Optimizing Project Performance: Identifying and Filling Your Skill Gaps

Transcription

1 GUIDE Optimizing Project Performance: Identifying and Filling Your Skill Gaps The Challenge The Solution Skills gaps are the biggest It turns out that 80% of high-performing organizations focus on barriers to the success of the ongoing training for PMs, according to a recent Project Management project management office Institute (PMI) survey.1 With such training in place, respondents (PMO). Too often, project project success rate rose 17%.2 managers (PMs) who are well-trained in their PMO s processes, templates, and tools still deliver underperforming projects, or demonstrate only To elimintate barriers to PMO success, you need to get past the symptoms (e.g., lack of improvement in project efficiency and performance) and begin to identify the root causes. Then, implement a project management learning program to ensure success. minimal improvement project- This guide will walk you through how to: over-project. The best processes Detect skills gaps in your PMO cannot overcome disappointing results if skills are weak. Fill these skills gaps Prevent future skills gaps through proactive training and recruiting

2 Diagnosing Skills Gaps You diagnose skills gaps much like you discover engine troubles: gaps become evident only after you experience their effects. By the time the dashboard warning light comes on, the engine may already be in trouble. Take it as a bright red flashing check engine light when, despite significant investment from your organization, projects deliver only a small return on investment (ROI), or performance and efficiency stagnate, or policy adoption is low. We call these the mysteries of lower-than-expected returns. Like that check engine light, these are high-level indicators. To prepare a solution, PMO leaders must diagnose the root causes, which usually fall into one of two interconnected project management skill sets: Technical skills, which directly impact process and workflow. These include project scheduling, budgeting, quality assurance, among others. Many organizations focus these because they are hard skills, and by definition easier to measure and are more objective. Relational skills, which indirectly impact process and workflow through interpersonal interaction. These include motivational, negotiation, leadership, and facilitation skills. Many organizations miss these, because they are considered soft skills and are harder to measure objectively. While many organizations put more emphasis on technical skills than relational, this overlooks the fact that projects don t get done by themselves. Projects get done by tens, hundreds, and sometimes even thousands of people, all of whom require leadership to execute. We think of project execution like a suspension bridge s roadway: The roadbed will sway and ultimately collapse unless it has ample support. Technical and relational skills are the two towers, bearing equal loads to support the roadbed. If either is weak, project execution will be weak or fail. 3 Identifying Technical-Skill Gaps: Reviewing Documentation Technical-skill gaps are the easiest to diagnose because they re the most visible. Start by looking at project documentation, which provides an accessible glimpse into a manager s technical skill set. Documentation shows his or her processes and contributions to the project. Schedules, risk assessments, and contracts also shed light on core management skills. Technical & Relational Skills, Side-by-Side Technical skills: Task-based skills that reflect management ability; they re hard-core skills that define how PMs drive projects forward. Relational skills: Communications skills that reflect leadership ability; they re interpersonal skills that define how PMs interact with project teams and stakeholders. 2

3 When assessing a PM s technical skills, consider: Quality of deliverables (how detailed are the reports and notes?) Scheduling and how the manager navigated interdependencies Whether risks are completely identified and appropriately managed Quality of contracts for outsourced work Whether all stakeholders have been included in the project as expected Identifying Relational-Skill Gaps: Listening to Feedback If your team passes its technical-skills assessment with high scores, there may be hidden relational skills gaps. Identifying these gaps is a harder challenge. Think about it in the same way as scientists search for planets. Mathematical formulae can predict how stars move; when one moves in a way that doesn t match scientists expectations, they look closer to try to find that suspected planet. If your planet is a PM s relational skills gap, only people can tell you how a manager works in his or her environment. Therefore, use feedback to create a 360-degree view of your PMs. Say you have one PM who, on paper, is the best in the office. She s certified, organized, and always documents her processes. Even so, her projects never quite deliver the promised return, and at times finish late and over-budget. Documentation indicates she is strong in scheduling and budgeting, and decisions are always timely. Therefore, you know it s not a technical gap. With that knowledge, you should seek feedback on her performance and behavior within the team and with clients. This feedback could tell you that she didn t quite get along with her team, and that she sometimes left key stakeholders out of the decision-making process a clear relational skills gap. 3

