advanced program management constituency management
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Professional Education
Advanced Program Management
Constituency Management
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Objectives
Understand Constituency Management
Identify constituency groups
Communication with constituency groups
Develop templates for status reports, feedback, etc.
Discuss best practices for conducting meetings with constituency groups
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Constituency Management Overview
Objectives: To develop a comprehensive
communications process that includes management, project/team leads, project team members and other key stakeholders and constituents
To eliminate or to minimize miscommunication or confusion regarding project status, issues or other information
Activities: Develop schedule of
meetings and communication publications
Implement communication plan
Monitor communications and re-evaluate approach as needed
Outputs: Detailed communication plan
and procedures
Definition:Development and implementation of a plan for communicating plan progress, issues and dependencies between and among management, project/team leads, project team members and other stakeholders and constituents
Participants: Program Management Office Management team
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Who are your constituents?
Recommended Discussion– Clients
• Project Team• Departments/Organization• Unions
– Team members– Management– Board of Directors– Shareholders– Who else?
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Program Management Recommendations
Exchange information and build relationships with Stakeholders
Focus constituents on business value management in addition to scope, schedule, and budget
Employ the program management office and various advisory councils as a communication medium
Create status and management reports
Manage expectations
Recognize the organization’s capacity for change
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Communication strategy ensures that stakeholders are kept informed
A good communication strategy ensures that:– communication flows in all directions– communication is timely– mechanisms are in place for receiving feedback
Constituents need to feel connectedThe “who, what, why, where and when” IS the communication strategyThe owner of the communication strategy is the Program Management OfficeDoes not take the place of necessary informed or urgent communication
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Inputs/ Considerations to Communication Plan
Union constituents
Profit Improvement– Headcount reduction
Environment
Change readiness assessment
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How to develop the plan
How do you identify the constituent groups and devise the communication plan?– Its the people who influence, are affected by, or would have interest
in the program. Devising the communication program is best understood through example
How much interaction do you have with senior management in coming up with the plans?– It is developed jointly. They need to own it and agree with it. It is a
50/50 development method
How much time and iteration is involved in coming up with the plan?– Approximately 20-30 hours over a duration of 2-3 weeks. Most of
that time is getting buy-in, defining objectives, and creating templates
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5 Components to a Communication Strategy
Communication MatrixIdentify all forms of standard communications, owners, recipients and feedback mechanisms
Individual constituents identified by nameAs identified in the communication matrix, the owners are identified using specific names rather than groups/types
Identification and description of standing meetingsIntroduce a proposed set of meetings intended to build culture, strategize, and inform executive leadership
Document descriptions and templatesIntroduce a paper status document to be distributed that reduce the need for status-type meetings
Feedback mechanismsIdentify individuals responsible for collecting feedback on communication effectiveness and methods to improve
ConstituentList
Meetings
Documents
Feedback Mechanism
Communication Matrix
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Sample Matrix – External Recipients
Identify all forms of standard communications, owners, recipients, and feedback mechanisms
Stakeholder (Recipient)
Communication Objective Format Frequency Owner Feedback Mechanism
Cost (H, M, L)
Importance (H, M, L)
External Milestone achievements on Online business
Press Release As needed Investor Relations
E-mail, Phone
L M Shareholders
Progress on and business impact of Online business
Annual Report Annually Investor Relations
E-mail, Phone
H M
Customers Announce new offerings Online, the benefits of shopping on-line, eliminate confusion between place and space
Web publication, advertising, Store promotion
As needed PR E-mail, In-store surveys, Phone Online surveys
L H
Updates to online processes, and operating procedures
Meeting As needed Program Management Office
Email, Phone
M H
Online strategic plan, roles of the partner, new product initiatives
Meeting,Email As needed Program Management Office
Email, Phone
M H
Vendors / Partners
Progress on and issues within Sears Online business (program status)
Email, Issues database access
Monthly Program Management Office
Email, Phone
L M
Communication Matrix
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Sample Matrix – Internal Recipients
Stakeholder (Recipient)
Communication Objective Format Frequency Owner Feedback Mechanism
