Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers!

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Hey there IMPACT Drivers! My name is Laura Barnard and today we’re talking about a critical topic as you think about how your PMO is serving your organization this year.

How are you going to make sure your PMO stays relevant as we head into this new year? Are you going to continue to solve last year’s business problems and will that be good enough?  How do you make sure that your PMO is setup for success, continues to meet evolving business needs, and continues to be a sustainable and IMPACT driven business service to the organization?

Have you done your annual PMO health assessment yet? If not, I highly recommend you do so!

It’s absolutely essential that every PMO leader spends some time laser focused every year thinking about and planning how you’ll meet business needs for the coming year. If you don’t, you could end up focused on solving last year’s business problems that are no longer relevant. Or even worse, you could be missing the mark altogether for what your business leaders needed the PMO to be doing.

And why does that matter so much, what the business leaders need? Well, frankly, if you aren’t getting it done for them, they will find ways to go around you to get done what they need to get done.

Have you ever seen a business unit come up with all kinds of excuses for using external vendors to meet their business needs instead of using an internal IT function? Have you ever heard a business group say that their projects don’t really qualify as something that a PMO needs to manage? Or one of the many other things business leaders will say when they don’t see the PMO as a relevant mechanism for solving their business problems.

And maybe you’re saying, that’s ok, we still have this business unit over here we’re working with, so we’re fine.

And maybe you are…

Until you aren’t.

The problem with the ad hoc approach to business units opting in or out of PMO services is that the minute you become a barrier to progress or aren’t focused on the most relevant or pressing pain points for the business areas you are serving, they will find a way to go around you. AND if the precedent is set that this is something business units can do, then they all will start following suit.

And maybe that isn’t your problem…maybe you’re working with the business units just fine…for now. But are you sure that the solutions you have provided for them in the past are still the right solutions for going forward?

What are you doing to make sure your PMO is and stays relevant to the business and is seen as an essential part of the delivery of business strategy for the organization? And when I say business strategy, I don’t mean that you only work strategic initiatives. Even if you’re doing day to day operational support or functional support for a specific area, it should still fit into that bigger puzzle of the overall strategy the business is trying to solve.

That’s what we’re talking about today. How can you be sure your PMO becomes and stays relevant to the business this year and what steps can you take right now to ensure your PMO is as high IMPACT as possible in meeting the needs of the business you serve?

Before we go any further, I want to extend an invitation to you to join me for my PMO Health Assessment and Planning workshop.

The timing for this is perfect. As a part of the many benefits my students of the IEPMO group coaching program get, we’re doing our annual health assessment and planning workshop and I’ve decided to share it with all of you this year so you can be sure your PMO is setup for success this year.

In this workshop, I’m going to help you assess your organization for IMPACT opportunities, ways to stay relevant and in touch with your business stakeholder needs and ensure that you’re laser focused on the most important priorities for your organization this year. Just click on the link below to join me!

OK, so where do you start?

In order to build credibility in your organization, earn or keep that seat at the table, and help your organization deliver on business strategy, your PMO must stay relevant.

So how do you do this especially when you have so many fires you’re currently putting out, you’re spending most of your days in meetings and all of that is just keeping the engines running? You’re just trying to keep your team and stakeholders moving forward and everyone on the same track.

How do you possibly add hitting the pause button and doing a health assessment and planning exercise?

Frankly, you make the time for it because if you don’t, your PMO could go extinct before your eyes. And by the time you figure out what’s happening, it could be too late.

AND please know I’m not trying to be doom and gloom. I’m not trying to scare you into acting. But maybe, actually, I should be trying to scare you a little bit because I’m simply helping you prevent disasters from happening and saving you from the headaches and frustration that I have seen many of your peers experience.

It breaks my heart when my students come to me AFTER they’ve hit a wall, AFTER they hear their PMO might end up on the chopping block, AFTER they lose their job, AFTER they have lost that precious credibility that’s necessary for a PMO to be successful in an organization.

That’s why I’m sharing what I am. I never want you to have that experience, especially when what I teach has helped countless PMO leaders around the world achieve their goals and run PMOs that are exactly what the business leaders have been craving.

Here are the steps you can follow to make sure your PMO is solving the most relevant business problems while you continue to build credibility in your organization.

Number 1:

Get to know the business. Now, I know this one can seem obvious, but listen in because we talk about doing this, but many of the failures I see with PMOs is when the talk is not really put into action.

