Connecting Project & Strategy Management through Integrated Governance

Article prepared by:

David Dunning – lead author, Business Integrated Governance

On the 11th October, the APM Governance Interest Network hosted the first in a series of events aimed at emboldening PMO / P3 Governance Professionals to step into the gap between strategy and delivery.

The webinar provided insights into the key issues impacting strategy delivery, especially those from a P3 Perspective, including the gaps typically between support for strategy delivery and support for portfolios, programmes and projects (emerging out of the APM PMO Conference - see here.)

It not only inspired P3 professionals to learn how to elevate their roles in driving organisational success, but provided a language to use with others in the organisation trying to bring strategy to life through effective governance.

The event, presented by David, Greg Krawczyk and Martin Samphire highlighted the challenges organizations face in delivering strategies effectively.

This was particularly from the perspective of project management and governance professionals who provided dozens of reactions (which we are in the process of sharing) and offered a framework within which to develop operational solutions.

Agenda

The session included

some positioning statements regarding the process of strategy delivery, the complexity related to making it happen, and noted the success rates organisations are getting in strategy delivery
an interactive section to introduce typical strategy delivery pain areas(e.g. Communicating), then invited attendees to chip in their viewpoint live. This produced a word cloud of opinions from an audience of over 360 people)
immediate, live reactions from the presentation panel on the key points
a quick introduction to the Business Integrated Governance Body of Knowledge (BIG BoK), which provides the connection of all parts of the organisation, integrated governance, accountability, information and data, business support & assurance and leadership

Context

Challenges of Strategy Delivery Pre-read - this material was provided as the background to the challenges of strategy delivery. This material can be covered in a private session with any interested organisations.
what do we mean by strategy, and strategy delivery?
strategy delivery <> project delivery - do we agree?

A YouTube video which covers just this content is available here.

Issues in strategy delivery

This quickfire session posed a series of challenge statements, and asked people to retort with their comments/viewpoint. This enable us to build a word cloud, including:

Clarifying and communicating strategic objectives effectively.
Cascading strategy into actionable sub-objectives with clear accountability.
Prioritising objectives to optimise resources, leadership time, and funding.
Monitoring progress and performance through integrated governance.
Providing the data necessary for quick decision-making.
Access question details here and video explanation here

Please note - the write up from this session is in progress. Please Contact us below to be notified of the results.

Conclusion

Please note - the write up from this session is in progress. Please Contact us below to be notified of the results.

Response

This section provided a brief introduction to the BIG BoK with the intention of whetting attendees appetites to find out more.

A YouTube video which covers just this content is available here.

Access the APM Write up and Access Session Recording (when ready)

Calls to Action:

The session urges PMO and governance professionals to rise to the challenge of improving the connection between strategy and delivery, integrating governance, and thinking bigger to meet both current and emerging demands. We suggest

Governance & PMO Managers, step up to apply what you do to projects to the organisation.
PM's - reach out and connect with strategy delivery to offer these services more broadly

To do this, we can support you to:

Look into the BIG BoK, to try to understand your organisation's status on the questions we raised, and to collate viewpoints on your organisation's success rate with strategic objectives (be careful probing that one!)
Attend the second presentation in the series to look onto Business Integrated Governance more (14th November)

Date for the diary - 12th December - where we will run a practical workshop for those organisation who want to engage their organisations to identify current state, envision the suture and build a business case for change.

Who should be interested in this content or the next sessions?

- PMO Leaders who are struggling to support strategic projects and programmes

- PMO Directors to cannot see how strategy is driving change or how projects are enabling strategy

- Governance Professionals who want to see effective decision making, application of policy and process to strategy delivery

- Operations and finance directors who want to see funds / resources deployed in line with strategic priorities

- Strategic leadership who want to see effective strategy delivery

- More stakeholder profiles here

Book onto the 14th November APM Event

What next?

As mentioned, this event is the first in a series of 3. The event series is introduced here.

To be notified of the Blogs and online discussions around the event - please register for Alerts below: