Give Your Team a "Time Out"!

Performance improvement is about improving work flow of operations. However, sometimes it is necessary to take a break and reflect. If you have ever gone to the gym or hired a trainer, you know that constant training, without rest days, leads to fatigue. Furthermore, if one continues at the same rate and without rest, then progress turns to regression.

The same concept holds true for operations improvement initiatives. Performance improvement efforts start to produce diminishing results if the team does not take a break from such activities. A good performance improvement should include “forced rest” a.k.a time-out build in to the process. Let me address the following two questions that I come across:

1. Where does one build time-outs in process?
2. How many time-outs are sufficient in any given cycle?

Let us take a look at these questions individually:

Performance improvement is a cyclical process. There is a start and there is a definite end before the cycle repeats. A typical cycle includes the following stages: Analysis, Re-engineering, Testing, and Implementation. Some organizations may have more stages, and others may have less; but these are the core stages in any performance improvement initiative.

Time-out, in this context, means to “reflect”. A proper definition of a “time-out” would be:

“A period of compete intra-cycle disengagement”

Every stage within the performance improvement cycle has a process in its self that involves review of the current state, application of tools and techniques, an expected outcome as a result of the application of those tools and techniques, and an evaluation of the result. I would like to add here that the first and last processes mentioned here are not the “time out” periods we are referring to. Rather it is a period between the first and last “stages” of the entire cycle.

Let me simplify it a bit more. The core stages mentioned were: Analysis, Re-engineering, Testing, and Implementation. The time out should be inserted between “implementation” and “analysis” resulting in the cycle having an additional “forced” step: Analysis, Re-engineering, Testing, Implementation, and Time-Out.

This should now have provided an answer to the second question, i.e. 1 time out is sufficient per cycle.

So how many cycles are required in a given initiative? Well! this is a whole other topic, but let me end with this thought. Performance improvement also means to increase efficiency while reducing complexity. With an optimized process it is not possible to have a complicated process. Therefore, if a cycle introduces added complexity of a given process; then one needs to really take a time out!

Question of the week:
Do you build time-outs in your performance improvement initiatives?

Please comment on this and other posts.

Visit our site at www.skkservices.com

Till next time….

Sal
CEO & Senior Advisor
skk@skkservices.com

Project Management Office; A Quick Start Guide

This weeks topic will be on Project Management; specifically on the indicators that tell you (as a business) that it is time to set up a Project Management Office, What does a PMO mean, how to go about implementing it, and finally how to ensure that the PMO is effective and efficient.

So lets get started.

1. What is a PMO:

A project is different than operations because projects have a specific beginning and end. Project Management is the application of tools and techniques to ensure that projects get executed the right way and yield the desired results.

A PMO (Project Management Office) is a business unit within an organization that manages a group of individual projects or multiple programs within the organization and monitors and ensure the delivery of the projects or programs.

2. Indicators for the need of a PMO:

The typical indicators of the need for a PMO are:

• Initiatives in the organization are not ending as planned
• There are significant cost over runs
• Lack of control of the tasks within initiatives
• Frustration and confusion among the workforce on the purpose of various initiatives
• Unexpected reactions to implementations

There are many other indicators. However the ones mentioned above are the more predominant.

3. Implementing a PMO; the correct way:

A PMO is not a one person business unit. A PMO is a little more involved than just having one Project Manager within one’s organization.

Having clarified that point, the implementation of a PMO involves:

1. Verification of the indicators
2. Management buy-in
3. PMO implementation structure identification
4. Budget allocation
5. Resources identification
6. Workforce buy-in
7. Inauguration
8. Execution

A brief explanation of the above points are as follows:

First the indicators need to be verified to ensure the need for a PMO. This is usually done under the direction of Management. Depending on the organization size, a task force can be created to conduct an analysis and present its findings to the Management or the Management (typically including the CEO, COO, CFO and CIO) can conduct this analysis themselves as well.

Once the indicators have been validated, it is important for the Executive Management (and/or Board) to fully support the implementation of a PMO. It is important to clarify that implementing the PMO will increase costs in the short-term; however the cost will decrease and benefits will increase once the PMO has been established and has gone through a maturity cycle.

Next, the Management needs to decide what powers to give the PMO. This involves understanding the company structure and then deciding how much authority the Project Managers will have over the functional managers.

