NLP for PMO Practitioners

Dr Peter Parkes

influencepersuasion

motivationcommunication

conflict management

Peter ParkesMBA FCMI FRSA FIoD FAPM

Introduction & Bio

• Programme Director roles in private sector, public sector, PPPs and ‘Big 4’ Management Consultancy

• Steering group for APM BoK• Story

• Rail - 4 years, 4 PMO managers

• Implementations, Master-classes and coaching• NLP4PMs -> NLP4BAs -> change management• Newsletter – Behavioural competencies for PMOs

Benefits of a PMO

Key observations and findings from PWC study

• PM Maturity Levels are on the rise.

• Organisational maturity is directly correlated with organisational success. Higher maturity yields higher performance.

• There is a positive relationship between the length of time a PMO has been established and successful project performance.

• The adoption of Portfolio Management leads to increases in performance.

APM BoK 6th Edition

6th Edition completely re-written to consider each topic through dimensions of:

• Portfolio• Programme• Project

Commentary from APM BoK Steering Group on introduction of P3 aspects

Publications

Barriers to Change

Upsetting the Status Quo

It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.

Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, but lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.

This coolness arises partly from fear of the opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them. ???????????

?????

Levers & Barriers to Change - Exercise

Barriers to change Levers for change

Are you being served, Madam?

© Peter Parkes 2015 www.NLP4PM.com

Consider a service model for P3O• Portfolio functions

• Alignment to strategy• Prioritisation• Standardisation of

Benefits measures• Management

dashboards• Governance• Assurance

• Delivery functions• Capacity Planning• Resource Management• Contract Management• Facilitate programme /

project start-up

• Centre of excellence functions

• Standards• Training & coaching• Assurance• Good practice• Knowledge management• Tools• Consultancy

Creating capability in your P3O

Figure Activities lead to capabilities lead to outcomes

What Outcome will this enable me to do?

Capability

Implementing a P3O – hand-out and exercise

• Who are our customers?• What are the easiest services to sell to them?

Resistance

Value

Agile Change Management

UnfreezeStatus Quo

(as-was) Meta-state

(as-is)Change

Freeze

Implementation of a PMO should be viewed and managed as a change programme - why?

‘There are no limits; there are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them’

Implementing a P3O

• Who is the sponsor?• What level of support do we

have?• What is the Vision?• What might the end state /

Blueprint look like?• Do we have a business case?• Who are the key

stakeholders?• What does success look like

to them?

High

High

Medium

MediumLow

Low

Potential impact of the stakeholder on the programme

Potential im

pact of the programm

e on the stakehold

er

Stakeholders must have buy-inProvide general inform

ation

Maintain stakeholder interest

Actively consult w

ith stakeholders

The Agile Manifesto(Rail story)

We …have come to value: - Individuals and interactions over processes and tools- Working solutions over comprehensive documentation- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation- Responding to change over following a plan.That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.”

20

We all have different maps of the world

Rapport

‘Resistance is a sign of lack of rapport’ – NLP pre-supposition‘Without rapport, you ain’t got much chance of effecting

change’ – John Grinder‘Rapport is being on someone

else's map of the world’- NLP pre-supposition

What makes up our maps of the world?

Different world-views Different behaviours / meta-programs

• ? • ?

What makes up our maps of the world?

Different world-views Different behaviours / meta-programs

• Different cultures

• Different departmental priorities

• Different personal values

• Different education

• Different experiences

• Different skills

• Different beliefs

• etc

What makes up our maps of the world?

Different world-views Different behaviours / meta-programs

• Different cultures

• Different departmental priorities

• Different personal values

• Different education

• Different experiences

• Different skills

• Different beliefs

• etc

• Big picture or detail

• Extrovert or introvert

• Option or Process

• People or Activity

• Oral or Written

• etc

NLP bridging the divide to better communication

Rapport

World view World view

IdeasLanguage & Behaviour

Ideas Language & Behaviour

Effective Communication

The component of the system with the most flexibility controls the system (Ashby)

Perceptual positions

2nd personSeeing, hearing and feeling the situation through the filters of

the other person

3rd personSeeing, hearing and feeling the

situation through filters of a

detached observer

1st personSeeing, hearing and feeling the situation

through your own filters

The ability to ‘2nd position’ is a key life skill

(Gandhi story)

Exercise: role play – doing it to them or adding value?PMO service stream Centralised command and

controlService model

Standardised reporting ‘You need to change to our template’

‘How could we standardise reports to save re-work’

Resources ‘We need you to fill in this spreadsheet to tell us which people will be working on which jobs on which days

Integrated plan ‘You have to use this template for your plans and tell us all your deliverables and dependencies’

Contingency & Change control ‘We need to approve all changes’

Assurance ‘We will be carrying out an audit of you’

PMs ‘All your PMs will be working for us’

How not Why

? ?

?

?

?

Ask How not Why(framing)

Why? How?

Why is the report late? How can we get reports in on time in the future

Why is the project behind? How can we recover the project?

Why don’t we have enough resources? How can we get more resources?

Why didn’t you do what I told you? How can I communicate with you better next time?

Why don’t you value the PMO? How could the PMO help you?

To Agreement

Chunking to agreementImproved operating efficiency

Better governance and training

Ch

un

k

The secret to success is to find a ‘super-ordinate’ goal that both parties can sign up to

Be Diplomatic

‘Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions’

Winston Churchill

Summary• NLP for PMO Practitioners is all about focusing on the

behavioural competencies that enable you to become better equipped at building relationships across the organisation:

• Influence• motivation• communication• conflict management• persuasion

• The ‘soft skills’ that PMO practitioners regularly need to draw on in order to deliver value added services and functions to their organisations.

We help you to build PM capability

Consulting• Building delivery capability• Implementing PMOs• Project assurance and

recovery• Establishing governance and

portfolio management• Maturity assessments and

action plans

Training & Coaching• Developing behavioural

competences• Master-classes in key topics

such as: • Stakeholder Management• Change Management• Governance & Assurance

• Executive coaching & support to Sponsors

• Certified programmes for Higher Apprentices in PM

Its good to talkTalk to me on +44 7764 319600

Skype: Dr.Peter.ParkesEmail me at Peter.Parkes@NLP4PM.com

Visit us at www.NLP4PM.comJoin LinkedIn Group ‘NLP for Project

Management’Twitter @ NLP4PM

LinkedIn: PeterParkesMBA