So, What’s the Plan?

The real power of a corporate vision is realized only when everyone in the organization clearly understands the vision and recognizes how everyone contributes to its success.  This is particularly true when project managers are assigned to successfully manage those projects that are most important to the company’s future success.  And yet, for most organizations, this is easier said than done.  In many cases, only a handful of people really understand the organization’s mission and how it translates to corporate objectives, and how the objectives realize priority projects.

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Now Apply Five Whys to Global Project Management

My last blog talked about applying Five Whys to elements within project management and specifically to human and team dynamics. The more challenging aspect is in attempting to apply the Five Whys on global projects where activities are performed in multiple countries and the team is typically comprised of members from more than one country. (more…)

Five Whys for Managing Project Dynamics

Five Whys provides a structured yet simple approach to solving problems as they occur during a project and can provide a framework for a team to work through complex problems. It is a simple process at its core.  (more…)

The Power of Memory in Project Management

In a recent project team meeting we were reviewing an Ishikawa diagram and root cause analysis as a means to determine the next appropriate steps on an issue we were addressing as a project team when a forgotten data point was brought forward be me of all people, the project manager. (more…)

Adaption By Fast Observation Of The Environment

In this final posting about the Fish Pond metaphor we will look under water to see what we can learn about how (project) organizations can adapt to change.

Fish do not simply float around in a tank. Although they once in a while bump into glass walls, they are able to find food, detect other fish and perform other cases of interacting with their environment. Fish in general can sense changes in the environment either by vision, by smell, sound and by the sensitivity of the skin (changes in water pressure, acidity and temperature). Yes, if fish want to communicate, they blow bubbles.

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