Looking Back at 2021 and Ahead to 2022

STEVE HENDERSHOT

This last year was another full of change. If 2020 was a bit of a fire drill, then 2021 was when project leaders settled into a new reality—one that demanded an unprecedented ability to adapt, adjust and innovate, all with an eye on the future.

SEVI RICH

This has been a demanding and dynamic year with border restrictions, impact[s] on supply chains, long-lead procurement timelines, fabrications and [a] constrained labor market. And despite all this, I think we are a lot more resilient than we think we are.

NARRATOR

The world is changing fast. And every day, project professionals are turning ideas into reality—delivering value to their organizations and to society as a whole. On Projectified^®, we’ll help you stay on top of the trends and see what’s ahead for The Project Economy—and your career.

STEVE HENDERSHOT

This is Projectified^®. I’m Steve Hendershot.

The end of any year is an opportunity to reflect on all we’ve accomplished. But it’s also a pretty good time to hit the fast-forward button and plan out what it will take for us to reach new goals. That’s what we’re going to do today, checking in with several project leaders who have joined us on Projectified^® over the course of 2021 and asking them to look back—and also to look ahead.

We’ll start in Perth, Australia, where 2020 Future 50 leader Sevi Rich is a senior portfolio manager at BHP. She spoke to Projectified^®’s Hannah Schmidt about what’s changed over the last year—and what that means for her moving forward.

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HANNAH SCHMIDT

So as we look back on 2021, what’s the biggest change you’ve seen over the past year?

SEVI RICH

I think the way we work and engage have drastically changed. So, the biggest change is really how we connect and operate. We’re connected through digital tools now—regardless of where we are located.

The next one is about social value creation. This is [a] big part of projects that we create, but I feel like we’re more deliberate and proactive about them. And the other important one to get right in social value creation is really zero emissions, and this is a massive challenge for all of us. We just need to collaborate better to find a better way to solve this.

And the last one is about the heavier focus on leadership, people and culture. What I’m talking about here is relational leadership, which can create [an] inclusive and safe-to-speak-up environment and workplace for our people to continue to thrive in this ever-changing environment and stay resilient.

HANNAH SCHMIDT

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned as a project leader?

SEVI RICH

The first one is about what to prioritize. Demands are ever-increasing, and there’s no such thing as “new normal” because it’s ever-changing. So, for me, the most important thing was prioritizing [the] well-being of our people. Ultimately, people are our key resources to continuously deliver—and effectively deliver—projects in this environment. So, for me, top thing to prioritize [is the] well-being of our people and well-being of ourselves, of course.

The second learning for me is mindset. New problems are emerging daily because, as I said, there’s no such thing as normal anymore. This is ever- evolving. Learning a more calculated, risk-taking mindset, I think, is the way to go here. There’s always something we can do about these new emerging problems. It’s about how we think about them and how we assess the risk we’re taking by trying out something new and try[ing] that out in a controlled manner.

And the last point is really about how to manage increasing demands. When things change, demands on us increase as project leaders. I mean, project management is already a demanding job, but in this new world that we live, demands are ever-increasing. So, what I [found] out this year is [that] actually focusing on energy management instead of time management has been paying off much better because, ultimately, energy can be systematically expanded, which will enable us to increase our capability to meet the increasing demands.

HANNAH SCHMIDT

How do you think the world of projects will change over the next year?

SEVI RICH

I think we’ll be much leaner and faster. And the only question is: How do we get there? When I reflect on that question, I feel like there are like four labels we can pull [from] there. The first one is about mindset shift. What I’m talking about here is moving from [a] process-driven mindset to value creation—and value creation is not only commercially but also environmentally and socially. So, if you can achieve this shift, it will enable us to move faster and leaner.

[The] second one is about evolving your capabilities. So, it’s [an] ever-changing environment [with] new technology, new tools; it’s continuous learning, and we need to figure out better ways of learning—not only on improving capabilities, but learning from previous mistakes or lessons learned from the previous projects.

