Project Management Office Implementation – Human Behavior Factors
Various publications have been printed on the implementation techniques for effective Project Management Office. The aspect of the implementation that has not been as publicized is the “art” part of the art & science PMO implementation process. The focus of this article is to share our practical experience, challenges and solutions as a result of such factors as: human behavior, organization behavior, and cultural aspects of the implementation process.
Well, we are humans and by our human nature we have certain reluctance and fear of changes. Change is a variable of our business and personal existence and with changes comes a fear of the unknown. The unknown that can jeopardize our status quo, our job security and so on. Without getting sidetracked, let’s establish that a fear of change is a great deterrent of a PMO integration process. So what can we do to assure a smooth transformation?
The key is to get people involved, educated about changes and constantly listen to the feedback not to lose a pulse on the tranfrormation If one is trying to change organizational processes and policies, listening skill is a great asset and a powerful tool; considering an organization is made up of individuals that will be directly affected by those changes.
The key is recognizing individuals that a team consists of. This principle goes against the old style of management – “no ‘I’s in a team”. A healthy team is the one where a manager recognizes every ‘I’ - individual’s potential, weaknesses, and strengths and then uses that to bring the best out of each person. This type of approach encourages coaching rather than disciplinary supervision; challenging rather than tasking, and leadership rather than supervision.
If you are successful in creating this type of management behavior and individual recognition (leadership without authority) than your team will responde to changes and recognize opportunities of changes rather than threats of unknown. Your team will be your number one supporter and a bottomless source of ideas – you just have to listen.
This behavior cannot be faked, people will see right through you and you will end up losing any remaining respect you might have had in the past. We cannot pretend to care, we either do or don’t Our approach at Jax Management Consulting is to start working with a senior management team and try to establish your company’s unique management style, management processes and organizational structure. After that we perform a preliminary assessment and make recommendations for the management team to address prior to attempting to build a Project Management Office. The Human Factor is a key that assures a successful life of PMO post implementation and also its biggest risk.
To preserve the culture our approach is evolutionary rather than revolutionary. We perform a full assessment of the authority, decision and document flow processes that exist in your company and perform a gap analysis of missing processes to comply with 9 Knowledge areas in PMI ® As a result a client will receive a Project Management Manual and supporting processes that are uniquely developed for your operational and project environment. Contact us for your free consultation. Let us show you how we can leverage our experience in Project Management Office Implementation and help you transform into a matrix or projectized organization.
Jack Konshin
President & Founder