4 Such feedback can do more than indicate skills gaps; it can point out strengths in your PMO, too. Say you have a recently promoted PM who is still getting certified. Though she sometimes struggles with scheduling and documentation, everyone enjoys working with her, stakeholders are pleased and everyone goes the extra mile to ensure her project s success. Here, feedback not only affirms her relational skills, but also indicates future potential, provided she gets the right technical training. When gathering feedback, ask your project teams and clients whether or not the manager: Motivated teams and rallied them through stressful times Engaged stakeholders in key decisions Facilitated interactive meetings with many contributors Communicated clearly and effectively, particularly when translating organizational strategy Aligned projects with organizational goals Thought analytically, and adapted thinking quickly as situations evolved Changed leadership styles as project needs dictated (i.e., allowed for flexible, not hierarchical, decision-making as part of an Agile project) 4

5 Fixing a Skills Gap Once you know where weaknesses lie, there are two primary ways to fill skills gaps: education and recruitment. Education is preferable in most cases; you re solving the problem mostly with existing resources. Further education transcends the skills-gaps problem itself. By instilling a focus on employee development, you re creating an organization that can attract and retain top project-focused talent. In contrast, recruitment is a way to acquire skills for an immediate strategic need, or to kick-start a cultural shift. A project management learning program must balance technical and relational skill sets despite the fact that 66% of organizations believe leadership skills are not as teachable as technical skills, though they re the most important for early project management success. 4 Put succinctly, Most companies don t train people how to manage or think, says noted leadership consultant Simon Sinek. 5 Don t fall into this trap; leadership is not unteachable! Technical and relational skills are best taught through a combination of training and coaching. The current trend is to use type training, where 10% of training is in a classroom, 20% comes from exposure (i.e. mentoring), and the rest comes from actual in-the-field experience. This phased approach allows managers to absorb new skills and then apply them within their real-life working environments. Training Successful classroom, online, or blended-environment training should focus on broad skills gaps that affect managers across the PMO. For example, you could have 10 managers who struggle with delegation, but different subsets might have different root causes for the issue (e.g. poor communication versus an unwillingness to share responsibility). A course that focuses on all aspects of delegation technical and relational will help the entire PMO improve. Case in point: Forward-thinking companies have used a course called Leading Complex Projects to teach relational skills. While some organizations expect the course to help PMs learn to deal with, and manage, the complexity of a particular project, the course shows that executing on a very complex project is not only related to technical skills but also about interactions, motivation, and organizational culture. 5

6 PMs learn to open their thinking to the larger program environment the interconnections and relationships that are needed to really understand what s happening in the business, not just getting the project done. By seeing the bigger picture, PMs recognize more of the variables that are influencing their projects, rather than just thinking about the problems. Coaching and Mentoring While training is a way to present new skills, coaching and mentoring programs allow managers to practice and contextualize their skills under guidance. At the same time, it s also a way to address individual strengths and weaknesses. While training can fill common skills gaps across the PMO, coaching can focus more precisely on the exact skills an individual needs to raise his or her game. That s why it s especially useful for newly hired or promoted project managers, who may have different skills gaps than their more senior counterparts. But successful coaching programs do not happen without buy-in from senior leadership. On the surface, this affords you the resources you need to operate. Even deeper, though, this support builds a culture of two-way mentoring. Executives can coach senior project managers toward advancement, while project managers can build executives project management skill sets. This turns the PMO into a hotbed for executive advancement, and it transfers vital project management skills to the C-suite. Recruitment Although no skill is unteachable, there are skills that are difficult and timeconsuming to teach. Recruitment is a way to fill an immediate need for a skill. But be warned: This is not necessarily a quick fix to a skills gap. Workforce planning is a long-term solution because it takes time to hire and train the new employee. Hiring is also a tool for effecting cultural change. Culture is the one thing you can t train; it s the sum of all its parts people. If a skill gap stems from a cultural problem, then consider hiring someone who can shift the balance. For example, a company with an introverted culture might find employees hesitant to share feedback. By hiring an extroverted project manager who offers incentive for feedback and encourages discourse, you are introducing a change agent. 6

