Interconnectivity of Project Management within Business

The Project Management Mindset to Lead through Transformation.

Written by: Casey Jenkins, MSCM, MPM, LSSBB , Owner of Eight Twenty-Eight Consulting LLC

Earlier this spring, I had the opportunity to keynote an event at Grand Canyon University on the topic of how the project management mindset can be leveraged to drive and lead change. In other words, how project management is interconnected within business, and how that mindset is a leadership quality that the rising workforce needs to obtain. However, it’s not just for the rising workforce; it’s for all of us regardless of our titles, levels, companies, industry, or skillsets. This mindset and understanding the interconnectivity will be key as change is all around us.

Stop for a second and think about what project management is. Try to define it in your own terms. Think about the characteristics of a project and how they contribute to the overall project execution.

In order to understand how project management and the mindset fit within business, it’s important to dive into the basic fundamentals of what project management is, what a project is and, what the project management mindset is.

If we want to put it simply, project management is just the management of a project or projects. Easy enough, right? Caseysplination over? Not quite.

“Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements (PMBOK, 10).” In other words, project management is taking knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to apply and guide the execution of project work to achieve a desired outcome. Through appropriately integrating and incorporating project management processes identified for a project, project management gives organizations the ability to execute change efficiently and effectively.

When defining what a project is in relation to project management, it’s important to note that anything can be a project when you apply the project management mindset. For example, did you perform chores as a child? Well, you can think of that as a project. Your household could be seen as the business or business unit, the stakeholders are the members of your family, and the chores are the change that’s being executed (from dirty to clean, or old to new). A formal definition of a project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result (PMBOK, 4).” Applying that a little more broadly, a project is time restricted process that occurs outside of the day-to-day business activities that seeks to achieve a predefined goal or output. “A project can be considered to be any series of activities and tasks that: have a specific objective to be completed within certain specifications, have defined start and end dates, have funding limits, consume human and non-human resources, and are multifunctional (Pinto, 26).” With being temporary executions, projects will have a lifecycle where the project is initiated, planned, executed, monitored, and then closed. Often times within a project, various stakeholders or parties are involved that require management, engagement, and communication. Clearly, projects can have many moving executional components and require leadership, communication, organization, and skill to successfully deliver to fruition.

Why is there the need for projects? As the business landscape is changing, many companies are executing projects, initiatives, roadmaps, transformations, and changes in order to keep up with their competition, the industry, and even adapting to new ways of doing things. “Projects are one of the principal means by which we change our world (Pinto, 25).”

Here is an excellent quote of how projects function within an organization:

“Operations keeps the lights on, strategy provides a light at the end of the tunnel, but project management is the train engine that moves the organization forward.” – Judy Gumz

Strategy guides direction. Operations are daily activities that keep the business functioning. But projects? Projects are what allow an organization to continue changing in an effort to move forward.

Projects serve as a primary way that change is driven, executed, and implemented within organizations. Being used as a competitive tool to execute strategic initiatives, projects give organizations a clear roadmap to achieving that specific goal or output. In order to effectively drive change or successfully execute a project, there is a certain mindset and leadership component that’s needed no matter the level, title, functional area, etc. This is where the project management mindset comes into play. Project managers or the project management mindset doesn’t just manage change. Instead, it leads through transformation. With projects being the way to drive change, project management provides the framework and approach to facilitating that change at both the strategic and executional levels. Beginning with the project manager or team tasked with carrying out the change, transformation starts small, but then permeates to other stakeholders as the project goes through the lifecycle. This mindset not only allows an ability to adapt and adopt change within the project execution itself, but expands to lead and drive change in an effective manner.

The practices and principles in project management can actually be applied to business as a whole as there are a lot of similarities between project management principles and basic business principles. In a sense, a project execution can be likened to a mini business. As a matter of fact, project management training covers leadership, team building, organizational structures, communication, strategy, change management, profit and loss through managing budgets, risk management, resource utilization, stakeholder management, scope and timeline management, etc. “One unique aspect of projects is how they blend technical and behavioral challenges (Pinto, 33).” In other words, project managers balance both executional and behavioral aspects when executing projects, so “project management also serves as an excellent training ground for future senior executives in most organizations (Pinto, 33).”

