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‘Power’ and ‘Influence’ are two words you will constantly hear if you are seeking to find the path to successful corporate leadership. They’re not lightweight terms, as the timeline of human history has shown. So, learning how to properly use power and influence is most likely to be one of the keys to finding the right path to success.
I’ve been interested to read about the world recognised Colin Gautrey and The Gautrey Group via their website. With a huge portfolio and wide reaching expertise they aim to provide the appropriate skills and training to people in all levels of the corporate workplace to help them achieve optimum, yet balanced levels of influence and, hopefully, genuine success in their chosen field. And that’s an achievement nearly all of us in the corporate arena, at some point, has found to be a challenge, perhaps especially in recent times.

Click here to browse The Gautrey Group’s website…

Portfolios Programs Projects – simply making them happen

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I love it when people send in feedback and yes, I am reading it all. The feedback I received below came from a client who was commenting on their PMO (not an RNC PMO).
Some of the things they observe and find frustrating:

• Making procedures which form a sort of unimaginative straight jacket within which tasks must be performed
• Interfering with the process instead of just looking at the results
• Thinking that only the way in which they want it done is the right way
• Not trusting that it will work out all right.  If they can’t leave the PM to do the job then either the PM or the PMO should go.

You may or (hopefully) may not recognise some of these characteristics. At any rate, this type of feedback serve as a handy wake up call… perhaps it should encourage all of us to remember to look constantly for better ways to work with our clients. What are your thoughts?

Enjoy your day, Diane

Portfolios Programs Projects – simply making them happen

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Hi,
Of all the projects and programs we have delivered (and remediated), 98% of the people we worked for ended up with a promotion, or bigger job.

How do I know this? We’ve kept very good records of our clients and kept in touch so we know where they’ve gone and when. In looking over the past 13 (and a bit) years we can track the effect of successful projects and programs.

Perhaps even more interesting is that for the people originally responsible for delivering a project we later remediated over 80% have gone backwards. Ouch.

And even more interesting again, people responsible for two projects/programs needing remediation are no longer in roles (or employment) where they are in charge of projects and programs (in other words they’ve gone to the wilderness).
Just thought I’d share this information – makes me feel good to realise that we are career boosters!

Enjoy your day, Diane

Portfolios Programs Projects – simply making them happen

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We had such a good time at this year’s FICAP “Who Wants to Be A Rockstar”. The positive support from the audience to the Rockstar wannabes on stage ensured the night was a great success, with much needed funds raised for youth charities.

You can check out the recently released video (including sponsor interviews and rockstar clips) and photos from the night at http://www.fsitv.com/pages/sub_program/151

We thought we’d share some photos from our own RNC photo gallery with you as well. And thanks once again to everyone who came to lend their support…

Portfolios Programs Projects – simply making them happen

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There were so many reasons for us to be thrilled, proud and feeling just great last Wednesday night. It was a privilege to take part in FICAP’s annual “Who Wants To Be A Rockstar” event as a platinum sponsor, but we were also very proud to see our own fantastic Ray Trevisan up there on the stage. Thank you Ray!

Thank you to everyone who came along to support this year’s event and cheer on the talented line-up of rockstar wannabes. Congratulations to Zurich’s Sophie Koo, winner of RNC’s Best Female Artist. And hats off to the amazing people behind FICAP.

Click here to read about the other successes of the night, and find more information on the fantastic efforts by FICAP to raise money for some truly worthwhile, youth-focused charities.

Portfolios Programs Projects – simply making them happen

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There’s just over a week to go to FICAP’s 2012 charity event, “Who Wants To Be A RockStar”. This year, RNC is proud to be a platinum sponsor and we’d love to see you there! Financial services professionals by day take to the stage to become Rockstar wannabes for the night for this unique industry event. It’s going to be a fantastic night, but more importantly, everyone on stage and off will be helping to raise funds for two worthwhile organisations – YWCA NSW and Open Family Australia.

So don’t forget…
Wednesday March 21st, from 6pm, at The Metro Theatre, 624 George Street, Sydney

And we’ll see you there!

Click here to read more about “Who Wants To Be A RockStar” in Rachel Davis’s article.
And go to the FICAP website to read all about their incredible work in raising funds for charities that benefit young people - www.ficap.com.au/ or click here.

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I should have known you’d be interested in what clients don’t like. Previously, I published a list showing why RNC clients like our RNC PMs. You might have noticed that the LIKES list wasn’t about academic PM knowledge or the skills required to manage a project (even though we are proud of our reputation in these areas!). From the start, our clients need to know they can work with us, and vice versa. There’s no point moving on if you can’t get that right, and that’s what the LIKES list was all about.

So, I won’t keep you waiting…. You want to know what clients don’t like. And just a reminder, this is a summary of what clients didn’t like about non-RNC PMs. So I guess it’s what makes us different to the rest.

