Team Building – Modern Staffing Challenges

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Stephen Wise

Second in a series on Team Building.

Modern staffing challenges cross industries and international borders. More than 34 percent of nearly 40,000 companies in a 39 nation survey of hiring practices reported being unable to fill positions due to a lack of quality talent, according to ManpowerGroup International’s 2011 Talent Shortage Survey. The reasons given for the talent gap included a lack of hard or technical knowledge, a lack of experience, and a lack of proper qualification or certification to do the desired work.[1]

Instead of tangible goods, many firms are now in the business of intelligence and services. What drives the bottom line is no longer manual labor – it’s mental power that is the engine of growth. Firms depend on analysis, innovation, and creativity to move the bar, and this requires a dramatically different talent force than what was required in previous generations.[2]

Pure genius, however, is not necessarily the answer. Firms have to hire intelligent, adaptable workers who can not only keep current with a changing economic climate but also work well with each other in the realities of the present. Soft skills such as communication and sales are in high demand, as are advanced technical competencies and analytical abilities. Without sufficiently adept workers to fill these gaps, businesses struggle to thrive and expand in the knowledge economy.

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[1] ManpowerGroup International. “2011 Talent Shortage Survey.” Released in May, 2011. Retrieved August 4th, 2011 from: http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/MAN/1349301451x0x469531/7f71c882-c104-449b-9642-af56b66c1e6d/2011_Talent_Shortage_Survey_US.pdf

[2] Harnish, Tom. “Be Flexible To Modern Staffing Challenges.” Open Forum March 25th, 2011. Retrieved August 4th, 2011 from: http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/managing/article/be-flexible-to-modern-staffing-challenges-1

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Two themes for Portfolio Agility

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Stephen Wise

I have seen the future and it is agile. The agile I am talking about is not a tool, or methodology, or a movement. It is the outcome when Project Managers have discussions with Sponsors on how to go faster, or how to beat competitors, or how to win new business.

Portfolio management is listing, prioritizing, selecting, and controlling business ideas/investments in the context of the top success drivers and constraints affecting the business.

In my experience, many projects are handed to the Project Manager that have risks or budget or schedule issues that the PM can’t even quantify. Unfortunately, these very items are likely to be the root cause of missed expectations, budget overruns or schedule delays. Our challenge is to enter into an ongoing conversation to ensure the right investments are being made at the right time.

We need to develop and design a new way of thinking to respond to the needs of the business. Here are two themes to help support this change:

1. Focus on enhancing the collaboration and communication between the person managing the work (Project Manager) and the person who wants the work done (Sponsor).

  • Create visibility anytime and to any desired level of detail.
  • Speed everything up so that we can see business benefits/failures faster.

2. Gain trust by eliminating multiple sources of data/truth by bringing data integrity into the project and program environment.

  • Ensure culture is conducive to increased reporting.
  • Communicate better about those things that people care about.

I first head the following from an industry research analyst, “We need better brakes … so we can go faster”. How true! By investing in portfolio management skills and tools to improve communication and data quality, the organizations we support will have improved agility to amplify successes and reallocate resources from underperforming projects.

Filed under: Methodology, Portfolio Management, Project Management Ideas, Tools | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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