WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT GREAT TEAMS OR GREAT LEADERSHIP?

 WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT GREAT TEAMS OR GREAT LEADERSHIP?

I had an opportune moment to catch-up with a multi-award winning CEO the other day and we chatted about leadership, teams and change. I won't name them (they may not agree with my article) but I am happy for them to post comments or feedback on my reflections from the conversation.

I long time ago I lost an argument and learned something valuable. I was advocating the importance of good teachers and great teaching. My interlocutor, married to a teacher, disagreed and asked me: "When you had a problem or was unsure of something, who did you ask first?". I then immediately understood the value of peer-groups and the power of culture and belonging.

Teachers and Leaders are important, but in most cases it is your friends, family, colleagues, community and culture that shape your values, beliefs and behaviours rather than the leader. Nonetheless awards and accolades are always for Leadership and courses, programmes, and pithy aphorisms are inevitably about celebrated leadership.

My CEO friend is no shrinking violet. They are bold, with strong conviction, direct style and unequivocal: Exactly the type who so long as their business is successful will win awards. Moreover their vision and drive has no-doubt contributed to the business success. So I was surprised when they modestly said that culture is not about the leadership but about the team.

We touched on covid and lock-down and the impact that this has had on people, motivation and a sense of belonging and community that is ostensibly compromised at best or lost entirely when people are isolated from their working community. There is no serendipity, banter or indeed innovation when every action is deliberate phone, ms-teams or zoom call for a specified purpose.

This is of course off-set by those who do create channels and opportunities to look out for each-other, colleagues, welfare and maintain their engagement with then team, organisation and purpose.  But even this is a deliberate action lacking the informality and spontaneity that the past hallmark of collaborative culture.

My CEO friend made the good and logical point that cohesive teams can perform outstandingly well in very difficult circumstances because of their bonds with each-other rather than any form of allegiance to the leader. This is well observed, and it is a great leader who understands and takes action to create the environment where this can happen.

If you are interested in projects, change, culture or coaching email me tim@adaptconsultingcompany.com I am happy to have a coffee and a conversation to share ideas on what might be helpful to your people, teams, projects and organisation.

Tim Rogers
MBA (Management Consultancy) & Change Practitioner
ICF Trained Coach IoD Business Mentor
https://www.adaptconsultingcompany.com/coaching-and-mentoring/

SOME IDEAS AND LESSONS FROM COMMISSIONING BIG PROJECTS AND DELIVERY PARTNERS

SOME IDEAS AND LESSONS FROM COMMISSIONING BIG PROJECTS AND DELIVERY PARTNERS

The Government has conceded that it significantly underestimated the cost and scope of its largest ever IT project when it was launched last year - with the total now around £35m over the original budget.

Source:
https://www.bailiwickexpress.com/jsy/news/cost-major-government-it-project-more-doubles/#.YEikHObLcYJ

The Integrated Technology Solution (ITS) Programme will implement an integrated solution that will replace the current Finance, Procurement and Commercial, People Services and Payroll systems. The Integrated Technology Solution programme is a critical foundation for the wider modernisation. Crucially, it enables cross-department collaboration benefits and efficiencies and acts as a backbone and core enabler for the other elements of government transformation.The new solution can capture 15 years of advancement – transforming the way staff and customers interact – including greater self-service, mobile working and automation of routine tasks.

Key objectives include:
✓ Supports modernisation of Government
✓ Cloud hosted and supported for future proofing
✓ Easy and intuitive to use
✓ No customisations
✓ Mobile enabled
✓ Scalable for the future
✓ Greater accessibility of GoJ services by citizens and businesses.

New, simplified and standard ways of working are essential. The changes cover the following areas:
✓ Attract, recruit and onboard talent
✓ Improve how we procure goods and services
✓ Improve how we manage our relationships with suppliers
✓ Streamline how we make and receive payments
✓ Understand our data and make informed decisions
✓ Provide greater self-service opportunities.

I note that the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) has said...Another key focus [ for the C&AG] in 2020 is the commencement of the programme for an Integrated Technology Solution (ITS) for finance, payroll, human resources and procurement systems.

Source:
https://www.jerseyauditoffice.je/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Project-Specification-ICT-Could-Implementation-22-May-2020.pdf

I would be interested to see the outcome of the C&AG Review and the findings of the Public Accounts Committee. What can we learn from e-Gov and ITS and how confident can we be if it is £35m over the original ostensibly before the project has really got started.

Here are some tips I have picked up from various sites

1 Articulated Business Vision

The organisation has clearly articulated specific business objectives it will achieve once the solution has been implemented.

CLARITY OF VISION The ‘vision’ for the organisation is clear, understood and agreed by the team members.

OBJECTIVES ARE CLEAR The business objectives for the organisation fully align to the ‘vision’ and are understood by the team members.

EXPLICIT STRATEGY There is a clearly articulated business strategy that outlines how the objectives will be delivered by the business as a whole.

BUSINESS CASE/ROI The business case and ROI for the relationship/project has been quantified and clearly articulates the benefits realisation process aligned to the objectives.

OBJECTIVE STATUS Each objective has a clear status of (1) Aspiration [blue-sky thinking], (2) Shaped [direction of travel], (3) Quantified [articulated the ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘by when’].

SMART KPIs SMART KPIs have been articulated against each objective so that achievement towards the objective can be impartially measured, learned from and the KPIs can be re-aligned.

RESPONSIBILITIES The business has put clear roles and responsibilities against each individual that is the senior stakeholder for achieving each of the objectives.

INNOVATION The organisation has a structured governance process in place to drive and measure the performance of innovation across the management teams.

WHY THESE ARE IMPORTANT A competent, aligned and informed management team means the right operating disciplines will be in place to assure the success of the relationship/project.

BENEFITS This type of clarity provides, (1) An accelerated time scale to full benefits realisation, (2) Significantly reduces project delivery costs, and (3) A highly positive reputational impact.

2 An Intelligent Client

An ICF team that demonstrates strategic, commercial and partnership behaviours an Intelligent Supplier expects.

WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE The client has articulated what benefits its organisation will achieve once the relationship is delivering to its expectations.

