Gone Fishing, Part 2

Is your PMO no longer attracting fish?  The other day, we talked about changing things up to attract more or bigger fish.  Easier said than done.

Whether you are evolving your PMO or building one from scratch, you are driving change.  For many of us, we have been trained to Analyze – Think – Change.  According to Kotter and Cohen, most people think change happens in this order.  In a ‘normal’ environment, that might work pretty well. But remember – analytical tools work best when “parameters are known, assumptions are minimal, and the future is not fuzzy.”  A rare state for PMOs.

Never focus on your fishing gear alone.  Just changing lures will rarely attract more fish.  In PMOs, changing up your process, tools or templates will never attain achievement.  The core of the matter is always about changing the behavior of the species.  On dry land, PMO success occurs only when we address business needs, not project needs.  And driving change happens by mostly speaking to people’s feelings.

Present information that makes people feel something.  It might be a disturbing look at a problem or a hopeful glimpse of the solution — Regardless of your spotlight; it must hit your audience at the emotional level.  Introduce change opportunities that are so compelling, motivating, inspiring and necessary your stakeholders will move heaven and earth to make it happen.

As you pull your plan together, don’t try to anticipate every twist and turn along the way.  As you envision your final destination, remember this – Start out slowly to teach others to fish.  In other words, at the beginning, don’t obsess about the middle because the middle will look different when you get there.

Simply aim for a strong start and hope for a successful ending.  Be prepared to throw a few back along the way.  Then get fishing!

Lisa DiTullio, Principal, Your Project Office. www.yourprojectoffice.com