Cost (H, M, L)
Importance (H, M, L)
Internal Corporate Associates
Announcement of new offerings and major rollouts
Email, Intranet As needed SOL Dir of PR
E-mail, Phone
M M
Announcement of new offerings, major rollouts
Printed collateral, Email, Intranet
As needed SOL VP of Ops
E-mail, Phone
M M Full-Line Stores
Procedural changes, impact to stores, impact to OSRs
Printed collateral, Email
As needed SOL VP of Ops
E-mail, Phone
M H
Executive Mgmt
Progress on and issues within Sears Online business
Presentation via Email
Monthly Program Management Office
Meeting, Phone
M M
Progress on and issues within Online business Assist with strategy definition
Presentation Meeting
Monthly Program Management Office
Meeting, E-mail, Phone
M H Online Board of Directors
Requests, directions and decisions on Online business
Meeting As needed Online Director of Operations
Meeting
L H
Priorities and guidelines for going online
Presentation As needed VP of SOL Meeting, E-mail
M H Business Leaders
Request for direction and decisions to complete Online development activity
Meeting As needed VP of SOL Meeting, E-mail, Phone
L H
Online Project Managers
Vendors communicate accomplishments, risks, issues, planned activities to Sears online
Project status report
Weekly Vendors Meeting, E-mail, Phone
L H
Online PMO Director
Communicate project level status ID and resolve program issues
Standard project status report
Weekly Sears online Project Managers
Meeting, E-mail, Phone
L H
Kitchen Cabinet
Track plans at program level Identify strategic issues
Meeting Weekly Kitchen Cabinet Members
Meeting, E-mail, Phone
H H
E-CATs Review accomplishments and planned activities Identify project issues and assign
Meeting Weekly Sears Online Project Manager
Meeting, E-mail, Phone
H M
Online All-hands
Build culture Level-set the team on status and upcoming activities
Meeting Bi-weekly VP of SOL Meeting, E-mail, Phone
H H
Communication Matrix
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Identify Constituents by name when possible
This ensures that owners are clear on their responsibility and to whom the communication should be directed
Stakeholders Identified Owners Identified
Stakeholder Group
Stakeholder Members
External Shareholders All Iinvestors Customers Shoppers at stores
On-line users Credit card holders
Vendors / Partners
DiamondCluster International
Internal Corporate Associates
Full-Line Stores
Online Board of Directors
External Online Advisory Council
Business Leaders
Online Project Managers/ IT coordinators
Online PMO Director
Owner Owner Name Investor Relations PR SVP of Online VP of Operations, Online
Marketing Vendors Online Project Managers
Constituent List
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Determine when meetings are to be held
Weekly, monthly, quarterly?What is to be discussed?What is to be accomplished?Who needs to attend?What do you want the attendees to do?Provide a summary of the program status
Avoid:– Pressure to expand meeting attendees– Meetings without a stated purpose– Everyone should attend a meeting
Ensure:– Meeting purpose is clear– Attendees know why they are attending– Minutes are distributed timely, especially if there are action items
Meetings
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Constituency Management Meeting SampleMeetings
Meeting Purpose Attendees FrequencyFlash Individual team member updates,
general awareness of activitiesAll team members Daily at 12:30pm
Team Review &Preview
Team by team status reports, programcommunications, detailed awareness ofmajor activities
All team members Weekly onThursdays at 5pm
Team Leads Exception based review of latemilestones, discussion of new &outstanding issues, on-going risk review
Project/team leads,Program ManagementOffice
Weekly, Mondaysat 1pm (Statusreports due byFriday at 12pm)
ExecutiveManagement
Focused review of milestones, issues,risks, resources, assumptions andrequirements
Management team,Program manager
Weekly,Wednesdays at11am
SteeringCommittee
Program-wide status, key issue and riskreview
Steering committee,Program manager
Monthly, Date andTime TBD
Board Program-wide status, key issue and riskreview
Board, Managementteam, ProgramManager
Monthly, Date andTime TBD
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Status Reports
Project Status Report (weekly)– Created by each project– Include the audience – Have vendors submit a project status to the project manager
of the project – Include:
• Project level issues• Planned milestones and status relative to the milestones• Slipped tasks• Hold people accountable for action items
Documents
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Status Reports
Program Status Report (weekly)– Created by the Program Director– Include the audience – Include:
• Strategic updates (partnerships, changes to strategic plan)• Program milestones• Program-level issues that need escalation to resolve• Be proactive depending on the issue• Revenue, web metrics, team headcount changes• Risks and mitigation strategies
Ensure that status reports are used appropriately– Do not include previously unknown issues – no surprises– Use as a way to avoid necessary confrontation
Documents
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Standing action items from a standing meeting– Communicate summary to your respective team
As a matter of good meeting practice, a record of the action items are recorded and published to all meeting participants by the meeting leader
– Creates agreed upon responsibility
– Allows others to know who is responsible
Action Required Responsibility Date Due Who needs to benotified of itscompletion?
Sample documentsDocuments
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Recommendations for Documents
Project Managers should submit status reports for summarization to the Program Manager
Review other Project Managers status reports prior to meetings to ensure a forward-looking meeting occurs
Store documents electronically
Initiate a program status report to be distributed to Project Managers and client leadership team– Again, ensure that you do not include issues that are
unknown
Documents
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Institute a Feedback Mechanism
This ensures the communication plan remains effective
Revisit and revise the plan frequently
The Program Management Office is responsible for incorporating the feedback and changing the communication strategy
FeedbackMechanism
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Considerations for a Feedback Mechanism
Identify an owner for capturing feedback from each constituency group
Detail the owner’s responsibilities
Ensure all feedback is forwarded to the Program Management Office
FeedbackMechanism
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Sample Templates
•Notice each item in the status report is associated with a project
•All items on a project manager’s status report would be associated to the same project
Log the following in the
status reports:• Organizational
impediments (issues)
• Points of escalation (issues)
• Partnerships (strategy)
• Staffing/organization (strategy)
• Marketing & PR (actions)
• Customer Information (actions)
<Team Name (Operations, Marketing, Tools) >Date: Owner:
Management Summary:
STRATEGIC ACTIVITIES(partnerships, staffing and organization changes, unplanned developments)
Project
ACTION ITEMS COMPLETED Project Responsibility DueDate
RevisedDue
Rev. # ActualCompletion
ACTIONS PLANNED, BUT NOTCOMPLETED
Project Responsibility DueDate
RevisedDue
Rev. # Comments
ACTIONS PLANNEDFOR NEXT PERIOD
Project Responsibility DueDate
RevisedDue
Rev. # Comments
NEW ISSUES Owner
UPCOMING MILESTONES Project Responsibility DueDate
RevisedDue
Rev. # ActualCompletion
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Sample Templates
Topic Update Description Team Update Summary of major accomplishments by teams Program Milestone Tracking Describe current program status relative to major milestones Customer Focus Site metrics, site performance, user feedback Financial Update Updates to the budget, tracking of spending relative to plan Program Issues Escalation of program-level issues that need advisory council
assistance to resolve or should be communicated across all teams Strategic Update Partnership activity, updates to the strategic plan Organizational Recap Summary of staffing, announcement of new team members,
changes to team structures
Possible Program Status Content Items
•Ensue that there is an audience for the program status
•The Program Director is responsible for creating the program status
ProgramStatus Report
Summarization
Action Items Completed Project Responsibility DueDate
RevisedDue
Rev. # ActualCompletion
Actions Planned But NotAccomplished
Project Responsibility DueDate
RevisedDue
Rev. # Comments
Actions Planned for NextPeriod
Project Responsibility DueDate
RevisedDue
Rev. # Comments
New Issues Owner
Upcoming Milestones Project Responsibility DueDate
RevisedDue
Rev. # ActualCompletion
Project Team Status Reports
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Constituency Management Key Considerations
Communicate, communicate, and communicate Reiterate the program mission and objectives to all functions of the business and the project team repeatedlyIdentify obstaclesCelebrate successCelebrate the discovery of problemsManage expectations of all partiesFocus constituents on business value management in addition to scope, schedule, and budgetEmploy the program management office as a communication medium