Project Management for Charities Series: Charities Project Manifesto….lessons learnt in 2015.
The Charities Project Manifesto was published nearly two years ago. I have been looking at the content in the manifesto and asking is it still relevant and is it being applied in practice.
http://www.theprojectschool.co.uk/charities-project-manifesto
Part 4 Appreciate and support people as our most important project resource
Quote from a Charity IT project lead….”People with the ability to apply professional PM skills with a good knowledge of charity decision making is the ‘magic sauce’ for successful project delivery.”
Quote from a Charity IT project lead…”One of the first casualties [in tough times] was the loss of the ‘people person’ assigned to the team and the change in name of the People team to Human Resources.”
Are our people really the most important? There is a great body of general management and personnel management literature that says that people are the most important resource in an organisation. I would argue that that is not the prevailing situation in organisations under pressure.
You may Like this – Project Management for Charities
I have worked in well-resourced companies at the height of the dot com boom where there were dedicated people managers assigned to departments to help manage the personal development and learning needs of key team members. One of the first casualties of the bubble bursting in many companies was the loss of the ‘people person’ assigned to the team and the change in name of the People team to Human Resources.
In good times people do worry about the people in the organisation and the need for great recruitment and retention but as soon as there is pressure on revenue, even in the short term, then the churn in staff starts to become an issue.
Recruiting and retention of good staff in charities is an issue in tough times.
If the investment that has been made in recruiting specialist professional staff who bring private sector experience to the charity sector is to have value in the long term there needs to be greater focus on retaining and developing these people.
Innovative ways for sharing people with specialist skills across charities will be important if the sector is to retain some of the key skills and domain knowledge that help deliver a new future for charities.
In charity change projects the ability to apply professional skills in the context of charity organisations is the ‘magic sauce’ for successful project delivery. The application of domain and technology knowledge is seen by Project management practitioners as a key enabler for a charity to modernise and gain the value that new technologies can bring.
IT teams and project managers are now core staff for charities and a greater focus from the HR team is needed to build these capabilities within the charity. A different approach is needed for recruiting and developing people who have gained experience of project management and the decision making processes that works well in the charity context.
Indeed it is true to say that we are all project managers now and that charities that have a training programme to create a common language and developing culture about project management will see benefits in delivering their mission and also strengthening the sector.
It is fine to supplement your needs with specialist providers but you shouldn’t be outsourcing your thought leadership and hard built skills set on how to successfully deliver sustainable change….you should build up your own project management culture and share with others.
Report card B- Lunch & Learn sessions
We recommend ‘lunch & learn sessions’ on the project management topics that have the greatest potential to bring value to project teams…. Resourcing for implementing Cloud and CRM projects.
The sessions focus on topics and pragmatic tools to improve the project culture and practice within your organisation and there is potential to coordinate these training with staff development plans.
The session topic recommended to cover this topic is RESOURCING
LUNCH & LEARN
We have developed sessions which aim to share good practice within charities and provide pragmatic methods to help those involved in project delivery. These sessions are available throughout the year and additional consulting services are available for immediate project issues/project recovery. We also have consultants available to coach and mentor staff taking on new project responsibilities.
About ARETEN;
We provide services for Charity and not for profits including Cloud & CRM implementation, customisation and consulting services and we have some innovative platforms that will really add value to your business.
For our clients we offer needs assessment, design, customisation, implementation, and integration and support services. Our project consulting service offers help throughout the complete life cycle of the project and we run a fully managed service complete with Project management staff as well as helping to improve the project culture within the organisation and coach and mentor your own staff to manage change projects to realise the benefits needed.
We are headquartered in the UK and we have a mixture of onshore and offshore expertise and support. We work with some great partners to allow us to provide excellent services.
