Does the engagement of an interim manager ensure project success?

Bringing in additional project management resources can not only save a failing project but also help define what constitutes project success at an early stage

Projects fail all the time. What constitutes a project’s success and how it is defined will differ from organisation to organisation.

The standard expectation for a successful project is that it’s delivered on time, on budget and is of the right quality. This is often the case if the project has been competently managed and led.

It is, however, much more important that the business case and the benefits are made clear at the beginning of a project and readjusted along the journey, because this is the real measure of a project’s success.

Projects fail because the latter point hasn’t been realistically set out, the requirement has changed due to market or economic forces, or there has been a lack of communication at all levels.

If a project’s success is determined by its delivery in line with expectations, then the person who has set the guidelines will have a determining factor as to the success or failure of the project. This is usually the project sponsor, the person who “owns” it.

Project governance is the key to success, and business managers should be involved along the way to ensure the project is delivered in line with expectations.

Formal project governance is the big change we have seen over the past few years, and this was a response to the lack of ownership and control by the very people who require and fund the outcome of projects – the business managers.

A project running behind budget and time would usually be seen as a failure, but in fact a project’s success is determined by the benefit it delivers to the business, and if that means the cost and completion date have to be moved with the agreement of the stakeholders, then so be it.

Interim managers are often bought in to rescue “failing” projects. This can make perfect sense, because having a fresh set of eyes on the situation and making the necessary changes to drive the project forward can get the project team and its sponsors realigned.

There are real benefits to doing this, not least because once the project is underway and costs have been incurred, it can be difficult for the project team to pull it back on track. An interim manager can ensure that stakeholders become realigned to the outcomes and that people are ready for the change the project was intended to deliver.

Finding and retaining the right resource is challenging but critical. Once the right skill set has been defined, engaging externally can sometimes be the only option.

A more fruitful solution is sometimes to resource externally to lead the project from the outset, with someone whose only focus is to enable change and who won’t be drawn in to business as usual.
One of the key ingredients is to spot the warning signs and act immediately.  Planning is paramount to the success of a project, and it is important to define what constitutes success at the early stage of the process. It is often the case that the project manager will be held to account if the project is deemed to be a failure, but actually the project sponsor is the person truly responsible for the project’s success. If the expectations have not been realistic, if communication has been poor, if the original business need has changed, and if adequate training has not been provided, then this all points to the project sponsor.

Taking this back to grassroots, there could be a cultural problem if the business is not one that is used to embracing change: the people won’t have the motivation to make it work and hence it’s another pointer towards project failure.

The adoption of a strong, centralised project management office (PMO) allows for the transfer of knowledge and sharing. Knowledge-sharing and best practice will help ensure the future success of projects.

If this is led with a good PMO director and appropriate, experienced project managers, not just certified project managers (as this only shows they understand a method), then at least the risk of failure is minimised. Again, interim managers can be engaged to set this up.

Ensuring project success is not easy. If it was, there would be far fewer failed projects. There are, however, good practices to adopt in order to minimise the risk of failure. If the proper planning, communication and governance is adhered to, stakeholders’ expectations are properly managed and the right business requirements have been set, then you stand a fighting chance.

After all, nobody sets out to fail or to do a poor job, but one of the key ingredients is to spot the warning signs and act immediately. If that means bringing in an additional resource, then it could be money well spent.



Follow the link below to read the article in Executive Grapevine as featured in The Guide to Interim Management

https://www.executivegrapevine.com/content/article/magazine-2018-02-06-does-the-engagement-of-an-interim-manager-ensure-project-success

Recruitment – Internal or External?

Picture the scene – a key member of your senior team has resigned and the situation can’t be turned round and you know you must replace – the dilemma is whether to “play it safe” and go with an internal promotion candidate or look externally.

In simple terms, internal promotion can be seen to encourage loyalty, build morale and send out a powerful message about career development prospects – assuming, of course, that the internal candidate has the rights sills and competences – but the drawback surrounds the missed opportunities of bringing someone new into the business.

Many companies are adept at creating internal pipelines of talent recognising the need to retain good people to give business continuity. And these businesses strive to offer people a career with vision of where their career may go within the company instead of having to leave to move upwards. Furthermore, the creation of continuous development opportunities for internal teams to ensure that home grown talent is always available sends out a strong and powerful message.

Some companies always promote from within first only bringing in new people at junior level. By doing this, they tend to have good retention at lower and middle levels and keep recruitment costs low. This tends to mean that people can rise from junior ranks fairly quickly before progression slows due to a mix of limited opportunities or their inability to progress any further.

Succession planning runs through the talent management process from recruitment to how employee performance is managed and building a culture of internal promotion makes a difference to an organisation and gives people aspirations. However, it is critical at this point that expectations are managed and also when an internal candidate is unsuccessful for a role, they deserve honest feedback so that they are able to re-evaluate their aspirations and re-set their goals based on reality. 

However, it is acknowledged that if the business is venturing into new markets or sectors, the likelihood is that the required skill set will not be available internally. Also, playing devil’s advocate there is a high amount of benefit to be gained by bringing in a fresh set of eyes with best practice knowledge and skills gained elsewhere. Rightly so, much is written to-day about the value of transferable skills and skills can transfer successfully between industries, sectors, markets and functions.

Whilst it could be perceived that external recruitment stifles the development of internal staff by cutting off potential promotion avenues, the counter argument is that promoting internal talent prevents the opportunity to inject fresh ideas into the business. Conversely, recruiting a manager from outside the business may mean that talent is unearthed in the business that the previous management structure had failed to identify or chose to overlook and new management gives these people new opportunities.