The structure will determine the budget that needs to be allocated. Some organizations first establish a budget and then conduct the Matrix Identification exercise (i.e. the power of the PMO). There is nothing wrong with this just as long as the organization understands that it PMO success is directly proportional to the budget allocated.

Workforce buy-in involves educating the worksorce on the benefits of a PMO. A PMO typically increases the workload for employees as they will need to perform additional functions during their work to satisfy the PMO requirements as it related to their tasks. Resistance to this can be significantly reduced with the proper training and incentives.

The official launch of the PMO, which includes a PMO Director and several Project Managers, is conducted by an official internal memo and/or press release. This step gives the PMO legitimacy within the organization and should not be skipped.

Finally the PMO goes into the execution phase where it implements Project Management Best Practices as well as the tools needed for running the PMO.

4. Ensuring PMO Success:

This is a very critical piece within the whole PMO implementation process. It is very important to understand that the PMO “will” receive a lot a resistance from the workforce. -And when this happens the Management needs to be strong and re-enforce the longterm objectives and the reasons for the PMO.

Many-a-times, the Executive Management will crumble at the first sign of resistance. When this happens, the effectiveness of the PMO plummets and will never be able to effectively function.

Therefore, the PMO Director and the Management must follow the steps in point #3 (above) to ensure that the resistance has been identified and that at least 80% buy-in has been obtained. Unfortunately, there will always be some people in the workforce that will never accept the PMO and its objectives. This is where the PMO Director’s skills as a strong communicator will be put to test.

In summation, a PMO can ensure smooth operations by successful project delivery. However, the way the PMO is formed, implemented, and executed will determine its own success.

Question:

Have you seen the indicators for a PMO in your company? Have you implemented a PMO and if so what have you experienced?

If you need more information on this topic please contact Sal at skk@skkservices.com or visit www.skkservices.com

What can you excpet during a performance improvement implementation?

This week we will look at the various stages that organization experiences during performance improvement initiatives. I will show you what you can expect; what does it mean; and how to deal with what you are experiencing.

Using the very famous “Stages of Competence” i.e. the Competence Model as comparison, I will demonstrate exactly what happens from inception to implementation.

The origin of the Competence Model rises from the field of psychology and deals with how people learn and progress. According to the model there are four stages, and they are:

1. Unconscious Incompetence
2. Conscious Incompetence
3. Conscious Competence
4. Unconscious Competence

Let us now examine each stage as it relates to implementing performance improvement and organizational optimization.

1. Unconscious Incompetence

You are at the beginning of the process improvement initiative. At this stage the stakeholders are in the dark and don’t know if there is anything wrong with the process. Therefore, at this early stage of implementation, time will need to spent on mapping the existing processes and gathering knowledge via interviewing stakeholders involved.

2. Conscious Incompetence

Once the present state of the process has been captured, awareness has been established. This means that at this stage of performance improvement initiative, the stakeholders are now aware that the process could be improved. However, the root cause has not been discovered. In other words, the stakeholders are not sure what is wrong. Therefore, at this stage of the implementation time will need to be spent on dissecting the process to its simplest form. This exercise will also yield in the identification of the key performance indicators of the process.

3. Conscious Incompetence

At the third of the performance improvement implementation the root cause has been identified and isolated; a solution has been created that will result in a “measurable” improvement of the process. In this stage of the implementation, the new process will be implemented as well. However, the process (at the stage) is very new and needs to be learned and adopted by the stakeholders. Therefore, a process acclamation period is established. Training and awareness efforts are conducted as well.

4. Unconscious Competence

This is the final stage within the performance improvement implementation effort. At this stage, the stakeholders are very familiar with the improved process. The improved the process is now reached first level of maturity. This means that the process is now a part of the work flow. It has been adopted by the stakeholders and is considered part of the operations of the company.

In summation, we can see from the various stages that take place during performance improvements initiatives that it is important to understand what happens, when does it happen, what to expect, and how to deal with it. Each stage has its unique challenges. Having this knowledge has helped many people navigate their way through the difficult waters of process improvement implementation initiatives within organizations.

Question:

After reading the blog, do you agree with the analysis here? Have you experienced the same stages of competence in your organization?

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Thank you.

Salman Khan (Sal)