Observations from IRM's IBCT Forum, London

March 2017 saw IRM UK hold Europe's only Innovation, Business Change and Technology Forum, or IBCT for short, in London. As this was the inaugural event, it was designed by practitioners for practitioners. Chaired by Chris Potts, the programme was structured so that each session consisted of a 30 minute presentation with short Q and A, followed by 45 minutes of interactive facilitated discussion. 

I had the opportunity to speak at the IBCT Forum 2017 on a topic entitled 'Putting the Business Centre Stage of Change and why that's important to Projects'. Chris Potts facilitated this session and the post-presentation discussion was extremely interactive. The energy in the room was high with everyone sharing ideas, challenges and thinking.

In this post I share what I experienced and key themes I observed repeatedly over the two days of the Forum.

Fa la la la laaaa

Season's Greetings From Deanne and the team at May 2017 bring continued business and project success

Business Change from IT Projects - Infographic

What Is Your Best Advice To Be A Good Project Manager?

Recently I received an email from Rogerio Manso. He's involved in IT project management and also teaches others on the topic. Rogerio's contacting other subject matter experts around the globe because he's putting together a collection of advice that he'll offer for free to his project management students and anyone seeking to learn from others. In order to do this, he's asked a question. It might seem a fairly straightforward question but when you sit down to think about it, there are many possible responses that make it challenging to fix on just one thing.

The question?

What is your best advice to be a good Project Manager?

What Moving 6 Cubic Meters of Gravel Can Teach Us About Change

We’re doing some landscaping. It’s not a huge amount but it’s enough. Landscaping = change and just like any change, it’s exciting and a little scary all at once. What if we’re being too ambitious? What if we don't know what to do? What if, in the end, it doesn’t meet our expectations?

Regardless, we made a start and had 6 cubic meters of gravel dumped in our driveway. Looking at that gravel and what we had planned got me thinking about how organisations approach change and why they’re often disappointed with the results.

Here then, are 4 lessons that came to mind as I helped shovel, barrow and spread that gravel around…

11 Things for Clarity, Pragmatism and just the right amount of Disruption

Do you know what's happening across the organisation and what it means for your area of the business? Or do you rely on your employees to do the right thing for the business as a whole?

These and a raft of other questions are frequently asked by Executives that are connected with what's going on both in their own business unit and wider organisation. Through clarity, pragmatism and just the right amount of disruption, these Executives are connected in a way that increases the level of business benefit they can achieve through their operational and project activities.

We've identified #11Things we believe only a connected Executive could know...

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A New Year Sanity Check

2016 is underway and it'll be February before we know it. As per normal at this time of year, much is being written about resolutions; who's making them, why they fail, and whether or not we should even bother. Resolutions are great, if you like that kind of thing, and congrats to all those who do actually set, keep and achieve theirs.

Funny thing is resolutions seem to be the exclusive territory of individuals. While some people might set resolutions with a work related component, e.g.: better work / life balance, change jobs, finish a degree, I can honestly say I've not heard any from organisations or that relate to work-place behaviours or activities.

Perhaps this is a missed opportunity...

Assess for Success

If success means tangible business value then projects must deliver something that actually fits what the business needs. Yet over time these two can and do get out of synch.  By stepping away from the mechanics of a project we can assess and decide if it’s really worth continuing.

The Executive Factor

Ever wondered how it’s possible to add value through the work you do to an organisation, another person or indeed yourself?  Whether we’re permanent staff or have a bit more flexibility in our employment options it can be frustrating to watch as our ability to create and deliver valuable work is inhibited or stopped by the barriers erected or entrenched positions taken by others. It’s one thing for an organisation to have an appetite for getting things done, it’s quite another for them to actually enable it.

Which is how a recent conversation with a colleague of mine in the USofA kicked off.  Rob Schachter, of RBS Consulting, and I first connected on LinkedIn, as you do, and have been volleying our theories and experiences across the Atlantic for some months. The one significant thing we agree on is that Executives who give a damn make the difference to the work of change agents and whether that work will be a success or failure. Yes that’s right, they give a damn. They give a damn about getting stuff done. They get out of the way so others can do what they do best, and they care about how that stuff fits in to the bigger picture.

This post is a snapshot of our conversation. It shows how working with and for an Executive (sponsor or otherwise) who gives a damn makes for a positive work experience where value is palpable. Following are some of the lessons, principles and good (what’s best today may not be valid tomorrow) practices we derived from our experiences for the benefit of others seeking to succeed with their initiatives.

4 Tips from a Sling Shot

We know change projects can be difficult beasts. Yet we often ignore how we, the people involved in delivering or receiving the change, multiply those difficulties through our own learned behaviours. We’ve let what we’ve been told or read in the multitude of business books, blogs and training programmes automate us and what we do. Don’t get me wrong, process has its place. Checks and balances are necessary and process provides them but when the spotlight focuses on following the process rather than on the results it’s there to enable, the reasons behind implementing a process have been lost.