New blood into an organisation, specifically at senior level, brings new ideas, innovation, creativity, and different ways of working. It rarely comes without pain because it will also ruffle feathers, challenge the status quo, ask pertinent questions and shake people out of their comfort zone by getting people to up their game.

Business growth can also be a factor in the internal v external recruitment debate. Some employees are ideally suited to smaller businesses (invariably these are family based) and as the business grows and possibly the family influence begins to take a back seat, there is greater need for formalised management structures, process, procedure, controls and disciplines. Quite frankly, some people will find the growth transition uncomfortable and in simple terms, the business out grows the individual and a new/different skill set is required to drive the growth.

In these situations, bringing someone new to the table will bring much needed new ideas, freshness, energy and vision whilst challenging those that say “but we’ve always done it this way”.

If it comes down to cost, on paper external recruitment will cost more and external recruits will need to be given an on-boarding process to familiarise them with the business. However, over time the right candidate will be able to make a significant contribution and make a step change for the business through new methods of working, accountability and the identification of new opportunities.

Every business needs to manage the balance between internal and external recruitment but at senior level, sometimes it takes an outsider to come in and shake the tree.

Written by Adrian Berwick. 

Adrian is an experienced HR Professional who works exclusively with Macallam on the delivery of their Personal Career Transition Service

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Top 10 CV Do’s & Don’ts

Top 10 CV Do’s & Don’ts

A Curriculum Vitae is an essential marketing tool and getting a meeting can depend on how good your CV is. The way you present your CV can have an overwhelming influence over whether your CV is even read, let alone get a meeting. You need to consider what to include, how much detail is needed and how to make your CV stand out from others.

Do...

1. Construct your CV with your prospective client in mind. Look at the assignment advert or specification and think about what the assignment involves, and what the client needs. Find out about the client, culture, operating style and make your experience relevant.

2. Tailor your CV to the assignment. Your CV shouldn't be your life story but should be tailored for the assignment you're applying for, focusing on the aspects that are important for that role.

3. Make it clear and tidy. Check your spelling and grammar and read it through carefully. It’s amazing how many CV’s have spelling mistakes in them.

4. Place the important information up-front. Put experience and education achievements in reverse chronological order. Include experience and interests that might be of use to the client: IT skills, voluntary work, foreign language competency, driving skills, leisure interests that demonstrate team skills and organisation/leadership skills.

5. Quote concrete outcomes to support your claims. For example, ‘This reduced the development time from 7 to 3 days’ or ‘This revolutionised the company’s internal structure which led to a reduction in overheads from £2.3million to £1.7m per year’.

Don’t...

6. Include information which may be viewed negatively – failed exams, divorces, failed business ventures, reasons for leaving an assignment. Don’t give the person you want to meet any reasons not to meet you.

7. Make your CV more than three pages long. You can free up space by leaving out or editing information that is less important. For example, you do not need to include referees or include a detailed account all of the assignments you have held since school. Place more emphasis and detail on the recent and most relevant ones. Add details about your most recent qualifications, which are more relevant, but summarize the rest.

8. Dilute your important messages. Don’t bother with a list of schools you attended or a long list of hobbies. Such things like this and school grades can be summarised. Concentrate on demonstrating the skills they require, what you have achieved and what benefits your clients have gained from your work.

9. Use jargon, acronyms, technical terms - unless essential.

10. Lie – In this era of the “Information economy” people and clients have many ways of checking what you say is true, and may dismiss you from the process or at worst employment if they find this is untrue.

IIM Interim Management Providers Survey 2016 and update

The Institute of Interim Managers (IIM) interim management providers survey is live. 

The survey closes 8th June with full results published on 7th July although this year, parts of the results are immediately available.    Here’s the link;

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/iim2016

Use your vote and have your say!

As you are probably already aware, we have updated our website and have improved the registration process with secure log in.  It would be worth visiting the website at www.macallaminterim.com to update your details and create a secure log in for future use / updates. 

Many have done so already and to those who have provided positive feedback - thank you.

Continued growth for Interim Managers

The latest findings from the quarterly Ipsos MORI survey for Q4 2011 show continued growth of the industry, in spite of the recession. Enquiries for all member firms are at a 5 year high and the average length of assignments has also increased, from 108 days in 2006, to 166 days in 2011.

The results reveal that enquiries for interim managers were the highest they have been since 2011. This is a rise of 76 per cent on the same quarter in 2010, and 4 per cent on the third quarter (Q3) in 2011.

Companies within the private sector are increasingly turning to Executive Interim Managers to solve problems and help manage change within their businesses; this sector represents two thirds (66%) of all assignments, the highest percentage for four years.

Thirty per cent of requested assignment functions in this quarter were for Special Projects (up from 26% in Q3 2011) followed by Finance (17%) which saw a two point fall over the same period. C-suite executives represented 7% of the IMA business in the final quarter of 2011. The most common reason for an assignment is Programme/Project Management, with 40% in Q4, up from 36% the previous quarter.

The largest increase was seen for Change or Transition Management, which in Q4 accounted for 19% of the all assignment functions, up from 14% in Q3.

Business Improvement and Gap Management each represented 16% of completed assignments in the final wave of 2011. Whereas the former was relatively unchanged from the previous quarter (up 1 percentage point from 15%), the proportion of completed assignments attributed to Gap Management decreased by seven percentage points (from 23% in Q3). These figures are notably higher than the next most cited reasons such as but then this is dependent on how the individual providers have categorised the reason for the assignment.

Unsurprisingly, the public sector is running at its lowest level for four years with only 34% of interim management assignments accounting for this sector. Additionally, as in previous quarters, the majority of assignments in Q4 were predominantly based in the UK (94%). However, this quarter saw an increase in the number of international assignments (6%), particularly those based in Western Europe.

By Steven Wynne