Why Project Management Training and Coaching is More Important Now than Ever!

My last couple of Blogs talked about the need for Project Management training and coaching. In addition to the contacts we are receiving for training, we are beginning to receive a number for project health checks and audits. This is great because it is telling us that organizations are finally recongizing the value that early project problem detection can provide. It will save them hugely in dollars and time.

Here are some of the benefits of professional project management for senior managers, functional managers, stakeholders, project managers and teams:

Functional Managers can benefit from the improvements in processes realized through project management and better allocation of resources—both people and monetary—as well as expansion of the organizational retained best practices. Better utilization of resources and improved systems of tracking the allocation of their resources across a number of projects helps improve staff efficiency and effectiveness.

I'll add more information on the others in subsequent Blogs.

Airline Choices

I travel extensively around the Globe. I enjoy working with the different cultures and visiting the different places. The most difficult part of travel is the overseas flight in economy. North American travel is at best “low class”. No amenities. You have to buy food and drinks, even on 6 hour flights. In Australia you can fly shorter distances and always get a meal land drinks. Most airlines in North America don’t offer any movies or entertainment of any sort. The exception is Air Canada which at least has individual movies for each passenger. However, no food or drinks (unless you pay for them).

When travelling internationally I usually fly Dubai, Singapore, Thai, Malaysian or Cathay. They are all amazing airlines. They have in-flight entertainment for each economy passenger and provide food and drinks at no cost. I have just returned from Australia. Since I was flying there from the United States instead of Canada and owing to my time constraints I ended up flying United Airlines. What an experience.

I always take an aisle seat so that I can easily get up and stretch whenever I want without disturbing anyone. I booked an aisle seat and confirmed it upon check-in. Yet when I got onto the plane I realized that I had a centre seat. I am a Star Alliance gold member/Air Canada Elite status. Regardless, the staff were unaccommodating. They really didn’t care. Not their problem. The plane was old. No in-flight entertainment, just one big screen for everyone to watch with old, bad movies. They provided food (that’s subject to opinion regarding what classifies as being food) and charged for drinks. I was astounded. Again, they were sorry but this is their policy.

The flight on United was no less expensive than flying on any other airline. They just give you less for your money. A warning to all – check what the flight offers, not just the price. I will never fly United again when going overseas and I will ensure I let others know that United is truly at the bottom of the barrel regarding service, friendliness and accommodation of their customers. No wonder they’re having financial challenges.

How to Save Time on Your Project and Win Sponsor Approval

Did you know that the major reasons projects fail is due to a breakdown of communication, lack of planning and poor quality control during the life cycle of a project? Just think about it... those challenges cost you and your company money, delays and frustration. We can help you solve those problems... After years of research and working with thousands of people just like you who want to improve their project management, we developed the Project Success Templates™. These templates will help you to: communicate better, develop a detailed plan for your project and improve the quality of your project delivery so that your project is successful.

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Why Project Management Training and Coaching is More Important Now than Ever!

My last Blog talked about the need for Project Management training and coaching. We are surprised by the number of companies that have just contacted us because they may be laying off employees. Their current challenge - how to get their projects completed within budget and time. They no longer have any time or money left to allow these constraints not to be prudently managed.

Here are some of the benefits of professional project management for senior managers, functional managers, stakeholders, project managers and teams:

Senior Managers can benefit from better use of company resources, more attention to risk management, better project cost and schedule estimating and better project monitoring and control. Conducting Project Audits and Health Checks help senior managers pin-point the core reasons for lack of project success, enabling them to immediately put in place actions which will improve project performance.

I'll add more information on the others in subsequent Blogs.

Why Project Management Training and Coaching is More Important Than Ever

With economic pressures looming over the world, most executives are probably seriously pondering how to manage the impact of outside forces on their business results. Just as with individual consumers, who are “tightening their belts” right now, it isn’t surprising that many organizations, even those that may be economically healthy, are seriously considering whether or not to cut fixed spending with layoffs.

While the dictate from the top may be to reduce the workforce numbers, once the shake-out occurs, organizations will be facing a tough challenge to preserve output, deliver their strategic and operational plans and stay poised to meet increasing consumer demand once the economy turns up. That is why some of our clients are counting on Project Management to get them through this period of uncertainty and making an extra effort to invest in Project Management coaching, training and auditing to prepare for the future.

In my next blog I'll outline some of the benefits of professional project management for senior managers, functional managers, stakeholders, project managers and teams.

Gambling on the Economy

We have all been reading about the economic crisis. Governments trying to prop up failed financial institutions and auto manufacturing. I am dismayed to hear of organizations that receive our taxpayer dollars to keep them afloat. If my firm was on the verge of bankruptcy, would the government come to my aid? We all know the answer to that question. Yet I employ individuals who would lose their jobs. (fortunately we are doing quite well)

The organizations vying for our tax dollars haven't been innovative. Nor have they kept up with market trends. They have gambled their earnings, even though gambling for individuals is illegal. Some organizations who are not doing as well as they should gamble in hedging fuel prices. For example, Air Canada is locked into higher oil prices owing to their hedging (gambling) on what future oil prices will be. Others are hedging on how low the price will go. Again, gambling.

These organizations should be allowed to declare bankruptcy and seek protection accordingly. This will force them to re-invent themselves, to become more innovative and to identify market trends. If they cannot - then they should go under. In our history, large organizations have gone under and others have risen in their ashes, highering their employees, taking over their market share and bringing greater prosperity.

I am concerned that somehow this has changed and we will pay dearly for the mistakes of those with whom we have never had control and even now, giving them our tax dollars, will still have no control.

I have written about innovation. This is the new trend. Either become innovative or be replaced. It is that simple. Developing a culture of innovation is a journey. I'm surprised at how few organizations are embarking on it.

Improve Your Organizations Bottom-Line

We have been swamped with many requests over the past few weeks to help organizations get their projects on track. In these economic times they can no longer respond to requests for more money, more time and/or more resources. However, they do need these projects to be completed quickly. Most of them have a direct impact on the organization's bottom-line because they are introducing a new product or service that is desperately needed by their customers. If these are not quickly released, they will lose these customers to their competitors. This will have a devastating impact on their bottom-line (which is already hurting). Does this sound familiar?

We have begun working on a number of these projects. It is a dynamic process to undertake. We start by researching the project team structure, scope, plan, risk assessment, customer and business requirements, etc. We are finding that 60% of these projects are overdue by at least a year and are considerably over budget. The rest are not even close to meeting the customer and business requirements. (they're still arguing over the technology, the science, etc.) They need fast action. So we arrange to lock them into a room for an entire week (the project manager and all key resources on the project). During the week we re-examine the project's customer and business requirements, scope, team structure and project plan. We finish with a risk assessment. In all cases they have told us that they never thought we needed a week (and many fought not to spend this much time) but in the end couldn't believe the relief and clarity of direction they now have.

The greatest reward for us is to see the light bulbs in their heads go off (the room gets awfully bright by the time the week is finished). They always realize they never really understood the project, it's mandate, etc. Nor did they realize what a detailed project plan really meant (not 250 line items). The risk assessments helped identify what might prevent success and provided them the opportunity to put in contingencies to manage these.

You can improve your organization's financial situation by getting your projects on-track. They are a major source of revenue drain.