Strategic initiatives are occupying more of organizations’ portfolios, yet nearly 4 in 10 that fail are doomed by a lack of defined milestones and objectives to measure progress, according to PMI's 2017 Pulse of the Profession® report. With projects and programs at the core of these initiatives, many organizations are realizing that on-point execution is now a must-have competency to avoid such breakdowns.
One way for organizations to close the gap: tapping project professionals for the C-suite. Beyond creating chief project officer (CPO) positions, organizations also are promoting project management office (PMO) directors and portfolio managers to other executive roles, such as CIO or COO.
How did these executives make the jump into the C-suite? And how do they leverage their specialized knowledge to bridge the gap between corner offices and project leaders in the trenches? To find out, PM Network spoke to three executives from around the world.
CPO, Vancouver Island Health Authority, a healthcare provider with 150 hospitals and health centers
Location: Courtenay, British Columbia, Canada
Sector: Construction
Project management experience: 39 years
C-suite experience: 9 years
How do you elevate project management in your organization?
I try to develop exceptionally strong relationships— professional and personal—with C-suite peers. On large, complex infrastructure projects, strong relationships undoubtedly influence decisions and help to ensure the appropriate resources and processes are in place to mitigate issues and respond to challenges. I really believe in the saying “you can pay me now or pay me later.” The costs incurred by not having an experienced project management team in place can have a huge impact on the bottom line on many levels including financial, relationships and trust, operational and, most importantly, emotional.
How do you help boost strategic alignment and organizational agility?
Projects must align with the organization's strategy, not the other way around. In the hospital construction environment, the essence of development and design is based on the clinical functional program. This program is similar to a roadmap that describes the clinical program and service elements and identifies the necessary resources and space requirements to effectively deliver each program within the new hospital. I make sure the project team incorporates design principles that ensure continuity—whether it's sustainability or having a facility that's elderly-friendly and patient-centric. The functional program helps define a healthcare delivery service path integrated at all levels throughout the various phases and stages of the project and with all stakeholders involved with the project.
What fosters collaboration between project leaders and the C-suite?
CPOs and project managers must carefully manage stakeholders through collaborative initiation processes, transparent planning and good execution and controlling. I encourage others in the C-suite as well as my project directors to do the same. The C-suite can lead the charge by guiding and sharing with their teams, connecting team members with others actively engaged in effective project management processes and utilizing successful project managers as advisers. As a result, we have very low project resource turnover, a very positive team-based environment and significant support from all stakeholders.
—Tom Sparrow, PMP, Vancouver Island Health Authority, Courtenay, British Columbia, Canada
How can organizations provide senior project management leaders with a clear career path to the C-suite?
Executives need to walk the talk and ensure these career paths actually exist. It's important to share what that path looks like and have key champions within the organization promote recognition and understanding of the path. I try to provide an environment of continuous learning and personal support that develops and sustains our resources within the organization.
Is it time to bring a chief project officer (CPO) into the C-suite? Here are three signs the answer is “yes.”
1 Organizational dysfunction
If an organization is riddled with confusion in the face of significant operational change, a CPO's project management leadership can help streamline processes. “CPOs should understand which processes and initiatives need to take place in order to help their organization move forward and succeed in today's ever-changing environment,” says Tom Sparrow, PMP, CPO, Vancouver Island Health Authority, Courtenay, British Columbia, Canada.
2 Complex stakeholder base
As organizations grow, the number and diversity of stakeholders can increase— which can lead to communication breakdowns. “A highly skilled leader can be the connector and champion the value of professional project management in all contexts to all stakeholders,” says Alicia Aitken, CPO, Telstra, Sydney, Australia.
3 Pressure from competition
A CPO can help organizations optimize portfolio-level decision making when other executives might be tempted to blindly chase competitors. A CPO can stop other executives from making impulse-driven mistakes that lead to selecting or prioritizing the wrong projects.
CPO, Telstra, Australia's largest media and telecommunications company
Location: Sydney, Australia
Sector: Telecommunications
Project management experience: 9 years
C-suite experience: 2 years
What personal qualities helped you reach the C-suite?
My career has been driven by a deep sense of curiosity. The curiosity to understand how business works, how customers can be helped and how I can learn and grow are the drivers that helped me reach the C-suite. A key skill for that is listening. Whenever I look around the room, the one thing that always strikes me is that there is always someone smarter, more experienced, more charismatic, more focused, more calm, more something than me. Which means I always have something to learn if I just listen.
How do you bridge the gap between executives and project managers?
Often in organizations, the groups that create strategy and those who deliver it are very separate. CPOs can provide a crucial interface between strategy development and execution—effectively translating strategy into an executable roadmap. My team of end-to-end project managers leads the delivery of our most significant projects and programs—and through them the vision and strategy is embedded in our major initiatives. The education of our project managers includes creating an understanding of strategy so that everyone can recognize when their project no longer aligns and can call it out. I build an understanding of strategy into every conversation and every presentation to make it a natural part of what we talk about and how we think about project delivery.
How do you elevate the priority and value of project management throughout Telstra?
We have focused on project delivery—the outcome to our customer—rather than project management processes to demonstrate the value of the work we do. To do this, we clearly articulate the benefits of each and every project. We have a robust benefits management framework and a team that leads this. Projects and project delivery connect people, bring new innovations to the market and help deliver exceptional customer experiences. Once people get excited about what's possible, it's easier to get them to support program and portfolio management.
—Alicia Aitken, Telstra, Sydney, Australia
Which sectors have a growing need for project management representation in the C-suite?
I'd say financial services, telecommunications and technology have the most prominent needs. Competitive advantage and the customer experience are heavily driven by projects these days. The pace of change is so fast that the impact is faster and more noticeable. Projects not only need to deliver innovation but do it quickly.
CIO, Qualirede, a health plan management company
Location: Florianópolis, Brazil
Sector: Healthcare
Project management experience: 23 years
C-suite experience: 15 years
How do you elevate the value of project management at Qualirede?
I used my influence to convince the CEO to authorize me to build two different levels of PMOs: One that is linked to the CEO and is corporate, and another that is linked to my role, as IT is crucial to the majority of the company's business initiatives. These two levels allow the programs and portfolios to gain importance in the organizational matrix and be well managed and respected in the whole organization. Because of this structure, one level helps the CEO understand the strategic importance of the projects, programs and portfolios, and the results that are possible to achieve with project management. The other level gives visibility to every stakeholder in the company about the schedule and costs via status reports and monthly meetings with the whole management team.
How does your project management knowledge boost strategic alignment?
I'm always involved in the strategic planning process and translating strategy into projects. I use my project planning and management skills to translate strategy into actions. I've decreased production and services costs and incentivized innovations, creating new products that increased the company's revenue. As a result, the company is taking additional steps to ensure project management practices are implemented throughout the organization. For example, this year we hired a CPO to help boost alignment.
What role can benefits realization management play in engaging the C-suite?
Creating an external auditing process to check project results and measure the aggregated value to the business can underscore value added. And when you involve the C-suite in this benefits measurement, you can draw positive attention to the project and to the power of project management. And that can motivate project leaders and their teams.
—Cândido André Rodrigues, Qualirede, Florianópolis, Brazil
How can project professionals show organizations that they deserve a seat in the C-suite?
They need to be innovative and entrepreneurial to influence the strategy process. You must be a project management protagonist—be committed rather than just involved with the results, products and deliverables of a project. It's like the tale of the chicken and the pig: Together in their restaurant, they serve eggs and bacon. While the chicken produces eggs, the pig is giving its life to the business success. The chicken is involved, but the pig is committed. Commitment to project management is a must to reach the C-suite. PM