That ties in really well with effective data consumption. There’s lots of data available. The difficulty is extracting meaningful, timely data and creating platforms for this to be accessible by most. So, this will allow access to high value insights instantly and easy to drive smarter decisions for us. And the last one is about how do we [have] better partnerships within the ecosystem. In a project, everything we touch, everyone we work with, if you can collaborate better, I think we can expand our capabilities, innovative capacity and better creation of social value together.

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STEVE HENDERSHOT

The ability to make sense of the data deluge emerged as a bit of a theme. Kris Sprague, head of program and project planning at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in Tarrytown, New York, in the U.S., says being able to sift through all the information out there is fast becoming a must-have skill.

KRIS SPRAGUE

Project management involves a lot of data, and project managers are increasingly leveraging data to make informed decisions, to handle projects in a better way and increase business growth. For example, within my organization, data could be anything from dealing with the schedule to the associated cost to really looking at resources that are performing the work. It could include metadata, which is really data about data.

It’s elevating the agility of the decision making, where people maybe didn’t have this data previously and they now have the data today. And, as a result, they’re in a better position to use the data to drive the decision-making processes.

STEVE HENDERSHOT

No big shocker here, but Kris says versatility is also essential.

KRIS SPRAGUE

I expect to see the evolution of managing and delivering projects into a set of tools, which will include agile practices, traditional project management practices and some design thinking. It may also include innovation, Scrum, Kanban, Lean, and change management. Depending on the type of project, project managers will need to be able to apply one or more tools or different techniques simultaneously.

STEVE HENDERSHOT

These skill sets will help project teams deliver value as The Project Economy continues to change in 2022.

KRIS SPRAGUE

In the global competitive marketplace, it’s not just enough to have good ideas. It’s critical to be able to execute those ideas with speed. Those who make it to market with speed, high quality and value do really well.

That’s going to be important not only in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry, but other industries as well. And it really has been a challenge over the last two years with the global pandemic where you’re not in the office meeting face to face. It’s really introduced different ways of working.

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STEVE HENDERSHOT

That need to shift with the current demands also was a theme of my conversation with Alice Chow, a fellow and director of advisory services in East Asia at global engineering giant Arup in Hong Kong.

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STEVE HENDERSHOT

What’s the biggest change you’ve seen over the past year?

ALICE CHOW

For construction, we see that the projects nowadays, they pay a lot of attention to the carbon production. A lot of measure or assessment is gradually in place so that people can follow and not to create more unnecessary carbon.

Arup, as a whole, we have a commitment to the world, because we keep saying we shape a better world. Also, we are part of the COP26, and we commit and we will help to reduce carbon as much as we can. So, it’s part of the work that our engineering firm is helping during construction or design or after construction—how to save energy and ensure the carbon can be reduced substantially.

STEVE HENDERSHOT

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned this year as a project leader?

ALICE CHOW

Change is constant. In the past, we always anticipate how things will be running in the normal mode, but now we gradually see that this is not possible. [Things] can be changed overnight; it can be changed in [a] few weeks’ time.

As a project leader, we need to prepare for the change, and also we need to help our team members to get ready themselves, gear up and receive these changes. Changes are unavoidable nowadays. Some of the changes are due to the environment. Some of the changes are due to the other measures or policies that [are] imposed. We need to not just prepare—sometimes, we need to take lead to steer the project in the right direction.

STEVE HENDERSHOT

Based on that, what’s one piece of advice for project leaders, just a skill or something to keep in mind, in order to always be prepared for that not just constant change but the increasing velocity of change?

ALICE CHOW

I suggest we keep an open mind and study more about what are the drivers and trends that are affecting us nowadays. There are a lot of issues, and we cannot have a narrow vision and only see what’s on your plate. You need to see other issues that are happening—probably not in your industry but other industries—because those industries, they are connected, and you cannot isolate yourself to see for your own situation. As a leader, you have to widen your vision and be prepared.

