There are plenty of roadblocks organisations must overcome to deliver a consistently high level of service. These are the main challenges you’re likely to face.
Delivering professional services that consistently meet and exceed customer expectations is not easy. Even if you can deliver the same level of service every time, unrealistic customer expectations can mean that in some cases, what delights the majority of your customers, might fall flat with others. A report by the Project Management Institute found that only 64 percent of projects are delivered successfully, with an estimated wasted expenditure of 11 pence in every pound invested in a project or programme.
From this evidence it’s clear that there are plenty of roadblocks that must be overcome to deliver the same level of service time and time again, but what are the main challenges you’re likely to face.
The organisation does not have a project management mindset
To deliver the same level of service consistently, organisations need to adopt a project management mindset that emanates from the top of the organisation down. Project management has to be valued in every department and at every level within the organisation, and senior influencers and decision makers need to support its use.
Unfortunately, this is not always the case, and project managers can frequently encounter obstacles that delay or prevent the consistent delivery of services. However, with the right set of skills, it is possible for project managers to influence these behaviours and help their teams adopt best practice methods.
There’s no project portfolio approach
A project portfolio is about more than just running multiple projects at the same time. By using a portfolio approach, you can quickly get a feel for the strengths and weakness of an organisation in its project delivery, as the same mistakes will keep cropping up again and again. All projects within a portfolio should be tracked on their progress and monitored for their benefits and quality. This allows weaknesses to be identified and corrected.
Your PMO is not strong enough
A project management office (PMO) is the group of departments in your business that are responsible for defining and maintaining the standards of project management in your organisation. One of the key roles of the PMO is to introduce ways to standardise and economise the delivery of projects. Firing up you PMO can empower your project delivery. If your PMO gains a good understanding of how the organisation runs, they can stay connected with the wider business and remain well-placed to deliver projects that are a strategic or financial success. Recently Hydra has seen a shift in organisations outsourcing their PMO administration and support activities so that they can focus on what really matters - delivering projects successfully.
The Project Sponsor is not engaged
A project sponsor is an active senior manager who is responsible for ensuring the project remains a viable proposition and that the benefits of the project can be realised. To do this, resolving issues outside of the control of the project manager is a key part of their role.
Having a supportive sponsor can be the difference between the success or failure of the project. By removing roadblocks, ensuring the necessary resources are in place and keeping the project visible at senior levels, the project sponsor has an extremely important part to play in the delivery of a consistent level of service.
You’ve adopted a one-size-fits-all approach
There’s a big difference between standardising the delivery of a project and adopting a one-size-fits-all approach. To deliver successful projects consistently, an organisation must find the processes that work within its industry, environment and culture. These must be repeatable and focused on delivering quality. These processes must then be adapted as lessons are learned during the project and after it has been completed. This allows the delivery of projects to be refined over time.
Adopting a one-size-fits-all approach to every project will never work due to the changing culture of the customer organisations i.e. what one might find too flexible, another will find too restrictive. It’s essential to be able to meet the needs of individual clients while still taking a standardised approach to the deliver of your service.
How can Hydra’s Professional Service software help?
Hydra’s professional services software captures your hidden know-how and lessons learnt to enable the consistent delivery of best practice across all your projects. The result is the delivery of the same exceptional level of service time and time again. To see how Hydra’s Professional Services Software can boost the consistency of your project delivery, simply get in touch to book your live demo.
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