How do you align project work with the strategic vision?
Rosemary Hossenlopp, founder of Project Management Perspectives is the facilitator of an audio series by key project management professionals on what Business Leaders must understand about accelerating execution of strategy through project work.
She interviews Raju Rao 
is a senior project professional based in India. His main area of work relates to consulting, education and training in project management. He has been involved in development of many standards of PMI and his area of research includes the link between strategy and projects.
Click here to listen to the audio interview.
The project management industry is facing challenges. One of them is showing that we actually deliver benefits to the business.
Raju explains that he has come across examples where strategic vision is effectively translated into action whereas in others it is not. Taking examples from India many programs have been successful e.g. Operation flood, the telecom revolution and the internet reservation system of the railways. In others there have been failures, e.g. a major political party - the BJP - lost the election because they could not relate to the grass-roots level happenings while painting a different picture at the top. So I am doing research to find out what works and what does not in converting strategy into action.
What can Project Managers learn from the geese?
Geese are often quoted as an example of teamwork, leadership and business alignment. However, organizations find it difficult to follow them implicitly. Some reasons are – humans and the organization that they form are not the same as birds and animals and further they are more complex. Nevertheless, some principles can be applied e.g. collective leadership, portfolio management and goal oriented behavior.
Organization project management can help in aligning strategy and projects - The base for OPM is the cascading relationship between projects, programs and portfolio and this has been well accepted by many standards, organizations and as a practice by some. Project portfolio management can be the key for linking strategy and projects. Organizations need to understand OPM more clearly and implement processes and practices in a more proactive manner.
What makes projects successful and thereby obtain results as stated by the strategic vision? The 3 Cs – Commitment, Culture and Communication.
- Commitment – by the senior managers and the executive and instilling it among other project team members
- Culture – understanding work culture with regard to organization, geography etc and creating an atmosphere to make things happen.
- Communication – ability to communicate the vision to all members of the project and obtain constant and real time feedback on operations at grass roots level. Larger the organization, the more difficult it is for this to take place.
Raju can be contacted at www.xtraplus.co.in
Tags: Audio Interview, Bjp, Business Alignment, Collective Leadership, Consulting Education, Doing Research, Geese, Grass Roots Level, Internet Reservation System, Key Project, Leadership Portfolio, Level Happenings, Management Perspectives, Operation Flood, Organization Project, Project Management Industry, Project Management Professionals, Project Professional, Strategic Vision, Telecom Revolution
