Delivering Projects is Everyone’s Job, Not Just the PMOs

One of the most cringe-worthy expressions in business is “it’s not my job”. Why? Basically, someone is saying it’s not their problem and they don’t need to lift a finger to help out. They feel as if that statement absolves them of the responsibility to assist. Newsflash! It’s everyone’s job to help deliver projects successfully. Project delivery is not something that rests entirely on the PMO. Just like it takes a village to raise a child, put on a show, or win a championship, it also takes the entire company to deliver projects successfully. 

The nature of the role of the PMO proves this to be true. In most organizations, the PMO’s authority is to ensure standardization, governance, and coordination between departments to make sure projects are completed and value is generated. The PMO simply cannot work in isolation and be responsible for everything project management. The entire company needs to carry its weight and help deliver projects. 

What can you do as a PMO Executive or Leader to get this message across? Add project delivery to the culture of the company by: 

• Rewarding Project Results - Ask most employees what the sales and profitability numbers are for the year, and they’ll be able to rattle them right off. But ask them the Top 3 Strategic Projects for the year or what the capital expense budget for this year’s project portfolio is and you’ll probably be met with silence. Leaders just don’t talk about, nor reward, project work as much as they do operations. You can change this. Tie incentives, recognition, bonuses, raises, and promotions to project results and watch how dialed in your employees become into what’s going on in the PMO. 
• Eliminating Project Waste - Are you okay with the statistic that over 50% of projects are considered a failure? That should give all project management leaders pause for thought. Can you imagine that success rate being okay with company operations? What if only 50% of items manufactured were good enough to ship, or only half of the surgeries at a hospital were successful?! Six Sigma dictates only 3.4 defects per million opportunities, or 99.99% accuracy. Against that metric, failing 50% of the time is abysmal and squanders company resources. Perform Root Cause Analysis (RCA) on failed projects in your company and root out the reasons why so many projects fail. Spoiler alert: It will go outside the bounds of the PMO. 
• Mandating Support for the PMO - Yes, mandate is a strong word, but it’s needed to make sure that everyone realizes it’s their job to help deliver projects successfully. Resource managers need to provide resources and deal with HR issues quickly. Vendor management and legal teams need to review Managed Services Agreements (MSA) and Statements of Work (SOW) in a timely manner. Everyone needs to stop working on rogue projects or introducing project management tools that dilute the overall view of what’s going on in the company. You as the PMO Executive or Leader can exert the necessary influence to make these things happen. 

The next time you hear “it’s not my job”, ask them if that means they no longer work at the company. Because, at your company, it’s everyone’s job to deliver projects!