SERVICE OBJECTIVES New service delivery objectives are clearly quantified between, (a) Transactional/BAU services, and (b) Transformational expectations.

DELIVERY STRATEGY The strategic principles are clear in respect of how the delivery process will be undertaken and performance managed.

PROJECT PRIORITIES New project priorities anticipated within the strategic relationships are aligned to the direction of travel.

PERFORMANCE Performance management is monitored through SMART KPIs. These align to the organisational outcomes to be achieved and are used as a ‘learning tool’.

INNOVATION Client understands that innovation in service delivery is vital and there is evidence that can be demonstrated to the supplier that this is led at the senior executive level.

ENABLING CONTRACT The key principles of contract terms and schedules are aligned to drive ‘enabling’ behaviours for both parties to achieve outcomes in a fair and equitable manner.

CLIENT FUNCTION Client has invested in an appropriately funded, resourced and skilled Intelligent Client Function. Led at the executive level to ensure maximum value out of the relationship.

WHY THESE ARE IMPORTANT ‘Intelligent Client Behaviour’ attracts ‘Intelligent Supplier Behaviour’. By a supplier seeing constructive and innovative behaviour (rather than just intentions and words), encourages Intelligent Suppliers to ‘go the extra mile’ and drive innovation in service delivery.

BENEFITS Behaving ‘intelligently’, (1) Accelerates achievement of benefits from the service, (2) Reduces misunderstandings, (3) Reduces the stress of your internal team, and (4) Ultimately reduces the costs of managing the supplier and service delivery.

3 An Intelligent Supplier

A supplier that understands the ‘holistic’ objectives of an Intelligent Client and strategically supports them.

STRATEGY Supplier can evidence that it can holistically support the client in achieving its strategic outcomes.

OBJECTIVES ACHIEVED Supplier evidences that it has achieved not only the contracted objectives, but is helping the client to enable the more subjective objectives that it may not be contracted for.

COMMERCIAL TRUST Supplier evidences from its other clients that they do appropriate due diligence and ‘ask the right questions’ of their clients in new project work or change variations.

CRITICAL FRIEND Supplier can evidence that it has challenged its client’s contracted KPIs if they are driving either its own or its client’s behaviours to prevent it from achieving its client’s objectives.

INNOVATION Supplier evidences it regularly provides the client with new innovations to pilot. It can evidence an engagement model to encourage the client to actively participate in the innovation process.

CONTRACT APPROACH Supplier evidences that the contract terms for the majority of its clients drive good behaviours between both parties, are fair and equitable and reviewed every 6 months to reduce ambiguity.

OWN ICF TEAM Supplier can evidence that with its existing clients, it actively engages with the client’s ICF team and works with them to re-shape service delivery in 6 monthly cycles.

EXPERTISE Supplier evidences from the results it has achieved with other clients (so, less emphasis on length of service) that it has deep domain expertise for the technical services it operates.

WHY THESE ARE IMPORTANT The good behaviour of an ‘Intelligent Supplier’ provides the quick foundations of building commercial trust with the client. This encourages the client to open up additional opportunities to the supplier for mutual gain.

BENEFITS The supplier and client work on new innovative projects together, driving greater cost savings across BAU services whilst improving the supplier’s operating margins and cash flow.

4 Clear Service Delivery Requirements

Clear articulation of the ‘use cases’ and business objectives the client is seeking from the supplier and its solution to enable for it.

WHY A NEW SERVICE? A clear and articulated explanation to the supplier of why the organisation has decided to implement a new service delivery process and how it came to that decision.

PROCUREMENT PROCESS A full outline of the process including milestones, the client team involved, the Supplier selection process, the contracting strategy and benefits realisation process.

BUSINESS OBJECTIVES There is a clear vision documented that outlines what hurdles the organisation will overcome and the objectives it will achieve once the service delivery is in place.

USE CASES There are specific use cases that explain what the key current operational processes are and where the client sees opportunity for improving on those processes.

CLARITY OF OBJECTIVES The objectives to be achieved clearly state what the objective is, its alignment to the business outcome, when it needs to be achieved by and the degree of improvement that is expected.

NEGATIVE IMPACT A clear understanding of the operational and financial impact on the organisation/objective if the requirement is not fully achieved to the level and time scale expected.

SUPPLIER SELECTION A clear, fair and equitable method to compare each supplier’s bid against the quantified objectives expected on a like for like basis.

PERFORMANCE How the client will use SMART KPIs to monitor the speed and effectiveness of the supplier’s solution achieving the expected business outcomes.

WHY THESE ARE IMPORTANT Two reasons, (1) Supplier gets much greater visibility to provide you with better advice, and (2) It provides the foundations to contractually hold them accountable for that advice.

BENEFITS The clarity prevents misunderstandings over expectations and reduces implementation time by up to 45%.

5 Supplier Expert Responsibilities

Clarity of an Expert Supplier’s “Duty to Warn” and how that impacts the pre-contractual due diligence responsibilities between the client and the supplier.

EXPERT RESPONSIBILITIES (1) Validate what it is going to deliver, (2) Validate what it is not going to deliver, (3) Impact – validate the consequential impact on service delivery of what it is not going to deliver.

REASONABLE ADVICE Supplier has to operate with ‘Reasonable Care and Skill’. This means it should provide appropriate advice to you during both the buying and implementation process.

SUPPLIER DUTY TO WARN Supplier has to ‘warn’ you of any items it would reasonably identify in its expert experience that will adversely impact the project.

SUPPLIER DUE DILIGENCE Giving the supplier the opportunity to have a ‘deep dive’ review of how to align its services to your business objectives removes material risks. Supplier accountable for fitness for purpose.

ON-GOING OBLIGATION The supplier holds these responsibilities both in the pre-contractual and post-contractual stages (unless the client removes them through its behaviours – usually inadvertently).

REMOVING OBLIGATIONS The client can inadvertently remove these responsibilities by being prescriptive to the inputs of its requirements and service delivery process.

ACCOUNTABILITY All of these principles should be encapsulated into a pre-contractual supplier due diligence process to assure the supplier is accountable for its advice.