7 Put simply, hire for the personality you want; pick someone who is a good cultural fit over a technically able, but culturally complementary individual. Keeping Skills Gaps Closed It s not enough to simply fix a skill gap; long-term PMO success requires a permanent commitment to education and PM development. Again, think about the bridge metaphor. Rope-and-plank bridges address an immediate need to cross a chasm, but they re shaky and they don t last. Suspension bridges, on the other hand, are strong and permanent. When you spend the time building and maintaining the right support towers or skill sets you ll be able to continuously bridge the gap and execute projects excellently. When hiring new PMs, make sure their skills not only fill current needs but also needs you ll have down the road. Don t just pick the skills that lead you to success; pick the skills that maintain that success once you reach it. Additionally, run periodic skill assessments, survey your project teams, and encourage continuing education and certification to ensure skills gaps stay closed. Recurring classes and formalized coaching programs as part of the new-hire process help prepare PMs when they arrive. This is easier when you facilitate a culture that values learning and risk-taking. It s easy to fill skills gaps when managers buy in to training. But beware: when organizations fear change, employees will resist education. Finally, look to see what skills the broader organization may offer. Collaboration helps fill existing skills gaps while also building organizational synergy. Case in point: one business unit in a large organization ran autonomously, to the point of doing all its own graphics, layout and copy editing for its documentation not its core competency. The manager noticed world-class competency in the company s marketing team, and asked for help. It was provided. The marketing team upskilled the business unit, and in the process learned more about the business unit s products helping them become better marketers. 7

8 Committing to Lifelong Education No PM is perfect, and everyone can benefit from continued project management education. Even if you don t experience the mystery of lowerthan-expected returns, you should still periodically audit your PMs to make sure they re operating effectively. In rare situations, strong teams can pull dead-weight managers, though it taxes team morale. Once you ve found a skill gap, educate your PMs and allow them to practice their new skills in a project environment. The end goal is to create a culture of learning that promotes employee growth and development. At the same time, learning programs tell employees that you re willing to invest in them. That s a vital tool for talent retention and, ultimately, business growth. References 1 High-performing organizations have a well-established PMO that is highly aligned to strategy and has formal, standardized project management practices, according to PMI s Capturing the Value of Project Management survey. 2 Capturing the Value of Project Management, Project Management Institute, 2015 Project Management Institute, Inc., accessed on June 22, For a complete discussion of this analogy, see The TwentyEighty Strategy Execution Alignment Skills Bridge brief. 4 Building High-Performance Project Talent, Project Management Institute, 2013 Project Management Institute, Inc., accessed on June 22, How did that idiot get to be my boss? Re:Focus, 2016 Simon Sinkek Inc., accessed on June 22, 2016 GLOBAL HEADQUARTERS 4301 North Fairfax Drive Suite 700 Arlington, VA 22203, USA EMEA 7 Bishopsgate London, EC2N 3AR, UK +44 (0) APAC 111 Somerset Road #10-06 TripleOne Somerset Singapore TwentyEighty Strategy Execution, Inc. All Rights Reserved. At TwentyEighty Strategy Execution we deliver performance education that closes the strategy execution gap by strengthening peoples strategic and project execution capabilities to drive higher performance. By combining the best of cutting-edge university research and proven business techniques, we deliver a performance-focused perspective designed to increase alignment and engagement across teams, business units or the entire enterprise. Learn more today at strategyex.com. skills, contact an expert at or info@strategyex.com. 8