Clients didn’t like the non-RNC PMs because they:

• Didn’t act like they were engaged with the business
• Didn’t do any more than the minimum
• Were precious and hard to work with
• Wanted to tell us what we need, rather than doing what we want
• Were way too focussed on paperwork, structure and reports… and didn’t understand that all I wanted was the bloody project delivered
• Were full of excuses
• Thought I’d be impressed with PM stuff (like big docs and complicated plans)
• Didn’t fit into the culture
• Didn’t read the politics
• Played the politics
• Thought the project was theirs and tried to belt us over the head with it
• Seemed superior
• Were not good with people

I could go on… this list has the potential to be a l-o-n-g one, but I think this sample definitely conveys the essence of what’s not to like. I sure am glad they aren’t talking about us!

As an aside, I was with an internationally acclaimed organisational psychologist yesterday and learned the following: The single biggest attribute of people who succeed is charm (yes, I know we all think we are charming, but I’m now on a mission to find out what it is and I’ll let you know).

Diane

Portfolios Programs Projects – simply making them happen

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One of the most rewarding aspects of running a business is knowing that your clients are satisfied with your services, comfortable to be entrusting you with their projects and programs. In other words, they like you!  I was truly gratified recently when three RNC clients acknowledged their appreciation in words… and pictures.  

One client re-worked the RNC logo to express their sentiments:

Another told us that “hiring RNC was the best thing we did last year”.  
And that’s not all… yet another said that their RNC PM “is the best in the organisation”.

I gathered all this positive feedback together in my mind to figure out where the points of difference were. That is, the difference between a PM… and our RNC PMs.  Well I’ve now distilled it into a few common denominators:

Clients like the RNC person because they:

• Get the job done
• Are a low emotional overhead i.e. not precious, not needy and don’t play negative politics
• Just get on and do the job
• Focus on the job requested, not the job they want to do or think the business should want
• Are friendly and accommodating (no sharp edges)
• Know what they are doing and other people respect them
• Have a way of getting people to do what they want without being too pushy
• Seem to have an ability to read the organisation and work within and across it to get the job done;
• Don’t seem like a contractor, and they have our best interests at heart.

Knowing this certainly helps to make every day worthwhile.

By the way, conversely, I wanted to find out what is was that non-RNC PMs were doing that brought about negative feedback.

I received some interesting comments too… so stay tuned. Enjoy your day, and thank you!

Diane

 Portfolios Programs Projects – simply making them happen

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The following guide to using the RACI model was prepared by John Elsworth, a project manager with many years experience delivering in Finance and Banking, Biomedical and transport industries.   It took RNC 5 years to convince him to join us and we are very glad that he has worked with us now for 5 years….  

Managing stakeholders is vital to the success of a project and one of the most challenging aspects of project management.  Have you ever been looking for a single project tool that would help with stakeholder management; the communications plan; developing peoples’ roles and responsibilities; and, creating project delegation authorities?

The RACI model can be a valuable input to these elements of planning particularly in the early stage of the project when you are writing your initial version of the PMP.  This stage of a project can be very confusing when you are juggling so many stakeholders & project members. In our line of work as contract PMs we are typically just getting to know everyone too.

Of course, like all elements of planning, the RACI should be an interactive process and updated as appropriate to the project needs.

People who participate in creating/updating the RACI model enjoy it as they get a lot out of it and it can be fun & thought-provoking.

The RACI is an effective communications tool because stakeholders and team members find it intuitive and easy to digest.

So, how does a RACI work? The output is a matrix of responsibilities of all the stakeholders and members of the project team. Their job titles are assigned a letter depending on their role in the project. RACI is an acronym and the letters represent the level of participation in the project –

•  R is for Responsible (the do-er of the activity)
•  A is for Accountable (the buck stops here)
•  C is for Consulted (typically an important stakeholder or a subject matter expert)
•  I is for Informed (someone who needs to know … or wants to know but they are not an active participation in this particular activity)

The matrix should have the project participants’ role title on the horizontal axis and the project duties/activities on the vertical axis. The letter of the RACI which best represents their roles & responsibilities are allocated and placed in the appropriate cell co-ordinates.

The RACI matrix can become a great friend to a Project Manager. Project planning can be time-consuming and complex. The RACI matrix helps dissect information into simple, bite-size chunks.

Let’s look at a quick example. The hypothetical project is the design and manufacture of a new hybrid car which must have regulatory approval from the government.

It is advisable to highlight the cells where the “A” and the “R” appears as these are the most important. Also, it is helpful to make it visually appealing so it stands out for the reader above the other noise they encounter during their work day. For the PM, the colour coding helps with quality assurance, e.g’s. there should be only one “A” allocated in every row; &, the “R’s” should be well distributed across the stakeholders/team-members.

Please note:
i.    Once drafted, the matrix should be placed on formal review.
ii.   Note that the RACI can include external as well as internal parties. In this example reference to the Regulatory Authority is an external organisation.
iii.  Logically in the hierarchy, the A is the highest followed by (in order) the R, the C, and the I. Will leave it to you to spell that out!

After syndicating/agreeing the RACI with stakeholders, the project manager has so much information they need to work out the “who”, “what”, “how’s” and ”when” for the elements of the project planning mentioned above.