WHY THESE ARE IMPORTANT The roles and responsibilities of the client and supplier delivery team can often overlap inadvertently. It is important to delineate what roles the specialist supplier *should* have.

BENEFITS Detailed knowledge of these responsibilities ensures both the supplier and the client are clear on, (a) Delivery accountability, (b) Reducing the chances of chargeable scope creep, and (c) Achieving a fit-for-purpose implementation.

6 Fit-For-Purpose Contract

Contract terms that are reverse engineered from the business objectives, to support ‘enabling’ behaviours.

REVERSE ENGINEERING It is important to reverse engineer the structure of the contract terms. This is to ensure they align to the key business objectives and operational strategy for service delivery.

ROLES / RESPONSIBILITIES Ensuring the client does not inadvertently take on the supplier’s ‘Expert Responsibilities’ in its use of vanilla project management methods, i.e. PRINCE2. 6 MONTH RE-SHAPING

Ensuring that business objectives, current operations, SMART KPIs, governance and ‘enabling terms’ are updated every 6 months to align to current business objectives.

PRE-CHANGE SCOPING A governance process to validate whether changes to service delivery are legitimately chargeable and, if so, for the supplier to scope any changes prior to undertaking them for impact to objectives.

VALUE FOR MONEY All on-going services to be subject to value for money testing at client’s will against pre-agreed, fair market testing criteria and appropriate benchmarking data.

POOR DELIVERY Method to re-build trust; agree key outcomes and performance criteria to realign service delivery. Drive ‘enabling’ not ‘defensive’ behaviours. Track escalation and performance.

ON-GOING ISSUES Structure ‘step-in’ process to, (a) Use evidence from performance, (b) Allows use of contingency providers, (c) Don’t take expert responsibility away, and (d) Claim damages.

EXIT AND TRANSITION Pre-agreed exit costs schedule and migration process. Updated every 6 months in line with re-shaping process.

WHY THESE ARE IMPORTANT Most contract structures do not take into account the ‘enabling behaviours’ everyone needs to adopt to assure fit-for-purpose service delivery that achieves the business outcomes.

BENEFITS Having contractual foundations that drive the right collaborative behaviours between client and supplier helps to realise benefits a minimum of 45% faster.

7 Buying Governance

Procurement governance that drives the right foundations to assure a fit- for-purpose solution/supplier is procured.

BUYING STRATEGY The process of buying a solution starts with having articulation of what will change in the business once this service delivery process is complete.

INTERNAL AGREEMENT Prior to going out to market, the Procurement Department having confidence the business is internally aligned on its expectations from the project. Then to define the procurement route.

EARLY MARKET TEST Early market engagement with potential suppliers helps the client understand where its expectations are realistic, where it needs to realign its thinking and the ‘art of the possible’.

COMPLIANCE For the public sector and certain regulated industries, it’s key for the procurement specialists to assure their organisation is compliant with statutory regulations.

FITNESS-FOR-PURPOSE In validating/assessing supplier solutions, always ask supplier to keep assuring its alignment with the business objective. Reshaping to keep on top of fitness-for-purpose for lifetime.

SUPPLIER SELECTION Having a clear, open, fair and equitable holistic selection process that aligns to the business objectives and collaborative behaviours required from the supplier.

NEGOTIATIONS Keep fitness for purpose/supplier advice accountability at the top of the agenda. Don’t compromise on any items that will distract you from aligning to the key business objectives.

CONTRACT FINALISATION Reverse engineer the structure of the contract to drive behaviours aligned to the business objectives to be achieved. Diagram the mapping of key clauses and produce a contract process.

WHY THESE ARE IMPORTANT The buying governance process is the real ‘sanity check’ for the organisation to determine whether it is ready to ‘go to market’, and to assure it both contracts for, and achieves, a fit- for-purpose solution.

BENEFITS Assures the client is likely to achieve the cost reductions, operational improvements, and strong commercial trust in the relationship, along with a high reputation for collaborative working.

8 Relationship Management

Strategic Relationship Management that assures on-going benefits are realised for the life cycle of the relationship.

ICF RESOURCING A well-resourced ICF team that manages internal stakeholders, supplier expectations, learns what behaviours to change from KPI monitoring and drives innovation led services.

FUTURE STATE AGILITY As the marketplace changes, ensuring that the ‘Future State’ the organisation expects to enable from the solutions and services implemented, is continually validated.

SERVICE RE-SHAPING As the ‘Future State’ is continually validated, ensuring the services, requirements, SMART KPIs and contract terms are innovated to remain agile and aligned to the organisation’s objectives.

ROLES / RESPONSIBILITIES The ICF is continually validating that the supplier and client teams are project managing the mobilisation of behaviours to achieve the Future State in line with ‘Expert Responsibilities’.

COLLABORATION Operating governance that is driving the right collaborative behaviours to build on-going Commercial Trust in the relationship.

COMPLIANCE Keeping in line with any statutory compliance and contractual obligations will remain a key foundation of your operating governance.

PERFORMANCE The ICF team providing evidence that, (a) The supplier relationship, and (b) The ICF team itself are both performing to expectations and progress is being made towards the Future State.

VALUE FOR MONEY / ROI Independent evidence that the solutions and services being provided are being tested to validate they are providing on-going value for money. \n

WHY THESE ARE IMPORTANT The role of the ICF team is paramount in ensuring the internal stakeholders and supplier(s) both remain aligned to the organisation’s ‘Future State’ of operating effectiveness and, in turn, achieve the full benefits realisation over the relationship lifecycle.

BENEFITS On-going achievement of the Future State means the organisation will have, (a) A supplier relationship with high levels of Commercial Trust, (b) Continual innovation in its service delivery, and (c) On-going reductions in Business as Usual operating costs.

REORG: HOW TO GET IT RIGHT

From the Book: Reorg: How to Get It Right by Stephen Heidari-Robinson and  Suzanne Heywood 

THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGING COURSE 

I recall reading somewhere that the TI-class supertanker ships must travel more than 30 miles in order to reverse direction. Their engines are off before traveling the last 15 miles to dock. I thought about these and other issues as I began to read this book. They give us at least some sense of how difficult it must be for the world’s largest organizations to complete a reorganization.

