Project and Joint Venture teams have unique challenges. Leadership teams are often thrust together never having previously worked with each other. There’s an immediate pressure to hit milestones before the leaders have time to form as a cohesive and aligned team. The initial storming phase can be highly chaotic as the leaders learn each other’s strengths, weaknesses and capability levels. Add to this the pressure from senior management, stakeholders and customers and you have the recipe for a highly-stressed and reactionary project leadership team.
Our Project and JV leadership Alignment Program fosters collaboration within the project/JV leadership team, ensuring there is role clarity, openness, and alignment. The leaders’ focus shifts to creating a high-performing team for delivery, with everyone actively supporting each other and driving progress on the desired outcomes.
PHASE ONE: DIAGNOSE
When leaders come together in a project or JV, there are often differing drivers, approaches and pressure to deliver the outcome. It can be challenging to uncover why the team is not performing. Sometimes the team have clear awareness that they are misaligned, but more often this comes from concerned stakeholders or steering committee members.
Our first step is to understand what the real issues are, and what are misperceptions.
This phase provides an assessment of the:
- leadership styles and the behaviours of each of the leaders, where these are helping and where they are hindering progress
- the expectations of each key stakeholder, customers (if appropriate) and the leaders themselves; where are expectations aligned and where they diverge
- the key challenges, frustrations and issues within the leadership team, stakeholders and the wider project team; is there a plan of how to address the issues, or are they being ignored
PHASE TWO: DESIGN
Using the data collected from phase one, a tailored solution is developed to actively align the leadership team. This targeted approach addresses the specific challenges within the project or JV leadership.
We collectively discuss and agree the approach and content for the program which includes a blend of services:
- Facilitated Alignment workshops – initially with the leaders to clearly define expectations, roles & responsibilities, approaches, processes.
– Alignment on project strategy, purpose, values and behaviours
– Definition of the governance structure and communication framework - Group coaching on challenges specific to the project or JV
- One-to-one coaching to support each leader and their specific challenges
PHASE THREE: DELIVER
The Project and JV Leadership Alignment Program will build a common foundation around the project structure, responsibilities and approach. With this stable platform, the leaders’ focus will shift away from what divides them onto their strength as a team.
The agreed outcomes will be documented in the Project Charter. This is an essential agreement that helps bind the team around a common approach and provides guidance on ‘who we are as a team, and how we will get there’ throughout the life of the project.
The scope of the project charter is designed in accordance with the scale and complexity of the project or JV and may include:
- Project overview and key outcomes
- Project purpose, vision, values and expected team behaviours
- Project structure, key leadership roles and responsibilities
- Key stakeholder, governance and communication plans
- Decisions, change, risks, issues and escalation processes
- Organisational change management approach
PHASE FOUR: DRIVE
It’s one thing to decide collectively how to best deliver a successful project, it’s another to maintain the focus and improvement throughout the project lifecycle.
The Drive Phase provides the leadership team with a mentor for ongoing support as they embed the new ways of working and find new challenges along the way.
The drive phase is structured in consultation to meet the on-going needs of project leaders and stakeholders and may consist of:
- Periodic facilitated strategy alignment workshops
- Group coaching on the specific leadership challenges arising in the project
- One-to-one coaching to drive project outcomes and each leader’s continual improvement