There are a number of variations of the RACI model and these can be applied according to the nature of the project –

•   RASCI model – includes provision for a support function
•   RACI-VS – includes 2 participation types for verification and support
•   CAIRO – uses “O” for omitted
•   DACI – where “D” represents the driver of the project activity

Anecdotal story
I once distributed my draft RACI and got feedback from a stakeholder that he wanted to have a “C” (consulted) against all the project activities. Indeed he was an electrical engineer and wanted to be consulted on all the other engineering disciplines as well! Nevertheless the RACI was a great basis for a constructive conversation with this person and I learnt a lot about him at the same time, which was useful as the project matured.

Further Reading
Project Management Institute: PMBOK Guide, Edition 4 -
http://www.pmi.org/PMBOK-Guide-and-Standards.aspx

Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_assignment_matrix

Project Management Essentials - http://projectmanagementessentials.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/nn-12-formula-for-number-of-communication-channels/

We’d like to hear from you. If you use the RACI model, post a comment or send us your feedback.

Portfolios Programs Projects – simply making them happen

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Good morning,
13 years ago today I got dressed and headed in to work to talk to my boss about coming back after a period of sick leave. You’ve probably heard me talk about the two meetings that took place that day. I walked away, came home and started RNC.

13 years. Wow, it seems both so recent and so long ago.As I looked around for what to do and what to offer I settled on a few things immediately:
• I’d do what I love (delivering specific outcomes for companies)
• There’d be no corporate retreats; dinners without spouses; attempts to build false teams through activities requiring courage and physical strength; no one who worked with me would be asked to visit me (I would visit them); if people wanted to work part time I wouldn’t bludgeon them into full time; and RNC would be an equal pay organisation.

Then I looked at the market and saw there was a move towards everyone calling themselves “project managers” and the race was on to get to the lowest common denominator of capability through accreditation without demonstration of ability (other than through paperwork). To this day I hold the view that paperwork never achieved anything – other, of course, than forensic defensibility of failure, and I’ve always reckoned that setting out to defend failure is a very poor substitute for actually delivering.

So I decided to offer Project Turnaround services and distinguish RNC from the outset as the people who could and would do the hard stuff that others couldn’t.

Day one, my sales pitch was to a consulting company where I knew the MD and it went like this: “I can fix broken or troubled projects – my rate is $X per day and you can charge whatever you like on top of that, what you get commercially from the client is your business”. I knew it was their contract not mine. RNC’s first contract landed 8 days later. I had set my rate very competitively to the market of the day.

Fast forward 13 years and just last week I hired Peter to work in Singapore (welcome Peter) and I was taken aback when he said, “This is what I want to be paid, what you charge on top of that is your business”, AND he has priced himself to the current market. An amazing reminder of the genesis of the sales success for RNC. But I digress.

RNC is now a brand in its own right. Last year we had over 70 people working at one time (we are off that at the moment because of the time of year; the market; the abundance of people claiming to be able to ‘do’ project management; and people helpfully introducing their friends directly to clients instead of thinking to talk to RNC – (this is something I need to explore, if clients we know are thinking of RNC, why aren’t PM’s who know us? Don’t worry, I know the answer).

In real terms, rates for project and program management have come down as supply has gone up and the propensity of our industry to manage into failure has continued. Project and Program Managers generally do not enjoy a good reputation. In the past, people engaged PMs to get something done that couldn’t be done in the normal course of the business, but we now find ourselves being asked to deliver project outcomes within normal business. I don’t know where it’s going but I do know there is a always a need for the people who can deliver. Happily the brand we have built is relied on by clients to do just that.

I just looked at the number of unsolicited CV’s we receive per week and at the moment it’s upward of 40 (and sometimes over 100) – there are a lot of people out there looking for work.

It’s not a good market, but if we stick to the knitting and understand and work with the market, our clients will benefit from engaging RNC.

Over the 13 years many competitors have come and gone (which is a bit sad but I am grateful RNC is still here and still delighting clients (most of the time).

Project delivery is and has changed. We can’t hold onto what used to work, we all need to realise that what works today isn’t what worked years ago – and keep up with the play.

My first public presentation ever was titled “You can manage the process or the people – if you choose the process, watch out for the people, they’ll get you every time”.  That presentation is just as pertinent today (perhaps more so) than it was way back.

If you haven’t learned anything in the past year (in addition to on the job, your value to clients has decreased – and no, I am not talking about attending sessions just to get PDUs) – it doesn’t matter so much what you learn as long as you are still learning.

As I write this, contracts are being exchanged to open the Singapore office; we are looking at reopening the Canberra office and Debs is running the Brisbane office. Dallas has been open (but limping) for over a year. Sydney is the hub as always and our marketing to support clients continues despite the market conditions – I believe our commitment to marketing is second to none. People often ask me how we do it, and I answer, don’t give up and get the best people.

Thanks for being part of the RNC story, you can be proud that you are, I don’t compromise on quality.

Best regards, Diane

Portfolios Programs Projects – simply making them happen