THE STATISTICS DONT LOOK FAVOURABLE

• 70% of reorgs deliver some value, but only 16% deliver the results they were supposed to in the time they were supposed to. The main reasons are: employees resisting or leaving, insufficient resources, distraction from day-to-day work, leaders resisting, or the org chart changes but the way people work stays the same.
• In most reorgs, only 20-30% of the organisation changes. The knack is identifying which bit – usually to be found where what leaders think is broken intersects with what really matters in the business.
• Communication of reorgs usually fails due to ivory-tower idealism (over enthusiastic leader thinking all will be well) or wait and see (keeping everything secret).
• If the reorg team cost and likely business disruption exceeds the anticipated cost reduction or revenue increase, the reorg should not go ahead.
• The timeline should be reverse engineered from the implementation date, and include two or three immovable deadlines.

STEPS FOR SUCCESS

1. Construct the Reorg's Profit and Loss. Work out what is to be achieved and how to measure successful completion. Is a reorg necessary to meet these targets. If so, accelerate the process in order to minimize upset and deliver the business results needed as soon as possible.
2. Understand the business's current weaknesses and strengths. Don't do things just for the sake of it and communicate often, both in order to share information and to listen.
3.  Develop a new structure that is tailored to the company's needs, taking advantage of the wisdom within the organization and engaging key stakeholders. Many reorganizers jump straight to this step, say the authors. Doing so is "a fatal error".
4. Design and plan implementation. This should involve setting immovable deadlines and assessing leadership in order to ensure the right people are in the right roles
5. Launch, learn and course-correct. Ensure that the reorg is delivering the expected results. When things return to "normal" are targets being met?

Tim HJ Rogers MBA 

MBA (Management Consultancy) & Change Practitioner 

ICF Trained Coach IoD Business Mentor

Mob 447797762051 

Tim@AdaptConsultingCompany.com

References 

https://reorgbook.com/the-five-steps/

https://www.ft.com/content/0ae9ab4c-afe0-11e6-9c37-5787335499a0

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogertrapp/2016/11/23/when-restructuring-leaders-cannot-afford-to-ignore-the-human-side/?sh=32a31b497749

https://bobmorris.biz/reorg-a-book-review-by-bob-morris

WHY PROJECTS FAIL, DIAGNOSIS & HOW TO SUCCEED

 

WHY PROJECTS FAIL

 

#1 – Scope Creep
Scope is everything that you are going to do and conversely, not going to do. So once you’ve figured out exactly what the project work is, usually via a Work Breakdown Structure, you need to freeze it and zealously guard against unplanned changes to it. So planned changes via a change control board are ok, since then the PM can issue a new schedule, risk and budget plan as needed. Otherwise, you will surely miss your target and make both the management and customer unhappy.

#2 – Overallocated Resources
Often there are too few resources working on too many projects at the same time. In conjunction with that, managers don’t seem to have a grip on what their resources are doing all the time. Team members are left to figure out for themselves what projects they should be working on and when. Better is for managers to meet weekly to discuss resource usage perhaps using a spreadsheet to track.

#3 – Poor Communications
Many people on a project will know the project manager only through his or her communications. And they will know them by how their voice comes across over the phone or especially by how well-written their emails are. If the project manager is not a clear unambiguous communicator, chaos and confusion will ensue.

#4 –Bad Stakeholder Management
Stakeholders have a vested interest in the project for the good or sometimes to the detriment of the project. It is the project manager’s job not only to identify all stakeholders, but know how to manage and communicate with them in a timely fashion. A communication management plan helps here.

#5 – Unreliable Estimates
Estimates are very often just guesstimates by team members who are trying to calculate duration of tasks based on how long it took them last time. This may turn out to be totally accurate or may be completely wrong. And if wrong, leads to a flawed schedule and increased risk. Historical records kept between projects helps solve this.

#6 – No Risk Management
Every project is unique and hence, has uncertainty. When we try to qualify and quantify that uncertainty, we call it risk. It is incumbent upon the project manager to proactively anticipate things that might go wrong. Once he has identified risks, then he and the team can decide on how to respond to (e.g., mitigate, avoid) those specific risks should they occur.

#7 – Unsupported Project Culture
I was once asked to consult for a company and discovered that a complex project was being handled by an untrained secretary using 20 Excel spreadsheets. In this case, management clearly did not fully understand what it took to manage a project either in tools or using trained personnel. This is not easily solvable because it requires education of management and a cultural shift.

#8 – The Accidental Project Manager
This is similar to but not exactly the same as the unsupported project culture. In this instance, what typically happens is that a technical person (software developer, chemist, etc.) succeeds at the job. Based on that, gets promoted to project manager and is asked to manage the types of projects they just came from. The problem is they often don’t get training in project management and may well lack the social skills the job calls for. And so they flounder and often fail despite previous successes.

#9 – Lack of Team Planning Sessions
There is no more effective way to kick off a meeting than to have the entire team come together for a planning session. This enables everyone to not only work together on project artifacts (schedule, WBS) but also to bond as a team and buy into the project.

#10 – Monitoring and Controlling
Many project managers will create a schedule and never (or rarely) update it. Or if they do, they’ll just fill in percent done, which is an arbitrary number often picked out of the air by the team member. Better if they record actuals such as date started, work accomplished and estimate of remaining work.

DIAGNOSIS: SEVEN PROJECT PERFORMANCE FACTORS 

 

Does the focus on business value, or technical detail?
This involves establishing a clear link between the project and the organizations key strategic practices. The project plan needs to cover the planned delivery, the business change required and the means of benefits realization.

Case Study: I have seen projects fail were time is spent myopically on the detail of an issue, often a supplier contract issue, and not the overall purpose eg to produce an ROI of 8% in 3 years. In some cases we would be wise to pivot, take a new approach, rather than get bogged down. The effect of not doing so is to delay delivery of a function or feature with a disproportional consequential impact on the people and overall programme. Projects seldom operate in isolation and problems in one inevitably impact upon others and/or business as usual.