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STEVE HENDERSHOT

Sustainability is also top of mind for Leyla Zelaya, the national coordinator for the United Nations Environment Programme’s CityAdapt project in San Salvador, El Salvador. And this year, that required a large measure of resilience and adaptability.

LEYLA ZELAYA

We had a year with delays, situations beyond our control. The schools closed, meetings banned, materials shortage. We learned to be positive, to use technology for the development of activities. We take the opportunity to exchange experiences and knowledge with colleagues who have the same interests and who are in other cities in other countries. We developed online events to train not only locally, but also shared with other cities.

STEVE HENDERSHOT

The team has developed nature-based solutions, or NbS, across the city, from digging infiltration ditches to planting community gardens. Next year, the CityAdapt project will close—and Leyla is excited to get to that point so she can share the project’s results and lessons learned.

LEYLA ZELAYA

We find ourselves with all the desire to “finish well,” in quotes, with the results that are established as the NbS measures—like restoration of coffee plantations, water harvesting systems and school gardens—and ask for mainstreaming NbS into urban planning. The latter applies our work plan with the local authorities so that they can replicate or scale up the NbS measures. Finally, it is time to prepare and disseminate documents that show the lessons learned, the advantage of NbS and their mainstreaming into urban planning.

STEVE HENDERSHOT

As she approaches the project’s finish line, one thing that’s on her mind is better serving people—her project stakeholders, and also her own team.

LEYLA ZELAYA

Projects should be more flexible in terms of the scope of results. The externalities can be many, so we must be prepared and think about possible collaboration and alliances. Putting people first in our work, starting with our work team. The pandemic wasn’t easy for anybody, so we have to learn how to work with [the] pandemic and try to get some results, even if there [are] no opportunities for vulnerable people here in the city.

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STEVE HENDERSHOT

For Miguel Monteiro, 2021 marked a big career change. Earlier this year, he was heading up the Uptown Tower high-rise project in Dubai. Now, he’s a director of development at real estate developer Emaar. He spoke to Hannah about his transition and the challenges before him. 

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HANNAH SCHMIDT

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned as a project leader?

MIGUEL MONTEIRO

I would classify the biggest lessons in three different words: adaptation, change and empathy. One needs to adapt to the world as it changes every day. And, in order to be able to respond to each one of the new challenges, one needs to be able to manage change—manage the mentality that is behind each requirement to respond to the change. And empathy is certainly one of the most important characteristics and behaviors that is required to drive everyone toward the necessary change, toward the future accomplishments.

HANNAH SCHMIDT

What excites you most about 2022, whether that’s in project leadership in general, your specific projects that you are working on—what’s exciting you about next year?

MIGUEL MONTEIRO

Next year—let’s say [the] next three years—will be some very challenging years in the master plan that I’m involved with, particularly in downtown.

The downtown master plan encompasses what happens in the Burj Khalifa area, which is the biggest building in the world. So, around the Burj Khalifa, there is a very large number of buildings which are already built, and there [are] about 17 towers, 17 active projects plus the infrastructure, that are still ongoing, which are now on full swing in terms of project execution. There are still some other ones to come.

What excites me is the possibility and capacity and willingness to have everyone working with one goal. Putting all our positions aside, focusing on our problems and making sure that with dedication, with empathy and with collaboration, we can together take the projects to the end. And, naturally deliver the shareholder value that we are all to create to all our stakeholders.

HANNAH SCHMIDT

As we head into next year, what are some things you think project leaders should be thinking about?

MIGUEL MONTEIRO

Moving forward, we need to make sure that we invest in our teams. We need to make sure that we invest in the right mindsets. We need to make sure that we invest in the right people and [that] people are motivated. They feel safe because it’s extremely important to invest in safety—not only by providing the right environment, providing the right workplace, providing the right conditions so that everyone feels inspired to give their best and naturally to move toward an efficient workspace.

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STEVE HENDERSHOT

Looking back at the last year, and ahead to the next, can be a powerful exercise. It’s by analyzing our past work, and planning for what’s to come, that we improve. We here on Projectified^® can’t wait to see what you all do next.

NARRATOR

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