Project management and leadership have long been in existence. As the nature of projects became complex over time, so did the roles of project managers and leaders. There have been a number of advancements in the field of planning and control techniques, but still a number of projects fail to achieve the final goal. According to a recent survey, approximately 20-30% of projects fail to achieve their targets. One reason for this is that the project scope is not well defined when the project kicks off, which leads to cost and time overruns.
To reduce the project failure rate there has to be an efficient and effective project leader or project champion. Thus, the role of project champion has become more detailed and complex at each stage from project initiation to project close out.
While numerous project methodologies exist today (agile, iterative, traditional ad-hoc), all follow the basic five stages of project life cycle namely – initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and successful closure. Since the role of project champion has become more detailed and complex at each of these stages, gone are the days when the project teams were composed of just people with certain specific goals and once the task was performed the task handed over to the next team (also known as the waterfall approach). Now companies form teams from different departments to facilitate completion of projects by just one team rather than tossing the project from one team to another at different phases. Thus, cross functional team work became the need of the hour in various industries and the need for cross departmental communication became an important task for the project champion.
Once the project is handed over to the project champion, the first thing is for him to understand the project scope himself and discuss potential loopholes. The next stage is resource planning which is of utmost importance because with cross functional resource planning he has to select the right number of people. The project champion has to be very cautious and particular while forming the team as he needs to see what particular skills people from each department bring to the team, if they can be the leader in their area of expertise, if they gel with the other team members without any force or friction, and at the same time the person should be influential in his department to get work done in time and avoid any delays and bottle necks. Once the team is formed, the project champion should discuss the project scope and establish a charter with the team. Considering each member’s point of view and having a healthy discussion can lead to the formation of a well-defined project scope and charter that is clearly understood by each team member and hence will help avoid time over run. With the charter and scope clear and resources allocated, the project champion’s next task is to perform activity sequencing or the work break down structure. Once developed it should be discussed with department heads to avoid resource conflict as the teams are formed cross departmental. The team should also be involved in risk management discussions which can help prevent potential time and cost overrun. These steps will lead to a solid foundation to initiate the project.
Once the project is kicked off, the project champion should maintain and present the project reviews to the team and act as the link between the team and the client or senior management. Thus, he should have the abilities to manage the team as well as stake holders. To keep the team enthusiastic and moving, the project champion should empower his team by showing faith and motivating them. The best way to motivate is to have achievable goals from the project, reward the top performers, and try to get the comparatively low performers up to par. He should have performance appraisals, compensation, and promotion criteria tied to the work. Non-monetary rewards are remembered longer in comparison to monetary rewards which are short lived. There should be clear and concise communication flow between the teams and also from management to the team. Another way to keep the team involved in the progress is to develop a dashboard which shows movement of the project through various phases and where it stands in term of time and success rate. While I was taking a class on project management, my professor, Karen Brown, defined it as A3. I found it a very helpful tool to track the project success. If tasks are veering away from schedule, this can be seen quickly and the required corrective actions can be taken to avoid overruns.
Once the project is completed successfully, it should be handed over to the client with a clear presentation and demonstration of the project. If the project is accepted by the client, the project should be closed. A successful project close out should include closing of the project files, developing a document on the learning of the projects positives as well as negatives which will help the team understand what went well and what didn’t so that it can be improved upon in the future. The project champion should recognize and reward the top performers and hold a successful big project closure party.
Some of the key characteristics of successful projects include:
- Motivated project leader who has the capabilities to empower and motivate the team. Have excellent communication skills at the same time be accountable for his work and a good planner
- Clear development of project scope and charter to avoid any loopholes in the later stage of the project
- The team members should be completely involved in the project and should believe in themselves and the project
- Management should not setup unrealistic expectations from the team just to please the clients. There should be achievable results set for the team
- There should be a good mix of expertise on the team
- A dashboard for the team to monitor the movement of the project (A3)
- A reward and recognition should be linked to the performance of the team members
