The PM's Top 5 Strategic Challenges

Kevin Coleman - February 18, 2016

You can find this article and many others at http://www.projectmanagement.com.

Today’s business environment is complex and demanding, to say the least. Each and every day, we are confronted with a new challenge--at least, that’s how it seems to many program and project managers. If we do not have the solutions, we should at least take steps to minimize the implications associated with these strategic challenges.

If you stop and think about it, we are facing a period of unprecedented change. One manager called it a period of turbulence. This has created numerous challenges, including changes in the demographics of our stakeholders, changes in expectations from our stakeholders, a shift in expectations and let’s not forget changes in laws and regulations.

All of those changes have created new and unique challenges that project and program managers face. After reflecting and some informal polling, it is time we get serious about addressing and find solutions to these strategic challenges. Here are the top five strategic challenges that resulted from the analysis (please note, these are not in order of significance):

• Data-driven stakeholder interaction (including time and location)
• Continuous development of human resources
• Rapid advancement of technology
• Individualizing the experience
• Enterprise innovation

Every organization’s and individual’s experience is slightly different, and these five represent just one slice of the challenges that all of us face. Your location, customer base, internal focus and mindset all influence each organization’s view of the strategic challenges. Here is a bit more information about each of the five listed above (of course, this is based on my experiences, which have influenced my view):

1. Data-driven marketing: Data is growing rapidly, and we have an abundance of data. What we lack is usable and actionable insights from all that data! That is the truly strategic challenge. Leveraging predictive analytics is the key to acquiring actionable insights and filtering out all the noise that accompanies that data. What interesting insights hide within the massive data that organizations have collected about their stakeholders? That is the question these new data analytic techniques answer.

2. Continuous development of human resources: The pace of change has never been greater. This pace is about to further accelerate as new and emerging technologies burst on the market. Given the projects rate of change, it is highly likely that our human resources will need to update and refresh their skills if they are to maintain their value to the organizations that employ them.

3. Rapid advancement of technology: As I have written about previously, the period of time between now and 2020 is highly likely to be the greatest period of technological advancement in history. Multiple technologies are emerging that will require organizations to change their processes, systems, measures and operations. These technologies allow organizations to interact with all of their stakeholders differently--individually!

4. Individualizing the experience: This is perhaps the most exciting challenge that is on the radar. It adds the time and location of programmatic stakeholder interactions. It looks at where the stakeholders are currently and couples that with traditional data, creating an interaction that is appropriate (at that place and time) for the individual stakeholder. This creates a new and unique opportunity to understand and better serve our stakeholders on an individual basis. Most people would say they want to be treated as an individual and not as one of many in a group whose wants, needs and desires have been generalized.

5. Enterprise innovation: Competing is more dependent on innovation than ever before. Looking for new creative products and ways to provide value to our customers (internal and external) has become a full-time requirement. There has even been a subtle shift in charging for the value organizations create. This has long-term implications that cannot be ignored. As times bring change, organizations must react in a shorter and shorter time period. If fact, many consultants believe--as I do--that it is time for organizations to become proactive and anticipate the needs of the marketplace and each customer individually.

It does not matter if you are a large global business or a small local startup--these and/or other emerging challenges must be addressed, and addressed now. Failure to do so will undoubtedly result in poor performance and increase the odds of going out of business. Each organization must rank the level of importance of these five areas to their efforts and identify what they intend to do in order to tackle these strategic challenges. One thing is certain: This will not be easy, and there will be no shortcuts!

Lacking direction and a solid plan when you are in a sea of change is a recipe for disaster. Each of these strategic challenges are (to some degree) impacting the ability of the program and project managers’ ability to perform and deliver programs and projects. Keeping up with the pace of change is the overarching strategic challenge for all of us, personally and professionally. As one hiring manager once put it, “Would you want a mechanic that had been trained 20 years ago and had no experience on the electronically controlled braking systems working on the brakes of your car? I think not!”

Every professional must put forward the effort to update their skills if they are to contribute to addressing the strategic solutions that were identified earlier. Professionals need to become explorers and seek out innovative technologies and practices that are likely to impact our key stakeholders. Each professional should routinely ask, “How am I positioned to address the strategic challenges being faced by my organization?” Failure to anticipate their needs could be a career-limiting move!

About the Author

Kevin Coleman is a highly skilled senior level project and program manager/advisor with experience leading projects with labor budgets ranging from a few hundred thousand dollars to multi-million dollar budgets across multiple industries.

You can find this article and many others at http://www.projectmanagement.com.