Is there clear accountability for measured results?
There must be clear view of the inter-dependencies between the projects, the benefits, and the criteria against which success will be judged. It is necessary to establish a reasonably stable requirement baseline before any other work goes forward. Requirements may still continue to creep. In virtually all projects there will be some degree of “learning what the requirements really are” while building the project product.

Case Study: I have experienced situations where incentives, rewards, and punishments tear people apart by pulling in different directions. Typically the tug between projects and business as usual means compromises for both, or outright failure of one because of another. There needs to be a relentless review of: What is it we are trying to achieve here? And a clear focus on output or outcome measures on the agreed dials: Does this move the needle in the right direction?. If we simply congratulate ourselves on effort and not outcome we risk the trials of Sisyphus and burnout [Sisyphus -was punished by being forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll down every time.]

Is there a consistent processes for managing unambiguous checkpoints?
Successful large projects typically have software measurement programs for capturing productivity and quality historical data that can be sued to compare it against similar projects in order to judge the validity of schedules, costs, quality, and other project related factors. The lack of effective quality centered mechanisms can be a major contributor to both cost and schedule overruns.

Case Study: I have seen suppliers argue that there is no problem with being 20 days late with Phase A because Workstream B is 20 days ahead of schedule. This is misdirection. Generally of a project is late it will only get later! If your track record is 20% late then the probability of recovering that time is low unless there is a clear understanding of cause and an intervention of consequence. My own experience is that projects seldom improve productivity and instead cut scope or quality to recover lateness. In one example comprehensive testing was compromised to random sample testing in order to gain pace, but inevitably the hope-value (that everything will be ok) did not pay-off. These compromises generally creates further problems later with consequential impact on cost.

Is there a consistent methodology for planning and executing projects?
There should be a detailed plan developed before any release date of a project is announced. Inadequate planning is one of the major reasons why projects spin out of control.

Case Study: I am a fan of both waterfall and agile projects and both PRINCE2 and scrum have their benefits. For well understood projects, processes or services which are repeated with precision the waterfall approach is appropriate and time spent on designing the ginger-bread cutter [process and plans] is worthwhile when churning out products and services that conform exactly to a well prepared plan. However many are low volume, unique or ambiguous and in these contexts agile / scrum may be better, evolving, innovating, developing and improving as things progress. There is real merit in both but I have seen success and failure in mixing the two into Waterfall: Thinking and planning before doing is good. Scrum: Leaning, developing and innovating is good. waterfall + scrum = scrummerfall. Some scrummerfall approaches are like a series of small waterfall projects linked together, ostensibly as phases or stages of a later mission. However problems occur when you are managing plans, budget, delivery to a waterfall (PRINCE2) standard [like a bus on a route], but the activity is agile (scrum) [like an explorer on a bike].

Do you include customer at the beginning of the project and continually involve the customer as things change ?
It has been observed that successful projects occur when end users (customers) and the project members work as teams in the same cubicle, although this is not always possible. Projects are less likely to fail if there are informed customers giving meaningful input during every phase of requirements elicitation, product description and implementation. The customer needs to be asking, “how are the project result used over time and what do I get out of the results?

Case Study: I have seen projects lead by the IT department either because the customer has abrogated their responsibility or because the IT department feels that they have a better understanding of the customer needs, wants and expectations than the customer. A doctor will consult a patient before, during and after prescription. They may be expert, but neither the physician or patient will think it wise to proceed without some mutual understanding and consensus. Inevitably the communication gap brings frustration and can lead to "failure", whether real or perceived, the problem being that each may have a different criteria for success or failure.

Do you motivate people so that project efforts will experience a zone of optimal performance throughout its life?
This involves managing and retaining the most highly skilled and productive people. Knowledge is money. A project team made up of higher paid people with the right specialized skills is worth more per dollar than a group of lower cost people who need weeks or months of training before they can start to be productive.

Case Study: I have always believed that projects should be delivered on-time, on-budget, to-specification, but also develop the participants to be competent, capable, with drive and desire. So creating, nurturing and supporting the team is often as important (and frequently more important) than one project. Because a competent, capable, team with drive and desire can do so much more than one project! There can be problems however if the team is regarded as a component, like paint rather than an artist. When people are dropped in or pulled out they become ingredients and their collective skills, expertise and experience is wasted. I have seen projects that simply swap people in or out based on availability rather than their value to the team.

Do you provide the project team members the tools and techniques the need to produce consistently successful projects?
The project team must be skilled and experienced with clear defined roles and responsibilities. If not, there must be access to expertise which can benefit those fulfilling the requisite roles.

Case Study: I have seen organisations spend millions on supplier agreements and then scrimp on the training and development of the teams who will deliver a project. That's like buying a Formula 1 car and than expecting a bunch of people to manage, maintain and drive that car without the training and development that is necessary. They then wonder why their Formula 1 investment is not achieving Grand Prix performance.

ELBEIK AND THOMAS’S SUCCESSFUL PROJECT REQUIREMENTS

 

By speaking to experienced project managers  Sam Elbeik and Mark Thomas attempted to identify the critical factors that must be addressed if a project is to be completed successfully. They developed a six stage process for managing projects namely: define, plan, build the team, lead and motivate, control communications, review.

Key success factors in rank order

1. Clearly defined objectives
2. Good planning and control methods
3. Good quality of project managers
4. Good management support
5. Enough time and resources
6. Commitment by all
7. High user involvement
8. Good communication
9. Good project organisation and structure
10. Being able to stop a project

Tim HJ Rogers MBA CITP 
PROJECTS, PROGRAMMES and CHANGE /  CONSULTANT MENTOR COACH
Adapt Consulting Company 
Consult CoCreate Deliver
Mob +447797762051 Tim@AdaptConsultingCompany.com

Tim Rogers is an experienced Project and Change Leader. He is founder of ciChange.org and curator for TEDxStHelier.Com . Roles have included Programme Manager for the incorporation of Ports and Jersey, and Jersey Post, as well as Operations Change and Sales Support for RBSI/NatWest. He is also Commonwealth Triathlete and World Championships Rower. He has a passion for learning and has been a Tutor/Mentor for the Chartered Management Institute. He is a Chartered Member of the British Computer Society, has an MBA (Management Consultancy) and is both a PRINCE2 and Change Management Practitioner. 

