Weathering the storm
We got through 2020 but that doesn’t mean 2021 will be a slam dunk. As the world (hopefully) emerges slowly from the pandemic, a lot of uncertainty still exists. The companies we work for are navigating this uncertain world and trying to predict the future. Customer requirements may have changed and some pivots to the business may still be needed. This means aspects of the programs you’re driving will need to be adjusted, likely a few times before things are all said and done. Things like program goals, milestones, and assigned resources may change. Even organizational structures may need adjusting. These changes can be unsettling to the teams you support and as program managers, you can strive to be that calm person in the room. Really listen to what’s being said and how people are feeling. Be empathetic. Support your leadership and give them the time and space they need to work things out. Remind your program team members that it takes time for things to get ironed out, and they’ll need to be patient. Then do your level best to start clearing away the noise and distractions and get the team focused on the things you can control to get the train back on track and moving forward again.
Sharing best practices
We can be so focused on our day-to-day work that we forget to step back, review the work we’ve been doing, and think about how we might share with our colleagues some of the things we’ve developed or enhanced. What work have you done lately that made things better for you, your direct reports, or the teams you support? What about that new scheduling template you used to extract milestones from your team? Or the virtual offsite agenda you tried out that really got people to open up and participate? Or a more productive way to use an online collaborative tool for retrospectives? Our new remote work situation is as good a time as any to offer up a new best practice to your colleagues with the goal of enabling others to be more productive. And let’s face it, it feels good too!
Time for a break?
I was taking a walk with a former colleague recently–and yes, we were socially distanced and doubly masked up! We were having that conversation that I’ve started having with friends where you ask each other where you’ll travel to first when the pandemic lets up and it’s safe to travel again. We shared our plans, our dreams of that wonderful meal in <pick your favorite city>, and then gravitated to “seriously, I’ll go just about anywhere as long as it’s outside the walls of my house!” We then sheepishly agreed that some of the best vacations we’ve had in recent years have been the ones we spent close to home, the crowded airports and jet lag replaced by sleeping in and lazy days around the house. Now don’t get me wrong–I’m just as stir crazy as you and I will be in a plane, train, or automobile just as soon as we’re cleared to travel! But this is a great opportunity to remind ourselves and our team members not to wait until then to take a break. We’re likely to be at this for another while and a week or two of walks outside in nature away from our screens means we’ll come back to our work refreshed and, dare I say it, actually looking forward to seeing our colleagues virtual smiling faces!
Thinking big
I often hear program managers say they want to be more strategic but at the same time they tell me how busy they are just keeping their head (and those of their direct reports) above water, getting the many things done on their continually increasing task list. I get it–your manager is delegating work to you and your teams are asking for more support. My solution is simple: Start by asking yourself these questions: Are the programs I’m supporting in line with what my stakeholders consider to be most strategic? Am I clear on growth plans for the teams I support so I’m ready to support them when they come asking for more help? These kinds of questions pull you out of your comfort zone of task completion and get you thinking more strategically. Bring up these questions with the business leaders you support and if you’re not already having regular 1:1s with them, set them up and use these as conversation starters. If you level up your interactions with them, they’ll begin to view you as more of a strategic partner! Make sure to follow up with your manager and align on the path forward.
Who’s got your back?
Everyone wants to know they’re supported. That goes for program managers too! For them, that person is usually the executive sponsor. Ideally a program will have one single executive sponsor, one “throat to choke” as the saying goes. I have run programs with co-sponsors, and if they communicate well and are closely aligned, this can work too. But what happens if there’s no executive sponsor? First, this should sound an alarm bell. A program can’t go forward without an executive sponsor who has been assigned responsibility for the effort. You should reach out to leadership to ask where the requirement for this program came from. What’s the strategic level goal this program is related to? If there’s no answer, then it’s unlikely this work should be prioritized. Go as high up as you need to until a sponsor is assigned. If you have to, pause the work and let your manager and the leader of the organization you support know that you can’t continue until you have an executive partner — or until you determine that the program isn’t strategically important and should be set aside.
Fewer, better programs
Effective program management requires that you have your finger on the pulse of everything that’s going on related to the program and are available to the program team as needed. The number of programs a program manager can handle simultaneously varies but they know when their plate is full, so to speak. When you get to that point — when the number of requests for support is greater than what you can handle, rather than take on more programs with less than optimal support for each, I’d rather see ruthless prioritization so you can do your best work on the most important programs. Otherwise you run the risk of leaving your team members feeling unsatisfied and with an inaccurate view of the real value of program management.
Program management is sexy
While running the PMO at Zendesk, one of my program managers was trying to decide whether to stay in the PMO or move to another department — into a role that was also a good fit for her qualifications and experience in a domain that she loved. The department head and I were in touch, as we both wanted to make sure she ended up in a place where she’d be happiest. He admitted to me that “well, program management is sexy!” I had to laugh when he said that, but what he meant was that the PMO was full of top-notch program managers who were (and still are) doing work that was very impactful and who were highly regarded around the company, making the employee in question hesitant about leaving the team. This is the kind of reaction you can get when program managers are proactively driving programs that move the needle on the company strategy. Effective. Awesome. Couldn’t have managed without them. I’ve heard all of those many times. Sexy? Hey, I’ll take it!
Less is more
While running the PMO at Zendesk, one of my most naturally instinctive program managers came to me one day in frustration, worried that there were too many people in her program meeting. It had started out well enough, but after a few weeks, given the importance and visibility of the program to the company, invitations had been forwarded and the room was now full of people, most of whom weren’t participating. They were there “so they didn’t miss anything,” but that wasn’t really a good use of their time. I encouraged her to cancel the meeting and start over, inviting the right people based on her RACI diagram, and making sure the meeting invite wasn’t modifiable in order to limit attendees. She also added the people who were no longer included in the meeting to the status report distribution list. She got things back on track and the meeting was once again productive. A good example of when less really is more!
Like milk and cookies
An effective partnership between program management and operations is a key part of ensuring a company runs well. A good example of such a partnership is planning — long-range, annual, or quarterly. Whether doing planning at the corporate or the organizational level, operations and program management usually partner closely on this process. Operations owns defining and refining the planning process and relies on program management to execute that process from end to end. Program managers share feedback with operations throughout the process so adjustments can be made as needed. Program managers also ensure the plans align with strategic goals. For example, with C-level execs setting the overall direction for their organizations, employees within an organization surface additional, often innovative project ideas, and program managers ensure those ideas are considered by organizational leadership who determine whether it’s work that should be done or strays too far from the organizational goals and should be deprioritized. Planning is a business-critical company activity, and operations and program management should work in concert to ensure this effort is productive.
Program Management–not a job for heroes
Program managers are all about getting others to do things. They know who the domain experts are and they harness all of that wonderful expertise to get a program across the line. They facilitate rather than do the work themselves. They are objective, focused on the program and how it moves the company strategy forward. Once in a while I encounter someone with hero tendencies. They see a big problem and rather than gathering the domain experts together to determine a solution and ensuring the way is paved for that work to move forward, they jump in and do the work themselves. Their excuse is that the experts were being difficult or resistant or were busy and it was just faster to do the work themselves and get the thing across the line. Regardless, I’m not going to reward that kind of behavior as it not only goes against the idea of harnessing the expertise of those around them but it’s not scalable! If you had to do the work yourself to get things across the line, you’ve missed an opportunity to help them improve on their skill set and/or be more of a team player. And what happens for the next one or 20 programs they’ll be a part of? And you’re stepping on toes and likely damaging that working relationship. Once you realize what you’ve done and curb that tendency, I’ll be the first in line to reward you–this time for your teamwork and collaboration!
