Op-ed/interview pitch by Stephen Repton, CEO and founder of Flowio
Many company leaders envisage a clear distinction between the methods and skills needed to run a specific project and the day-to-day management of their firm. But, as someone who has spent years helping organisations implement effective project management strategies, I think this perception is always correct. I’ve observed that the fundamental principles which drive successful projects can be invaluable if they are applied to almost every aspect of organisational life.
The power of inclusive planning
Successful projects usually begin with a crucial first step: establishing clear, realistic goals and expectations through comprehensive stakeholder consultation. This tends to work much better than traditional top-down planning methods, where decisions often flow from a small group of senior leaders with limited perspectives.
When planning an initiative to develop an IT system, for example, a good project manager will undertake systematic consultation with everyone from HR administrators to suppliers and engineers to see how a new solution can work for them. This helps identify specific pain points in existing systems and clarifies exactly what changes different teams need to perform their jobs more effectively. Involving as many staff as possible in early planning is every bit as valuable for everyday work, such as running a product-marketing campaign or building maintenance, as it is for one-off initiatives.
It’s an approach that not only helps to avoid identify and avoid potential problems, further down the line, but it also gives staff a sense of ownership of initiatives. Teams that feel their voices are heard and reflected in company plans are more likely to engage positively with changes and actively contribute to their successful implementation.
This sort of comprehensive consultation works for existing procedures and systems, too. Managers should regularly check in with staff to make sure that a process helps them do their job efficiently, rather than just helping the manager. Does it allow employees to fulfil their potential and keep motivated or is it unnecessarily holding them back?
Communication is critical
While clear goal setting provides the foundation, effective communication serves as the essential thread that weaves projects together. A major company reorganisation, for instance, requires that department managers, HR and IT support, Senior leadership, and individual staff members all know what each other is doing at any one time. This helps prevent work overlap, maintains budget controls, allows people to continue their work with minimal disruption and keeps all stakeholders informed of progress and potential issues. All businesses will benefit from such transparent, frequent communication, whatever they are doing. It avoids silos, doubling up of work and encourages all staff by showing them exactly how they are working with others to bring company success.
The power of centralised reporting
Real-time reporting systems can be invaluable tools for project-management. New software solutions allow all team members to access and contribute to a single source of truth about project progress. This enables teams to see exactly when colleagues will complete tasks that affect their work, when resources will become available, and how different aspects of the project are progressing.
When senior leaders have real-time visibility into project progress, they can identify potential issues early and intervene before small problems escalate into major setbacks. This can save significant time and resources while maintaining project momentum. Real-time dashboards and automated alerts ensure that nothing falls through the cracks and that teams can respond quickly to changing circumstances. Such systems, such as Flowlio’s SaaS are terrific for PM, but everything they do can be extremely valuable for other company activity, too. From reporting of C-suite goals and achievements to the board to helping a marketing team develop campaigns, having a system that provides a golden thread from deliverables back to the reasons for doing a project in the first instance, ensures business and project alignment.
Getting things on record
A crucial aspect of good project management that often gets overlooked is the importance of quality data and information. A project’s success should be measurable not just in its outcomes, but in the detailed record of how it achieved its objectives and managed its budgets. Project information serves multiple crucial purposes: it provides accountability and traceability for all activities, enables proper recognition of individual and team successes, facilitates thorough investigation of problems and failures, and creates a valuable reference for future projects and improvements.
The prospect of compiling extensive information might seem daunting for day-to-day work. But modern software systems and AI, with automated reporting tools, can significantly streamline this process and achieve the right balance between comprehensive record-keeping and avoiding excessive administrative burden. Maintaining a clear, detailed account of what people and departments have done, what they have achieved and where they need praise or guidance is something that managers and senior leaders frequently fail to do.
Clear road maps to implementation
Some organisations have a bad habit of investing heavily in developing new solutions or processes, then failing to consider properly how they should be integrated into business as usual. The most satisfying projects tend to have well-defined tasks and check points that must be achieved and signed off by numerous stakeholders, before a project is allowed to go live and its solutions and developments are used routinely by staff.
This structured approach should be adopted by any manager, whether it’s for the creation of a new product or a minor team reorganisation. It ensures that new systems or processes are introduced only when teams are fully prepared to adopt them. It provides confidence that changes will enhance existing operations rather than causing confusion, and that new tools or methods will genuinely improve specific tasks and roles.
Stephen Repton is CEO and founder of Manchester-based company Flowlio. It offers -management training for all staff and a SaaS tool for managing projects from initial idea to implementation into business-as-usual. For more information, visit www.flowlio.co.uk/
