If we recognise that Portfolio Management gives the answers to the questions:
- Are we doing the right initiatives to achieve organisational strategy?
- Are we doing initiatives that deliver the business benefits?
- Could we better invest our limited resources, stopping some initiatives and investing in others?
Why then are some organisations more attuned to these processes, systems, governance arrangement and roles to improve the definition and delivery of their change portfolio, than others?
I had the benefit of working with a client recently who gave me some insight into the secret ingredients that their organisation used to draw all the elements of Portfolio Management together. They called it; ‘organisational imperative’ and I was keen to understand more. These are the insights that I would like to share with you as well as enabling you to check out your practices.
My client gave some insight to their situation
“We needed to give our customers and shareholders confidence that the changes that we were proposing would not only enable us to improve the products and services, but would also not put the business at risk.”
“We started to question whether we had the capacity to deliver initiatives as well as reflecting on some of the initiatives that should not have been started, or should have been abandoned early.”
“Our CEO was always being asked to give a view on our capability to deliver change as well as running the business. Often if came down to whether it would involve increasing resources or reducing commitments.”
“Our key stakeholder – the majority shareholders are keeping a close eye on things, this is not a relaxed relationship, and they are very demanding.
So what did the client do?
I got a Board Director who was responsible for operations, to present a report setting out the status and alignment of these changes to the organisational strategy. The CEO went into shock at the sight of the board arguing over a number of the changes. This was even more pronounced given that their discussions seemed to have little focus on the impact of change to the business, risks, costs and benefits. The report recommended that the organisation implement a Portfolio Office.
The CEO demanded that we set up a Portfolio Office and put in place processes to categorise, examine and prioritise change initiatives. The CEO closed the meeting by saying we must have “joined-up working”; and that collaboration between the board members, Portfolio Office, Project and Programme delivery teams, was vital.
Best Practice Checklist
- Do you categorise or force-rank programmes and projects using agreed measures?
- Can you capture in one place all the planned / current programmes and projects in your organisation?
- Can you assess your portfolio against strategic objectives and determine relative priorities?
- How do you support decisions and check if you “are making the right changes” in your organisation
- How do know if a programme or project is aligned with organisational strategy?
Stay tuned for Part 2!