USEFUL LINKS

FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM

FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM    

While the Five Dysfunctions of a Team is an interesting story, the popularity of the book is due to the simple and accessible model of teamwork that it introduces.

#1 Absence of Trust
Bottom of the pyramid is the absence of trust, when team members are unable to show their weakness, resulting in being reluctant to be vulnerable and being open with one another. Team members will be afraid of admitting their mistakes and will be unwilling to ask for help.

#2 Fear of Conflict
Lack of trust results in fear of conflict which in turn results in team members incapable of engaging in debates or openly voicing their opinions. The team completely avoids conflicts which results in inferior results.

#3 Lack of Commitment
Fear of conflict results in lack of commitment. As team members have not bought into the decisions, they don’t feel committed to the same which resulting in an environment where ambiguity prevails.

#4 Avoidance of Accountability
Lack of commitment results in team members not making each other accountable. If one has not bought into the decision, they won’t make their peers too accountable.

#5 Inattention to Results
If the team members don’t feel accountable, they put their own needs [ego, recognition, career development etc.] ahead of the team goals. This results in team loosing sight and the company suffers.

If you want to explore your thoughts, ideas and direction perhaps think about receiving coaching or mentoring. I would be happy to chat about Coaching or explain the IoD Mentor Programme and what might work best for you (or your organisation) - no charge.

Tim HJ Rogers MBA
CONSULTANT MENTOR COACH
MBA (Management Consultancy) & Change Practitioner
ICF Trained Coach IoD Business Mentor
Mob 447797762051
Tim@AdaptConsultingCompany.com

References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Five_Dysfunctions_of_a_Team
https://internalchange.com/5-dysfunctions-of-a-team-summary/
https://medium.com/@leenasn/book-summary-the-five-dysfunctions-of-a-team-f3299a1f1a3c

USEFUL TOOLS TO STRUCTURE YOUR BUSINESS, YOUR LIFE OR YOUR THINKING

USEFUL TOOLS TO STRUCTURE YOUR BUSINESS, YOUR LIFE OR YOUR THINKING

I have often found that some tools, if used loosely and flexibly can be valuable as a trigger for conversation, reflection and action. I say loosely because life should not be formulaic, but should be explored. Models should not restrict thinking but reveal possibilities, and it is the exploration of these that can bring opportunity and growth.

In this article I will journey from business mission and vision to personal fulfilment travelling through the some useful models that may help us understand the components and formulate strategies to improve the process and outcome for either, and ideally both

Read more
https://adaptcoaching.blogspot.com/2021/02/useful-tools-to-structure-your-business.html

If you want to explore your thoughts, ideas and direction perhaps think about receiving coaching or mentoring. I would be happy to chat about Coaching or explain the IoD Mentor Programme and what might work best for you (or your organisation) - no charge.

Tim HJ Rogers MBA 
CONSULTANT MENTOR COACH
MBA (Management Consultancy) & Change Practitioner 
ICF Trained Coach IoD Business Mentor
Mob 447797762051 
Tim@AdaptConsultingCompany.com


USEFUL TOOLS TO STRUCTURE YOUR BUSINESS, YOUR LIFE OR YOUR THINKING
As a consultant, coach and mentor I support people or organisations achieve their goals. These may be business strategy, projects or objectives or more personal and individual pursuits at home, at work or in life. I have often found that some tools, if used loosely and flexibly can be valuable as a trigger for conversation, reflection and action. I say loosely because life should not be formulaic, but should be explored. 

Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men [Harry Day, the Royal Flying Corps First World War fighter ace]. In a modern context we might rephrase: Models should not restrict thinking but reveal possibilities, and it is the exploration of these that can bring opportunity and growth.

In this article I will journey from business mission and vision to personal fulfilment travelling through the some useful models that may help us understand the components and formulate strategies to improve the process and outcome for either, and ideally both.
LEAN CANVAS
Lean Canvas is a great tool when working with customers to help them summarise their business mission, vision, dream or ambition. The real value for a Consultant, Coach or Mentor is that this offers a framework for discussion and some rigour in terms of coverage, yet at the same time is not too prescriptive.  Below are two worked examples.

Here is a quick explainer of each Lean Canvas block (and in the order to go through them):

1. Problem
Each customer segment (CS) you are thinking to work with will have a set of problems that they need solving. In this box try listing the one to three high priority problems that you CS has. Without a problem to solve, you don’t have a product/service to offer.

2. Customer Segments
The problem and Customer Segments can be viewed as intrinsically connected — without a CS in mind you can’t think of their problems, and visa-versa.

3. Unique Value Proposition
In the middle of the canvas is the UVP. A value proposition is a promise of value to be delivered. It’s the primary reason a prospect should buy from you. A way to get your head around this is to think why are you different and why should your CS buy/invest time in you — further reading: Useful Value Proposition Examples (and How to Create a Good One)

4. Solution
Finding a solution to the problem is the golden egg! You’re not going to get this right off the first bat — it’s OK, as that’s what Lean is all about. What you need to do is Get Out The Building — a phrase coined by the godfather of Lean Startup, Steve Blanks. And what Blank’s here is that the solution is not in your office, it’s out there in the streets. So go interview your customer segment, ask them questions, and take those learnings. Remember the Lean Startup is validated learning through a continual Build — Measure — Learn cycle.

5. Channels
Channels are ways for you to reach your CS. And remember that in the initial stages it’s important not to think about scale but to focus on learning. With that in mind try to think which channels will give you enough access to your CS at the same time give you enough learning. Channels can be email, social, CPC ads, blogs, articles, trade shows, radio & TV, webinars etc. and BTW you don’t have to be on all of them, just where your CS are.

6. Revenue Streams
How you price your business will depend on the type of model it is, however, it’s quite common for startups to lower their cost, even offer it for free to gain traction, however, this can pose a few problems. The key being it actually delays/avoids validation. Getting people to sign up for something for free is a lot different than asking them to pay. There is also the idea of perceived value. Further reading: Simple pricing strategies for your products or services, the lean way!

