Involving the PMO in Project Stakeholder Engagement

Louise Worsley CITI (UK)PiCubed (South Africa)

Eurostar

Story listening

Integration

Progress New start

Story listening

Promoting a stakeholder

mindset…to ensure the effective

management of portfolio, programme or project’s

stakeholders

Co-ordination & controlManagement

Participation & responsiveness Engagement

Stakeholder engagement• A willingness to listen• Able to discuss issues of

mutual interest

• Prepared to consider changes in light of the engagement

“The involved and the affected...”

Ulrich 1983

PMBoK 5 2013

Who is a stakeholder?

“An individual, group or organization who may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity or outcome of the project”

Stakeholder engagement

It’s not just for identification

Plan approach

Identify & document

Role-based

Agenda-based

Understand the stakeholders’ positions

Role-basedAgenda-

based

• Governance

• RACI facilitation

• The stakeholder wheel

• Power-interest matrices

• Salience analysis

• Cognitive mapping

Agenda-based

Role-based

Number of stakeholders

Co

mp

lexi

ty o

f en

gage

men

t

Update training materials

Introduce Windows 10

Implement a new sales

commission scheme

Change personnel

terms & conditions

Build a nuclear power

station

Types of project

Stakeholder-neutral

Stakeholder-sensitive

Stakeholder-led

Implementation is accepted Supported by taxi people

Adapt & enable people and processes to match stakeholder & project

types

What should the PMO do …and not do…to promote project stakeholder engagement?

The PMO as brokerAlignmentTranslationNegotiation

Coordination

Adapted from: Julian, J., 2008.

The business

Project board

The PMO as facilitatorGovernance

Lessons-learned practicesCoaching and training

Tools & methods

PMO

ProjectsProjects

• Who’s who in the zoo• Share stakeholder stories• Advise / coach

stakeholder engagement• Monitor …but not by

templates

Source: bit.ly/2lRm1l9

Some views from the south

If stakeholders matter – then their engagement must affect the conduct of projects in your organisation

1 Promote a stakeholder mindset

2 Adapt & enable people and processes to match stakeholder & project types

3 Broker & facilitate

Does it?

Thank you!

https://za.linkedin.com/in/picubed

@worsley_louise

• Name | Louise Worsley

• Web | www.pi3.co.za

• Web | www.citi.co.uk

• Email | lworsley@pi3.co.za

Stories borrowed from…• Reggie Springleer, Manager Industry Transition, City of Cape Town

And many, many others…

Bourne, L., and D.H.T. Walker. 2005. “Visualising and mapping stakeholder influence.” Management Decision 43(5): 649–60.

Jeffery, N. (2009). Stakeholder engagement: A road map to meaningful engagement. Available at http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/3801

Julian, J., 2008. How project management office leaders facilitate cross‐project learning and continuous improvement. Project Management Journal, 39(3), pp.43-58.

OGC, 2008. Portfolio, Programme and Project Offices, TSO

Pemsel, S. and Wiewiora, A., 2013. Project management office a knowledge broker in project-based organisations. International Journal of Project Management, 31(1), pp.31-42.

Worsley, LM. (2016). Stakeholder-led project management, Changing the way we manage projects, Business Expert Press

Worsley, LM (2017) ‘The PMO: Promoting best practices in stakeholder engagement’, Available at bit.ly/2lRm1l9

References