No matter where you sit in the organization and no matter how busy you are, make sure you understand the business your company is in, how your organization serves their customers, and what your business stakeholders that you serve are trying to do to further the organization. You want to focus on two areas: 1) What business your company is in industry wide and 2) how your company specifically competes in that marketplace, meaning how they serve their customers.

If your company is in the hospitality space, learn about that space. If you’re in finance, learn that space. It’s critical that no matter what industry your company is in, you get to know how that industry functions. This will help you start to see the forest for the trees, if you will, and help you to become more knowledgeable about that industry.

What’s the benefit of doing this? One important thing I teach in my training programs is that you must understand the business you serve so that you can speak their language, not yours, when you talk about solving business problems for your stakeholders. They will appreciate you so much more and you’ll have instant credibility with them if you “get it”.

How do you do this?

Start getting newsletters or trade magazines relevant to your industry. Learn the vernacular. Learn the buzz words. Learn about trends. Take internal training programs that some of your business colleagues take as they’re learning how the company works. In fact, I recommend that for ANYONE in your PMO that serves a particular business unit. You should learn what your business stakeholders learn so that they know how to serve those customers.

I didn’t appreciate the importance of this earlier on in my career and it bit me. While I still think your most important subject matter expertise when in the role of a PM is to understand how to be a good PM, but there is still tons of value in understanding how the business does what it does. AND for PMO leaders, knowing how to be a good PM is actually secondary, for you personally, to understanding the business needs and how the business functions.

Whether you have a job rotation program or a shadowing program, it makes what the PMs do so much more real if they can see, touch, and experience what your stakeholders experience.

One note:

Business problems are shifting so quickly and sometimes, we fail to keep up with the shifting business needs. As PMO leaders, it’s your job to stay on top of the shifts so that you can respond more quickly to those shifts as they are happening.

Number 2:

Have a regular process for assessing the organization for impact opportunities. I believe so strongly in this that I’ve dedicated an entire module of my IMPACT Engine PMO training program to doing this assessment work.

It’s critical that you’re in a continuous conversation with your business stakeholders, understanding what they need, asking them about their pain points and challenges, understanding what keeps them up at night. They need to know you care and that you understand their needs, and that you’re open to listening and most importantly, shifting as necessary to meet their needs and address their pain points.

This assessment time is a great way to build relationships with your stakeholders. Do not underestimate the importance of doing so!

In order for your stakeholders to engage with your PMO, they must know you, like you, and trust you. This assessment process gives them the opportunity to get to know you personally, get to know what your PMO stands for, and how the PMO can serve them. They will like you, frankly, if you help them. So, make sure you’re doing that. They’ll also like you if you make it super easy for them to ask for and get help from your PMO. The reason so many PMOs are feared, hated, and just generally disliked is that it’s just such a pain to engage. You want to make it super easy to engage with your PMO. DO not create a 45-step intake process just for them to request PMO services. Easy. Simple. Painless. That’s how you’re going to get them hooked!

And they will trust you once they know you get them and their needs and pain points, understand the business they are in, and you solve their business problems. That last part takes time, of course, but you usually don’t have to move a mountain for them to trust you. You can start super small, simple, and straightforward and continue to build credibility. You can go a long way in building trust simply by doing what you say you’re going to do, whether it’s providing a deliverable you said you’d send them, or keeping that meeting, or doing that follow up you promised. Those little things will go a long way. Trust me on that. Most people have good intentions, but if you pay attention to how often promises are made and not kept, even little ones, you’ll see why your stakeholders will be overjoyed when you consistently deliver what you say you will no matter how small.

A little side note: this means you have to be super careful what you promise and try to make it reasonable so that you have a fighting chance to actually deliver.

There are multiple ways to assess the organization for impact opportunities.  Here are a few to consider:

• You can conduct a SWOT analysis to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that can help you determine where you should spend your energy with your PMO.
• You can conduct an assessment based on the areas of possible PMO services. Such as Performance Management, Project Portfolio management, organization change management, strategic alignment, project management, etc.
• We’re doing those first two inside the PMO Health Assessment and Planning workshop I’m hosting. Make sure you join us if that’s something you need. Just go to pmostrategies.com/workshop to sign up now.
• My IEPMO students also do this in the second module, as part of their overall assessment framework. They do the SWOT analysis. They do the services assessment. And then they go deeper and do assessment work in all of the other aspects that you need to consider doing a full assessment of where and how you’re PMO should be focused going forward. For example, we look at:
  1. An assessment of the organization to determine where the areas of opportunity are for the PMO to provide services and capabilities. You’ll want to look at where in the organization similar services might be performed now. What other PMOs or project management like functions might exist. Where projects are happening, etc.
  2. You can do an assessment of the team to determine what strengths and weaknesses you have to work with. This is the full PMO team, including the broader group of PMs or other PM like roles that may or may not be inside your PMO. You should look at everyone that does support services in the PMO and all the other resources doing project like work in the organization as you consider what services your PMO could provide and what strengths and weaknesses you have on your team. This will help you identify any gaps you might have.
  3. I highly recommend you do a sponsor assessment, which is almost always underestimated in other programs and guidance on PMO assessment and setup, yet it’s probably the most important area of focus if you’re going to be successful long-term. According to Prosci Change Management, sponsor engagement or lack thereof is the most important determiner of success or failure of a change initiative and setting up a PMO or ensuring PMO sustainability is absolutely a change initiative. A big one at that. Never underestimate the power of a strong change management strategy when setting up a PMO or continuing to engage with the organization as you continue to up level your PMO to meet changing business needs.
  4. And speaking of change, the next area we look at is the culture. Yes, you Must assess the culture of your organization in order to determine how well your organization responds to change, how resistant they may be to the PMO, and how ready they are to engage in the process. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying; Culture eats strategy for breakfast. I think of it that culture eats change, any change, for breakfast, if not properly managed.

Now once you’ve done all of these assessments, you can use them as input into the next area, which is getting really good at organizational change management. In order for your PMO to get and stay relevant in your organization, you’ll need to keep shifting as the needs of the organization shift. Which means you’re constantly going to be changing. If you’re constantly changing, you will need to be very good at bringing the organization and the people in it through the change process with you, otherwise, the organization will reject the changes, and you’ll end up back where we talked about before with the stakeholders in the organization doing everything they can to opt-out of the PMO.

Now if you’ve listened to any of my other podcast episodes, read my articles, taken my courses or programs, you know I’m a huge believer in organizational change management and the importance of a strong organizational strategy as the foundation that must be in place for your PMO to be successful.

Once you’ve done all of your assessment work, it will be time to put your PMO recommendation together, build your stakeholder engagement strategy, and put together a specific plan for continuous engagement with your sponsor for your PMO. You’ll need them to have your back as you chart a course for ongoing PMO relevance and IMPACT and navigate the smooth and rough waters ahead.

I encourage you to dedicate the time to conducting a PMO health assessment and build a plan for your PMO every year, no matter how busy you are, no matter how much you think you know what your business leaders need. The key to relevance is continuing to ask questions and probe and engage and build relationships and evaluate the needs of your organization and how your PMO is supporting those needs on an ongoing basis.

In fact, my IEPMO group coaching students all get free access to the PMO Health Assessment and Planning workshop I’m hosting because it’s a part of their regular evolution of the PMO. I believe the PMO should be doing mini assessments every quarter, which is how the IEPMO program is built. I would think of it as an agile or iterative approach to building a PMO. Then, on an annual basis, they conduct a PMO health assessment and plan to ensure they are continuing to evolve and create a truly sustainable PMO for their organizations.

You’ll want to think of the PMO evolution as an ongoing, iterative, Agile approach to PMO sustainability. Your PMO needs to continue to evolve and you need to continue to ask questions. I use a framework I call the 30/90 plan to continue to engage stakeholders on a 30 day basis and prepare to make shifts every quarter which is only possible if you keep that conversation going with your stakeholders, understand how the business operates, understand how your company serves their customers, and continue to assess all of the facets that can influence your PMO outcomes.

So, make sure you set aside time every year, wherever it makes most sense to do so, to conduct this extremely important process and you’ll never have to wonder if you’re meeting the business needs in your organization. You’ll know and you’ll also know when and how to shift, when necessary.

I hope this helps you think through the kind of work you’ll need to do to ensure your PMO is and stays relevant to the evolving needs of your organization.  If you’d like my help with conducting your PMO health assessment and building your PMO Plan for the year, join me for my PMO Health Assessment and Plan workshop at https://pmostrategies.com/workshop.

That’s it for today’s episode. If you like what you hear, please make sure you hit subscribe so you don’t miss any of the upcoming content, and be sure to download the episodes so you can listen on the go no matter where life takes you. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this episode and the podcast, just leave a rating and review if you love what you hear!

Have a fantastic day, a high IMPACT week and thank you so much for allowing me to serve you as you make a big IMPACT in this world.