7. Cost Structure
Here you should list all the operational costs for taking this business to market. How much will it cost to build / landing page? What is your burn rate — your total monthly running costs? How much will it cost to interview your customer segment? How much do market research papers cost? etc. You can then use these costs and potential revenue streams to calculate a rough break-even point.

8. Key Metrics
Every business, no matter what industry or size, will have some key metrics that are used to monitor performance. The best way to help with this is to visualize a funnel top down that flows from the large open top, through multiple stages to the narrow end. A good model to help with this is Dave McClure’s ARRRR (aka Pirate Metrics) — further reading: Startup Metrics for Pirates

9. Unfair Advantage
This is the most difficult to block to answer. However, do try to think about this as having an unfair advantage can help when it comes seeking partners & investors. Here is a great definition of unfair advantage: “The only real competitive advantage is that which cannot be copied and cannot be bought.” — Jason Cohen. Unfair advantage can be insider information, a dream team, getting expert endorsements, existing customers etc. So rather than think about adding something like “commitment and passion” as an unfair advantage (because it is not), think about what you have that no one else can buy.

BUSINESS PROPOSITION 


Problem we are solving 
Solution   
  Key Metrics 
Unique value  
Unfair Advantage   
 Channels  
Customer Segments  




Cost 
Revenue





7 S MODEL
The 7s model can be used when organizational design and effectiveness are at question. It can help all stakeholders to work towards agreement when there are differing opinions about how the seven elements should be aligned. It can be used as a good diagnostic took when looking at the mechanics of an organisation and asking systematically: What do we need to do here? At a push you could use a tool like this to structure your life. If you think of yourself as the captain of your ship or the leader of your household you might start to think about the people, property and process of your life like they were a business to be managed. Whilst this may seem incongruous or possibly manipulative to think of family, friends and fundamentals as something to be managed the counter-argument is that these things are too important to be left to chance and good stewardship is essential in life as it is in business.

• Structure - Structure is the way in which a company is organized – chain of command and accountability relationships that form its organizational chart.
• Strategy - Strategy refers to a well-curated business plan that allows the company to formulate a plan of action to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage, reinforced by the company’s mission and values.
• Systems - Systems entail the business and technical infrastructure of the company that establishes workflows and the chain of decision-making.
• Skills - Skills form the capabilities and competencies of a company that enables its employees to achieve its objectives.
• Style - The attitude of senior employees in a company establishes a code of conduct through their ways of interactions and symbolic decision-making, which forms the management style of its leaders.
• Staff - Staff involves talent management and all human resources related to company decisions, such as training, recruiting, and rewards systems
• Shared Values - The mission, objectives, and values form the foundation of every organization and play an important role in aligning all key elements to maintain an effective organizational design.

The focus of the McKinsey 7s Model lies in the interconnectedness of the elements that are categorized by “Soft Ss” and “Hard Ss” – implying that a domino effect exists when changing one element in order to maintain an effective balance. Placing “Shared Values” as the “center” reflects the crucial nature of the impact of changes in founder values on all other elements.

The interdependency of this strategy development framework means that if one element changes, you will have to address the other six elements to analyze how the change affects them and to determine how each may need to change to keep organizational goals aligned.

Business uses of the McKinsey framework include:

• Determining how your business will achieve targets and goals
• Boosting productivity and performance
• Putting a proposed strategy into effect
• Facilitating the complexities of aligning departments and processes during mergers or acquisitions
• Examining the effects of organizational changes within the company
• Implementing policies to improve employee skills and competency

CULTURAL WEB
The Cultural Web is a tool used to map the culture of an organisation and is a way of seeing and understating the different influences that affect organisational. culture. It can be used to map existing culture and it can also used to map future. This, just like the 7S model above, could be applied to you personal life. Again it may seem incongruous or possibly manipulative to think of family, friends and fundamentals as something to be managed but it is all about relationships and behaviour whether that is in the business or home context.

• Stories and Myths
• What form of company reputation is communicated between customers and stakeholders?
• What stories do people tell new employees about the company?
• What do people know about the history of the organisation?
• What do these stories say about the culture of the business?
• Rituals and Routines
• What do employees expect when they arrive each day?
• What experience do customers expect from the organisation?
• What would be obvious if it were removed from routines?
• What do these rituals and routines say about organisational beliefs?
• Symbols
• What kind of image is associated with the company from the outside?
• How do employees and managers view the organisation?
• Are there any company-specific designs or jargon used?
• How does the organisation advertise itself?
• Control Systems
• Which processes are strongly and weakly controlled?
• In general, is the company loosely or tightly controlled?
• Are employees rewarded or punished for performance?
• What reports and processes are used to keep control of finance, etc?
• Organisation Structures
• How hierarchical is the organisation?
• Is responsibility and influence distributed in a formal or informal way?
• Where are the official lines of authority?
• Are there any unofficial lines of authority?
• Power Structures
• Who holds the power within the organisation?
• Who makes decisions on behalf of the company?
• What are the beliefs and culture of those as the top of the business?
• How is power used within the organisation?

LIFE WHEEL
In some aspects the Life Wheel combines much of what was in the 7S model and the Cultural Web and so it is logical to conclude our journey with this model. We have travelled from business mission and vision to personal fulfilment travelling through the some useful models that may help us understand the components and formulate strategies to improve the process and outcome for either, and ideally both. 

This tool was created by The Coaches Training Institute (CTI) in San Rafael, CA.  I have found it to be a very useful tool for assessing where coaching may be of benefit to you.  To complete the assessment, print this page and follow the directions. Rate each area of your life on the wheel from a 1 (not at all satisfied) to 10 (completely satisfied/could not be improved on) by drawing a line across the corresponding number in that section of the pie and then shading below it.  When you are done, you will be left with a jagged wheel that should effectively illustrate areas for growth.  This is where coaching starts.  What happens next is up to you.