This mindset that is able to adapt to and drive change will also translate into continuous improvement. Within project management, a key component is identifying risks and assessing them early in the project lifecycle. It’s proactively looking for problems and applying a framework for solutioning. This translates into everyday activities within a business as the project management mindset will always be looking for gaps, inefficiencies, and areas to improve in order to avoid risks. Therefore, change and improvement lead to efficiency and productivity across two dimensions. The first dimension is within the projects themselves. As the executional action of change, proactively identifying risks not only allows for the project to remain on track, but also ensures that any risks within the project do not bleed over into other correlated day-to-day activities impacted by the change. The second dimension is within the day-to-day operations outside of the project setting. A project management mindset seeks to define clear objectives, timelines, and responsibilities. When this is applied to everyday activities, the structured approach promotes everyday business processes to have clear objectives, timelines, and accountability. This feeds into effective resource utilization, ensuring that resources are appropriately applied and being used for value-add activities.

Clearly, the benefits of project management extend further than just within the project setting. This should make project management as a discipline and the appreciation of these mindsets in general business settings easy, right? Once again, not quite. Adopting this mindset brings about challenges.

• Resistance to Change. Much like you’ll find within a project execution itself, adopting new approaches or mentalities towards business operations will face resistance. Implementing project management practices often requires changes to existing processes, workflows, technologies or tools, and organizational culture. When faced with resistance to change in a project setting, change management strategies, effective communication, and leadership support will help to gain buy-in and encourage adoption. The same can be said when applying organizational wide.
• Silos & Departmental Barriers. Lack of cross-functionality generally poses a problem for an organization. However, when seeking to incorporate project management principles, tools, or frameworks, siloed environments do not support effective communication, collaboration, or internal engagement. This can create risk and disruption within a project execution, but also impact the success of an initiative post implementation.
• Lack of Knowledge. Contributing to the resistance to change, lack of knowledge is a common reason that projects or new ways of doing things fail to gain traction. Specifically surrounding project management, lack of knowledge related to the benefits, principles, tools, and techniques will hinder the ability to drive this mindset in everyday operations. Not only is the knowledge around a project (or single change) important for the success, but it also promotes a more receptive and open-minded approach for future projects or change initiatives.

With challenges comes opportunity, and instead of seeing challenges at the project or organizational level as intimidating, project managers are able to exhibit the strengths as change leaders to drive change about project management. Through using the following strategies, the interconnectivity is strengthened between project management and business. Keep in mind that these strategies can be applied at a single project level or within a business as a whole.

• Education & Training. Educating and advising on why project management is beneficial organizational wide will help to create change leaders at various levels of the organization. Training also includes bridging the gaps cross-functionally to bring diverse experience and insight together. This fosters an environment of collaboration and increased communication throughout the organization (which is a key component of project executions).
• Utilization of Tools & Technologies. A lot of project management tools can be utilized within other processes and functions. For example, the risk management framework within project management is applicable to use for any risks within a business. Another example is the use of modeling uncertainty within project settings, which can be applied to other uncertainties or scenarios within the business (Monte Carlo, for instance).
• Embrace Different Methodologies. Not every organization will function the same, so not every project management methodology will work for every company. Along with that, companies may not even know what methodology or project management skills they need that fit their operations. It’s important to have different methodologies to apply depending on the organizational core competencies. A few examples include: Waterfall, Agile, Scrum, Kanban, Lean, and Six Sigma.

The reason that it’s important to understand how project management is applicable within business on multiple levels is because projects actually set the foundation to both program and portfolio management. “Using project management processes, tools, and techniques puts in place a sound foundation for organizations to achieve their goals and objectives (PMBOK, 11).” Programs are defined “as a group of related projects, subsidiary programs, and program activities managed in a coordinated manner to obtain benefits not available from managing them individually (PMBOK, 11).” Portfolios are defined “as projects, programs, subsidiary portfolios, and operations managed as a group to achieve strategic objectives (PMBOK, 11).” While program management and portfolio management do differ from projects in terms of their life cycles, activities, and objectives (PMBOK, 11), both programs and portfolios are made up of projects that help to drive the business forward.

We all see change happening all around us. Regardless of if you are entry level or sitting in the C-Suite. The project management mindset and principles help to approach, perceive, and navigate change as transformational and required in order to effectively drive an initiative, organization, or industry forward.

What’s your mindset?

References:

1.???? Pinto, J. K. (2020). Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage. Chapter 7: Risk Management. (263–295). Pearson Education Limited.

2.???? Project Management Institute (PMI) (2017). A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK guide). Sixth Edition.

Casey Jenkins, owner and CEO of Eight Twenty-Eight Consulting LLC, is a supply chain and process improvement advisor and educator. With a Master's degree in Supply Chain Management, Master's degree in Project Management, and a Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma, she adeptly combines education and experience to solve complex problems. Offering advisory, educational, and project-based services, she has an engagement that is flexible to work for your needs. Reach out today to find out how to Take Your Company to the Summit.