So if we simplify the process we’ll get better results, right? That will definitely help. However too often the process remains centre stage and other difficulties are left unresolved. In order to effect change fully we must apply different thinking and it’s in this area we can find parallels between change projects and Michaelangelo’s David. 

Yes I’m a bit of a Michelangelo fan and am particularly awed by his sculpture of David, which stands majestically in the Accademia di Belle Arte in Florence, Italy.  Every time I see it, in real or on the postcard image stuck to my office notice board, I’m struck by its magnificence. I’m also reminded of how David saw things differently, simplified the approach and through that successfully delivered the change everyone was striving for. Here are 4 tips he can teach us:

Tip 1: Use what makes sense when it makes sense to do so – Those before him had each wielded swords and various other armaments without success. David chose a slingshot and stones. He may have been careful in his stone selection taking enough to do the job with some in reserve for risk mitigation. He didn’t ignore the sword and used it to great effect when it mattered most.

Lesson: Process for process sake adds little value and blindly following a method will not improve either the method or its results. 

Tip 2: Use understanding and insight – David saw and understood what others had done. He took a different view and applied some intelligent thinking. He figured out the exact spot to hit in order to maximise results.

Lesson: Sometimes the ideas, thoughts or perceptions that initially seem crazy, counter-intuitive or sit outside the bounds of the process can deliver the greatest benefits.

Tip 3: Show willingness to do what’s right – The situation David walked into had been created based on fear and intimidation. It wasn’t going to change any time soon using the current process. While there was an incentive at stake he saw something wasn’t right and took action to change it.

Lesson: Only by changing our own behaviour will we change the behaviour of others.

Tip 4: Put things into perspective – David could clearly see his adversary had a big reputation and a lot of power with his army and over others. Putting what he saw into perspective against what needed to be done meant David could figure out a way to deal with the situation and did it.

Lesson: Bigger isn’t always better. 

By breaking out of the ‘process is King’ belief organisations will be able to deliver increased cost reductions for greater shareholder value. Or in other words, stay in business. Instead many punt for more processes, recycling operating models from the past or expounding empty declarations of co-creation and innovation.

They’re missing a huge opportunity because what comes next inevitably compounds difficulty. 

Stop making the process important. Refocus and simplify. Use process to work for you.

The Human Face of Transition

One of the people I’ve connected with through Twitter is Bas de Baar. He’s The Project Shrink and in his own words he makes ‘complex people stuff less complex’. I like the way Bas writes and I particularly like the way he uses hand drawn images to simplify difficult problems without trivialising their importance. In a recent post The Project Story Circle. Talking About Transitions he’s used a simple yet very effective drawing. A circle as the cycle of a project and through the centre of it a horizontal line representing the project itself. The two halves can then be viewed as project and non-project time. Read his post for all the details because here I’m picking up on one particular bullet point he makes:

This will focus attention on the transitions organization-project and project-organization.

What Bas suggests is that the shape can be used when discussing projects and where in the circle people join, become active, and where they expect problems to occur. As a delivery specialist I see companies and their people struggle repeatedly with transition from project to organisation and believe the struggle can be simplified by using this drawing. Let’s take a look at an approach to change management and transition that most will be familiar with then see how this simple drawing could help.

Has Leadership lost all Accountability?

I’ve just finished reading Chapter 14 of William Tate’s book “The Search for Leadership – An Organisational Perspective”. As the phone hacking scandal at News of the World was exposed and continues to explode across all forms of media, my timing couldn’t have been better. You see Chapter 14 focuses on Leadership and Accountability and as more and more details come out about News of the World and News International the more William Tate’s writings make sense.

Principles for Intelligent Transition

If you want your IT project to be embraced as business as usual operations you must go through a transition process. But you can't be random about it and still expect great results. You need to consistently apply some logical and proven principles.

Read on to discover the principles that give project owners the knowledge to transition their projects with less difficulty and disruption. Or register now for instructions on how to download the full "Principles for Intelligent Transition" guide.

Busting the Myth of 'It's different here'

Companies, Projects, are they really any different from one country to another? I say NO! and having recently returned from foreign shores I thought it might be time to bust the myth that exists with ‘but it’s different here’.

Let’s go on a small journey and take a look at you, the company.

How does Leadership impact Organisational Challenges?

In his book "The Search for Leadership – An Organisational Perspective", William Tate contrasts and explains the Business and the Organisation. He succinctly describes the business as having an external ‘what’ focus while the organisation has an internal ‘how’ focus. It’s a simple yet thought-provoking distinction but in our experience with clients we regularly see a disconnection between the two and the inevitable resulting pain.

In essence the organisation exists to support the business on its journey of growth and development, and the organisation establishes systems and processes in order to do that. When things are static those processes serve a company well but business is not static. When business shifts and morphs in response to external factors, it exposes the systemic inefficiencies and limitations in the organisations.