Tim HJ Rogers MBA CITP 
PROJECTS, PROGRAMMES and CHANGE /  CONSULTANT MENTOR COACH
Adapt Consulting Company 
Consult CoCreate Deliver
Mob +447797762051 Tim@AdaptConsultingCompany.com

Tim Rogers is an experienced Project and Change Leader. He is founder of ciChange.org and curator for TEDxStHelier.Com . Roles have included Programme Manager for the incorporation of Ports and Jersey, and Jersey Post, as well as Operations Change and Sales Support for RBSI/NatWest. He is also Commonwealth Triathlete and World Championships Rower. He has a passion for learning and has been a Tutor/Mentor for the Chartered Management Institute. He is a Chartered Member of the British Computer Society, has an MBA (Management Consultancy) and is both a PRINCE2 and Change Management Practitioner. 

USEFUL LINKS

An Introduction to Lean Canvas
https://medium.com/@steve_mullen/an-introduction-to-lean-canvas-5c17c469d3e0

Change Models
http://www.timhjrogers.com/blog/compendium%20change%20management%20models.html#A8

The Wheel of Life: a great personal assessment tool
https://strategic-solutions-coaching.com/wheel-of-life/

SOMETIMES YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOU THINK UNTIL YOU WRITE IT DOWN

 

As a Coach and Mentor I often work with people to resolve whatever is holding them back. In one recent session the client described their life as entering a new chapter. The use of metaphors can be revealing and useful. We explored how the past, present and future chapters fitted together.  

We then talked about the issues that were making it difficult to more from the past to the future, and played with the chapter metaphor a little. We started by narrowing down what might be on a page and expanding out what might be the whole book. 

We agreed this approach was useful in putting the scale and pace of change into context. Is this a new chapter? Is it a whole new book? Or is it simply turning a page? 

We agreed it would be a great exercise to take three pages and briefly write notes on the past, present and future. The process translates thoughts and feelings into words which can more easily and objectively assessed, and also prepares the ground for future discussions. Conversations can be rehearsed in the script.

By chronicling the past and scripting the future my client was able to gain control over thoughts and feelings, and choose the direction of her story, becoming author for her life.

BRAIN WASHING AND NEW THINKING

Apparently a form of brain washing of american soldiers was to get them to copy out texts that denounced americanism and capitalism. Whereas simply reciting words had no effect on the prisoners, apparently the process of copying text caused then to think about what they were writing. Their internal dialogue [what they said to themselves when they were writing] managed to convince themselves of things that their captors could not.

Writing, which inevitably involves self-talk, is a powerful way of surfacing and examining deeper thoughts in a process which explores meaning and truth before committing it to paper. This process is so powerful in self examination and reflection that story telling or narrative coaching is often used when coaching or mentoring clients about assumptions, ambitions and motives. 

NEITHER MEMORIES OR STORIES ARE FIXED

Memories are not fixed or frozen. Every time we recall something from the past we examine it in a new context, and indeed may edit or update the memory with new meaning or purpose based on reflection or new data.  Memory therefore can be unreliable since each memory is a store of thoughts and feelings at one particular time, which might be potentially changed each time they are recalled.

For example, If you recite the story of that special day when you did that remarkable thing (remember that, that was huge!). Well the story will change over time. Maybe you add details or don't mention bits if telling your parents or partner or the people at work. Maybe that thing which was huge when you were 5, actually seems quite small now that you are a 5'10" adult. Or maybe that really nice thing looks very different with hindsight, now that you now know about that other thing, which you didn't know then.

It is a good thing to re-examine the past, but best done at a time and a place that does not distort the recollection and update with negative thoughts and feelings. The formula below hints at the problem of inaccurate memory.

Formula: Event + Data + Truth +  Experience = Reality

Problems: 
1) Event is vague: It may be what is, isn't or might or didn't happen (but you wanted it to)?
2) Data is uncertain: Did we get all the sights, sounds and signals?
3) Truth is variable: [1] what is, [2] what is perceived [3] what we noticed
4) Experience is subjective: thought & emotion can change because of circumstance and context

A good coach will help you identify, surface, recognise and navigate these elements.

GOALS ARE SHORT STORIES IN THE BOOK OF YOUR LIFE

Having a goal gives people something to strive for, a purpose. Typically this might be family, but not necessarily mother and father type family. It could be colleagues, club, community or country. But it could be artistic, scientifice, literary purpose. Whatever you can conceive you can believe, and if you truly believe that may be your purpose.

This purpose, if it has personal value, will motivate and engage our exploratory and pursuit systems and support that effort with dopamine and analgesia to help us with the pursuit. It is a high, a drive, a passion of positive emotion. We often see this with high performance athletes who push beyond normality and pain. 

We link memories together to form stories of our past. We may do a bit of editorial to make them coherent and flow: we do not like to think of life as random events so we use narrative to create logical consequence, because of this.. then that. We also like to think there is some fate to life: whether the locus of control is external [the world, God, work, politics sets my fate] or the locus of control is internal [I am the captain of my ship].

The result is that these short stories become your lifes work. As director or editor you get to chose the plot simply by deciding which scenes to keep and which to dump on the cutting room floor. If you create a story with purpose, a mission, or goal that transends the every-day (food, drink, sleep, consumption) then you can create and live with positive emotion, by taking responsibility as the screenwriter, director or editor for your life.


Tim HJ Rogers MBA CITP 
PROJECTS, PROGRAMMES and CHANGE /  CONSULTANT MENTOR COACH
Adapt Consulting Company 
Consult CoCreate Deliver
Mob +447797762051 Tim@AdaptConsultingCompany.com

Tim Rogers is an experienced Project and Change Leader and an ICF Trained Coach as well as mentor for the IoD. He is a past curator for TEDx. Roles have included Programme Manager for the incorporation of Ports and Jersey, and Jersey Post, as well as Operations Change and Sales Support for RBSI/NatWest. He is also Commonwealth Triathlete and World Championships Rower. He has a passion for learning and has been a Tutor/Mentor for the Chartered Management Institute. He is a former Chartered Member of the British Computer Society, has an MBA (Management Consultancy) and is both a PRINCE2 and Change Management Practitioner.  


USEFUL LINKS

The True Story of Brainwashing and How It Shaped America
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-brainwashing-and-how-it-shaped-america-180963400/

Self Authoring Suite | Reviewing Jordan Peterson’s Self Authoring Program
https://andreian.com/self-authoring/